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Posted: 06 May 2020, 18:14 

Superbit is a marketing term. It is not a standard. Sony released some titles under Superbit. These titles have no special content on the first disc but the entire disc is used for the film. This allowed much higher bitrates. It is not a constant bitrate but highest possible depending on the length of the film. They also advertised full bitrate DTS audio but this is not true. Full bitrate DTS is 1.5mbps on DVD (1.4 mbps on LD) but only used on 25 or so titles ever. All other DTS discs including all Superbit discs are at half bitrate of 768kbps. It is nevertheless higher than DD at 384kbps (320kbps on LD).

Sony did the same thing for Blu-rays and called those Super Bit Mapping (SBM) or Mastered in 4K titles. Some of these titles have huge “Mastered in 4K” on the front or some of them have a small SBM logo in the back. Same was done for Superbit, earlier titles have Superbit all over them but later ones had a small logo in the back (Ex.Panic Room). On the Blu-ray iteration Sony claims higher bitrates are used. If you use a later generation Sony blu-ray player with SBM, you get better picture when upscaled to 4K. Sony claims their SBM blu-ray players use the inverse formula of the downscaling algorithm used on their Blu-ray mastering (4K master downscaled to 1080p for Blu-ray). Does it work? I don’t think so. I believe all Sony video equipment applies artificial sharpening to achieve faux 4K from lesser resolutions. It is simply not possible to reconstruct bits that aren’t there in the first place.

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 Post subject: Re: A Cure of Laserlock
Posted: 07 May 2020, 01:48 

So the mystery disc is from ... Alf!

I remember that I made a rip of the disc when I initially got them. Pulled up the recording I made and its only 20 min. This newer one I got 7 more mins. I think there's a few more mins left on it. If you wanna take a crack at ripping it with a HLD player, hit me up.

Give me about a month to become fully operational, I just moved and still installing my setup. I have an HLD-X0, Radiance 2144 and BMD Intensity Pro 4K capture card. The capture card has a crap for comb filter. Radiance 2144 has the best but doesn’t output 480i. So ideally 1080P24 for film base or 720P60 for video content for captures.

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Posted: 07 May 2020, 18:31 

There are successful sellers (not many) here. I don’t mind paying them a little extra for an individual disc or a bunch. I totally understand they probably get discs for a penny on the dollar and now selling for 20 to 100 times of that.

Why am I ok with this?

1- Because these sellers have done the leg work of buying huge lots and separating valuable/desirable ones.

2- These sellers have the knowledge and experience of years. They know which lots to invest in. In a way they know what vast majority of the people look for and they hunt those down. And again in a way they do the monitoring the internet, local adds and other means to obtain these discs.

These above two are values. I can spend weeks/months seeking on the internet and local adds for a title/s I am after. I might have to buy a huge lot for that one specific title and potentially drive more than I would like. There is the risk of rot, incorrectly advertised version of the title (happens a lot) and they might even end up being CEDs ;)

Depending on how much your time is worth to you and how bad you want these discs, you might be ok with paying extra to a reputable seller and get the titles you want (and be done). The keyword is “reputable” seller here. I know that the grading is accurate, I know the advertised title is the correct version. I know the title will arrive to me in a correctly packed package.

Based on your posts, you are doing the item# 1 above. That’s some value and justifies some profit. However you seem to be asking the item# 2 to us. Sure no harm in asking but it is not realistic to get years worth of knowledge and experience from a few posts. You really need to spend months, potentially years watching sales, conversations and making your own statistics.

You also need to prove your skills in packaging and how to meet grading expectations of your buyers. LD sales is a different animal. You will see that those super rare discs will sell for really high dollars if they are in extreme mint condition but less than stellar ones will sit on your shelf (even if you discount them %80 off).

You got a lot of researching to do if you want to capitalize on LDs. It is not as big of a market as it seems. There is really a handful of titles you will get the money you got for the Song of the South.

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Posted: 10 May 2020, 08:37 

Watched the rise of skywalker. Some absolute rubbish.

