I'm not sure if I should post this here or to the not related to LD's. But since the subject is LD's I decided to post it here.

Anyway I had very and I mean very unlucky experiences with this format during early 2020s that you can laugh at. And if I wasn't so stubborn I'd probably have just abandoned this fascination. Let's start.

It all began when my fascination for this format was reignited when I decided for some reason to watch my german copy of first knight. Despite not understanding a word of it my interest just lit up. Causing me to want to buy Laserdisc's that I can understand. (at the time only discs that worked with my player I had that I could understand, were New Hope and disc two of clear and present danger (disc one doesn't work)

However as my player at the time (LD-V200) had problems playing NTSC discs (it could do so but only on karaoke mode. And it cannot play NTSC discs with chapters which is why my copy of Empire and Jedi didn't work.) I decided to stick with PAL discs. But finding popular movies with PAL releases that I could understand (aka not dubbed) was very hard. That was off course until I discovered the Netherlands versions.

So I decided to buy the Netherlands versions Back to the future 1 and 3 plus Indiana Jones raiders and temple of doom. However this is where the problems would start. I ended up having some troubles buying these discs. Not because of the seller but because of my own stupidity. I won't tell exactly why because I think it's too embarrassing for me.

Anyway that was nothing compared to what was about to come. So eventually I managed to buy the discs........ just hours later my player breaks. My LD-V200 starts to sound like an industrial drill. And the tray won't open. So for about a week I try to repair the machine, but eventually find out it's because of a small plastic piece broke. And while repairing it I broke the same plastic piece that was on the other side of the player. (it was cracked as well and literally the only thing holding it together was the grease.) Then the nail of the coffin was when I broke the cog. (In my review of the player you can see that I bought the player with the cog broken. So I fixed it by gluing it together and the repaired cog to the other side where it was, where it didn't need to operate as much and wear down faster. Well now the other cog that hadn't been broken is also broken. And a glued back cog cannot operate the side with more stress. Hopefully this wasn't too confusing.) Anyway to put it shortly the only way to repair the thing would be to either 3d print the parts or somehow find the original parts.... like that's ever gonna happen.

But you thought that's it? No no no. We are just about to get started.

So after my player broke I'm looking for a replacement on ebay. Since local seller sites here at the time had nothing for sale. So eventually I land on a Pioneer CLD 150K. Since it's more modern PAL/NTSC machine, it was one of the cheapest models of PAL/NTSC machines on ebay and it was a karaoke player (I thought it would be nice to own an another karaoke player.) So I ended up ordering one from Italy that also came with an italian version of twister. (after all if the owner is willing to bundle the player with a disc. Then he must be telling the truth it works)

But before it would arrive there would be an another problem. The post here never informs me that my netherlands discs have arrived. So they are sent back to the seller. And me being stubborn being I am. Pays for the shipping again. So now I have spent about 60 euros for Netherlands versions of Back to the future 1 and 3 plus Indiana Jones raiders of the lost ark and temple of doom. Did I tell you I was stubborn?

But the biggest whopper is about to come. The CLD 150K finally arrives and..... it's broken. Oh the player boots up fine. The menus show up. Heck it even plays the discs. But when you put a laserdisc there it only plays the audio. And before you think it's the av cables. Like I said the menus show fine. Also it won't play cd's as well like it should. So the laser probably went out of alignment in shipping or something. GREAT.

Eventually my Netherlands discs arrives. And well I could make this more dramatic and say they were full of disc rot... but they are not. For PDO releases they actually have very very little. So I guess that's nice but I still overpaid for those discs due to the shipping.

For the CLD 150K. I decided to keep the machine but the owner paid me half of the money I paid for it. I was gonna try to somehow repair it. Until I checked kind of the Finnish version of craigslist. And a new player had appeared for sale. A Pioneer CLD D925 for 125 euros. Sure it has some flaws but it plays. Within 30 minutes of seeing that I traveled a journey that took many hours to Helsinki just to pickup the player. Since I didn't trust the postal service with players after the CLD 150K. Had I actually waited to make a decision I wouldn't have that player now. As about a week later they stopped travel to Helsinki. So because of that the 150K is just a very expensive paperweight.

