Pioneer is my main brand of choice but I picked up a Quasar from a guy in town and have determined it to be a Panasonic LX900 clone. It seems to be a really built unit and throws up a good picture as well.

The Pioneer CLD-R7G is my main player and find it to be a nice entry in the world of Japanese high end players.Some have said it is a re-tooled CLD 600. I don't see that. The additional ability to control contrast can make or break the playback of certain discs, especially on an LCD monitor. Mega-film like quality (depending). Muse is my goal.

I have more than 60 Pioneer players, 4 Sony players, 2 Philips, 2 Panasonic, 1 Yamaha, 1 Telefunken (which is actually a clone of Pioneer CLD 1500)

My main player is a pioneer DVL-700 extensively modified by MSB. They changed out all the power supplies and added upgraded parts with major modifications to the audio and video boards. I was going to have an actual AC-3 demodulator installed but ran out of money. I know some of the parts for the audio and video boards came from Japanese Elite players, but I don't know which ones... It definitely wasn't the Hi-Vision players. I've never seen a better standard LD picture than the Hi-Vision LaserDisc players from Pioneer.

One weird thing, after the MSB mod, on still frames, the digital video noise reduction turns off and you can see any small drop outs or noise on the disc that is completely eliminated during normal playback.

that's very interesting. there were never any elite models in japan, and why they h.. did you want to upgrade a dvl 700? they suck a**! you can change as many parts as you want, but it still wont be able to produce a picture like any high end ld player, unless this MSB built completely new DNRs and Y/C separation circuits

My DVL-700 produces a really good picture... MSB upgraded the caps and stuff and added their low Z power supplies, Electromagnetic MU Metal shielding, new High frequency output stage and line drivers and a new low jitter master clock circuit. When I got it back I was shocked at the improved picture and sound.. It was sharp and noise free with rock solid color and none of the fuzzy softness the image had before. They also lowered the amount of DNR so the image no longer had that digitally processed look. The comb filter was changed to one from a high end Japanese player, it was great then... Now, its not so hot. The picture really is beautiful from the composite out... I've seen other DVL-700's and know how bad the image can be.. Mine doesn't look like that. As I said, the only drawback is the DNR turns off when you freeze frame and you can see what the disc really looks like and how much the player improves it in playback. It cost me over $400 for the mods, but was well worth it. My Panasonic LX-900 produces a slightly sharper image with a bit less noise, but the DVL holds up well in comparison. Of course my 900 is broken now and I'm having Duncan fix it.
Since MSB did my 700 as a one off custom job it's kind of a Frankenstein model. I actually made a new name plate for it, "Chamberlain Technologies" -yes, I know that's stupid, but since the player was so modded, I figured it was my product.

BTW, it was my mistake saying Elite player from Japan... I just was told parts like the comb filter came from a high end Japanese model and I assumed it was Elite, not knowing that name wasn't used in Japan.

PM me if you are interested in seeing the pic quality on DVD's I've made.

Player to player variation was one of LaserDisc's big problems... Since the system was analog, it was totally dependent on everything being adjusted and performing perfectly. Only Pioneer and a few Panasonic models (LX-900, LX-600 and LX-H670) could produce players that were truly good, and both companies had their share of clunkers, like the Panasonic LX-1000u or the Pioneer CLD-95 and CLD-3090. Other companies players always looked like junk, even when working perfectly. And then there were the true junk players like the Zenith or Carver or Radio Shack. Oh, and Sony.

Besides the chroma time delay problem through s-video (which I wouldn't use anyway these days), what else is the problem IYO with the Elite CLD-95?

TLK