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Posted: 12 May 2020, 01:16 

Yes send an email to Lumagen. They will likely sell you the correct power supply or point you to the right one.

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 Post subject: Re: Upscale before capture?
Posted: 16 May 2020, 22:06 

Capturing from Laserdiscs takes some compromise as there isn’t a perfect setup. All capture cards in existence lack the good y/c separation which is essential for good Laserdisc video. There is really one or two Laserdisc players with good s-video output (y/c already separated). You will need an interface to take care of this step externally. Out of all the devices I have tested Lumagen Radiance 2144 and Crystalio II came close to perfection (in the order best to very good). These video processors don’t output video at 480i which is the native output format of Laserdiscs (or closest). They will output 480p or above which means they do de-interlacing also (one extra step from the purest form). Most video video processors if not all convert the rec.601 color space (SD color gamut) to rec.709 (HD color gamut) before any output. This will cause issues with the capture gear because it will expect rec.601 when fed 480p. To avoid color issues, I would chose to output in HD resolutions of 720p or 1080p. Now the capture card will apply the correct color decoder of rec.709.

So you can use the composite output of your laserdisc player then you are in the mercy of your capture cards inferior y/c separation or you can use an external box. But due to the way these devices were design, you will need to do multiple steps before you feed your signal to your capture device. In my opinion a good y/c separation is more important than great deinterlacing or scaling you could in PC. Both Crystalio II and Lumagen Radiance won’t be far behind of any PC processing (but PC can still do better with multiple passes).

I would recommend 720p60 for video based material and 1080p24 for film based material. At these resolutions there is not much point in post processing.

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Posted: 17 May 2020, 05:00 

This is the reply I got from Jim at Lumagen.

“ Looking at the back of the XE unit the jack has Ground on the lower left and +12 on the upper left.

Someone with basic soldering skills could transfer the plug to another 12 VDC at 2.5 Amp (or more current) power brick.

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Posted: 17 May 2020, 21:52 

Theta Voyager $6,500 + options (progressive scan, digital sdi and serial control add ons)

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Posted: 17 May 2020, 22:08 

Like others suggested it depends on your budget and what you want as essentials.

If you go with the TV route, OLEDs are significantly better than others and significantly more expensive. The 65” versions are somewhat reasonably priced compared to a few years ago but the 77” models are still very expensive. Very last generation Panasonic and Pioneer plasmas would be my next choice if you don’t care for 4K. They will beat any LCD and CRT by a margin.

On the projector side, you can get a really nice used JVC projector if you don’t need 4K. Projectors drop value like a rock once a newer generation is out. What was used to be $15,000 JVC flagship 1080p projector is now barely $1,500. Sony also makes good projectors but can’t compete with JVC in black levels. If you do want a 4K projector then your options are very limited. They start at $4,000 but to be honest you need to get at least the $15,000+ laser models for decent light output in HDR. A good screen is also a must in any projector setup, ideally with masking. Screens hold their value well so even in the used market, it will be a few grand for a really good one.

If you must have at least 75” (which eliminates any plasma which caps at 65”) and you are on a budget then any name brand LCD will do. They have come to a point most of them have great picture (not counting shortcoming of the LCD technology).

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Posted: 18 May 2020, 23:40 

Well EAC-3 or DD+ is not supported on Coax or Optical. It is supported on HDMI profile 1.3 and newer. It is likely a compatibility issue. Most video processors predates HDMI profile 1.3. These below are the only ones I know that pass DD+.

DVDO Edge/duo
Lumagen Radiance XE/XS 3D and newer

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Posted: 24 May 2020, 02:26 

I don’t think there ever was a true high end audiophile oriented RF demodulator. None of them have a linear power supply but some of them have good filtering (McIntosh, Meridian i.e). Clean power has direct effect to Spdif (coax, toslink) output with much lower jitter which in turn will result much less errors. On such a low bitrate lossy audio format, I doubt there would be an audible difference unless it’s an extremely revealing system (think $200k+)

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Posted: 24 May 2020, 02:49 

Yes, underwater films are actually quite nice. I understand what you mean. I actually like U boat films and I thought that both Hunt for Red October and
Crimson Tode are excellent.

