Given the age of my laserdisc player, I wanted to copy my LDs to a digital source in case it stopped running. I had purchased a "Sony VRD-MC5 Multi-Function DVD Recorder" off ebay a while back which allows the laserdisc to be copied to a DVD at full resolution (two DVDs per movie) through a RCA cable. It worked but was somewhat picky about the DVD blanks. I decided to go even older-school with a "Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge Analog to DV Converter, (from LD player to converter (RCA), to 2012 Apple laptop via Firewire). I have yet to actually try this but I like the idea as a backup to the Sony. Some LD titles are hard to find on other media.

Honestly if you're not using a doomsday duplicator, you're just as well off using a $10 AV to USB device and recording your laserdiscs through OBS.

All these standalone devices will give you a more or less crappy quality.
I did do some laserdisc rips with a professional hardware MJPEG capture card about 10 years ago, used filters and slow encoding (took more than a day back then to just encode one movie) and the results were just OK.
Today it should be a domesday duplicator. Difficult to setup and also time consuming but best quality possible.

You can get quite high quality by carefully choosing and setting up an A/V USB capture device and drivers/software. To summarize:

-The capture device should be at ATI TV Wonder 600 USB, or Hauppauge HVR-950 (not HVR-950Q), or maybe one specific version of the Elgato EyeTV Hybrid (USB) --that has two rows of air holes on it, identical to the HVR-950-- (there are at least three devices all called "Elgato EyeTV Hybrid", only -that- one will be the good one).

-The drivers for the device need to be specific "Empia" ones from 2015 or 2022, for "USB 2883 Device".

-The captures should be done with a specific version (1.19.11) of the free program "Virtualdub", using the "HuffYUV" lossless compression codec (also free, that you download and install separately).

With that setup, you can/will get high-quality (and LARGE) files, that you can then convert to MPEG-2 (DVD format), MPEG-4/AVC, or others of your choice in a program you choose. (You can keep your original file too and play it, for the best quality of all.)

The "Dazzle Hollywood Bridge" uses the not-too-good "DV" lossy compression format, that has lower-resolution color than other formats among other limitations. Plus, after using it, you -still- need to convert to MPEG-2 or something else to play it in most computer or hardware video players.

Here is a discussion with screen captures, of the USB devices I mentioned and links to the drivers needed:
https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/video-workflows/14904-ati-tv-wonder.html

That site "Digital FAQ" is a great place to learn about high-quality analog video capturing. They will mention "time base correctors" (TBCs) a lot, but you should not need one for laser disc capturing.

Having said all of this, it is/will be a -lot- of trouble to go through overall (but the Domesday Duplicator would be far more effort and expense if I understand it right) to save copies of manufactured discs, so you have to truly need/want those specific versions to make it worthwhile, it seems to me. But it could be a fun project, too.

Welcome to the LDDB Forum, ddamico361!

That Sony DVD recorder looks like an interesting device, and far easier than any of the computer methods, if you like its quality.

I have had very good success overall with Hewlett-Packard DVD+R discs, and with Verbatim Datalife Plus discs in general, for various recording tasks, but I see neither of those brands on Sony's "Recommended Media" list for that device (on their Web site).

I tried a couple of decades ago to make LD to DVD transfers and overall I think they looked okay when played back on a standard definition monitor. I used an HP DVD Movie Writer DC4000 but with the software for a DC5000 as it allowed me to encode the audio in DD 2.0 @ 384kbts instead of PCM which was a data hog that made the video suffer.

After doing two transfers, I gave up because it ended up being too time consuming and the end product would never be something as good as the original LD. Also, I was limited to just two channel material as the capture card did not have an optical or coaxial digital input to transfer DTS or AC3 (via an RF Demodulator).

In the end, I decided to just stock up on a lot of players to ensure that I would always have machines to playback my fairly vast collection. I also have gone ahead and plan to retrofit the rest of my pre-1994 players to AC3 (as well as PCM if needed) to ensure that every audio codec will be playable as well. And I think this makes sense to me because the concept of being an LD collector is to be able to play an LD. What would be the point of playing a copy of an LD if I can simply get (for the most part) a DVD or Blu ray that would look better. This goes the same for the Vinyl people; it's about the experience.

I used one of those external video capture devices back in 2012 for a VHS transfer, I believe it was the 1989 Canadian VHS Copy of Troll (Specifically, The Opening Logos)

I still have the device, it's a "my vid box" by Honestech.

Do I still say this? The Canopus ADVC-110 via Firewire. Roxio Easy VHS to DVD via USB was getting all wonky 'cuz it made my PC shut down at the most inappropriately random times!

Cloner Alliance View Pro - records ANY source in HD to SD card. Just hook it up to your player as if it was the TV. Outside of Domesday project, hands down the best solution.

Thank you. This sounds reasonable.