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Posted: 13 Aug 2020, 22:16
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Sometimes i do the same to feel again like in the 90s; yesterday i watched the analog broadcast of "Robocop III"
recorded on VHS and i watched too all the commercials between movie pauses...ahhhh...good old days
Indeed! Now I too feel an urge to dig out some of my old early 90s recorded from broadcast VHS & S-VHS tapes for a quick fix, have to admit I've not run them in years although They are mostly from BBC broadcasts so no commercials included, sadly I used to mainly edit out the commercials from the independent UK channels....a bad move in retrospect I think!
Yes, I also did some recordings on S-VHS about twenty years ago. I played some of these tapes this year and they still look beautiful. The funny thing is you can even read
the teletext. It is not perfect but you can see the time and date and switch to the main page 100 to see today's news. I love S-VHS. It was an awesome format to record
analogue broadcasts to. My player also had a function called S-VHS ET. You could record a S-VHS signal to a standard VHS tape. Yes, resolution was better but it was also
grainier than a standard VHS recording and also depended on the quality of the VHS I used. The best tape for this purpose by far ! was the Maxell Black tape.
I am also quite satisfied with the quality of my VHS recordings. I already threw out most of my VHS recordings but I still keep the more interesting
recordings of rare films and documentaries and other stuff ( music, etc. ). |
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Posted: 13 Aug 2020, 22:46
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I have been an ardent AM radio listener since I was like a little boy. Nowadays I do not listen to it as much as I used to, of course. There used to be tons of AM radio stations in the
90s. Nowadays there is not a single one left in Germany which is I believe is a bit of a shame. Most countries in Europe have shut off AM radio broadcasting completely. I remember when France was very present
with its high power long wave radio stations that could cover the entire country and parts of its neighbouring countries, too. Yes, it seems old-fashioned nowadys and to most people it does not make much sense any longer
but in case of a disaster it is still the most effective way of reaching big areas and many people with a single frequency. AM radio is still very much alive in Japan today and I think this is one of the reasons.
For sparsely populated countries such as Mongolia or even parts of China ( Tibet, etc. ) it still makes sense. Even North Korea is still very active with several AM radio transmitters ( FM radio being only available in
the capital and a few other bigger cities in the country ).
Btw, you can listen to live AM radio broadcasts via the internet nowadays using a technology called websdr. You can find more information here: http://www.websdr.org/
I can also strongly recommend this link here: http://kiwisdr.com/public/
I still have a lot of fun using some of the available online websdrs. There is one from Japan that works very well. |
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Posted: 30 Aug 2020, 21:27
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Has anyone seen Bounty, The (1984) [ID2593OR] ?
I actually bought said laserdisc a few years ago. It came as a bonus to a different order that I had originally made. Anyway I did not expect much because we all
know how the story ends, right ? But I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised as it is a fantastic film that I have watched four times ever since and I am not
the type of guy that rewatches films a lot. First of all I loved the cinematography. There are so many positive things I can say about this particular film:
- excellent score by Vangelis, I have always loved the Blade Runner soundtrack but I think that the work he did for The Bounty isn't any worse. The music fits perfectly
the various scenes in this film. Unfortunately, the score was never released on vinyl/CD, etc., which is a huge shame. There is an unofficial CD release but the source
were some old tapes as far as I understand so it is far from genuine CD quality but it is nonetheless a nice item to have. i listen to this soundtrack quite often. It is that good.
- the performances are excellent. Anthony Hopkins, Mel Gibson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Liam Neeson, there are so many great actors in it. Of course, Anthony Hopkins is in a league
of his own but Daniel Day-Lewis also gives a very memorable performance. We all know he is a fantastic and very capable actor.
- the sound is very well mixed and this particular laserdisc release sounds fantastic. I prefer it over the recent Shout Factory Blu Ray release in terms of audio quality. On the ship you
can clearly here all the different objects moving on deck during a storm, for instance. The aforementioned Blu Ray however has a fantastic transfer and looks incredibly good. The laserdisc
looks OK but I just find that 2,35:1 non anamorphic simply doesn't look that good on a modern TV, in general.
