| Author |
Message |
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 12 Dec 2019, 01:45
|
|
|
| The Oscars, the Nobel Prize, they’re all BS. There is no beginning or end to it. |
|
 |
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 14 Dec 2019, 02:43
|
|
|
I mostly stick to collecting Disney discs, but I plan on branching out once I get all the Disney discs I want.
Oh my... that could be a LOT of Disney discs (they put tons on LDs!).
Julien
A lot of pretty mediocre ones too. Most of the earlier releases are pretty muddy and bad. By the time they did Snow White they had it nailed though. |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 15 Dec 2019, 17:13
|
|
|
| I don’t think very many people in the world have the luxury of walking into a store and buying what they want off the shelf, especially players. In Tokyo, Japan, yeah. In the US, I don’t know. If a place did exist in the US I sure wouldn’t assume it was anywhere in Texas except maybe Austin and probably not even there. |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 15 Dec 2019, 20:08
|
|
|
The best place I knew of for used LD was Thomas Video but they closed down (I bought 2 feet of LDs from them at the time).
Even back in the day you had limited selection. Only whats in print, only what the store will stock. Most players were only on sale for a year or two and no shop stocked every model (aggressive value engineering). Even if you had a 704 you bought new on day one it would be hard to find a replacement when that one wore out, even just a year later. Only with the advent of eBay could you just...decide what you want from all of history and then go buy it with nothing but cash. I guess when you start with eBay and LDDB you get spoiled a little. Those are the two largest shops ever outside of YAJ.
LD is a slow and steady kind of thing... |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 17 Dec 2019, 02:39
|
|
|
Laserdisc: the best. Starts right up, no copy protection, random access, killer sound, beautiful packaging, very good video for the time. Not the best video quality (now) but the most enjoyable to use format by a mile for me. I still watch LD almost every day.
BlueRay: Once it gets going it’s the best ever but the FBI warnings and commentary disclaimers make US releases infuriating. Japan releases...seem to start right up. Go figure...
VHS and DVD: I spent a lot of time on these formats but I’m not a fan of either. VHS just because it’s tape (wears out, no random access) and DVD because it looks worse than it should and of course all the animated menus and stuff so horrible they make Blu-ray seem like a breath of fresh air. And...regions. Macrovison. So sad...
CED and VCD: terrible. Terrible because they were inferior to formats already released years before, wasting people’s time. VCDs strength was only revealed when it became %99.999 pirated releases.
I don’t have a lot of experience with the other stuff. |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 18 Dec 2019, 01:31
|
|
|
In general this is a very easy player to repair as far as LD players go. There are also lots of parts used on other low end Pioneers that are cross compatible. I’m sure it can be saved, even if it means buying another wrecked LA.
Virtually nothing from any Panasonic is going to fit a Pioneer though, which is fine because Pioneer made the vast vast majority of all LD players including yours.
It needs to be sent to a real LD repair guy. Video game guys are cool and all but there isn’t much call for hardcore diagnosis in that world. |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 18 Dec 2019, 23:45
|
|
|
You must be buying the wrong Blu-Rays. All of mine are a massive upgrade over any previous release. You have to screw up a BR pretty bad for it to not look better than a DVD, even if the source is horrible, because the overall bandwidth is so wide you can fit anything you want in there. DVD can’t even keep up with its own resolution, visibly macroblocking as its reach exceeds its grasp.
That thing Substance said about how LD has enough picture data to match any display of the time...DVD doesn’t always do that. Actually, since it has to be stretched to fit, anamorphic or not, it may be correct to say that it never does unless the player does massive after treatment.
IMO concerns for edge enhancement and DNR are massively overblown and based on mostly a few high profile screwups of major movies. There are at least as many bad LDs as bad BRs and I’ve seen soooooo many bad DVD releases it’s disgusting. |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 21 Dec 2019, 01:24
|
|
|
You’re fine, already overthinking things.
Wait until you’ve owned a few discs for a few years and they play exactly the same as when you bought them, maybe then you’ll be able to relax.
Storage is essentially the same as LPs or books or whatever. Keep them vertical, packed somewhat tight but not very. Environmental conditions are important but you don’t need to build a walk-in humidor or anything. Quality bags will make stuff last almost forever.
People hate the plastic inner liners because they get spindled pretty bad. They are the best thing overall though so don’t replace them.
