LaserDisc Database
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25-year-old new to LD
https://forum.lddb.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=2330		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  msgohan [ 31 Jan 2013, 18:59 ]
Post subject:  25-year-old new to LD
I've been playing around with digital video since I was 11, but never even heard the term "Laserdisc" until a few years later in the early 2000s.

Recently I felt like transferring a kids' movie that is on DVD but only in slightly-edited form. It never occurred to me to look for an LD; a sealed copy just came up in a search when I was looking at the VHS release on eBay.

Still without a player, I bought a few more from the member listings here including "A Video Standard".

After reading some posts saying the CLD-S104 and CLD-S201 offer a "pure analog" composite output, I came across one on Craigslist. I paid $40 for the player with remote, along with the two movies he included in the listing: Firestarter and Purple Rain. Bizarre choices. He said the thing has only been used 2 or 3 times, complaining about the pace of changing technology.

So far I'm still gathering equipment to do my transfer, but in the meantime I fired it up and watched Firestarter for the first time. I was planning on selling the player for whatever I could get after transferring the kids' movie and a few other things, but I've kind of fallen in love with the format.

The Star Wars trilogy is actually not on my list to buy. A few years ago I came upon the realization that I really didn't enjoy watching the films anymore. I watched them literally every day for weeks at a time as a child (on VHS) and so every frame and every line of dialogue is burned into my memory forever. Somehow I'm no longer able to escape into the story.

Anyway, I look forward to reading more of the archive here, particularly the technical info end of things.
Author:  rein-o [ 31 Jan 2013, 20:48 ]
Post subject:  Re: 25-year-old new to LD
good luck on collecting.
it's a fun format for films, anime and rare music.
Author:  signofzeta [ 31 Jan 2013, 22:42 ]
Post subject:  Re: 25-year-old new to LD
The S104 and S201 are the cheapest most low end players Pioneer ever made, the 104 particularly ($300 retail at a time when even a mid range deck was at least $500). So the good news is that when you upgrade your player you will notice a huge difference! :)

Video from these units isn't super terrible or anything, but it gets a lot better. Sound gets a LOT better on the fancier decks and...frankly, once you have Both Side Play you'll be spoiled.

The unique thing about LD today is that it is at once a very cheap thing to collect but also very premium in nature. The democratization of home video that came with DVD was great and all, but it kind if made the entire market into a slum compared to the way it was in the 90s with individual movies sometimes costing $100 or more. Even though my copy of the Criterion Brazil is 17 years old based on 35 year old tech it still feels "special" in a way the DVD/BR never will.
Author:  msgohan [ 14 May 2013, 20:59 ]
Post subject:  Re: 25-year-old new to LD
I had to leave the CLD-S201 with my folks for the time-being and I couldn't resist this for $20: http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/pml/e ... 85639.html

Is the CLD-990 any better/worse than the S201?
Author:  xtempo [ 14 May 2013, 22:16 ]
Post subject:  Re: 25-year-old new to LD
that's a good price. there is one here locally that wants an absurd amount. Did any of your teachers used LaserDisc? that and my friend having one when I was younger in the early 90s made me always to get one but didn't take the plunge until 2004 or 2005.
Author:  msgohan [ 15 May 2013, 03:08 ]
Post subject:  Re: 25-year-old new to LD
Nope but my English teacher in junior high had a Betamax in the classroom and played us Labyrinth. :D
Author:  benmbe [ 15 May 2013, 07:48 ]
Post subject:  Re: 25-year-old new to LD
Good Morning msgohan,

Welcome to the forum,

I enjoyed reading of your experience and early memories of this fine collectors format.

Yes :).........The format is very addictive and yes one cannot get enough, although more available funds wouldn't go amiss for myself personally.

I have a reserved order that needs to be addressed, and am hoping to make in roads with further payments this year.

Happy viewing.......

Kind Regards and thank you for sharing

:wave: :thumbup:
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