I have never seen Deep Blue Sea ( can't stand LL Cool J ) but I did see the Meg and I thought it was ridiculous.


LL has a small part in Deep Blue Sea. He is not on the cover but Thomas Jane has a large role and he is great as always. These aren’t really great movies but they are great for what they are. They are the modern equivalent of B-movies of the 70s and the 80s (and the 90s). You have to watch them with a certain mindset. If you expect great things you will be disappointed but then again not everybody has to like them. Movies like the Abyss are meant for much larger crowds they take things more seriously (they have much larger production value to allow all this).

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Posted: 24 May 2020, 22:50 

When you say “fewer errors”. What is you experience with this in testing? Every digital audio connection I’ve closely monitored produces about one error an hour, utterly impossible for any human to detect, and I don’t own anything high end at all. Reducing it to an error every two hours isn’t going to do much IMO.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grzoqEb2KMk
(Edited, please use the YouTube tags)

Try this video, he explains digital audio very well. As an electrical and computer engineer who has spent countless hours reading on this matter and listened to a number of equipment I can vouch for all his claims.

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Posted: 19 Jun 2020, 23:05 

It’s not the asking price but the rude behavior.

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Posted: 20 Jun 2020, 16:39 

Go lower gauge. Shielding less important on speaker cables.

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 Post subject: Re: Laserdiscs on the wall
Posted: 24 Jun 2020, 20:36 

My ranking

RAM
Discovery
Homework
Human After All
Tron (Great soundtrack)

RAM also sounds really good. I believe it was mastered in 24/44.1kHz. I have the CD, LP and the 24/44.1 masters in ALAC. They all sound great but the 24b master is a league on its own. It is rare to have really well mastered popular music on high res lossless formats.

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Posted: 26 Jun 2020, 15:58 

I bought the thick cable and I will install it today !

One more question : my last cable became green because of oxydation in 2 or 3 yearts only...
Should I use banana plugs to avoid that ? Or is it useless ? If it s better, any banana plug will work well, or should I buy specific ones ?


You can use banana plugs. They won’t degrade sound. They will delay oxidation significantly.

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Posted: 06 Aug 2020, 01:55 

For that much money, I would look for a McIntosh MLD-7020 or two.

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Posted: 13 Aug 2020, 20:25 

I am not sure I understand the purpose of your post. If you already know LV520 is a CLD-704 clone then you surely know how much it is worth as well. I agree with signo on the warranty. They can’t repair it and replace it.

As for 4K integration, it is probably much easier now than before. There is a ton of posts from the HD and full HD era. A lot of people read the old threads and buy old equipment. It’s not apples and apples anymore. Newer 4K TVs are better in every aspect. They process old video better too. All that old info on the internet does not apply to newer TVs. You will likely get better performance plugging your LD player directly into your TV.

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Posted: 13 Aug 2020, 22:48 

No I sincerely didn’t understand why you asked if it was worth it, especially since you answered your own question in the next paragraph;) I was sorta complimenting you know your Marantz unit is a 704 clone. Because I didn’t know that and I know everything.

We like some traffic here. I appreciate you start one now. And as you noticed I recommended against doing a search on the old posts for your modern equipment. I don’t use the video capabilities of audio equipmentS myself. I don’t have any experience in here. I would expect them to progress the same way as newer TVs. Your main issue is going to be your screen size. On a projector screen everything will show. I think you would benefit from a cleaner player like 95,97 and S2 before an expensive video processor.

Not sure on the warranty. They usually give you market value or comparable model. I wouldn’t be shocked if they offer you an upscaling dvd player as a replacement and say this is what replaced LDs lol

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Posted: 27 Sep 2020, 14:17 

oh boy!

this site has become %99 re-seller and %1 actual buyer. Good luck with that supply and demand.

