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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 12 Jul 2019, 05:03
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There were VHS decks made with the same digital field memory tech as LD players. I had one from NEC. It could freeze anything going through it, even live TV. It never became ubiquitous though, like it did with LD.
Pro Tip: If you record your movies in SLP (EP) format they will look bad but the still frames will be way better because there is more duration on the section of tape that your head is currently spinning on. I figured this out because I used to copy rentals a lot and the original had at least %50 noise when paused but my dubs would look pretty good. I remember that in the movie Ghostbusters the clearest picture of a proton pack is on the cover of a magazine during a montage. I paused it there so I could draw it. Did the same with Transformers The Movie a lot.
I used to freeze frame a lot of stuff as a kid. Big animation/SFX analyzer from the SD era. |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 12 Jul 2019, 05:10
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Someone else will know more than me about this movie, but I'd be surprised if any of them looked much different from one another. That was a movie released during LD's biggest period so it never had a muddy mono blurry badly cropped rotting Laservision release or anything like that. All the JP versions are going to use the same master as the US ones, I'd assume, except with subtitles. JP editions are usually only better video-wise if it was something initiated by the Japan side, like THX 1138 or Leon. A movie like Star Trek Generations or Speed is going to be the same in either market.
The sound does vary a lot though, since there are Surround, Dolby Digital, and DTS releases. |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 13 Jul 2019, 16:46
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It looks like crap, usually sounds like crap, and the tapes wear out. Back in the day VHS was a necessary evil for rental and recording but LD was the only format I’d spend money on. I’m not a “retro collector” or whatever, I just never stopped buying LDs. I don’t think I’m going to change my mind of about VHS now. I have a few and that’s it.
However that wasn’t really my point. When I’m talking about Koala Boy or the five different anime versions of Little Women even VHS isn’t really an option. My dream would be a complete LD box. Complete VHS boxes are very uncommon in Japan. (Although I have a catalog number for a complete Holmes Detective LD box which must have been both HUGE and HUGELY EXPENSIVE.) |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 14 Jul 2019, 14:33
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VCD has a constant low res digital grain to it but macroblock it does not. That’s one area where it sorta beats DVD. Night skies are filled with noise but not with huge bricks of the exact same color of pixels jumping all over the place.
Whoever signed off on DVD is a dipstick. If they had just waited a few more years the CPU power would have been there for a much better version. The one they did release just sucks. Because DVD players got so much better over time we forgot how crap the original offering was. |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 16 Jul 2019, 01:58
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| Yeah, you can pad media mail as much as you want. You just can’t include a thank you card or cookies anything, it has to be “media” of some kind and that’s all. |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 16 Jul 2019, 17:39
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I love those mild 90 jpop covers. I’d design those for a living if I could.
CNN’s desert storm coverage was pretty distasteful at the time but I forgot they were so gross as to actually sell it on LD. A million people killed at the tax payers expense and taxpayers need to BUY a copy? We paid for that one sided destruction of an entire culture, TWICE even, and I don’t get a free copy? |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 17 Jul 2019, 07:13
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 18 Jul 2019, 07:40
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More likely it was an attempt to make more expensive models more appealing, much like how microchips will sometimes all built the same but with the budget versions having deactivated cores. There may be a huge range of chips and prices but they all cost the same to develop and manufacture because they are all the same thing.
I’m not really sure how removing CAV functions would save any money at all. A CAV disc in freeze frame is quiet literally just the player stopping the laser and playing the same field over and over instead of moving one lap in every 1/60 of a second.
Fun fact: some USDM VW Jettas don’t have a traction control off button but you can in fact add one using all OEM stuff because it wasn’t worth the time to totally engineer it out.
Similarly I have a 2008 MacBook that originally didn’t ship with a backlight keyboard but when my keyboard died and I had to replace it I bought the light up one and it plugs right in with brightness level controls and everything just as if it were OEM. There was no $$$ point in making a new motherboard without that socket and those traces on the PCB. The point was to get $100 more from the guy who would pay $100 more but still sell units to as many people as possible. Ideally these kinds of units don’t sell at all, they persuade you to buy the next level up player now that you see how much valuable it is. |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 20 Jul 2019, 01:40
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| Can someone remind me how to block users again? It’s for some reason very hard to me to find and I’m going to use it for the first time here. I hate to block anyone on a forum this small but the psychic price isn’t worth being open minded towards forper. Let his shrink fix him, I’m cashing out. Ignorance is triumphant. |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 21 Jul 2019, 16:25
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| VHS is terrible. I have like 10 that I care about, maybe. It may be like three. I have zero romance for this format, although I do have to admit even VHS is less annoying streaming often is. |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 23 Jul 2019, 23:55
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There is something I simply do not understand. If the original mono audio track is missing, what are these new 5.1 and even 7.1 ! upmixes based on ?
