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 Post subject: Finally got a decent "modern" set-up for my LD's
PostPosted: 15 Aug 2012, 19:38 
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Hello all! Long time LD enthusiast, and my beloved Sony KD-34XBR960 recently died-which was my favorite Hi-def CRT for watching Laserdiscs on. I have another one downstairs, but I wanted to move slightly into the modern world, so I purchased a Panasonic TC-P50ST50 plasma, and resigned myself to watching LD's only downstairs. Once I set up the new Plasma I got itchy to see if I could make my Lasers acceptable on it, considering the killer image quality, and went through a few "upscaling" receivers, including the highly touted Onkyo TX-NR616, which did very little (IMO) to improve the quality of the LD image to an acceptable level. After much research I settled on a Pioneer Elite vsx-92txh that I found used on Craigslist for $350. The upscaler on this Pioneer was way more effective, and allows considerable adjustment to aspect, resolution, chroma etc. It might just be a "good fit" issue, and I don't doubt that there are other ways to work out decent image quality with modern sets-but both my wife and I were thrilled with the results, and she's pickier than I am! I was able to really tweak the color and gray scale with my "Video Essentials" disc through the receiver, so it doesn't affect the other components being outputted through HDMI.

The sound options are extensive, virtually everything in the book including THX and my LD's (and Blu-rays) have never sounded better.
Check the specs: http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/ ... /VSX-92TXH

I have over 4,000 LD's...including nearly every Criterion, etc. so I was really fretting not being able to enjoy my LD's with modern gear.

My player is a Pioneer LD-S2 with Ac-3, which no doubt makes a difference as well.

Just thought I'd share my excitement a bit! Cheers! 8-)
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 Post subject: Re: Finally got a decent "modern" set-up for my LD's
PostPosted: 16 Aug 2012, 01:52 
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I'm happy with my VSX-53, basically whatever goes in, comes out better.
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 Post subject: Re: Finally got a decent "modern" set-up for my LD's
PostPosted: 16 Aug 2012, 15:13 
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Welcome aboard!

That VSX-92TXH looks pretty darn amazing, but I'm kinda stuck in a rut with my Elite VSX-27TX since it has an RF Demodulator. Been scouring craigslist for another with an RF demod (just missed out on getting a Denon AVR-5900 not too long ago), but not much luck.
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 Post subject: Re: Finally got a decent "modern" set-up for my LD's
PostPosted: 16 Aug 2012, 17:15 
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jasonk wrote:
Hello all! Long time LD enthusiast, and my beloved Sony KD-34XBR960 recently died-which was my favorite Hi-def CRT for watching Laserdiscs on. I have another one downstairs, but I wanted to move slightly into the modern world, so I purchased a Panasonic TC-P50ST50 plasma, and resigned myself to watching LD's only downstairs. Once I set up the new Plasma I got itchy to see if I could make my Lasers acceptable on it, considering the killer image quality, and went through a few "upscaling" receivers, including the highly touted Onkyo TX-NR616, which did very little (IMO) to improve the quality of the LD image to an acceptable level. After much research I settled on a Pioneer Elite vsx-92txh that I found used on Craigslist for $350. The upscaler on this Pioneer was way more effective, and allows considerable adjustment to aspect, resolution, chroma etc. It might just be a "good fit" issue, and I don't doubt that there are other ways to work out decent image quality with modern sets-but both my wife and I were thrilled with the results, and she's pickier than I am! I was able to really tweak the color and gray scale with my "Video Essentials" disc through the receiver, so it doesn't affect the other components being outputted through HDMI.

The sound options are extensive, virtually everything in the book including THX and my LD's (and Blu-rays) have never sounded better.
Check the specs: http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/ ... /VSX-92TXH

I have over 4,000 LD's...including nearly every Criterion, etc. so I was really fretting not being able to enjoy my LD's with modern gear.

My player is a Pioneer LD-S2 with Ac-3, which no doubt makes a difference as well.

Just thought I'd share my excitement a bit! Cheers! 8-)


I'd be happy with just an LD-S2! :P With your new equipment it must be beautiful!
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 Post subject: Re: Finally got a decent "modern" set-up for my LD's
PostPosted: 17 Apr 2019, 02:04 
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I just picked up one of these receivers for a great price off of Cragislist.

Mostly wanted it for the sound capabilities, but I will also check the out the upscaling abilities to see if it's better than just the composite from my Runco to my Panasonic Plasma.
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 Post subject: Re: Finally got a decent "modern" set-up for my LD's
PostPosted: 12 Mar 2020, 05:05 
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Finally got around to messing with the upscaling capabilities of the VSX-92TXH.

Receiver has a decent 3D comb filter as it cuts down on the cross color artifacts a lot on the Snell & Wilcox test pattern.

However, it does not give off great color response with the patterns at the bottom.

In comparison the 3D comb filter in my Panasonic Plasma does a better job on artifacts and color response.

As far as upscaling goes, it does a good job with that too. Only issue of course is that being upscaled a 4:3 image is stretched and my plasma can't really unstretch it. Even "ZOOM" or "CENTER" mode is still stretched. I'm looking through the manual for the receiver to see if there's a way to mess around with the scaling setting, but can't really find any.

Sooooo, not really a good solution for a primarily 4:3 source like LD thus far.
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 Post subject: Re: Finally got a decent "modern" set-up for my LD's
PostPosted: 12 Mar 2020, 06:49 
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My experience with that run of Pioneers is that they don't have AR for HD because it's assumed once something is 720p ^ it will be WS by default.
But can't your monitor force 4:3?
Alternatively, go to HDMI Out on the Pioneer, limit it to 480p, and see what your monitor thinks. If its 480i display was sloppy that may still be an improvement.
  
 
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