Hey guys.

So I've had a fascination with laserdisc ever since I was a kid.
A few months ago I pulled the trigger, blindly buying a player and 100 discs.

The player was an NEC LD-2000, I plugged it into my mediocre insignia flatscreen 47" Lcd tv via S-Video cable, and was instantly disappointed.
I read up on how s-video isn't the way to go on modern televisions, and bought myself an upscaler and went high end composite cables to the upscaler to hdmi out. Still not much better.

I decided since I'm an adult now with somewhat disposable income, that I should do the irresponsible thing, and just throw more money at another player haha.
On the suggestion of multiple forums, I went with the Pioneer CLD-D704.

The 704 came in the mail from ebay today.
I plugged her in, and was once again totally disappointed with a super grainy image.
I bought the Video Essentials Laserdisc, but I don't think it's going to do a whole lot for the grainy picture that is driving me nuts.

I've always been a big vintage guy, so my power amp is this ancient analog thing, with no video.

Is an amp with video processing going to help me out at this stage?
A stand alone video processor perhaps?
Anyone have any suggestions?

Cheers,
Aaron

I use an AVR for video processing, specifically the Onkyo TX-NR626 and it does a great job with LD. I also use a Panasonic DVD recorder for its 3D comb filter, specifically the DMR-ES25. That helps with the chroma/luma separation.

Also, skip the s-video on the 704 and go straight composite. Only on the very best players should you consider s-video and even then better comb filters exist these days.

But for a single unit the Onkyo with the Qdeo chip is a great choice. But keep your expectations realistic. The best you can expect is non-anamorphic DVD.

Thanks for the response Dunerider.

I ended up picking up the same Panasonic DVD recorder that you suggested (craigslist $40), but it came without a remote.
I'm running it through there now, and it looks pretty damn good.
Did you use the remote to dial in any sort of picture adjustment?
I'm clueless about how versatile that thing is.

Cheers.

You will need the remote to get the most out of the unit, unless the previous owner left it with settings that are to your liking.

Are you using the HDMI out? If not, the only way to enable it is via the menu which you can only access with the remote.

Thankfully the remote is on eBay for cheap so go pick one up.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Panasonic-DVD-Recorder-DVDR-Remote-Control-for-DMRES25-DMRES25P-DMRES25S-/271454768708?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f33f70e44

Killer, just ordered the remote.
I tried the HDMI, but was less happy with the picture quality than with the composite.
To be fair though, I had been messing with the TV settings a bunch, and I should probably try it again.

Those DVDO units look like they do a pretty awesome job as well.
Unfortunately those don't go cheap on ebay.

On a side note, my NEC unit I bought looks way better than the Pioneer CLD-D704 I got to try and fix my picture quality problem.
I can't find anything at all about it online. If you ever come across one, get it. I'm planning on posting a bunch of pics and specs on here in the near future.

Again, I really appreciate your help on this one.

Cheers,
Aaron.

I've heard the component out can be better. HDMI is often limited to 8 bits (but can be more!), and they might have 9 or 10 bit DACs on component.

Looks worse with the HDMI....
I was wondering why.

Getting the most of LD is certainly trial and error as I have recently discovered. That said, the HDMI - is it 1080i or 720p that you are using? The interlace on the 1080i certainly won't look great. But you will need the remote to mess with most of the settings. I will say you can improve the picture greatly with that unit so find what works best for your setup.

I can't find many specifics, but the Video DAC is listed as 12 bit. Not sure if there is a differentiation for component/HDMI.

I think this topic has been gone over more than anything else in the history of the world.
as dunerider says, it is trial and error to figure out what is best to your eye.
if you just got into LD and think that you can dial it in to make it look like bluray you are lying to yourself.

if you know what LD should look like then you can dial it in and make it work with todays technology.

I myself have my LD straight from the player using composite into a 480 DLP projector throwing an 80" screen and it looks great.
to my eye it looks the same as the DVD which I have running HDMI into said projector.

and I have my LD straight from the player into my LED 32 inch 720 television and it looks great, I want to say sometimes it even looks better than
my old CRT

just know what LD is and what it will look like.
you can get a really nice satisfying image with or without a scaler

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Component is usually best for LD. I have the same ES25, recently bought. One of my old universal remotes works and allows for access to the setup menu. All you are allowed to do is set output resolution and input/output black levels. These are labeled as lighter, darker and normal. What I did was to try and match what the straight composite in looked like, which was lighter on both. I use the composite in, component out 480i 4:3 into my Sony Trinitron CRT.
Comparing composite versus component; Component is light years better as it fully separates the signal out. Just wish you could change the comb filter settings.