The Hong Kong companies no longer have the original mono tracks in alot of cases.
They probably have access to original audio stems but that would require them to mix a new mono track which was done with Police Story but unfortunately it was mixed very poorly and had to be replaced on the Eureka release.
Even if they do have original audio it's usually bad quality compared to the old laserdiscs.
Sometimes we get lucky and they have a nice original track but it's really the luck of the draw.
In HK people really don't care about original mono audio and like the horrible 5.1 audio tracks that are featured on the blurays.
Ever notice how every single HK bluray only features a 5.1 mix with new sound effects & almost NEVER has original mono?
Hi, good to hear from you. That was interesting to read.
So the LPCM Mono track on the Police Story Criterion Blu Ray is of poor quality and you would say that the Eureka release has the audio taken from the Laserdisc and thus is of superior quality, right ?
What about Policy Story 2 on Blu-ray ( Criterion ). It has two mono tracks, one LPCM mono track and one Dolby Digital 1.0 track. What's the source in both cases ?
Yes, I did in fact notice that the new Hong Kong Blu Ray releases have those horrible upmixes but I used to watch a lot of Hong Kong films on Video CD many years ago like 15 years ago that also had mono audio. I really hate those upmixes.
I can also tell you of a US film that I thought I had superior audio on laserdisc than on Blu-ray. It's The Bounty with Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins. That laserdisc has a fantastic Dolby Surround audio track that is just unbelievable. The Blu Ray has a fantastic video track of very high quality but the audio is considerably worse despite being DTS HD Master Audio 5.1. That is why it sometimes makes sense extracting the audio from a laserdisc remuxing it with the video of a recent Blu Ray release. This way you get the best of both worlds.
Thank you for your efforts.
I guess Western companies cared more about keeping the original mono audio stored somewhere on some magnetic tape or reel.
BTW I just want to say that Criterion has released many many films so far ( we are all alware of that ) on Laserdisc, DVD and Blu Ray. Does anybody seriously think that Criterion is making a lot of money with some of its releases ? I am seriously convinced that they barely make ends meet with the lesser known titles and we should all appreciate the fact that such a fantastic label exists that has brought out so many great releases such as Videodrome on Blu-ray with perfect video and audio and excellent extras.
It’s totally normal for someone who has something rare to be compensated when it’s needed for another purpose. When you donate an arrowhead or a fossil or a painting to a museum you may be paid, you may be paid a great deal. However Rein-O’s response just sounded like someone who charges his kids interest so I had to rag on him. I bet he catalogs what he pays for everything in his life just so he can make sure it always sells for more. I bet he uses a tip calculator. I bet he has a pair of pants with rubber pockets just so he can steal soup. THE MAN IS CHEAP IS WHAT IM TELLING YOU. |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 24 Jul 2019, 23:08
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| There are CD players with external CD+G decoders. I’ve never seen one though so I don’t know what the interface looks like. |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 25 Jul 2019, 23:45
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There are CD players with external CD+G decoders. I’ve never seen one though so I don’t know what the interface looks like.
It seems strange that they'd support something like that when the LD player plays CDs, too. (CDDA, at least. I don't have any CD+G discs to test and verify with, but one would assume so in a karaoke-focused machine like this one...) But it _was_ the '90s, after all, and coming up with new ports for everything was kinda THE thing to do. :) Could have been something proprietary, perhaps.
Karaoke and CD+G are not the same thing. The massive wave of LaserKaraoke is all just normal LDs for the most part. For the early 90s there were way more more Laser karaoke titles than CD+G. CD+G wasn’t really marketed for karaoke much at all until late in LD’s life and then a repurposed CD+G exploded because it’s cheap as hell to make.
It may very well not play CD+Gs. My 604 doesn’t, which is basically a home dual purpose oke machine. |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 30 Jul 2019, 22:23
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Watched Disney's Robin Hood. The original US LD which was quite rough around the edges. Probably the worst I've seen in terms of av. Guessing there are plenty of bad early lds.