If you are concerned with warping then the trick is to not die. When you die someone else has to store your LDs until they can sell them and that takes years. They might sit in 6 foot stacks in some frozen garage until they can be eBayed off to the next guy and by then they will be warped if not rotted and warped. Don’t ever die!
As for the “investment”. I’ve been collecting for decades and I can’t even guess what I’ve spent but I’m sure in real money it’s all now worth about...$60. I don’t let myself get hung up on any aspect of it except what will affect my LD watching. I’ll never ever ever ever get even %10 of my money back and I’m totally cool with it. The enjoyment I’ve had with my LDs is invaluable.
EDIT: your Collection, which is private, has 20 discs in it. Are you just behind updating or did you seriously spend $1000 on 20 discs? If so, I’m not sure you’re doing this right. You may want to slow down and think about stuff.
I also noticed it says you live down on the bayou. Weather in the more swampy tropical regions has been thought to be detrimental to LD survival. I don’t think there is any proof, but it’s probably true. If you have AC for you collection there won’t be an issue. Otherwise 100F with 89% humidity is to be avoided. |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 21 Dec 2019, 03:17
|
|
|
There’s a not-difficult way to add a drain to a basement? I think you need an impact hammer and a permit and breathing apparatus and stuff, that’s before you lay the pipe and poor the concrete.
I’ve never had a house that didn’t already have a drain in it so maybe there’s some other way of doing it? |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 23 Dec 2019, 17:51
|
|
|
Some notes:
Most Laserdiscs aren’t worth the cost of shipping.
The number of discs is determined by the running time. One hour per side with CLV discs, one half hour per side for CAV discs. A short movie may be one disc, a movie in CAV format may be as many as five sides.
Those thick plastic ziplock things, at least one ones I’ve see, can really mess up jackets pretty bad from my experience, especially if the owner liked to leave the jacket in there and just pull the disc in and out. I’d expect the opening edge of the jacket will be pretty dinged up.
The LDDB Top Ten is the last ten discs most people want. It represents what they already have and what the most common discs are. They WERE in demand, but now that there are enough LDs for everyone at super low prices nobody is going to pay much for T2 special edition anymore because they already have three copies.
Good luck. There must be an LD fan on Guam still. |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 27 Dec 2019, 03:16
|
|
|
My trusty old Pioneer CLD-D515 has developed a fault in that it is refusing to play the digital sound from any of my discs - it outputs analogue sound only.
The CLD-D515 doesn't have a Digital output, I suppose it gets converted to analog and should output on Analog L/R?
Julien
That’s how every player that had Digital Sound did it until they started adding digital outs.
I think he means the player doesn’t use the track at all. This can potentially occur if the grip ring slips but other than that I have no ideas. Since CDs are affected I’d say this isn’t that.
So what does a CD do? Does it play and track and all that and just lacks sound? |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 27 Dec 2019, 04:47
|
|
|
So it still allows you to switch to the Digital track, but it’s just silent?
In that case I would look for failing capacitors in the audio section. |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 27 Dec 2019, 19:53
|
|
|
Also, “digitally mastered” refers to the complete audio/video package and not necessarily anything to do with the sound. It could be a silent movie or even analog only sound on the LD and still be “digitally mastered”. That term just means that at some point the video passed through something digital as the LD was being made.
There were very few portable digital audio recorders suitable for recording movie sound on set until the late 80s so few things not recorded in a studio, movies or otherwise, will have a full digital existence before then. Even after that I’d say some kind of tape probably lasted until the 2000s just because of the price/reliability of storage.
I will say though that even before LDs with Digital Sound, even before digital mastering and purpose made prints for video many things made for home TV or video would have had their soundtracks made from a master tape if it existed rather than the optical track. Optical tracks aren’t as high spec as 1/4” tape, they deteriorate quicker, etc. They have the wow and flutter of tape and the pops and hiss of records.
Any time you see on home video that the mix is significantly different from theatrical that means they went back to the multitrack master and did a new mixdown so in those cases there would be no optical track used. |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 28 Dec 2019, 02:15
|
|
|
That movie couldn’t have have been less attractive to me. It seemed to do everything wrong possible from an aesthetic sense, that’s going beyond the notion that making a live action version of any anime at all is almost always totally missing the point.
Then there’s the question we’re all wondering...
