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Posted: 12 Oct 2011, 20:02 

So, for some systems such as PAL+, technical information is readily available. Others, such as red-blue anaglyph 3D, are just obvious. I thought a thread with information on the less well known systems might be useful. I have some technical papers on MUSE Hi-Vision LD, & the two different types of HDVS discs, so I'll start with that.

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 Post subject: MUSE Hi-Vision LD, part 1
Posted: 12 Oct 2011, 20:42 

There were actually multiple iterations of MUSE optical videodiscs before the final consumer product was developed. The goal was to have 30 minutes per side playback time in CAV mode, or 60 minutes in CLV, the same as standard NTSC LD, but this was difficult to achieve. The MUSE signal has a bandwidth of 8.1 MHz, as opposed to 4~5 MHz for NTSC or PAL, meaning that the carrier frequency has to be higher, and the recorded bandpass wider.

The first prototype MUSE LD system was developed in 1984. (That's right, kids, before the first Digital Audio LDs were released!) At that time, the MUSE system was still under development, but it was recognized that packaged media would be important to the introduction of HDTV. The early MUSE system used a carrier-multiplex form of digital audio which was incompatible with LD recording, so a different type of multiplex was used on the disc, and processing was necessary in the player to change it back into the form accepted by the MUSE decoder. As a result, audio was limited to two channels of 32 kHz sampled 10-bit companded PCM.

The carrier frequency used was 14 MHz, with deviation of ±2 MHz, ie, black level at 12 MHz, white level at 16 MHz. The same emphasis used for broadcasting was applied. A second signal was also recorded, a "pilot tone" at a frequency of 2.28 MHz (67.5 times the line frequency) & an amplitude of -20 dB relative to the video carrier. This provided a reference for synchronization & to drive the moving-mirror tangential servo, so that jitter could be reduced to below 10 ns without the use of a digital time-base corrector.

The track pitch of the disc was 1.65 micron, and the minimum linear playing speed was 18 meters per second. The inner recorded radius in CAV mode was 95 millimeters, giving a play time of 17 minutes at the conventional 1800 revolutions per minute. In CLV mode, the inner recorded radius was 55 mm, the speed varied from 3100 to 1200 RPM, & the playing time was 30 minutes.

http://ura.caldc.com/stannum/disc/sanyo_1985_figure_9.jpg

Information & illustration from "Optical Videodisc for High-Definition Television by the MUSE", Tateo Toyama et al, SMPTE Journal , January 1986, pp 25 et seq. (Paper originally presented at 19th Annual SMPTE Television Conference, 16 February 1985.)

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Posted: 12 Oct 2011, 21:29 

Supposedly there was an effort to develop a MUSE version of VHD, but this seems to have gone nowhere.

Sanyo continued working on the MUSE LD problem, & the MUSE encoding format itself continued to evolve. A second Sanyo system was similar to the first, with the same pilot tone frequency (aplitude -28 dB) & play time, but used a deviation of only ±1.5 MHz, so that the black & white level frequencies were 12.5 & 15.5 MHz. This system again multiplexed 32 kHz, 14-10 bit companded 2-channel audio data into the MUSE signal, and also added a CD-type audio track, for a total of 4 channels. ( "Hi-Vision Optical Video Disc", Toshiaki Hioki et al, IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics , vol 34 no 1, February 1988, pp 72 et seq. )

By 1991, Sanyo had developed a disc with 60 minutes of play time per side. This used a pickup with a lens numerical aperture of 0.6 and a newly-developed laser diode with a wavelength of 670 nanometers (as opposed to 0.5 and 780 nm for NTSC players), providing a smaller scanning-spot size. This allowed reducing the linear velocity to 14 m/s, and the track pitch to 1.12 microns. The carrier frequency and deviation were changed to 13±1.5 MHz. The MUSE signal, which by that time had been finalized (daily broadcasts began in that same year), was used without alteration, and the CD-type audio signal was multiplexed at -27 dB. Thus, a total of 6 audio channels was available, four from the MUSE A-mode audio signal, & 2 from the Red Book track. ( "High Density Muse Videodisc", Hitoshi Terasaki et al, IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics , vol 37 no 3, August 1991. )

