I am pretty sure this topic has already been talked about on here...But I thought I'd chime in...

I am a fairly new collector, I had been collecting mostly vintage VHS tapes until I came along the wonders of Laserdisc. I first got introduced to the LD format when I bought a used player at a salvation army in Oklahoma City. It was one of those grey and bulky ones. I can't remember the model name but the thing weighed a ton. It seemed like it weighed even more than that due to the fact I had to carry the thing on foot to my house a few blocks away...But as soon as I managed to get my butt up the stairs without slipping a disc, I plugged the thing in and to my surprise it turned on, and worked quite well. The only issue was that I needed a LD to to properly test it. Weeks went by until I finally tracked down some used LDs at a local goodwill. They were in less than pristine condition, but at this point I really didn't care because I had already invested some money into my experiment with Laserdisc and it's capabilities, and I was anxious to try it out. I got home grabbed my copy of Total Recall, and turned the player on, and as soon as I took the disc out of the slipcase I was floored by the size of the thing, I mean you could use the disc as a mirror for chrissakes! It's that HUGE. I already loved Total Recall to death at this point but it was twice as awesome that night. Words can't express how cool LDs are. From that point on I was hooked. Recently, I have moved away from OKC, and upgraded my player. I now currently have a CLD S201 that I bought at a Value Village for 15 bucks.(I also saw an Elite model for the same price at the same store at the same time, but I had no idea what Elite meant so I went for the S201. I am still kicking myself in the head over that one...) and my collection has more than doubled since then thanks to thrift store finds, E Bay, and now the services of this fantastic site which has opened my eyes even further to the brave new world that is Laserdisc.

Well now that I've told my story. What's yours?

PS. I actually discovered LDs much earlier in my life, but I had no idea what they were until now. I had always assumed they were LPs. I actually recently bought the one that I remembered seeing at a bookstore I used to volunteer at.(Stargate for 25 cents) and I have a vague memory of seeing a copy of the Highlander collectors set years ago.

My first laserdisc experience was early 1993 I think it was at Hi-Fi store saw a Pioneer CLD-1750 NTSC/PAL second hand £400.00 saved up a bit brought it and my first laserdisc I brought I think it was Last Action Hero (PAL).

My second laserdisc I think it was Jurassic Park (PAL) third I think Alive (PAL) fourth Speed (NTSC THX laserdisc) and so and so on.

I was a junior in HS. My English/drama teacher owned a high end audio/video store. After opening night of our play, he had us over to his place for a party.

Director's Cut of Blade Runner on his Pioneer RPTV. Complete with 2 surround speakers. I was hooked!

I had known of Laserdiscs for a while, but never actually saw one in action until 1994.

It was in a Radio Shack in a Mall in Chicago as I was on liberty from Boot Camp/Apprenticeship Training for the Navy. They had a LaserActive machine up and running with Pyramid Patrol playing. Even though it was showing off some primitive CG, I was highly impressed with the video quality. I asked the floor attendant if they had anything else to play on the LD player. He pulled out a video sampler, I believe it was Paramount, and played that one. Again, impressed by the quality.

After that, I knew I had to have one . . . and a bigger TV!

It would be another year, and being stationed in Japan before I would satisfy that want. Luckily, the Base Exchange carried both LD players and TV for cheap!

I was fortunate enough to get into the laserdisc format, just before it started on the downward slope (of the most popular format of choice) in spring ''begining of April in fact'' of 1998.

After many years of riding motorcycles I decided to change my mode of transport to a car a Golf MK3 (of which I still have,& well looked after.)
My main reason why I went to four wheels was mainly because my Mother was disabled, her marriage to my step Dad was a very unhappy one for 29yrs, so I began spending more time with Mum taking her out on the odd occasions, also with Mum being wheelchair bound out of doors meant, that I needed the boot space of which the Honda 1500se Goldwing motorcycle did'nt have.

I had gone from the 4 x sports motorcycles and crossed over to the grand tourers I achieved all that I wanted to with motorcycles, and so it was time to move on.

I had recieved many shares from the Building Society at the time, and cashed them in straight away being at their highest return, plus the funds from the sale of my motorcycle, I then decided to return to home Audio with the addition of Video electronics.

I first noticed the DVL-909 Laserdisc player and thought I like this and so purchased it, along with a number of high end Sony ES full size Audio seperates.

To begin with I purchased a number of PAL laserdisc's, thinking these were great ''however,'' nothing could have prepared me for what I would eventually experience with the NTSC Players & LD's over the next few months and years ahead.

I would journey around 70 miles each way to purchase as many Laserdisc's as I could, on and at times a weekly basis,
spending hundreds if not thousands on Laserdisc's.

One of my first WOW!!!! experiences came when I had just purchased the 1998 Roland Emmerichs blockbuster of Godzilla, and the !!BASS SLAM!! when the creature stomped from the Hudson bay and onto the fishing docks reduced myself to giggling like a little child........I thought well this is it for me:)

I have had a great many similar experiences ever since then.
I have a great fondness for the Laserdisc format. . . . . . .And this same fondness is with Laserdisc today, as it was back then.

The Laserdisc format although expensive for the customer, you became part of an experience that was exclusive and tangible, way beyond what todays formats can ever offer in terms of pride of ownership.