When uncle James asked that question all uncool people ask when they see anime for the first time (that being, “Why are their eyes so big?”) what hilarious answer did his nephew give that Cameron didn’t realize was a joke? I want to know and I can’t reverse engineer a very good one.
Did you attempt to watch it or judge it from previews? For me it was just something to take the plunge on, albeit there would have been quite a bit of hesitation had I known uncle James only cowrote rather than directed. More sightseeing and worldbuilding in Iron City was what I had hoped for. Oops.
forper: "Check out Silence (2016) for some good missionary action in Japan"
Is that from the Shusaku Endo novel?
Speaking of anime-ism I watched Kill Bill again recently. Eh.
A James Cameron produced remake of a C grade anime is always going to be junk. I’m judging the next one now, whatever it is. Outlanders? MD Geist? Doesn’t matter. Everything that gave the originals that magical spark is totally f-ing nonexistent in a $200M remake. Anime, the classic and classically flawed OVA stuff, is LOW BUDGET, creator owned, designed by and for enthusiastic fans of the manga that just want to see their favorite drawings come to life. This film has no drawings. This film is just some billionaire scumbag’s attempt to fill a spot in the release calendar where he wasn’t already making money hand over first from other people’s ideas. Even a remake of Akira or Macross or Nausicaa at a budget of one trillion dollars will still suck. Anyone attempting it has no ideas to begin with and original creators have no agency in the remake and no skills that are useful.
Aside from that, it also looks moronic. Giant eyes in Gally...giant huge “anime eyes” when nobody else has them. Total cluelessness times a million.
So no, I didn’t see it given that seeing it gives these hacks money and also here is zero chance I’d enjoy any of it. :) |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 29 Dec 2019, 23:31
|
|
|
There is to my knowledge no AVR that can automatically ID the difference between two track stereo and four track sound matrixed down to stereo. Nothing I’ve ever used can but I don’t have super modern stuff.
Figure out how to switch it on in the manual. You should be able to manually cycle through Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Pro Logic II, and probably a headphone mode, then extra trick modes of doing the same thing from Sony/Dolby.
This would apply to both line level and digital outputs if the signal is stereo. It’s a manual process AFAIK.
EDIT: check page 148 in the manual for your AVR for using Dolby Surround.
I’m glad I don’t have your AVR. It’s crazy complex. :) |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 30 Dec 2019, 19:02
|
|
|
Like what you happen to Like in life, Without Apology.
What if the judge says my sentence will be reduced if I say I’m sorry for ever liking that stuff? Serious question, I would appreciate a serious answer.
indeed, we all have our personal opinions, and we are all very much entitled to them...
Indeed, this is how meek people tell others to shut up. That’s what the ellipsis eludes to. It *sounds* open minded but reality it’s a plea for someone (often me) to stop posting their opinions because they aren’t compatible with the tyrannical positivity some prefer. You see people fighting over something and you won’t so you’re uncomfortable. You want me to change the way I talk about stuff so you’ll feel better. I reject it.
If everyone just accepted everything there would be nothing good. Everything good was made to overcome crap previously seen by the artist. With a mind so open that critical perception is impossible then you may as well just watch Friends all day. If your mind is totally free from judgement then you don’t need anything good and your options of what’s good/bad are worthless because you don’t even care.
- insert some sort of quote from Rollins or somebody cooler than me...
PS “Coolio was featured on the March 5, 2013, episode of the ABC reality program Wife Swap, but his then girlfriend left him after the program was taped.” So yeah, I do think what you’re saying is Coolio. It ain’t cool though. :( |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 03 Jan 2020, 16:37
|
|
|
I checked your picture and yeah, mine looks just like that.
IIRC I got this disc I’m guessing 7-9 years ago. It came in a lot with a ton of other common mainstream Hollywood action stuff, a lot of Bond and stuff. The people selling it to me were selling it for someone else. I didn't get the idea that it was a lot owned by late period collectors like us who may buy multiple copies to get a perfect example. To me it seemed more like one of those collections you find frozen in time since the day they got a DVD player. I don’t think any of those discs had ever been on eBay or sent through the postal service. If there is a mismatch between inner/outer box then it probably happened in the 90s at some point. So you may be right that it’s not a correct example but I also have no reason to suspect that other than what you’re saying here.