The Bounty is in my list of Top Ten favourite films. I think it's mostly the excellent Vangelis score, the cinematography and Anthony Hopkins that made me become such an ardent
aficionado of The Bounty. They simply do not films like that any longer :( |
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Posted: 31 Aug 2020, 07:47
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There are a few & most of them are the F1 LDs but they are not really so called "high value" discs.
It has taken around 15 years or so but I have managed to pick up all (I think) of the PIONEER compilation box sets & most of the individual discs they released but there are quite a few gaps still to fill.
They are for sale but at ridiculous prices & some sellers on ebay have had them listed for years, over 10 years in a few sellers listings. I have occasionally asked if they would accept (in my opinion) more realistic prices but the usual response that they are "VERY RARE" & the like with me being told that they "will sell" even though they have had listed for ages.
I will wait until they come up at more fair prices, patience often pays off & I am quite happy to play the waiting game - that is the way I have picked up most of my must have LDs.
I do get the comment from zeta about not wanting to state the must have titles, supply & demand & all that.
One response I once had from a seller on one of the F1 LDs I was after was that it was a "super rare disc as it was not listed on the LDDB site" so it must be worth his asking price - I have since acquired it & the seller has his still listed for sale. I have updated the site here so perhaps not "super rare" now!
Good luck with the LD hunt guys :thumbup: .
That is an awesome post and an admirable attitude at that. I am not interested in those late film releases ( Matrix, etc. ) at all. I can easily buy these things on Blu Ray for 5 € tops.
I think it is cool that you are collecting Formula 1 discs. It is a real special interests area.
The only Formula 1 disc I have in my collection is the It's Real - Suzuka Grand Prix 1991-92 MUSE disc and during my last visit to Japan I found and bought part 1 of its NTSC counterpart
for 300 Yen. The MUSE disc itself looks excellent.
I am mostly interested in collecting rarer things such as Dolby Surround demonstration discs, BGV titles, Japanese music titles, weird and obscure demonstration discs from
South Korea or Indonesia, etc. I always buy those when I see them. They are often unique and unavailable on other formats, except VHS maybe. I only buy films if it is a Criterion title
or something that would be interesting to have on laserdisc. |
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Posted: 30 Dec 2020, 08:27
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deadlegion wrote: But I have seen the modern Star Trek films
I just hate them. I'd rather watch ten episodes of Star Trek TNG in a row then watch a single one of these new Star Trek films. Star Trek TNG is great and so are DS9 and Voyager. |
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Posted: 21 Mar 2021, 10:20
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lucky that, Deadlegion. You're so lucky.
Wow, I thought you disappeared for good. I hope you are doing OK.
To answer the original question I used to collect a lot of video games in the 90s as a teenager and I still have some of them in my collection.
I had a 3DO when it came out in 1994/95. Very few people had one back in the days when it came out and FIFA Soccer looked brilliant on it as did
Wing Commander III ( what a fantastic game ). My friends who at that time were still playing SNES games mostly couldn't believe their eyes
when they saw Wing Commander III. The 3DO was a nice console and Theme Park is a very nice port, too, but, unfortunately, it eventually turned
out to be a huge failure.
The last console I bought was an XBox Series S that does not even play physical copies. I have an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription that costs me
approximately 10 € a month with access to a range of excellent titles such as Forza 4 or 5. Initially, I was thinking of buying a PS5 but since it was impossible to get one I bought an Xbox
Series S instead for 200 € less. It is an excellent console for that price and I like the Xbox Game Pass model much better than Sony's Playstation Plus
offer that I also use on my PS4. I am happy that I bought an Xbox but I rarely play it as I simply work too hard and simply do not have time for it. I mostly
watch a film after work and then go to bed. |
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Posted: 28 Mar 2021, 12:27
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And those useless polls that show most people can’t hear the difference between CD and SACD...come on. Most people think Apple Earbuds sound good. Most people don’t listen very deeply, IMO.