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Posted: 12 Oct 2011, 21:51 

At this point, other consumer electronics manufacturers became involved. A consortium of five firms, including Sanyo and Pioneer, was formed in September 1991 to develop & market the Hi-Vision LD format, & Pioneer introduced the HLD-V500 commercial player based on this format in May 1992.

The carrier frequency of the final format was 12.5 MHz, with deviation ±1.9 MHz, or a frequency range of 10.6—14.4 MHz. The pilot signal of 2.28 MHz was used, as before, and the Red Book CD-audio track was allowed as an option but not required. The inner playback radius was 55 mm in CLV, with a starting rotational speed of 2700 RPM, and 76 mm in (1800 RPM) CAV, with a track pitch of 1.1 micron, providing 60 or 30 minutes per side respectively (20 or 10 minutes on a 20 cm disc, although I have never heard of one). In order to deal with dropouts, the error correction code in the MUSE audio signal was changed from BCH(82,74) to BCH(82,67). (The extra bits were taken from those set aside for "independent data" in the MUSE specification.) These codes are closely related, & it is believed that all consumer MUSE decoders can accept both types of audio signal. A 76-bit control and address signal was inserted, using biphase modulation at 2.7 megabaud, in line 564 of each frame, which is left blank and reserved in the MUSE specification for exactly such uses.

http://ura.caldc.com/stannum/disc/pioneer_1993_figure_1.jpg

Information & illustration from "MUSE Videodisc System", Takashi Sakakibara, 1993 NAB HDTV World Conference Proceedings , pp 147 et seq.

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 Post subject: Re: Laserdisc vs DVD
Posted: 08 Jul 2014, 03:51 

Ld and dvd are both 480i vertical resolution. Dvd has over 500 lines or horizontal resolution and Ld has 425 (theoretical) lines of horizontal resolution.

Dvd has 240 lines of chroma resolution in alternative lines (4:2:0 sampling) that is 4 bit of Cb and Cr (chroma)on every other line where as 8 bit Y (Luma) on all lines.

Ld has 120 lines of chroma at best. Most older pressing (pre-superNTSC) have half of that and 2D comb filters can only retract limited Chroma from the composite signal. So early 1990s releases played through 3D comb filter gets 100+ lines.

Dvd is a digital medium. Its samples of discreet info. Imagine you want to draw a line in digital. In 1000 sampling you draw 1000 dots next to each other. In 100 sampling you draw the same line (same length) with 100 dots. If you draw your line high enough number of dots you might create one straight line without breaks.

Ld is an analog format. Its continuous time. You draw a line scratching your pen on the paper. The quality of the line depends on your pen and the paper. If its a good ball point pen and a fine paper, you will have a beautiful line. Ld can record 7mhz of continuous electrical information pet second for its video.


dvd has about 65db of signal to noise ratio. Ld is 54db on the best machine. Most average player is at around 48-50db.

dvd can be read quiet accurately and the same on most dvd players. If I tell you to draw a 1" line with 100 dots in equal spaces, you can imitate my line easily. If I ask you to draw a 1" line with a pen, your line will look like mine but if you examine closely each line is unique with different strokes. Thats why analog recording and reading differs each time and each equipment.

Dvd is compressed in mpeg-2. It has side effects like banding, pixelation on motion, mosquito noise. Ld is uncompressed and immune of these but separating luma and chroma has its own artifacts .

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Posted: 13 Sep 2017, 09:19 

Hi everyone,

I understand that the forum has been slowing down because, well, we already talked and discussed 99% of what could be said/explained on LD and LD Players over the years.

