My main player is going to be the CLD-D925. I will be able to pick it up from Vienna in 14 days. In the meantime I found a local for LD-V2200 for almost nothing. For that price I consider picking this one up too as back up. LD players are not going to be cheaper in the future after all. I think they will even get more expensive. So having a back up could be neat.

But how limited would the LD-V2200be exactly compared to the CLD-D925?

Does the lack of digital audio playback mean that I won't be able to watch some more modern LD movies ? Or do LD dics have a analog audio track as a fallback?

With the worse image quality I could live. But not being able to watch certain movies would a no go as back up.

I have a V2200 and love it. Big, heavy, industrial-looking player that will probably outlive my other equipment. That said, yes, there will be some limitations on what can be watched on it. However, more than likely you'll be fine with 90%+ of your collection. Out of 61 titles I own, I'm limited by analog audio output only on these films:

- E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: Limited Edition (1982) [42734] - The analog audio track is only the score, no spoken dialog. This affects only the main feature, as the extras have full analog audio available.

- Ghost in the Shell: Premium Box (1995) [BEAL-921] - The digital track is Japanese, where the analog is in English. As I don't speak Japanese and the film did not include subtitles/closed-captions, this is more of a blessing than anything.

- Boot, Das (The Boat) (1981) [79346] - Similar to Ghost in the Shell, digital tracks are in German, analog is English. I guess this one is subjective, as someone may prefer watching it with English dubs, but personally I'd rather watch it with the German audio (it includes burned-in English subtitles).

Overall, its uncommon for a Laserdisc title to not include a copy of the full audio on at least one of the analog tracks. Check the database for films you're concerned about. This is not a player you would probably want to hook up to your nice hi-fi system with 5.1, but if you're like me and want a player in your home office hooked up to a small TV set, this is an excellent option.

Sorry for the late reply. Thanks for the information. Good to know that there might be indeed some movies that won`t work on that kind of player. But at the same time, it is also very reassuring that it should not be a problem for most movies.

From the films you have mentioned, I would only be interested in Ghost in the Shell. But even for Ghost in the Shell the missing of the Japanese audio track wold not be a big loss for me. Being able to watch the movie just in English on LaserDisc is fine. I already have a German Pal DVD in my collection where I can use the German and the Japanese Dub.

The biggest plus of the industrial players like you have already said is the rugged nature of the players. Having a player in my collection that is built like a tank is always a good thing.

I still hope of course that I can bring back the 925 in 2 weeks in one piece from Vienna to my hometown. (it is going to be rather a long drive). And then I hope it will serve me well for a long time.