Hi Everyone,
I've been lurking round here and the website for a little while now and thought I should get around to introducing myself.
My first experience of LaserDisc was a bit over 20 years ago at my first "real job" - Albert's Hi-Fi here in Perth. The format never did much here, only people buying top end home theatre systems bought a player and then went to the expense of importing the discs from the US. A few Hi-Fi stores had small rental libraries for those customers, but that was about it. I bought a Kenwood player and started collecting the ST:TNG discs, at about $60AU or so a disc it was a pretty serious commitment on my junior wage at the time. I only got about half the collection when the guy we got them from moved on, plus a few ex-demo/library movie discs from the store. As a bit of a budding audio/videophile I loved those discs with picture that killed video tape, and when the digital sound formats arrived - wow!
Like most I moved onto DVD and Blu-ray, but unlike many my player (now a Marantz LV-520 I managed to pick up cheap for the AC3 output) and the discs were stashed away, though unused.
Fast forward 22 years and my partner (who'd looked at those discs sit unused on a shelf for years) inspired me to dig out the old player and give it a spin. First impression - 'I don't remember LaserDisc looking this bad!'. But somehow some of my 18yo wonder and excitement about the format had been reignited and so began a fast paced (you might say obsessive) leap back into the world of LD. Hours of searching and reading on the internet led me to realise I needed a better player, and better scaling for the displays (I have a 32" Samsung HD LCD and Epson EH-TW5500 HD Projector on an 85" screen that we sit about 2.5m or 100" away from).
First step a CLD-925 off ebay from Brisbane for about $330au. A marked improvement in picture quality. Then onto the scaler, ended up getting a DVDO Duo from Adelaide for $750au, not bad I thought when most units selling in the US on ebay were well over $1000au and then the extra shipping. In fact these are two things that rarely (if ever) come up on the Australian ebay and there they were at just the right time for me - the LD gods were being kind! I knew the Lumagen or Crystalio might be better but rarely ever seen on eBay it seemed and a lot more expensive. It was another marked improvement in picture quality and now I was really quite happy. From barely watch-able on the small screen, to really wanting to turn the projector on rather than watching it on the small screen!
And I've gone a bit mental buying up discs too - including finally after 20+ years purchasing the entire TNG set!!
But of course with the reading I'd done I knew there were better players to be had especially when the disc collection is 99.99% NTSC. So an LD-S9 ended up on it's way from Japan. First attempt was packed like crap and I could hear the pieces rattle round inside when it arrived. Thankfully this ebay seller refunded me completely and the player went back to the post office for a damage claim. Second attempt was super well packed and just arrived earlier this week. Sorry to fans of the LD-S9, but the colour smear and ringing/ghosting is so bad on this player that if I'd just purchased it new I'd be taking it back as defective goods. The 925 has the slightest of smear, but no more than I remember being typical of most analogue video sources. It has the ghosting but there is one ghost, again no worse than I remember for a lot of analogue video. Okay the picture of the S9 is a lot better but when it comes to the ghosting and smearing it's just awful. The smear runs across the whole screen, and is very pronounced at times, for example on a facial close up as the person talks it creates a band of smear that thickens and thins as they open and close their mouth - pronounced and moving so drawing your eye straight to it. And the ringing/ghosting? Not just one but about 4 false images/outlines, the first far more pronounced than the 925's single one (on par with the second or third of the S9). A big let down; the CLD-R7G is already on the way. Just wished I'd read and/or heeded some of the postings on this topic on this forum, but there's always divergence of opinions so while I thought smear might be a minor issue with this player, I never imagined it would be so bad and never anticipated the multiple ghosting.
So when the R7G gets here, I'll post an update. All this has happened since early June when I pulled out the old player - it's like I've been making up for lost time and I'm dedicated (crazy?) enough to have my eye out for an X9/X0 too so I've questions to ask about that for later.
Well if you got all the way to here thanks for reading through all my drivel!! and I hope to have some interesting and informative conversations here in the future.
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