I can see that visitors are reading/searching the forum but less contributions these days, except maybe in the "technical questions" for Players starting to age and slowly breaking down.

There are, however, a LOT of good posts and great information laying deep in the old topics that would benefit from more exposure/indexing.
After considering several options, I decided to give "Thanks for Posts" a try: https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/mod/thanks_for_posts
thanks.png
For now you can add a "thank you note" on a post linked to an active account (not yours obviously, this is not Facebook!) and when enough thanks are received, I'll be able to pull out a list of popular topics and posters (in quality, not in quantity or most recent posts).

If you bookmarked or liked an old post, don't hesitate to go like it to give him a chance to shine again for newcomers!

And if you want to enable notifications (PM or Email) when someone thanked you, you will have to update your User Profile here:

http://forum.lddb.com/ucp.php?i=prefs&mode=personal

UCP.png

Julien

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Posted: 14 Sep 2017, 08:11 

Where did he live?

=> Plattsburg, Missouri. USA

His first website domain is gone: http://www.laservisionlandmarks.com/ but the contents live on http://laservideodisc.tripod.com/LaserVision/

+ https://issuu.com/disclord

I'll make a full backup of these just in case...

Julien

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 Post subject: Re: LD player for music.
Posted: 26 Sep 2017, 01:03 

The Theta units are modified to output a very stable output bitstream to a separate D/A unit. If you can notice the warmth of a multi-bit verses bitstream D/A then you need to look at the very expensive HLD-X9 or go back to a CLD-95 or my favorite Philips CDV-488. If you cannot hear the difference get a CLD-D703 or 704. The Panasonic LX-900U is also good but you have to make sure you get a good working as there are no parts available. Trying to remember which modified unit did have a an upgraded D/A board, it made have been EAD. There were three versions and one was D/A upgraded.

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 Post subject: Re: CLD-R7G Arrived!
Posted: 26 Nov 2017, 03:58 

I normally stay away from these conversations anymore but I thought I'd give my opinion. The only player I have not seen in the list is the DVL-H9 but I've seen the DVL-91 which is supposed to be same unit. My opinions are best on performance once I finished all adjustments for best picture performance.

If you want a player with less noise then the list about is pretty good. Comments are that if you turn off the DNR that defaults ON in the X0 it pretty much looks the same as the S2 but the X0 has the red laser that can help avoid crosstalk. Then the X0 noise levels are low enough the DNR actually makes it look really nice keeping an analog look. I've connected an S2 to my Pioneer Elite Plasma and turned on the DNR in the plasma and got close to the same look. This is really leaving out the older players like the CLD-3070 thru CLD-D702 and the LD-S1. I believe the 3070-702 would come after the 97/95 (remember the 95 was short lived as the S-Video or Y/C has a chroma verses luminance lag and the 97 corrected this). Now I've only seen one S1 and it is also low noise so it is around the 97/95/3070-702.

If you want a player with a more dynamic picture then the X9 is the best especially if you put it in HR mode but good both ways and the list needs to be completely changed with the 95/97/S2/X0 being low on the list. The DVL-91 and R7G do also crank up the sharpness with the S-Video output, the 91 composite is not cranked up, cannot remember about the R7G composite output. As I've always said if you have a quality monitor with a good power supply and the black level set properly the white smear on the S9/79/99/703/704 is not that bad but a little is there. This really tests your monitor and setup. I have never seen the issue like I've seen posted in pictures unless I turn up the brightness level on my plasma or analog test monitor. So, yes these units do have some smear but how sensitive are you to it and how does your system show it will help you decide if you want one of these. The 97/95/3070-702 have smear to a lesser degree. Sometime turn up the brightness when playing the X9 and look at the credits on a dark scene and see if you notice anything where the smear used to be.

So it really comes down to your preference and setup for you to determine what you like best. I do my repairs with the units connected directly to the monitor, no processing in between. Yes, I'm a person that prefers lower noise levels built into the design, not processed by DNR.