Yeah, I have that too, it’s a pretty crappy LD. Disney released most of their animated movies at least twice and comparing them is often a great lesson in how far LD came in the first decade. Even the first The Little Mermaid wasn’t that great of an LD. |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 02 Aug 2019, 20:29
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| I buy random Looney Toon LDs whenever I can get them cheap. They are some of the most rewarding LDs I have and my four year old loves them as much as my grandpa did when they hit the theaters 60-70 years ago. Looney Toons are basically the best thing ever. |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 05 Aug 2019, 08:55
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| I don’t have an HLD but as far as I can tell they don’t seem to be worth the extra $ for picture quality alone, especially since an X0 can be ten times the price of a 97/99/R7G. Depending on the rest of your setup the difference may be impossible to detect. |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 07 Aug 2019, 02:15
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When people find out I have an actual MP3 player and pay for media people look at me like some kind of tool who somehow hasn’t figured out that my phone does all that stuff. They aren’t interested in my collection at all. It doesn’t matter how old they are or how much money they make or where they come from. The prevailing majority of Americans I know think we now live in a post material universe even though when they visit my house they can see I have more viewing material than all of Netflix, they just don’t care because it’s all old anyway. Hand drawn cartoons, black and white movies, SILENT movies even, movies with stunt men. It’s all buggywhips to most people. They fear it.
I’m not saying they are correct and yeah I would/will be funny to see how a single random astrophysical phenomenon could break global high speed Internet for a century and my how that would instantly make all recorded media that they use broken for the rest of their life...but they aren’t counting on that. Most people are too afraid of death to watch a movie older than they are so as long as they can somehow see the same NFL game, listen to (but never buy) the same music and of course all worship Beyoncé together then they’ll never have any interest in their own libraries. |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 07 Aug 2019, 15:36
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I would much rather watch the Ewok movies than The Phantom Menace.
Phantom Menace on LD is a different cut. I have it on DVD and BD too.
I would rather watch Droids than the Ewok movies.
Star Wars Holiday Special is what the cool kids watch anyway, it isn't even on LD :silent:
I too would rather watch Droids than the Ewok movies. They aren’t that bad though. I had no trouble buying that it was a real Star Wars thing when I was 11 or whenever those came out.
The holiday special though is clearly cut from the same cloth as the Donnie and Marie Show, the Paul Linde Halloween Special, Pink Lady, and a million other variety programs of the late 70s. It’s kinda the same thing they did one or two Fridays a month back then but that week it was Star Wars. It’s like a parade float or a p0rn0 cosplay thing. Just hard working showbiz people busy at what they do. It wasn’t made to be seen anything but live.
Speaking of which, the Paul Linde Halloween special is in fact available on DVD and if you’re in any way into that stuff I highly recommend it. It’s absolutely hilarious at times, I loved that guy. The SW holiday special is almost torture though. It goes on forever and nothing happens and most of the time you’re watching Bea Arthur and Art Carney or something with no real Star Wars grade props in sight. It’s biggest issue is being flat and boring and empty. |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 13 Aug 2019, 23:27
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Yeah, it would be a slower speed because it’s for 50hz countries.
There may be separate adjustments for PAL and NTSC discs and as soon as I typed that I began wondering how it even knows the difference...it has to do some kind of check on the signal right? It’s not something in the TOC, is it? |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 14 Aug 2019, 23:50
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 16 Aug 2019, 23:48
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It sounds like you have one disc from a set. Typically Japanese sets have full sleeves and often even catalog numbers for every disc.
US stuff...they just throw it all in a pile of wrinkly jackets. |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 17 Aug 2019, 00:13
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DVL LD playback is pretty good actually, yeah. The DVD players are garbage.
I honestly prefer LD only units. The remotes are way better and all the buttons have a use. The whole experience is totally LD that way.
But I also agree with the other guys. If you’re going to be a real LD man you’re pretty much going to be shopping for LD players for a long as you live. You need working ones more than anything else and availability is bad on every player and they break in shipping about %30 of the time so...even if you do get exactly the player you want right off the bat it’s still then going to be your only player which is no good. You need a backup or two, decks for different rooms, parts players, and spare room for the broken decks you hope to get fixed one day.
That’s LD life. If it scares you go away and leave the what’s left to the OGs! |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 19 Aug 2019, 16:46
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| The manual seems to be the same one as the 704 in which case I’m pretty sure it’s a 200V NTSC-only player. |
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 20 Aug 2019, 06:05
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| signofzeta |
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Posted: 20 Aug 2019, 17:52
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Happycube knows all the answers to your questions.
You need a player with a raw EFM output. There are a few, I think they are all earlier decks, pro mostly. |
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Thanks list