Crazy thing happened last night. I was putting some HD-DVDs in the HD-DVD drive I have in my new desktop PC (bought the HD-DVD drive used off of ebay some years ago and just got around to putting in in my new build) so I can take some screengrabs. To play HD-DVDs on my PC, I just open the directories on the disc and find the actual video file on the disc to play with either Media Player Classic or VLC Media Player. One of the discs I was trying to play, I accidentally put it in my blu-ray drive (I actually didn't realize it until I tried taking the disc out) and the blu-ray drive was still able to read the disc!
I was able to open the directories and files without any issue. I had though that since the two formats had different data capacities that they would spin at different RPMs and despite both using blue lasers it wouldn't be able to read the disc. Perhaps they do run at different RPMs, but since computer drives are variable speed, it's able to resolve the speed difference?
In any case, keep this in mind if you ever want to try to play HD-DVDs on your PC if you have a blu-ray drive. You might still be able to play them without an HD-DVD drive!
PS: I've been able to copy the video files from HD-DVDs and put them to a hard drive and just play them that way in case anyone ever want to try to back up their HD-DVDs that might be "rotted"
And a nifty free tool that I use, Media Coder, can resise and recode those files into MP4 files if you want to be able to play them on other devices.
I got a real hum dinger! There is a VHS/LD release that in it's entirety, never made it to DVD! It's a 1985 rated R T&A flick called "Screen Test". It seems to be made in the USA but only released in Norway.
What kind of legal trouble do you think the companies would give laserdisc owners for ripping their laserdiscs to a home made DVD so they can watch them? I don't see it as unethical, but some slimy corporate lawyer might! I think I have that movie as well.
And fair use copying is legal. So long as you're not selling them, you're ok. Hell, even if you're selling them, no one really cares too much. Go to any sci-fi/horror convention and they'll be TONS of bootleg movies to be found for sale there.
Wanted to see how the PCM soundtrack compared to the DD 5.1 remix of the quadrophonic sound on the DVD. The PCM is definitely an upgrade for the songs in the movie since those mostly don't have any incidental background noises.
I know I've read that some horror DVDs in the early 00s in some European countries used Japanese LDs to make the DVD.
One of them was a German DVD of Umberto Lenzi's Nightmare City , where some reviewers spoke of Japanese subtitles burned into the DVD image!
Other than that, I reiterate that early in DVD's life there were non-anamorphic, letterboxed DVDs that were made from the same masters or transfers that the LDs used. Most notorious were the early Disney DVD releases. Not the animated films, but the other Disney studios like Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures, etc.
If I can find an old issue of Widscreen Review magazine with any of these DVDs I'll scan it in so everyone can see.
I am a bit suspect of some early US anime releases on DVD from back in the day that they might have either been from the same 1" tape masters that they would use for LD (as they had burned in cross-color and dot-crawl artifacts) or used an LD altogether for the DVD release. My argument for the latter would be that a number of these smaller US anime importing companies from back then like Central Park Media didn't have a whole lot of money to spend. So if they already paid a bunch of money for the rights, that might not have included the master tapes in that price (Rob Woodhead from AnimEigo had a funny story about jumping through hoops trying to get master materials after already negotiating for the rights for a certain title--I think it was Kimagure Orange Road.) Thus, it would just be easier to just get the LD of an anime title to make their DVD to lower overhead.
I think the "finally uncut" Manga Video 2006 DVD release of Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie might be in that same boat. At least the uncut disc. The English disc was the same initial North American dub that Sony put out so long ago. The Japanese "uncut" disc featured burned in English subtitles, a very soft picture and composite artifacting everywhere. I can't imagine a 1" master looking this bad!
This may have been fixed that in the subsequent blu-ray release, but it was a just annoying as all hell that after waiting for many years for an official uncut release in the US, that that's what they gave anime fans back in 2006.
I think that in order to make THX Certification levels, the LD makers (most likely the studios providing the transfer to the LD pressers) they had to meet certain certain criteria for sound and video, and unfortunately that meant a lot of edge enhancement, color retouching and whatnot that adds up to flaws when viewed on an HD displays. In the SD CRT world, those "visual enhancements" may have made the picture look better, but not so much these days.
I have an LX-900 and a Runco LJR II which is a souped up, THX Certified (if that actually really meant anything) version of the LX-900 and I love them. Nice, sharp picture and low noise.
As far as ranking goes, I haven't used any other Panasonic player, other than the LX-1000 which I thought had a nice picture, but not as sharp as the 900 (never encountered any of the reported issues that said player is supposed to have.)
I can provide a couple of reviews I've come across of some of the players to help give you more information.