All these units are good units, this is really just a contest of preferences and how you use the player. I'm fine with rein-o promoting the R7G even though the 97 is my favorite as that is what he likes and if you have the same preferences as rein-o then you'll agree with him.

The key is to find the player you like and enjoy it.

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Posted: 01 Jan 2018, 18:38 

Contact

Stephen Bright At Highview Video

Email highviewvideo@sky.com

Two of my machines ((925's) were badly damaged and he repaired them at a reasonable cost.
Superb work all round.


If he asks how you heard of him, just mention my name Roger Shore.


Roger

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Posted: 17 Feb 2018, 06:47 

Thanks again, everyone.

I got it fixed. I recently switched from a projector to an LCD and the new LCD required different black/contrast settings on the Lumagen. I used the color bars and had to move the black way up.

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Posted: 18 Feb 2018, 05:28 

... that is if you have JPY 1,000,000 (about US$9,410 + shipping) to spare.

Unopened Many Total 31 Hi-Vision LD High Definition Laser Disk
未開封多数 計31枚 Hi-Vision LD ハイビジョンレーザーディスク
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r229547693
Attachment:
MUSE.jpg


That's ~US$305/title.

Julien

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Posted: 02 Mar 2018, 21:59 

This is a list of Laserdisc releases that have deleted, extended, and alternate shots & scenes that have currently never been released digitally on DVD, Blu-ray, Video on demand, etc. Feel free to add or contribute any information.