There I agree with you. I think SACDs are far superior to CDs and I can hear a clear difference between both of them. But I can't hear any difference between a 96 khz and a 192 khz file
of the same song at all. Even 48khz/24 bit files already sound far superior to a standard CD.
However I stick with my original opinion. Vinyl sounds fantastic to me and that is what I mostly listen to nowadays. Call it distortion whatever. I bought the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
release of Bob Marley and the Wailer's Catch a Fire last month. To me that is one of the best albums in music history. It cost me a bit but to me it sounds like coming from the master tape and it
was worth every penny. It sounds like the real thing, the instruments, stereo effects, background vocals, the bass guitar coming from the right speaker in Stir It Up, etc. It sounds excellent. Period.
The CD does not stand a chance.
Thank you for your input. This is an interesting threat. |
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Posted: 22 Apr 2021, 22:23
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Confederate & Gypsy,
I have just read the depth of your Posts about your lives and your touching experiences.
Know that your in depth comments have been Profoundly felt by this man.
That is why Music for me touches the soul in a wholesome way.
You are both not alone, for I too have experienced very much the same and can relate to you both 100%
I hope you are both well.
Kindest Regards
From Mark
Thank you, Mark. These words are highly appreciated.
Music is extremely important to me. I listen to a lot of music every day. Unfortunately, I do not have the chance to go to any
festivals at the moment due to the Covid pandemic which is a big shame because I usually go to several trance festivals every year.
Music helped me to get through some difficult phases in life and made me a better human being.
Despite all the bad things happening in life you have to remember that life is short and you should not waste any minute of it. I wasted
two, three years of my life being angry at the whole world after what had happened to me. I am a very different person now. I enjoy my
life to the fullest, I am happily married and I have recently managed to find a very good job at one of the big banks from the UK.
I want to enjoy music in the best quality available and I am willing to pay big money for it if the quality is right. I have recently purchased
the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab vinyl release of Bob Marley and The Wailer's Catch a Fire. It was worth every penny even though it wasn't cheap
( almost 200 $ ). But I didn't care about the price. I wanted to enjoy this masterpiece in the best quality available and this is an excellent release.
There is so much brilliant music out there it is unbelievable and still much so much left for me to discover for the rest of my life.
Just one last recommendation I want to make: Jean-Michel Jarre's new Amazônia album. I wouldn't really call it music. You have to listen to it yourself
to be the judge here. It is interesting for sure and brilliantly engineered and recorded. The vinyl release is fantastic and the 5.1 audio version of it
highly recommendable. |
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Posted: 14 May 2021, 16:54
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I did indeed. A lucky stumble. I didn't know it was rare until after I got it though. I just like over the top mediocre films so this disc has gone to a good home where it will be watched and hopefully enjoyed, rather than gathering dust. :thumbup:
There is a sequel War Bus 2 that is on DVD and, I think, Blu Ray.
This is a wonderful post and the covers are awesome !!!
Can you please tell me more about these Mind Control discs ? What are these actually ? Sounds interesting. |
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Posted: 28 May 2021, 22:10
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What bothers me most about DVDs is the poor sound quality. DD 2.0 just sounds terrible in my cases. It is compressed to hell with horrible dynamics. I have heard some very good
DD 5.1 and dts 5.1 ( even a few full bitrate dts ) tracks. But DD 2.0 is quite bad in many cases.
There are some DVDs that look really good, in my opinion. I like the early Warner, Paramount or Sony DVDs that had tons of languages and subtitles on them.
But actually I wanted to write that I have just watched a really fantastic film tonight. It is called Croupier, made in 1998, directed by Mike Hodges ( Flash Gordon ) and starring
Clive Owen. It looks like a cheaper made for TV film but it has a really interesting story and excellent performances. I just loved the character Clive Owen was playing.
