hi all. i first learned about LD back in 2000, during some of my earliest net-surfing.
i was a budding Audiophile then, as well as a budding fan of all things ΩPIONEER,
so i suppose i was only bound to learn about LD sooner or later, even if it was a few years
after the format's "retirement"
at first, it was more due to a single specific player that my interest was piqued so high.
in fact an image of that particular player model, the 1988 CLD-3030, that i found during my earliest
exploration of EBAY, that i still have 10 years on, is what REALLY wound my clock;
fate and fortune would eventually bring me my very own copy of that player,
but in the mean, my grandma, around 2001, bought me an ailing 1990 CLD-1080 with remote/manual locally for $15.00
that i was hoping to be able to fix. it never happened, but around 2005sh,
i was able to find the start of my current LD collection via a 75% off sale
on LD stock at a local privately-owned video-shop.
i got many gems that day, all six of the original-cast STAR TREK films, original STEREO versions
and early-90's SURROUND reissues, deluxe box sets of ALIEN/ALIENS and THE ABYSS,
and many other single discs, all for around $50.
i was set with a solid foundation for a collection, and a player is all i still needed.
i found another working, though ill-fated CLD-1080 at a local pawn for $50.
my grandma bought it for me, and off to the races was i.
i have neglected to mention, until now, that i was spending a LOT of time
up at my grandma's back in the first half of the last decade, due to health issues
that could only be addressed at OHSU hospitals university in my birthtown of PORTLAND, OR.
200 miles from my current residence of the last 20 years.
i mention that now because i was spending a month/two at a time there,
and it was at the tail end of one of those stays that i acquired that functional 1080,
along with several other A/V and stereo components, from thrifts, to bolster my evolving A/V system of the time.
i was hauling stuff out to the car to head on back home there one morning, and half-due to my carelessness,
and half-due to my grandma's annoying shallow staircase down to the landing where her front-door is located,
i stumbled at the top of the flight, unloading my armload of a MITSUBISHI HS-413UR VHS VCR, and the CLD-1080.
both components found themselves at the foot of the staircase mighty fast.
the VCR somehow survived without a scratch, -don't ask me how- but the 1080 fond it's front face smashed all to hell
by the handrail.
i got home, and attempted to fix the 1080 from parts culled from that first, dysfunctional 1080, which i still had.
i was unsuccessful.
some months later, i had another Appt. at the body shop, and an opportunity to scout for another LD player.
i found another pawn with one, an LD-838D that the fellow was willing to trade some stuff i had for.
this player was not in terribly presentable cosmetic condition, but it worked beautifully,
and was better than no player at all. it remained my sole LDP until around 2007,
when i was able to get my first ever home net access (really keeping up with the times, buddy...)
and was in a position to start using EBAY to pursue specific items of very specific choice.
indeed, the first fruit bore from my newfound freedom of choice was a near-mint copy
of the CLD-3030, with remote,manual, and five discs, in supposed low-usage condition of "under 30 hrs."
for around $60shipped. and yes, i still have that original photo as well;
well, i finally had my baby, the ship that literally sailed a format for me, and it served me reasonably well all these years
despite a strange issue with the laser pick-up tending to lock up off and on near end of side.
i got fed up with the issue recently, however, and found the immediate step-down model for 1988 (CLD-1030)
for $80shipped in guaranteed 100% functional condition;
it arrived in said perfect order, and i transplanted it's IDENTICAL disc transport/drive assy. module
to my 3030 chassis. it now works PERFECTLY, better than when i first got it in 2007, even.
clearly, this transport/drive assy. is in MUCH BETTER overall repair than the 3030's original.
hell it not only operates smoother and quieter. it even SOUNDS as such. my baby should be good now for years to come.
i also took the opportunity to neatly route and zip-tie up the extensive wiring harnesses interlinking the players'
many separate self-contained function modules and PCBs, and modded the player a little in terms of overall damping and isolation;
and finally, i am indeed, full aware of this player's overwhelming PQ inferiority to just about any 1990's LDP model,
it does not bother me. this gorgeous player screams "1980's Video Revolution" to me, in that delightfully Japanese
over engineered way, and i just love it to pieces for that.
indeed, i have been told that even the lowly 1995 entry level CLD-S104 simply blows most LDP's PQ clean away,
least of not which the archaic CLD-3030, and indeed, i even had a chance to test that claim
when i came across an 100-LD Anime collection off the PORTLAND CL, along with a CLD-S104, for $80 total, that i couldn't pass up.
indeed, the S104's PQ was startling indeed. it was a butt-ugly LDP though IMO, about as butt-fugly
as most everything PIONEER marketed in the U.S. from around 1992/1998 or so, YMMV.
as such, the S104 went bye-bye not long after acquisition of that collection.
do feel free to color me stark-raving mad now, because i must be positively looney-tunes to have rejected superior LD PQ and all, YMMV...