Alamo, The (1960) ML102581 , ML-12 & ML106354 - these are the Director's Cut with 35 minutes of deleted and extended scenes including two alternate shots.
American Graffiti (1973) - these have the Theatrical opening shot of the restaurant that was digitally altered after the 25th anniversary release with a CGI sunset.
Back to the Future (1985) - the ending shot displaying the title card "To Be Continued" was removed from the DVD and Blu-ray release to preserve the Theatrical ending.
Backtrack (Catchfire) (1989) PILF-2246 - this is the Director's Cut. It contains 8 minutes of extended and alternate scenes.
Bad (1991) Z0300 - this is the uncensored version. The DVD is cut by over 20 minutes.
Blood Simple (1984) SF050-1357 - this is the Theatrical Cut. It contains a dialogue sequence that's missing from the UK Universal DVD.
Blue Thunder (1983) - these contain one scene not included on the DVD and Blu-ray versions.
Cafe Flesh (1982) Z0093 - the ending on the DVD was cut by a few seconds.
Cartel (1990) ID7946SG - this has 6 minutes of extended scenes.
City Hunter (1993) PCLP-00477 - contains an extended opening with more shots from the manga, including a few clips from the film and an alternate shot.
Dangerous Games (1995) AVIV-1012 - Vivid Video Entertainment severely cut the DVD by 13 minutes to create fake "multiple angle" footage. This contains the fully uncut version.
Dead Poets Society (1989) 7821 AS - contains 14 minutes of deleted scenes.
Diary of Anne Frank, The (1959) 1074-80 & 1074-85 - these are the widescreen editions featuring the original walk-in, intermission, and exit music tracks from the Theatrical release.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) ML101642 - this is the fully restored uncensored version with 17 minutes of previously censored material.
Dream Lover (1993) 800633113-1 - features over 2 minutes of deleted material.
Grizzly (1976) SF078-5011 - this contains a scrolling monologue at the beginning that was never shown on DVD.
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991) LV83081 - the DVD version is missing a mention of Harvey Keitel as Willard and a scene
Immortals, The (1995) LT8011-C & --- - these are the uncut versions of the film and are 6 minutes longer than the DVD version.
It (1990) 12198 - this contains the entire 192 minutes of the TV miniseries uncut with one extended shot at the ending of Part 1 and six deleted and extended scenes at the beginning of Part 2.
It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) ML102194 - the Criterion Blu-ray is missing three scenes and two alternate shots that are only found on this version.
Jason's Lyric (1994) 800633909-1 & ID3837PG - these are the Unrated version that contains about 1 minute of additional footage.
Jimi Hendrix: Rainbow Bridge (1970) ID3931RH - this contains an additional 17 minutes to the original film's 108 minute DVD version.
Lion King, The (1994) - a majority of the animated footage and title cards were remastered after the 1995 Walt Disney Home Video releases of the Theatrical version for every re-released format.
Loaded Weapon 1 (1993) PCLV-10014 - this is the TV Version. While edited for content, it contains 13 minutes of deleted and extended scenes.
Love on Delivery (1994) ML 456 ML 457 - the Blu-ray has several frames cut removing certain parts of dialogue and shots & censored subtitles made on the HK DVD making this the uncut version.
Make Mine Music (1946) SF078-0110 - in the "All the Cats Join In" segment for the DVD, a scene was edited to remove a "side breast" from a girl as she gets dressed. Originally, she was seen from behind, and the side and swell of her breasts were drawn, but in the edited version, she's implied to be flat-chested.
Melody Time (1948) SF078-1214 - the later VHS and DVD releases were both cut and censored in the Pecos Bill segment.
Michael Schenker Group (M.S.G.): Hammersmith Live (1983) TE-D027 - this is the longest version available after it was reissued and shortened under the title "Rock Will Never Die".
Minako Honda: The Virgin Live in Budokan (1986) L098-10 - this contains an additional 36 minutes compared to the 59 minute DVD.
Moontrap (1989) SWLD-3033 - this is the Japanese version that contains several deleted and extended scenes.
Muppet Movie, The (1979) LVITC 0011 - this contains 2 minutes of extended shots and scenes.
Nightmare on Elm Street 5, A: The Dream Child (1989) ID7189ME & TKLR-50013 - these have deleted shots from two scenes that the MPAA cut.
Nightmare on Elm Street 6, A: Freddy's Dead - The Final Nightmare (1991) 1964-130 - this is the German version. It contains almost 3 minutes of scenes that aren't in the US version, but it's also missing scenes that are only shown in the US version.
Object of Obsession (1994) ID3279AP - this is the Unrated version with 5 minutes of additional scenes.
Other Woman, The (1992) ID2475M - this is the Unrated version with 8 minutes of additional scenes.
Pamela Principle (1992) ID2502MR - this is the uncut version with 4 minutes of additional scenes.
Peking Opera Blues (1986) PILF-7063 & A015 - this contains missing text that isn't on the DVD and Blu-ray releases that were part of the ending shown in the Theatrical Cut.
Program, The (1993) TL-1343 - it includes one scene that was removed from all other releases of the film. The studio cut it shortly after the film's theatrical release.
Protector, The (1985) G88F0051 - contains 3 minutes of additional scenes to the Hong Kong version of the film.
Ransom (1995) 8295 AS , PILF-2392 & PILF-2680 - these are the Director’s Cut containing 18 minutes of deleted footage.
Rock n’ Roll Cop (1994) OL-395 - contains the fully uncut version while the DVD is censored.
She's Gotta Have It (1996) CC1381L - this is the Director's Cut containing 4 minutes of additional scenes.
Solar Crisis (1990) PCLP-00128 - this is the uncut Director's Cut with 7 minutes of additional footage.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) LV 8858-2A & f SF057-1618 - these are the extended version to the Theatrical Cut that was briefly shown on ABC television with 12 minutes of additional scenes.
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) PILF-2830 - this is the only release to feature the Theatrical version.
Starflight One (1983) LVRK 0175 - this contains 7 minutes of additional scenes.
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987 K88L-5090 - contains two deleted scenes that were briefly shown on television broadcasts of the TV version.
Texasville (1990) PSE93-34 - contains 24 minutes of additional scenes.
THX 1138 (1971) - these have the original cut of the film.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) 940 CS - contains two shots that were censored for every subsequent release.
Wyatt Earp (1994) 13921 & NJWL-13921 - these are the Special Expanded editions with 19 minutes of additional scenes.
Yellow Submarine: The Beatles (1968) PILA-3029 - this version contains the Theatrical Cut of the film containing additional songs which have never been released on DVD.