It is a brilliant modern film noir / neo noir film with a unique atmosphere and you immediately bond with the protagonist.
I found it while browsing the Netflix ( USA ) catalogue on my Fire TV Cube. ExpressVPN works very well with Netflix and the entire film streamed without any issues at all.
I am so happy I found it by chance tonight. I give it 9 out of 10! |
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Posted: 22 Aug 2021, 07:10
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The last time I was authoring my own VCDs was around 1998-2000 using an MPEG1 encoder developed by Panasonic. The quality was quite good for
a Video CD.
The best looking VCDs I have in my collection are those made for the CD-i format at the beginning of the 90s. Those look really OK on a small TV and they
sound good, too.
There is an impressive catalogue of titles released in Hong Kong during the 90s and 2000s. I believe they have some value and I would watch them again if
I find something interesting.
Whenever I find any retail European retail VCDs from that period I buy them because I find them to be quite interesting releases. There are some interesting
music titles, too. |
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Posted: 22 Aug 2021, 07:15
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There is nearly nothing worthwhile exclusive to LD anymore.
Yes, that might be true for Hollywood films but I still believe there are many very interesting music releases on LD
exclusive to that format and VHS. There are also other niche genre titles I find interesting plus many lesser known
Hong Kong films that were only released on VCD/VHS. Plus there are also many US films that have not been released
on Blu-Ray yet so I don't think the LD is a worse choice here ( better picture quality vs significantly better sound quality ).
Yes but if you are into Hollywood films solely then it does not make any sense buying films on LD any longer. That is true. |
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Posted: 11 Mar 2022, 21:43
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I don't know whether that counts but I have a DADC USA pressing of Men In Black that is pretty much perfect on all sides.
I think Anna And The King might be my rarest LD. I only bought it for 300 Yen in a shop in Osaka and I am sure it is much more worth
than that. |
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Posted: 26 May 2022, 09:10
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Your eyes are accustomed to the rough picture of LD. I thought DVDs looked great (even on HDTVs) until BDs arrived. Larger screen sizes are a lot less forgiving for sure. It is subjective however not very subjective, you will find very few people agreeing with you on LD looking great on a 65” or large display. LD is bandwidth limited and massively compressed. You get what you get.
Also, keep in mind, people put a lot of effort and money into making LDs look good then compare it to the most bare bones DVD setup. If you put similar effort and money into it, you can make DVDs look great too.
The DVD Superbit Collection was such an example. The DVDs looked really great and still do if properly upscaled to Full HD or 4K.
I can see a clear difference between both Full HD and 4K on my 83 inch OLED. DVDs properly upscaled to 4K using my Sony 4K Player look
totally acceptable and fine. However on my previous 86 inch 8K Mini LED they looked horrible if upscaled to 8K but 4K/8K looked fantastic on it.
I could even see a clear difference between 4K and 8K on this TV. Full HD looked considerably worse if compared to 8K on that TV.
I got rid of the 8K TV because of annoying vertical banding and had it replaced with a 4K OLED which was a very good choice. It is very
good at upscaling SD and Full HD contents. To me SD / Full HD content is very important so I'd rather have the 4K OLED.
I watch LDs by connecting my player via cinch with my Denon AVR which then upscales it to 4K and outputs the signal to my TV via HDMI.
It does not look fantastic but 4:3 content looks OK. |
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Posted: 20 Nov 2022, 14:46
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I bought a new DAC yesterday. Actually it is a Technics CD/SACD player with network capabilities ( Tidal/Spotify/USB playback/internet radio ). It contains
a high quality DAC and I only read very good things about it. It cost me 2500 € and in my opinion it was worth every penny.
