Hi all

I am looking at the early 1990s VideoArts Japan LDs, some of which were reissues of past content and others were newly released at the time. I was just wondering if these discs (seemingly manufactured in Japanese pressing plants) were sourced from digital masters i.e D1/D2 source as opposed to the analog source tapes in the 1980s discs. Does anyone have any information on this?

I have no personal knowledge of this label but some thoughts to keep in mind.

Being remastered or not is something a label will do or not do on a case by case basis.

It seems the stuff they released covered all sorts of ground. If it is an LD of a music video first shot on analog tape only a few years before the release of the LD in question then I wouldn’t count on it being remastered. If it was made for Japanese TV in 1995 and released on LD that year then quality could in theory be amazing.

If it was shot on film at one point, like in the 70s, and transferred to NTSC for the first time in 1992 then there is a decent chance you will have a digital master. If it was transferred to or originally shot on video in 1984 (before D1) and released on LD ever then it’s probably the same master for the re-release. If not then the cover/obi/notes will almost certainly say so somewhere.

Good sources of many 80s promo videos don’t exist and never will. You can put Oh Ricky! on any format and the lights will still leave trails. This is why television shows from the 70s (before cheap tape and outdoor video cameras) look better than ones from the late 80s (when they were shooting cheap TV like music videos directly to tape).

Is there a specific title you are wondering about?

Here is one that I am wondering about :

Donna Summer: Hot Summer Night (1983) [VALP-3316]

I am trying to do a bit of digging...

Here are the covers :

Donna Summer music laserdiscs