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Posted: 03 Mar 2018, 17:34 

I haven't said anything here in the last month, but I've been busy. I found the new TBC app like the old one failed pretty badly at a lot of real-world signals I tried to throw at it. Originally I started working on improving the code, but I found it seemed to be entirely based around expected values from the NTSC signal specs, and was quite rigid and hard to adapt from that point to be more tolerant of other signals that didn't conform to its expectations. I ended up heading in a different direction and writing something new from scratch. It's still early days, and there isn't any repair process in place yet for really badly damaged sync events, but I've got a workable program now that can take raw composite video signals (such as the one output by lddecode.py) and identify sync events, group into frames, and synchronise lines. There's no colour decoding yet, but here's the kind of raw frame output I get right now on the Fantasia sample I used before:
http://preview.ibb.co/eVVrYS/image.png

And here's a frame of progressive video from Sonic 2, which I couldn't decode previously:
http://preview.ibb.co/jXWgYS/image.png

The next big thing is adding colour decoding, which I'm not really looking forward to, but I'll give it a shot sometime soon. I've put the code up on github at https://github.com/RogerSanders/avtoolkit .

Some of the main advantages this has over the previous decoder are as follows:
-Universal format support (Can decode signals with any number of lines, any line/sync timing, progressive or interlaced)
-Supports any sample type (templated code allows any data type to be used)
-Supports any sample rate (adaptive processing algorithms scale to the length of detected events in the data stream)
-Extensive source comments and cleaner code structure
-Better performance (Efficient algorithms and multithreaded processing gives over 5x speedup on my PC)
-Cross-platform code with no external dependencies (Only Visual Studio projects provided right now for Windows compilation. I'll add a makefile soon for Linux compilation.)

It's far from perfect yet, but the elements are there to build from. If my interest keeps up, I'll split the core processing work out to a library, so a set of thin tools can grow around the common set of code. I'd like to get this to the point where it can decode basically any analog video signal.

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Posted: 20 May 2018, 22:33 

All,

I started working on a scratch built AC3-RF output board 10 years ago but never got anywhere with it when I couldn't get it to work. So a couple of months ago, I got the itch to finally get it done and found that I had my mute control transistor wired up incorrectly. :problem:

So here are some images of the board and the player that I used for the experiment (a Pioneer, CLD-2090 clone in case anyone was wondering ;) ).


Schematic that I used to create the board
https://i.vgy.me/gC7t9y.gif

Top view of the board
https://i.vgy.me/PiFvyo.jpg

Bottom view of the board
https://vgy.me/Uk5QGl.jpg

Size comparison of the scratch built board and a BDE custom made board w/ surface mount components
https://i.vgy.me/FUYqZ0.jpg

Solder points in the player for the board (+5V = red, -5V = blue, GND = green, Mute = yellow, AFM = coax wire)
https://i.vgy.me/dntNx9.jpg

https://i.vgy.me/Sh7GHa.jpg

The board installed w/ all wires connected
https://vgy.me/c6mOkI.jpg

Wide view showing the board and RCA jack
https://vgy.me/jU1AW8.jpg

RCA jack internal view
https://vgy.me/gSuDo7.jpg

RCA jack external view
https://i.vgy.me/X1SBim.jpg

The player playing an AC3 disc w/ Sony SDP-E800 showing a lock ("discrete" indicator lighted)
https://i.vgy.me/60RjEf.jpg


So now that I have successfully made this board a reality, now it's time to make more of them so I can get the rest of my players up to the AC-3 RF spec. My next version will be on a board half the size (this one was bigger than it had to be but I was learning along the way so I needed space to figure it out).