Then again I did mess with some of the newbs on the Laserdisc Forever group on FB, when someone asked "What do you do to get a better LD picture on your flatscreen TV?"
I responded, "Well, if you're using a Sony WEGA or Panasonic TAU TV, which are technically 'flatscreen TVs' just plug in the LD player with a composite cable and enjoy."
I enjoyed the responses of "THAT'S NOT A FLATSCREEN TV YOU MORON!!!"--and then pointed out that the screens of these CRTs are flat, "therefore it is a flatscreen TV."
I could tell their heads were exploding all over their iPhones.
The Rutger Hauer classic, The Hitcher could be considered a travel movie, no?
Also (on LD):
Dumb and Dumber Terror Train Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (part 1, not so much, since a battleship isn't a normal means of transportation for non-military) The Sure Thing
Jeez . . . and we thought some LD prices get crazy!!!
Song of the South usually sells for more on VHS than on LD...
Julien I can understand that as Song of the South is not available in many countries.
However, The Lion King was the best selling home video of all time for a while if I'm not mistaken and available almost all over the world. So there's no shortage of means to see that.
This is just collectors wanting something rare and driving up the price.
Picture wise it's no question, the 900 wins. The 919 isn't much better than a CLD-60x player. I'd say the only advantages the 919 has over the LX-900 is it having a stock AC-3 RF output and the ability to access individual fields rather than frames during frame step.
As far as playing flawed discs, I don't think either is any better. The only players that have any advantages in flawed discs in my understanding are the later dedicated LD only players like the LD-S2, HLD-X9, HLD-X0 due to their better lasers and clamping mechanisms built specifically for LD rather than for LD and CD. Of course, this is only from me reading about them and not actually seeing them in action.
The Pioneer V2800 is considered a "portable" model as it was intended for business people to tote around showing business themed LDs. Portable in the fact that it is just a little wider than a 12" LD.
Doesn't have DC power though like OP is looking for though.
Zeta's referring to this one poster who kept asking over and over and over and over about if his headset/headphones would decode Dolby Digital from Laserdisc.
Even when he was given an answer he'd still argue on about it.
That being said, I've never used a 3D headset other than the attachment I got for my Galaxy phone since it was on clearance.
Does the headset say it supports any digital surround formats? Normally devices that do will have the Dolby Digital and DTS logos on the box and even on the device itself (like how receivers have the logos on them.)
Haven't trying making a new VCD in a while. Only started doing so in the early 00s when downloading fansubbed anime was starting up and I wanted to bring some over to a friend's house to watch on a TV (so everyone wasn't gathering around a 15" computer monitor.) So I would burn a few episodes to VCD and bring my Sega Saturn with the PhotoCD/VCD card over so we all could watch.
It's amazing how much video compression has advanced since then. If you encode a video at the same bitrate and resolution as MPEG-1 VCD was set to at the whitebook standard (1150kbps, 352x240) with a newer compression codec like h.264, the difference would be dramatic to say the least.
Funny aside though, a month ago I went to a shop called "Barracks Trading Post" down where I used to live in Southern NJ which specializes in used electronics. They actually had a standalone VCD player there. Can't remember the brand, but I found that amusing seeing that sitting next to some DVD and blu-ray players.
Might go back there again soon as they had a Betamax VCR that I'm thinking of picking up.
Oh yeah, and I just now recall of a site that I was looking through when I was looking up region free DVD players back in the early 00s selling standalone VCD recorders. These ones to be exact . . .
Terrapin TX0002 VCD Recorder
. . . retail price on those was $599!! I can't imagine they sold all that well.
I think I saw a copy of Iron Giant on DVD at my local thrift store for a buck.
I'm more shocked at titles that were high, went down in price as you are saying Substance, then now since they are 80s films are back up to stupid prices.
One is Big Trouble in Little China, on ebay it was actually selling for 15-45 and asking 100. Another is Creepshow 2, why is there a copy for 100 bucks. Creepshow 2 (1987) [ID5185NW]
Different pressing but I think its actually the same but a miss insert is 20 bucks. Creepshow 2 (1987) [INW5185] Horror movies and the like (since Big Trouble in Little China is directed by John Carpenter) appear to be one of the genres that get price gouged these days.
I keep seeing the Halloween and Friday the 13th titles on LD, despite them being P&S LDs and the films have subsequently been released on DVD and blu-ray with the proper AR, being sold for far more than they're actually worth. But people still pay those prices for some reason.
Went to a thrift shop with a friend and came across this DVD player in the electronics section. Didn't think much of it at first, until I saw this on the face of it:
DVD-HDCD2.jpg
Haven't tested it out yet, but I wonder if it would be best to play HDCD's on this one through the analog outs or through the HDMI?
Thanks list
