Hello from Hamburg,

or as we say here: moin. Although I'm quite new to this website I have been into Laserdisc since the mid 90s. Back then as a student I could only afford an entry level player and a few occasional discs here and there. So my collection only grew slowly but I always kept all of it, even when DVD and later Bluray became popular. I got back into more actively appreciating and enjoying Laserdisc about a year ago when my brother gave me his collection and player.

Three specific moments really brought me back. A few months ago I watched Casablanca on Bluray. Picture quality was impressive, no doubt about that. But I asked myself if this was like the theatrical experience that people had when they watched it in cinemas in the 40s and 50s. For me it felt almost too good for a movie of that age. The second moment was when I watched Apocalypse Now on Laserdisc. Upscaled to 4k but of course nowhere near the detailed picture that a Bluray or 4k disc provides. It was however a harmonic picture and it had this distinctive film look to it. I realized that I do not always need a picture with as many details as possible. Especially movies of a certain era and age are in my view allowed, maybe even required to not look technically perfect. The third moment happened at an electronics retailer, when a sales guy thought I was on the hunt for a soundbar when in reality I was just having a look at some TVs without wanting to buy one. This guy gave me a presentation of the podrace in Star Wars EP I over a top of the line soundbar with rear speakers. He seemed genuinely impressed while for me it was just loud but not great sound quality. But that moment made me remember my first AC-3 experience at home, with the same movie and the same scene. So I put that exact same AVR from back then back into service as AC-3 demodulator and checked out the podrace. Yes, that was it! This rough and unfiltered punch that I remember from when I watched it in cinema in 1999.

My current setup:

LD players: Pioneer DVL-919 & CLD-S315 (for PAL discs)
Bluray players: Pioneer BDP 51FD & BDP 450 (mainly for SACD)
4k player: Panasonic UB820DP
AV receiver: Pioneer SC LX77 & VSX-909 (as AC-3 RF demodulator)
Front speakers: Infinity Kappa 80
Center: Dali Opticon Vokal Mk2
Surround: JBL XTi 20
Back Surround: Argon Audio Forus 4 Wall
Subwoofer: Dali Sub E-12F
Screen: LG OLED B5 in 65"
Soundbar: LG DS70TY + SPT8-S (for normal TV and when I watch a movie late at night without harrassing my neighbors)

Decommissioned / Backup:

Pioneer CLD-S315
Pioneer SC LX56
JBL XTi 100
JBL XTi 10C
Sony X700/K

Best regards
Jörg

Welcome to the forum, Harry!
Cheers,
Markus

Moin moin!

I like the sound of that as well.

Moin!

Julien

Many thanks for the warm welcome!