Hope everyone enjoyed the images. It's quite exciting that I can now make these boards from scratch since all my past player retrofits were always from DIY kits that unfortunately are no longer available to purchase.

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 Post subject: Re: Lumagen Processors
Posted: 07 Jun 2018, 14:48 

Well the Duo and the Edge are basically identical. I think the only real difference is the color management the Duo has.

You are right about 240p being a vintage game thing. It's basically a trick. General explanation here if you are curious: https://www.hdretrovision.com/240p/

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Posted:  

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Posted: 30 Jul 2018, 13:31 

It appears you might just have what the error indicates; the focus is off on the laser.

As laser pick-ups age and lose some of their light output, this could be the beginning of the end for it. However, you could also just open up the player and see if you could find trimpots with some labeling that say things like “t-gain” (tracking gain) or even “focus offset”. You should take pics of the pots current position before messing with them and only turn them very slightly to see if any noticeable improvements occur.

Another issue is possibly check the overall alignment of the mechanism itself. I once acquired a CLD-D704 that had tracking issues near the end of a disc on side A and constant skipping on side B. A technician I brought it to said it would need a new laser pick-up at a cost of $400. I said no way and just stored the unit in the meantime to possibly get a 2nd opinion at some point. A few months later, I acquired a CLD-D703 that worked perfectly so I decided to compare it to the 704 to see if I would notice anything odd. Almost right away, I did observe that the 704’s entire gamma turn assembly was a bit crooked. Thus, I basically grabbed it with my hand and slowly started to bend the entire assembly until it looked more like the 703. Low and behold, after a few days of tweaking and testing, the 704 was totally perfect and never skipped again on either side of a disc.

So lesson learned from me; don’t always trust a repair shop cause you never know if they’re dishonest on purpose to try and make a buck or they might simply be a moron. In addition, try to have another similar machine around cause seeing a working example can help one glean some hint on what is happening (I also fixed a friend’s 703 that was damaged in shipping by comparing my unit to his; he had a damaged plastic part that adjusted the tilt of the carriage assembly).

Hope some of this might help you out.

Thanks. After my post, the player spat out a H2 code and died. I took it to a local repairer who had been in business a while and has had experience with Laserdisc players. Two weeks later and the player is back in my rack working. The issue - dead and dying caps. Meaning the playing was being under powered. He replaced every cap for $130AUD ($96 US) - a great deal. Every issue is now gone!

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 Post subject: Re: Sony MBD-XBR950
Posted: 08 Aug 2018, 18:33 

Sorry I didn't fully read your post, seems strange shouldn't 1366x768 fill a 16x9 screen? Either way I'm excited to test this, I've always thought there was a cheap LD holy grail box out there and this sounds promising.

Quests for holy grails are always hard (still waiting for that shrubbery) and even when seeming possible, often don't exist in as easy form as we'd like. The MBD-XBR950 as per OP seems quite promising for anyone with a processor that needs a comb filter upgrade but otherwise the scaling issue for the horizontal squeeze becomes a killer.

A similar model with s-video out has promise to overcome that issue but then again from a bit of reading many modern TV's don't accommodate s-video? If that's not an issue though (multi-function component in?) something like this could potentially be the 'DVD recorder solution' killer.
It definitely would be the DVD Recorder killer. A lot of DVD Recorders had some very good comb filters, but none come close to these Sony WEGA filters. I considered trying to pick up some Sony DVD Recorders trying to see if any of them have the same comb filters as the WEGAs, but they're kind of hard to find.

Now I don't even have to if these media connector boxes by Sony can be made to work like a stand alone filter.

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Posted: 14 Oct 2018, 23:07 

most LD's (that weren't pitched etc) are as good as the day they were made... but the Domesday disks were made at the PDO UK plant, so they're screwed in a decade or so as the edgerot creeps in.

