Was in my local Tesco Extra the other day and I was killing time by browsing the DVD/Blu-Ray/CD/console games isle and I noticed what was at first I thought was a Laserdisc release. It wasn't though but a Blu-ray release in a laserdisc like packaging. I think it was one of those Marvel films, 3 Blu-ray collectable release.

I think this is kind of old news, there have been a few releases in Laserdisc sized sleeves, I think Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars were the first ones. I don't know too much about them since they have only been released in the UK as far as I know.

Was it perhaps Marvel's The Avengers: 6 Movie Collection (Blu-ray Boxset) Catalogue Number:451-1036 as I think that came in an oversized box/cover.

Might be sold out on-line from Tesco so may be one of the last still on the shelf.

Cheers.

Don't think so but I can't remember the title. It might have been guardians of the galaxy.

I though you were going to say that someone decided to make LD players but nobody will buy them as they won't even spend 100-200 on a used player now
how can we expect anybody to spend 500-800 for a new player today

lol If I was I would have posted in the LD hardware forum.

Yeah I guess so, but I only select the view new topics and never really pay attention to that.

I would, coz it'd be, like, new.

That thread also contains a link to a previous thread I made discussing the idea of 5” discs in big boxes so this is at least the third topic about it. I may have missed others.

The Return of LD! (Or rather, the closest we'll ever see)

The Gundam stuff actually gives you a decent case instead of a cardboard slot or one of those dumb black foam circles that falls off the cardboard after nine months. That series, Gundam The Origin, concludes in a few months with EP 6. It will be interesting to see what the next OVA will be and if they will continue with retro packaging in a new show (I just assume a new series is coming) or if they do their LEs in a different way.

It was Thor Raganor(spelling?) in the big sleeve.

I can see sagging and lackluster marketing sales give rise to gimmicks in packaging the product to create appeal.

This has been done in past scenarios to paint a prettier picture, or wrapping a lame present in a fancier package.....
End result does not change - one still ends up with an inferior product.

Let me be crystal clear here. I understand LD had its day in the sun. I get it. Progress is not patient and frequently unforgiving in the tech world.
That being stated. If vinyl can experience a revival from the dust bin of oblivion than why not LD ?

Where are the "Roan Group's" out there that pick out select classic titles and produce limited releases prior to format termination ?
Was very surprised that not one company came out and at least tested the water and offered potential titles since circa 2000.

I am not a business expert, nor an economics genius to be certain. Still why vinyl and not LD ?

17 years from format termination, still sand in my underwear ...... VIVE LASERDISCS !

Fire horse.

The problem is there are no manufacturing plants left to produce laserdiscs. Even if there were would you be willing to fork over £500 for the latest LD title?

Several factors, mostly cost.
LP is much cheaper and easier to produce.
The same goes for the equipment.
2nd: On a high end turn table you can squeeze the hell out of it, having very high quality audio, whereas with laserdisc you are stuck with a composite signal sd quality which whatever scaler you would use has its limits. Or you would have to revive muse, which i think is even harder and don't know about all patents or licenses from Japan for that you would need for that.
Being able to find a way of someone or some corporation willing to revive 5" cdv would be cool, but how lovely it might be, you will end up with just a few minutes of video, so more of a gimmick as it was back then. For CD rom drives to be modded, it can't be done as the signal has to be analog. You really would need the equipment they used back then

and, in all likelihood, like any other modern A/V source component,
it would be exceedingly cheaply made, cosmetically hideous in design, and rather short of lifespan, so, MADE OF TOTAL WIN.

oh, and it probably wouldn't be a PIONEER, either, so there is most certainly that...

I don’t know why people keep saying that...”if vinyl, why not LD?” Are you so hung up on the fact that both of those formats are 12” that you can’t see that there is nothing at all in common between them? LPs are cheap to make and master and have never gone out of production. You can make them at home. LDs are expensive as hell to make and all the plants shut ages ago. The same goes for the decks, you can make a turntable in a basement shop, no way with an LD player. There are dozens more reasons why vinyl and not LD, the main one being the market size. There was probably never a year that vinyl sold fewer copies than the best year Laserdisc ever had. LD actually *did* die whereas LPs were simply considered “dead” when they only sold LD volumes! LD was only sold in a few countries but vinyl sold in probably every country on earth at some point from 1950 to now. There are shops in my town that have received new wax every week for decades.

Good points Zeta but with China being able to fabricate anything (high or low quality, whatever you pay for) I wouldn't be surprised if a motivated and cashed up LD fan got a prototype going and a small release to afficianados. Something like the HiFiman.

A niche product for a niche market is definately possible these days.

Heck, once you work out the specs you want, make it a kickstarter, you'd probably make your money back.

New titles however I probably agree with, this new player would only be a legacy machine, to play back people's collections for future decades as old machines die. I can see a lot here buying 2 or 3 if the specs and looks (I agree Tasuke, that's important) were right.

Too much technical stuff getting the laser aligned and all to get new players made.
Lots of lost tech data that newer people will never understand.
Unless you can make a new LD player with a drop in laser it will never happen, it was and is just too complicated of a machine.

Just because you can Kickstarter something doesn’t mean you’ll be able to build something worth having. Many Kickstarters begin and then the optimistic tools learn about realty. Money+China is not a complete equation.

It would make a lot more sense to just make a quality flatbed laser scanner shaped like an LD player with software built into it to unwind the spiral and convert it to raw FM that other software (that already exists) can convert to usable video. You’d have a completely different way of playing the same disc that involves a lot less mechanical beefiness and analog sensitivities.

Wow ......

Learned something from this thread ......
Will no longer compare revival of vinyl to LD ever again .........

However, if I had the means of a certain Micro Soft founder ..........