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Posted: 20 Nov 2017, 00:30 

Submitted the Speed Racer: The Movie covers to Julien (and even spelled his name wrong in the email I sent him ... ugh). Told him to write me back if they weren't good enough to post on the site...

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Posted: 26 Nov 2017, 09:55 

Disclaimer: I'm no A/V export and my TV is not professionally calibrated.

I have an Onkyo TX-SR707 (about 10 years old) and a 4K Sony 70" 850B (about three years old). My player is a Sony MDP-600.

I've been reading up lately on how to optimize the picture from LD and saw similar posts about using the composite vs y/c signal from the player and letting the comb filter on the newer hardware do the work.

To date, I've had my player hooked to the Onkyo via y/c and the Onkyo upscales to my TV via HDMI.

After reading this thread, I decided to try out the composite signal to see what happened. My Sony player has dual composite outs which allowed me to connect the player directly to the TV and to the Onkyo at the same time. I was also able to use the Twin Picture function on the TV to do a true side comparison of each input simultaneously.

I was using the CAV version of Beauty and the Beast for my test since there are some night scenes with good contrast.

I did some eyeball testing for about an hour and still have more to do, but I was shocked to find that the picture output from my Onkyo to TV was extremely dark when compared to the composite signal fed right in to the TV. A lot of detail was being lost due to the brightness/contrast levels through the Onkyo and I could not seem to adjust them to make them come anywhere close to the straight composite signal upscaled by the TV itself.

The TV was using the same picture setting for both inputs.

I will post a few example frames taken with my camera straight from the TV screen using the Twin Picture option on my set. Both images are displayed on my set at the same time -- both from the two separate composite outputs of my player.

The upscaled composite output from the Onkyo is on the left (the picture surrounded by the green box) and the straight composite signal direct to the TV is on the right in each shot.

First frame: notice the detail in the sky and the castle tower. The sky is virtually black on the image coming out of the Onkyo:

IMG_0710.JPG

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Posted: 26 Nov 2017, 09:59 

Frame two: notice the loss of detail on the hat in the Onkyo frame.

Attachment:
IMG_0709.JPG

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 Post subject: Re: Headphones
Posted: 05 May 2019, 17:49 

My vote: Sennheiser HD 380 Pro. I can't say I have the best ears - but to me the Senn's create a sound stage that is amazing for both music and movies.

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Posted: 14 Feb 2021, 03:00 

Oh! See, I didn't know that! I thought AC-3 discs completely replaced one of the audio tracks and thus would play static/some other unpleasant noise if you tried to watch them without a demodulator.

Though when you say analog and digital tracks, does that mean I'd have to route the audio through SPDIF instead of composite to get the digital audio? Laserdisc can carry two audio tracks - an analog stereo track and a PCM digital track. This is from memory - but I believe most modern players always output the PCM track. TOSLink output the PCM data (as you would expect). Out from the RCA stereo jacks still came from the PCM signal (run through the onboard DA converter).

Since players were using the PCM track for both digital and analog output, the original analog tracks on the disc were, for the most part, not used for anything. When AC3 support came along, the decision was made to use the right analog channel (which was mostly unused) to carry the AC3 signal. It was actually a very clever solution.

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Posted: 25 Feb 2021, 23:57 

I bought and watched some new titles over the last few weeks:

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
Disclosure
Cliffhanger
Blown Away

While not necessarily classics by any stretch -- man there were some great movies made in the early/mid 90s.

I've also popped in some of my all-time cult favorites:

The Towering Inferno (which is an amazing good good transfer)
Colossus: The Forbin Project

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Posted: 26 Feb 2021, 00:39 

It’s likely that your Sony does an OK job already since most Sony TVs do. I have a selection of Bravia and Wega, roughly 2004 to 2017, and LD looks good to great with all of them. It could get better though, most likely. Thanks for the reply. This is where I'm coming from. LD doesn't look bad by on my Sony by any means. I just read so much here about external processors and how it can make PQ better (and I get it's not making it 10x better) that I always wonder how much getting one would help....
Before spending any money though, darken the room and use Video Essentials to calibrate your set for LD. If you don’t have VE, get it. In the meanwhile take your brightness and contrast way way down from where it probably is. Watch LDs when the TV is the brightest light in the room. You may be surprised at how good LD looks if you remove competing light sources and stare straight into it. Yep - have it covered. I bought VE way back in the 90s when I got my first player and have used it to calibrate my the sets I use with my LD ever since.

Honestly - I'm probably over-thinking it and have a little FOMO going on ...
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