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Posted: 13 Nov 2018, 21:08 

I do believe I can help you. I have the service manual for the CLD-97/CLD-98. I'll send it to the admin so he can upload it to the database.
I'm sure there are others that can have use for it too. :)

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Posted: 28 Dec 2018, 06:48 

...the movie that asks the most depressing question of all time, “What if Noah faithfully built the ark and God just let it rain for all eternity and everything died?”

Please excuse my total ignorance of other things film/director-wise etc. associated with this comment, but what if god did just let it rain? a water planet? What of aquatic creatures (it almost certainly wouldn't be a case of "everything died")? Actually, I'd really like to see what the evolutionary outcome of Cephalopods as the dominant life-form on this planet would be...

The film is one person’s answer to the question, but presumably it’s made more to be a metaphor for god’s silence re: many other films.

Because it’s so common (and awesome) to juxtapose totally disparate concepts in anime (ie: Pinocchio in space, trains in space, pirate ships in space, Ulysses in space, etc) I assumed this was a sort of Noah Ginga Densetsu kind of thing. But I don’t think it is at all.

I watched this movie like 50 times, over 15-20 years before I realized that they were literally on the actual Ark, and the man wasn’t paraphrasing Genesis, it was his actual history. It wasn’t a crashed spaceship from an earth like planet. Its Earth. God never showed up. All the animals finally went extinct when everything on the Ark died. He perhaps got bored with this experiment and moved on to something else.

It’s that sort of ish that absolutely blows my mind. The director had a Christian past and this film clearly is him sort of working that out. To feel abandoned by God is pretty heavy thing I guess. Up until this movie I had never heard or considered the concept of Noah’s Ark sinking. It’s a great “Shaka, When the Walls Fell” sort of philosophical metaphor useful for describing great ideas failing, like the USSR. Sure, the USSR itself sucked but when it died so did the dreams of millions of well meaning comunists and that has to suck.* When you buy into something very heavily despite its flaws, and sure enough it’s the flaws that killed it in the end...that’s the darkest pit of deepest despondency right there. To be betrayed by your belief in something. But since this betrayal isn’t of one person but of all life on Earth...it becomes weapons grade depressing, actually. Even Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here is less depressing than the concept of Noah’s Ark sinking. It’s the ultimate!

The reason I think new anime sucks almost axiomatically is that I haven’t had an experience like that with very many things made outside of the late 90s or earlier. It’s not that you necessarily need an emphasis on roadshow releases and cel paint to make good anime...but when they left it was in fact a generational turning point. Like if you were a cool creative young person in Japan in 2004 you just went and did something else. When Nausicaa was topping the Animage character poll (say, 1983-1992) anime was a sword thousands of young Japanese would gladly fall on if it meant taking the art form to whatever its next level would be. Unless you have some way of tilting the table I don’t see why anyone would want in on anime in 2018. It’s the thinnest pacifying gruel by now. People shouldn’t be excited to see anime because it directly feeds them an IV of whatever their thing is. We should be exited for it to show us stuff we never could have imagined in our wildest dreams.





* this subject is covered in Pet Shop Boys song My October Symphony

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Posted: 31 Dec 2018, 03:17 

Amplifies the signal received from the laser. If you have to turn this up your laser is starting to show it's age.

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 Post subject: AC3/DTS visual timeline
Posted: 21 Jan 2019, 15:41 

Just wanted to see what it would look like, from first release to last one!

https://www.lddb.com/ac3.php
https://www.lddb.com/dts.php

Julien

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Posted: 25 Apr 2019, 13:31 

I'm using custom press dies that I fabricated myself. I'm working on DEB1169 and VEB1008 now. I realize pacparts still has DEB1169, but who knows for how much longer, and who knows how long the rubber on the old stock parts will stay grippy.
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