Does every Panasonic LX-900U player suffer from its infamous (bad) AGC?

If not, can I use my Video Essentials LD to determine if mine does?

If mine does, how will it impact my NTSC-J LDs?

Here, read this thread, but later manufactured units tend not to. Mine is June 1995 and has no AGC problem. I would think NTSC-J LDs would be impacted the same.

Awesome, thanks!

I'll have to check the manufacturing date of my LX-900U when I get home tonight.

Question: Are you happy with the s-video output of your LX-900U?

It's better than a lot of other players, but I still use an external comb filter.

If yours has it you can compensate for it somewhat by making sure that "dynamic contrast" or auto black level on your TV are turned on when using the 900, if your set has adjustments like that. Those settings pull down grays near black to black and with the 900 makes the picture more normal. On most discs you won't see any problems - its the dark films, like Batman, where the APL problem shows up.

Going back through old video magazines, you'd be surprised how bad grayscale linearity (APL) is on most LD players - from 7 to 20% off - so we've lived with the problem for years and didn't even know it. Of course, most CRT sets had auto black level so that would mask the problem. Chroma S/N ratio measurements are terrible too - like 38-42db on most players. Since 99.9% of TV's only decoded 40 lines of color, that hid the high chroma noise since it cut off the higher frequencies where the noise was, making the chroma look better. Chroma noise was never LaserDisc's strong point and even worse in PAL.

Damn. Mine's from November 1993, so it seems unlikely that it won't have the AGC problem.

Wow, I don't think my LX-900U has the AGC problem!

Here is my capture of frame #5000 (Side B, Chapter 10 - Brightness) from Video Essentials:


Edit: Of course, I kept my capture device (Hauppauge USB Live-2) at its default settings.

November 93, it has the problem. The frame you posted wont really show the problem because it's dynamic - it depends on the average brightness of each scene. It also depends on the disc since no two discs are the same. It's really not a huge deal, especially if your set is calibrated correctly - you might notice it once in a while with a dark scene that seems too gray and washed out. If your set has dynamic contrast or black level turned on, they will swamp the APL problem and you will never see it.

The next frame after that (at least in chapter 15) has the same pluge pattern but with a high picture level. If your player has an AGC issue you should see a difference between those two patterns (I'm right about this aren't I?)

The Complicating factor is if your display (or any other device in the chai ) does anything to the signal. I had a pioneer DVD recorder with a nice comb filter but got rid of it because it would change the black level depending on the scene. I could actually see it slowly adjust the level when I switched between the two frames I mentioned.

This issue is important to me because I'm primarily interested in capturing my laserdiscs.

In particular, I'm interested in capturing my Star Wars laserdiscs, so I don't want it to ruin the starfields in the space scenes.

I'd like to be 100% sure that my player suffers from it, so can you suggest some experiment for me to run?

Thanks for your help. I really do appreciate it.

Can you be more specific? I'm not too sure what you mean.

I found the frame in question in Chapter #15 - Video Test Material. I see the same thing (no difference) from starting frame #29728 'til ending frame #29757.

Edit: I found it a second time and, again, I see the same thing (no difference) from starting frame #30799 'til ending frame #31075 besides what seems to be an intentional fade-out at the end.

Would it help if I were to capture and upload Chapter #15?

We don't know if your set has auto black level so outside of test equipment, there is no way to tell for sure except watch a lot of discs after you have calibrated your set and see if you notice any lack of dynamic range or blacks appearing gray. Have you checked all your TV setup menus to see if it has dynamic contrast or auto black or auto backlight (if LCD)? If so, they need to be off to find out because they will mask the problem.

Regarding capturing using a defective 900 - I've made a lot of DVD's from LaserDisc's using my 900 with the APL problem and in the few areas it showed up, I just adjusted the black level after the fact for those scenes/frames, and the discs have come out perfect. Believe me, it's not as big of deal as its made out to be - even Stereo Review said in their tests that they couldn't see any problems from the APL error. Even with the APL error, it's an excellent player with a sharp, detailed picture with very low noise and excellent chroma response. And a great noise reduction system that doesn't cause smearing during fast motion or high frequency roll off in the mode 2 setting. It's easy to see why Runco/MSB chose it for the Runco LJR because it's basic performance is so good.

disclord: I sent you a PM.

I don't know if you get notifications, so I figured that I should mention it here.

disclord: Would a Faroujda VP-100 correct the APL/AGC problem without destroying detail?

You say something to that effect here: viewtopic.php?p=26023#p26023

Faroujda VP-100 discussion continued here: viewtopic.php?p=29877#p29877

Do I need the remote to access all of the LX-900U's settings?

I don't think so, but it's worth asking.

Without the remote you cannot:

1. switch between analog and digital tracks (defaults digital if present)

2. Change the player to its other picture modes: retro (b&w), art (useless), and night (darkens the picture)

You can however do just about everything else from the player itself thanks to the jog/shuttle on the front. Noise reduction is on the front as well (but not on the remote)

I think that's all.

Damn. Do you know where I can purchase a remote?

Thanks for the information.