I suppose I could check the mint marks and see if they are similar to anyone’s earlier pressing... |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 05 Jan 2020, 18:22
|
|
|
| That’s one of the only MUSE discs I’d genuinely like to see. Does it exist in any other format? |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 07 Jan 2020, 16:53
|
|
|
Thanks! I saw the techmoan video when it came out, guess I didn't connect the dots there :crazy:
The way “CD Video” was handled in Europe was extremely confusing, even for Laserdisc fans.
In the US and Japan it was pretty simple. Some discs have digital sound and if they do that’s great.
Some discs are 8”, usually these are music videos or promos.
At one point around the turn of the 90s a lot of 5” CDVs were made, half CD half LD. These were actually kinda cool but in retrospect probably never should have been invented and half of them are rotted anyway.
That’s the whole thing. Unfortunately we got this dumb “CD Video” logo out of it which can be found on any size of disc which confuses people and it’s all Phillips fault. It’s best you ignore the term completely except for the 5” ones. |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 15 Jan 2020, 01:26
|
|
|
It took me a year to find a non-broken US copy of Babe: Pig in the City and nobody ever describes it as hard to find.
When something is in fact rare and everyone knows about it and therefore you start to attract people who only care about rarity...when you’re at that level the stuff is almost always on eBay because it’s too “valuable” to not always be for sale, because it’s in the possession of a gouger or just someone who’s using eBay as a roundabout way of bragging about their collection...or someone who is both.
When it’s ten times as rare but nobody cares...then it’s much harder to find the stuff. Any LD not worth at least $30 is barely worth the time to eBay it so most people won’t.
That reminds me, I need to update my eBay alerts... |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 17 Jan 2020, 00:53
|
|
|
I have to admit that I’d like to see a full release list of UMDs somewhere but it’s a pretty garbage format honestly. Only runs on one machine from one company. Not really in the spirit of the other formats represented.
Well at least it's not Game Boy Advance Video.
It kinda is though. It’s a weird kneecapped format just for kids who don’t have a portable DVD player or laptop. One that makes no sense to build a library of since if you’re not Japanese you’ll just use Handbrake to make images and drop them on your $270 Memory Stick Pro. The biggest difference is that one was pushed by Sony who was already heavily into DVD, CD, HiMD, and who knows what else, just winding down DAT and Beta, time to make a new format!
The earth isn’t big enough for all the stuff Sony comes up with. Just power up a PS3 and blast through all the options. I don’t even know what some of that stuff is. It seems highly unlikely that even %0.5 of their userbase have ever used it.
https://youtu.be/8AyVh1_vWYQ |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 17 Jan 2020, 21:39
|
|
|
| Unless you have a UPS or a really good surge suppressor then unplugging old stuff is the safest thing to do. Aside from power fluctuations though leaving it plugged in forever is usually fine. |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 20 Jan 2020, 21:23
|
|
|
| The possibility that his account is just trolling remains strong but he hasn’t given us his punch line yet so we can’t be sure. He seems like a goal tender waiting for certain kinds of commentary, hands held wide apart knowing it can only come from so many angles... |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 21 Jan 2020, 00:14
|
|
|
| Well a guy with that user name and avatar complaining he can’t see the nudity in his rated R horror movies...that’s what I was getting at. He’s got some amazing reply ready whenever someone asks him about that. |
|
|
Jump to forum Jump to topic |
| signofzeta |
|
Posted: 22 Jan 2020, 17:25
|
|
|
If you have too much bass...which is what it sounds like you are saying...then yeah an equalizer would help or just tone controls if your TV has them.
To be clear though, an equalizer doesn’t change any pitches, it just lets you make certain frequencies louder or quieter. For example, if a man is singing a C note and you push all the lower frequencies up on your equalizer or turn the Bass knob up you will bring more bass out of his voice but he’ll still be singing the same C note at 261.6 Hz, the pitch doesn’t change.
A LD player is unlikely to spin slower and produce lower pitches, especially from the digital soundtracks. So I’m pretty sure the problem is being described incorrectly in some way.
Sorry to explain it this way. It’s hard to know how to talk to people with one post count until we know more about them and their experience with home theater, etc.
If I had to take a guess...and I’m certainly not very sure of this, I would say your TV is probably pretty low end or at least the sound is and while it may have been fine for cable TV, Laserdisc players produce pretty full range dynamic sound by comparison. Perhaps your speaker is being overdriven for the first time in its life and it hates it?
What exactly is your setup? Can you hook a CD player to the same TV and see if you get the same sort of problem? |
|
|
|
Thanks list