This experience even extended to the hardware, and owning a number of Elite Players I have no regrets about the many hours (mostly seven days a week) in which I used to work, in order to import these masterpieces of engineering, the ebony finish and refinement.........Pioneer TRULY PLACED MUCH pride in producing these items of equipment and it showed.

I get as excited today in purchasing Laserdisc's as I did when I started out, and shall look forward to my next order of which has been a long time coming. . . . . .reserved by Mr Santini who is a good man and very patient.

I have gone through many challenges over the years, and in 2012 I shall finally realise a 14year goal of having my equipment setup and on made to measure support stands, and being in my first home.

Yes I am nuts about the Laserdisc format however, I can think of a lot worse things to waste my money on.

There are many other experiences that I could share here but I think i've written enough.

All the best everyone and take good care of yourselves

elahrairrah, ejjames, laserbite34 & laserarena89,
I enjoyed reading your experiences, this adds to our appreciation and understanding of other members.

Sincerest regards

The first Laserdisc release and player we owned was in 2012. It was The Truth About Cats and Dogs along with an old Pioneer CLD-1010 player. The CLD-1010 stopped working after a few months as it was in poor condition when we bought it first, so we bought a Pioneer CLD-D504 player instead. The Laserdisc release itself is still in good condition now!

My first LD player was the Pioneer CLD-D505, and the first LD I got was "The Raccoons Collection". That was back in December of '19. Then, I just started getting into LD collecting, mostly Disney ones. But after finishing off side 4 of "The Three Caballeros/Saludos Amigos" around February '21, it somehow quit on me. So, later on, I tried getting a few more LD players (mostly double-sided) and they couldn't get through to playing. I tried fixing skipping problems myself, but Mother suggested a store called Jersey Jim Towers, and they told me all the problems the players had, laser pickup deteriorated, even on one Panasonic player. But then, they got me the Pioneer CLD-990, a single-sided player. Those players, they say, have much less problems than double-sided ones.

"I tried fixing skipping problems myself, but Mother suggested a store called Jersey Jim Towers"

Gee, I shop there. You must be from Clearwater...

Almost. I live in Safety Harbor.

My first experience also has to do with the '98 Godzilla, which I've probably mentioned in the past.

Saw someone playing the trailer or something for it as a trade show. I don't think DVD had made landfall in Finland yet and if it had, I hadn't even heard of it then so the idea of watching video off a disc - especially a 12" one that looked like a CD - blew my mind. I probably would've stayed there and watched it all day if my parents hadn't decided to move on, I was only like 14 back then or something.

of all the silly things, "BINGO MIKI AND INNER-GALAXY ORCHESTRA - THE EVE" on a CLD-1080. must've been around 2004/2005;

I remember seeing my first laserdisc around 2013, when my older brother showed me some of the ones he had got from some store near where he was living at the time. He didn't have a player, so he just had them out on display in his apartment. He had THE TERMINATOR and ALIENS, and I thought they were really cool looking.

But my dive into laserdiscs started about a year ago, when I watched Techmoans video about his experience with laserdiscs. At first I wanted to just own one, as a cool little antique. I purchased THE ABYSS: SPECIAL EDITION for about $11. It came with this booklet that contained headshots of all of the main people in the film, a letter from James Cameron talking about why he restored the movie to its original length, and a list of the scenes that were omitted from the theatrical release that were added back in for the special edition. I thought this was really cool, so I bought some more laserdiscs. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and BLACK RAIN were my next purchases. Then I bought TRUE LIES at an antique shop for $5, it was in really good condition.

After that though, my interest fizzled out, mainly due to me not owning a player. My dad saying that "I'm wasting my money" didn't help either. But last month, I re watched the Techmoan video I mentioned earlier, and it got me thinking about buying a player. I currently have a disposable income, so I kind of just said "f**k it" and bought a Pioneer CLD - S201 for about $120 on eBay. I also bought some more LD's to add to my collection. I had also acquired a Sanyo CRT TV a few months back, so I had the proper equipment to get the most authentic watching experience from my LD's.

I was very excited to try my player out when it arrived in the mail. So I hooked up the player to my CRT, popped in TRUE LIES, and I have to say, It blew me away with how good it looked. I was expecting it to look worse than DVD, but it actually looked just as good. I have plugged my player into a modern flatscreen, and the video quality did diminish a bit, but it was still very watchable. Though if I had to pick which TV I would watch an LD on, I'd stick with my CRT.

All in all, I'm very happy with this hobby. Its a lot of fun to admire the artwork on the slipcovers, and read the notes and letters that the directors write about in certain special releases of films. I also really like having to get up and flip the disc. It forces me to get up, so I don't have to pause the movie in the middle of a scene, and go get a soda or more snacks.

Anyway, that's how my experience with Laserdiscs is right now. Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a good rest of your day.

Now that I think about it, my real first LD experience was Dragon's Lair in the arcades in the early 80s.

Of course, I didn't know it was an LD at the time.

Had a subscription to Popular Science magazine and remember reading articles about the development of LDs in the 1970s. Lived in Atlanta when the format was launched but didn't check it out. In 1980 or 81 someone showed me their brand new Pioneer VP1000 player hooked up to a Zenith System 3 TV (I think). Played me some of the CAV "Jaws" movie. I remember the picture quality looked fantastic. No rot, colored speckles or crosstalk. Just a perfect picture...

Greetings from Largo, Florida