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Posted: 27 Sep 2020, 16:03 

It could be profitable but what we are saying is you are pretty late into the game. There has been a flood of resellers in the past year or two whereas actual collectors shrunk in number. Also, there is very little reason to collect LDs besides nostalgia. You pretty much need to create a hype on some titles to bring up their values. It’s an extremely fluctuating market with only a handful title ever keeping the highly sought after status. And believe me it’s highly unlikely you will come across those super highly sough after titles. They are not blockbusters or disney like you posted but extremely obscure and less than common titles hence rare. I don’t think you will lose any money if you are put the effort into it but 1000 discs? It’s gonna take a couple years to sell at a few bucks a piece.

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Posted: 11 Oct 2020, 20:01 

Digital audio, especially DACs and ADCs, and power amplifiers are effected by the high frequency noise on the power lines. Other electronics are also effected but much less so. Distortion and voltage sag are a lot more tolerated in general. It doesn’t matter if you live in an urban or a rural area(or you live in Europe), you have noise in your power lines. I was a power distribution engineer for Nationalgrid which services Europe too (physics work the same anywhere anyway)

These noise are high frequency but low magnitude (low energy) therefore they are in the very low octaves. If you have a very revealing audio system with extremely low noise floor, you want these noise eliminated therefor they don’t contaminate the audio information on those very low octaves. Most audio equipment (including very expensive ones) are not in this level of revelation. Ultra High end audio equipment however have very audible improvement if they receive clean power.


Short answer: Don’t worry about the performance improvement unless you spent more money on your audio amplifier than your car. Power surges do occur and will damage your equipment. Most surge protectors will use MOVs to suppress these. MOVs are similar to diodes but work in the opposite way. Their values drift and decay over time. You probably replace them every few years. Best surge protectors use microprocessor controlled relays. These react much quicker and do not drift. These used to cost a lot of money but past couple years there are some relatively inexpensive ones. Audioquest Powerquest line are $200-300 I believe.

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Posted: 14 Oct 2020, 05:58 

When it comes to surge suppression and protecting gear I think obviously that’s helpful. Everyone has lost something at some point, probably an early 80s TV.

But when I hear about this “conditioning” I sorta laugh. I mean, is there anyone who is BOTH a) able to explain what “conditioning” is in normal technical terms and b) recommending they be used? I’ve never seen that.

I know the basic thing that’s being thought...that all that chroma noise in my S201 may be reduced with lab perfect power. I just don’t think it’s realistic as with an LD player there is a TON of noise being generated by the player itself.

And how does a conditioner actually condition? Is it like a massive massive cap and a variable frequency drive so that it can generate a new %100 perfect AC wave form? If not, I don’t really see how you can “condition” the power. A device like that would be a few thousand, most likely, if it’s not %100 reliable it can single handedly wipe out everything plugged into it. Is it like a really high speed chip that follows the wave forum and damps any peaks or valleys? Like a dynamic compressor for AC voktage? That might work but the chip would have to be really good if it’s going to be better and more reliable that the power company.


These products are typically two stages and some are three stages. First stage is the protection circuitry. You can think of this as an extra piece of breaker. Having a breaker as close as possible to the device you want to protect is ideal. Some of these products also include a fuse but it is not necessary. The typical arrangement is that you place a MOV in parallel. This MOV shorts the circuit when the current/voltage is above a threshold. It’s a chemical electrical component like diodes so this threshold is never the same on two but close enough. They have a capacity that they can width-stand and beyond it they get damaged(This is the Joule number you see on the packaging). Also their performance decays overtime (but typically very long time). The second flavor is microprocessor controlled smart relaying. There is a voltage and current sensor that triggers a relay to open circuit. It reacts much quicker and can width-stand higher surges. These don’t die therefore typically advertised as maintenance free on the packaging. You may say why do I need another breaker on a strip while I have one at my electric box. Well, you don’t always get surges from the utility line. Electrical appliances and all other electronics plugged onto that circuit do and can cause surges. This also makes claims like I live in a new home or I live in Europe, electric here is good a false claim. If nothing happened to you in the past 15 years doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the next 15 years. All it takes is one hit to burn all electronics at your home. But yes the odds are in your favor, chances are it won’t ever happen.


