Hi everybody!

I just recently became a LaserDisc owner after wanting a player for over 20 years, and since I tend to not get involved in a community until I feel I can actually be a part of one; here I am. But before I get in to how, and why; I secretly lusted after a player for so long, allow me to give you a little bit of what I'd like to reveal about me.

My name is Jay, and I live in the suburb of DC known as Northern Virginia. Like most of the people from the area; I can't say that I've ever gone to DC just to hit the museums, and I don't visit that important Civil War battlefield I live miles from. I live here, let the tourists do that stuff. I'm hopelessly addicted to all kinds of technology, from the new to the old. To sum up my job; I'm a coin-op technician. I fix pinball machines, arcade games, jukeboxes, slot machines; basically anything you can jam a coin in to and make it do something. This means I could be fixing a Ms Pac machine one day, and a pre-war Wurlitzer jukebox the next. Having a huge love of music, I also tend to be a bit of an audiophile. In fact, most of my stereo equipment tends to be on the vintage side. Yes, I'm one of those guys who has the reel-to-reel deck and tube amps; and I know how to fix it to boot.

Saying I've wanted an LD rig for over 20 years doesn't mean much; unless I tell you that I'm only 29 (oh crap, I turn 30 this year). Even as I saw the DVD explode on to the scene, the success of BD in the HD-disc wars, and the explosion of HD streaming from places like Netflix; deep down...there was this 7 year old kid who remembers seeing a LaserDisc setup in Sears and just being amazed at the quality. The best thing I'd seen at that age aside from the occasional clear cable channel was Beta. I don't think there was ever much demand for it here; I don't really remember seeing it much growing up outside of Sears displays and the period of time in the mid-90's when the local video place rented them. I was always impressed by the sheer size of the disc.

So, 22 years later, despite already having an ok LCD tv and Blu-Ray player, I jumped at the chance to buy a Pioneer CLD-D505 and a stack of 72 releases for 2 Franklins. It was also mostly stimulated by the fact I'd worn my Beta copies of Star Wars to the point my units had a difficult time getting a good chroma. But, two of the SW flicks were there, a handful of movies I really liked, and a couple of concerts. I came home, hooked the player up to a 25" SDTV I kept around for watching Beta, and that 7 year old inner child had all kinds of fun staying up all night watching LaserDiscs; reliving a moment in time where this was the crème de la crème of video equipment...that carried a massive price tag. Although since my unit is a dual-sided player....I didn't have the joy of getting up to flip a disc.

If that wasn't enough, less than 24 hours later I purchased what ultimately wound up being 112 various releases for the "bargain basement" price of $20. 5 or 6 of the discs are karaoke discs; 3 of those are the small LD-single discs. The downside is about 68 of them are former rental discs. Not only is the condition of some of the discs questionable; but they're all in the thick bags they were rented in. But, for the price, I can't complain.

I have since hooked my player up to my 46" LCD, which doesn't have the best video processing. It's been fun trying to get the brightness and contrast right, and I often find myself changing it on every disc; and the older the disc, the harder I find it is to get the video perfect. Of course, with all the reading I've been doing on the subject I start to question if my player is misaligned or if the disc from 1981 is just going to have noise around objects in the scene. Flipping noise reduction on through the tv's video settings seems to get rid of all that anyway. Just about all bets are off when zooming for widescreen movies; my tv does a horrible job of that. I predict an external video-scaler in my future.

Anyway, since I don't have much practical experience with the format and know what I do know mostly from reading articles and various websites, it's quite possible I'll lurk more than I post; and even then to mostly ask questions if I couldn't figure it out elsewhere...or just need an opinion.

Take care,
-Jay

i used to fix arcade machines, thought i was going to fix and sell them, did it for about a year.
then i lost the space to do it and never got back into it.

Good day to you dewdude,

I have just finished & enjoyed reading of your personal experiences.
Thank you for sharing this with us.

I am glad that your enjoying the Laserdisc format.

Welcome to this forum and hope you enjoy your visit's here.

Sincerest Regards to you.

Hi Jay,

Welcome to the forum! It was enjoyable to read your presentation and I hope that our paths can cross at some point! Best of luck to you and let me know if I can be of any help at all!

Kevin

Thanks for the warm welcome.

I spent two hours last night punching in the catalog numbers for the discs I have that aren't rental discs. I believe it was two hours; I started when I threw Doc Hollwood in and had it in the background, finished as credits rolled. Its what I did rather than going to bed at a decent hour.

I made my list public; and Ill say I bought these as lots, so I wasn't picky. I'm gonna get started on the rental discs tonight. I also hope to submit some of the discs I didn't find as well as covers for what I've got that neeed covers. The link is in my signature.

-Jay

Welcome!!