Hi,
this site was recommended to me by an old friend so I thought I'd join and introduce myself.
My name is Kevin and I'm from Niagara Falls Canada.
I have been a laserdisc enthusiast for perhaps 25 years. My very first player was a basic single-side player made by Magnavox.
I currently have two players up and running. A basic Pioneer CLD-S201 and a Pioneer DVL-909.
I was extremely active in the hobby from about 1999 to 2005, whereby I discovered ebay and had fun trying out the high-end players and buying collections from people and reselling the items I didn't want for my personal collection.
This hobby led me to briefly own some of the best players ever made. I've owned- from a single day to as long as a year- players such as: Pioneer Elite CLD 79, Elite 95, Elite 97, Elite 99, Elite LD S2. Other high-end units such as: MSB Silver, Faroudja LD1000, Runco LJRII, Pioneer R7G, and Pioneer HLDX9. Other honorable mentions would include the Pioneer LDV8000, Pioneer CLD-1010 and Philips CDV488 and even the Panasonic LX900 and Prism LX1000 and the middle line stalwarts such as Pioneer CLD-D703 and D704.
There's only a handful of high-end players that I never had, such as the HLDX0, Macintosh Elite 97 clone, LD-S9 and the Theta unit.
Another fun aspect of the hobby was that I literally came across thousands of different laserdisc titles. I would skim off titles for my personal collection from the collections that I purchased.
At one point, I owned about 1000 titles. From CAV and CLV Criterions, to The Roan Group movies, to RKO film noir classics to Japanese imports with obi, to rare box sets with extras, to unique music laserdiscs and DTS audio discs, you name it.
Some of the more interesting things that come to mind are The Gettysburg box set with a real spent bullet from a battle as an extra, Robinson Crusoe on Mars(when it was rare), and anamorphic squeeze titles like Grumpy Old Men and The Fugitive.
After my ebay days were dead and buried, I still maintained a collection of just over 400 titles and still enjoy watching laserdiscs and just recently, finally, installed my DVL-909 into my main home theater system so that I can enjoy AC-3 audio, via my Sony demodulator.
My main tv set is a Sony KDL-40EX500 LCD tv, which does do a half-decent job with laserdisc material.
I'm looking forward to talking about the LD hobby with you fellows! I have a fairly good memory and remember much about the players and laserdiscs that have flowed through my fingers over the recent years!
Best regards,
1989civic (Kevin)

Hey Kevin,

Glad to see your post! It's been fun catching up with you and I know you'll have a lot to share based on our prior communications.
Welcome, welcome, welcome

Duncan

Thanks for the welcome Duncan!
I should mention that the Pioneer DVL-909 I am using was fixed/modded by you perhaps 8 years ago and is still working perfectly!
The mod was very interesting. You were able to convert the player from a basic DVL-909 to Elite 91 status by adding variable chroma and luminence noise reduction in the user menu. Also, I believe the elevation to Elite 91 status also included dts audio in the dvd section.
Nice to see you out here and I'm looking forward to having some interesting conversations in the future!
Kevin

welcome !

Greetings Kevin,

Im sure you remember me (Duane, Michigan) Its been a long time since I have heard from you.

Glad you made it to the LD Side!!

good to read your posting.
i own an R7G and am happy with it, i can't see spending more on a better player due to
the lack of new titles that i'm interested in

I remember the R7G! It was a very nice player. I remember that it had the very latest digital comb filter that Pioneer developed and the black levels were fabulous. Very nice dvd-like image!
Kevin

Hi, Duane!
Yes I do remember you from the laserdisc newsgroup! Nice to hear from you! I read that you sold your Faroudja LD1000. That was a very solidly built player. Based on the Elite 99 with some audio upgrades I believe....
Kevin