Second stage is conditioning. There are multiple methods to do so. First let’s talk about what contaminating your power. All electrical wiring inside your home, inside your electronics and utility wires act as an antenna grabbing all sort radio waves. You can experiment with plugging your power strip into your FM radios antenna port. It will catch all the stations. In urban areas this contamination is heavier with all the wifi and cell phone signals. These are all present on your electric line. Furthermore, all switching mode power supplied in your and your neighbors (within close enough proximity) are signal generator switching in megahertz and these are connected to the same conductors. These need to be eliminated. There is also voltage sags that occurs from being too far away from the utility transformer or something along the way sucking all the current .Think of your neighbors Air Conditioner. Every time the compressor kicks in you will get a sag on your AC power. Most electronics don’t care about this situation but audio amplifiers suffer from the lack of current coming in. Most conditioner use capacitor/inductor chokes/filters to remove the noise. These filters need to be high in octave (amount of reduction) but their curves must be carefully selected so they don’t case more inductance(more on this later). There is also isolation transformer method. These transformers have no physical connection between their primary and secondary sides. They are 1:1 ratio. I.e. 120V in 120V out. Since transformer themselves are inductive they are also low pass filters. Further more some companies use different taps on these transformer and split Voltage to +60V and -60V and use the neutral wire as ground. This is the balanced configuration. Since there are identical wave forms in opposite polarity they cancel any/most noise out. Transformers are very expensive so you will only see this on very expensive conditioners. There is also a catch. Transformers can add more resistance and inductance therefore choke the current in the amplifiers. Due to this, most conditioners will have dedicated outlets labeled “high current” with no isolation transformer on them and carefully selected L/C choke/trap circuits. Again, very high quality inductors and capacitors are very expensive. Another method is regeneration. This one converts 120V AC to DC with a rectifier and then feed into a very high quality low noise amplifier. A microprocessor generates a 60Hz sine wave and feeds as the source to this amplifier. The result is a 120V high current 60 Hz signal which is equal to our power in our electric outlets. There are some limitations to this as well. They are super expensive and limited to the power of the amplifier. PS Audio makes a 20kVA version for $10k. But this is literally regenerating the electricity right before your audio components. Most of what its doing is not care by the audio amplifiers and generates a lot of heat (and takes up space).

Third stage is power correction. There are physical components to power such as resistance and magnetic component that is inductance. Later one is a phenomena related to AC power. It’s complicated but in short when electrons move in constantly changing direction(AC-Alternating Current) induction therefore magnetism occurs. This is the electromagnetic interference we talk about. When inductance is high the power factor is low which means current does not follow voltage on the voltage over current graph. This causes the sinusoid waves to be distorted. This can be corrected by adding removing capacitance and or inductance. Most well built units also use large capacitors to store current to use when there is a sag on the power line.

Now the real question? Do you really need all this? Well some of this is already built into your electronics. Remember, engineer make cost vs performance analysis and pick components and designs for where cost and performance intersects. So these built in components will satisfy most average people. If you want to go that final a few bit of performance you can opt to use a conditioner. Power sections and protective components are very expensive. Most electronics including very expensive ones will usually give you the simplest option such as a fuse and a simple LC choke filter. Also, some components are more effected from bad power than others. Most source devices will operate fine with dirty power. Anything amplifying will amplify the contamination noise in the power so these are the ones that suffer most. I hope this help. I didn’t proof read what I wrote. I hope it makes sense.

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Posted: 12 Nov 2020, 03:40 

Radiance XS is over 12 years old now. You will see some units failing as any 10 plus year old electronics. You can still reach out to Lumagen support and they will sell you a replacement power supply and repair your XS for a fee if it breaks. Just keep in mind, this was a $4,500 device when new, replacement parts and repairs aren’t going to be cheap. You can buy an aftermarket power supply at your own risk or try to repair the original one. It’s a switch mode power supply, it can’t be many more than just a single capacitor in there. I would just get the replacement from Lumagen. It can’t be much worse than $60-80.
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