The internal DAC is a hundred times better than the one inside my Denon AV receiver. I have never heard CDs and FLAC files with such extreme accuracy
and depth and detail. I have played a lot of music since yesterday and this does not sound any worse than my record player. In fact I am starting to like it
more. It has the depth that I knew from my record player and doesn't have the flat sound then I knew from my all my previous DACs. It sounds absolutely
fantastic and better than expected.
One of the reasons I bought this thing is because I am starting to get tired of the vinyl hype. I used to buy good albums for 40 € upwards and I simply refuse
to pay this amount of money for a single album. What is the point in buying new vinyl that was mastered using digital wav files pressed onto vinyl ?
I bought a lot of CDs for 1 € each at the local flea market and they sound absolutely magnificent on this player.
Anyway this was a very good investment and it also has a digital input ( coax / spdif ) so I can connect my laserdisc player to it which is great, too. |
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Posted: 26 Feb 2023, 22:23
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I have a copy of the US laserdisc of The Bounty with Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson. One of my favourite films of
all times ( magnificent performance by Anthony Hopkins, excellent score by Vangelis ).
It has the sticker of a rental shop in Austin, Texas. Both discs are very badly scratched. The third CAV is so badly
scratched that there is a certain scene where the player simply hangs like a scratched record. All I can do
is fast forward a bit and then it continues. The picture on all three sides is not clean at all, loads of chroma
noise and in the first two or three minutes I can see crosstalk ( for example I can faintly see the Orion logo from the very
beginning for a couple of seconds one or two minutes later ). I would like to have a different copy in order to
be able to compare. |
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Posted: 06 Apr 2023, 22:14
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I have to say that I am a huge fan of archive.org. It has millions of things and you can find some real gems there.
For instance I have found a DVD ISO image of "Tahiti" which was also released on Laserdisc and MUSE Laserdisc.
https://archive.org/details/sony-tahiti-dvd
https://archive.org/details/sony-guayana
https://archive.org/details/sony-alaska |
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Posted: 23 Aug 2023, 17:50
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I have to say that I do not like this most recent trend.
The more time passes the more I enjoy using physical media more and more. I have a fairly large DVD collection and I have
started watching these films more often than I used to. I simply enjoy the fact of inserting a DVD and having all the extras, menu, etc.
There are some DVDs from the early 00s with beautiful menus where you can see that the creators of these menus put a lot of
effort into it. I bought an Oppo clone early this year and I have to say that they look great on my OLED 4K TV. Sound is very good in
many cases.
What I really hate about many streaming services that they minimise the viewing window as soon as the end credits start which I find
extremely annoying as they are an important part of the film to me.
I will buy more and more DVDs ( and Blu Ray discs ) in time and I am in the process of indexing my entire collection via a German
website called ofdb.de . I have already add a lot of titles to that database. My oldest DVDs in my collection is a very early German release
of Basic Instinct ( without English audio ) that I bought in 1999 as well as a cheap Hong Kong film that was sold for 10 German Marks
at the time which was very cheap back then. Both DVDs still play without any issues after almost 25 years. The DVD format has a huge
catalogue and many discs can be acquired for very little money.
Another problem is that it is simply difficult to find anything of interest on Netflix/Disney+ after some time when one has already been through
the entire catalogue and watched everything of interest.
I nowadays mostly watch DVDs/BluRays/Laserdiscs and I am very happy with them. It is an extremely different viewing experience to
any of the existing streaming services that mostly offer audio inferior to DVD audio quality. |
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Posted: 19 Apr 2024, 20:47
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The best picture I have ever seen on a Video CD is the Hong Kong release of the Chinese film "Hero" (Zhang Yimou) when it came out.
It looked really really good for a VCD! I had a digital copy of it for years but somehow lost it :(
I spent a lot of time with this format in Hong Kong/Macau 20 years ago! Back there were many shops to rent films. If I remember correctly
a DVD was twice as expensive to rent than a VCD and since we were watching the films on a small TV back then the VCDs were kind of
acceptable even though DVDs looked much better even on a small old National TV made in Japan. |
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Thanks list