But you thought that was it for the unlucky stories? Well this isn't that unlucky for me. More for the seller. But months later after the above events I bought a bundle of Laserdiscs from seller. Then the seller noticed that one of the discs I ordered didn't have discs inside. And allowed me to swap the disc with a slightly more expensive one. Then he forgot to send one of the discs to me in the bundle. Then the copy he sent me had level 4 disc rot. (the sad thing about this is. That I think he was trying to be nice for his mess up. As he had 7/10 rated copy and 8/10 rated copy. And the copy I paid for was rated as 7/10. While if this was not rotten it would have been 8/10.) Then he sent me the other copy. I guess my unluckiness spread to him. And since he was so nice to me. This seller is music and more. Definitely recommend buying from him. At least I will buy my next discs from him and hope it will go smoother.

That's all hopefully you got some entertainment out of my misery.

All of this could've been avoided with some patience and research. I think it took me two years between deciding I wanted to get into the format and actually coming across a player locally that I could afford and actually met my bare minimum requirements.

Also you just reminded me of the time I came across a very unusual Laserdisc - something simply called "SUOMI 75" - which I unfortunately at the time was too broke to buy myself, but fortunately the guy who did buy it does have an account here so I was able to bombard him with questions about it. Maybe I should add it to the database because I doubt he's going to do it himself since he hasn't responded to my last IM.

I certainly wouldn't say "all of this" - problems with shipping aren't going to suddenly stop happening just because you do more research!

Well it does when the research shows you that shipping them is a bad idea.

Wait wait wait...

...the early 2020s?

Anyway, this is why I am a jerk who scares away noobs. I’m trying to protect you and what’s left of Laserdisc from each other. The more time goes by the more insane anything fringe eventually becomes. LD wasn’t practical in Europe even when it was current. You’re basically on an archaeological dig at this point. That’s not what it’s supposed to be about. You should be watching movies.

If you ship there are also people who do it right and people who don’t. If someone is blind buying LD players over eBay without personal correspondence to assure careful shipping they deserve what they get. An LD player is not a Chromecast! Shaking alone can destroy an LD player.

Original box wrapped in bubble wrap, inside another outer box with 4” of peanuts or low density foam on all sides, taped to F and back, with gratuitous use of threats and claims of fragility written on all sides. “This side up” as well. I’ve shipped my CLD-99 three times this way, no issues. It will be a huge box and it will cost money to ship.

I bought my first player and discs in 2017 so yeah I guess that makes me a noob. But lost interest in 2018. I got back into these back in early 2020.

Anyway the CLD 150k would have been preventable (I knew there was a risk of buying a player overseas from ebay). But everything else kind of wasn't. I mean how could I have prevented my player breaking next day after buying a bundle of discs? Or that Finnish postal service forgets to inform me my discs arrived and sends the discs back to the seller?

Most of these things very just unluckiness.

You should join the Facebook group.


Make a thread on it and maybe one of us will be able to help.

It isn’t any more unlucky than buying a national lottery ticket and not winning. The newest LD players are 9 years old. Most of them are about 30. The stuff is guaranteed to break at some point. I’m a technician by trade, and I live in the US where LD was popular and space cheap but it’s still a challenge to keep a supply of players running. It’s really only possible because I’ve built up a momentum of gear and discs and contacts and tips and tricks and all that to the point where my home theater can’t be taken down completely with a single failure. That’s expensive and takes decades to do (and luck, to be honest) and still it’s perilous. I didn’t have Digital Sound for most of 2020! It gets harder and more expensive every year. In your situation I’d never mess with LD. It’s simply a more expensive and more PITA way to watch a movie.

I think about this a lot. If my player developed a fault that couldn't be addressed with basic maintenance like regreasing the rails or replacing the belts, I'd be SOL.

Well, at least until another player came along I guess.

I can do the advanced maintenance and servicing, but it still does not alleviate my concern over something like my LD-S2's pickup failing. It is all a parts game now. You can learn how to service LD players, but there is nothing to do if you can't get the part. Even if someone was selling a NOS LD-S2 pickup for $300 or so, you have the pressure of adjusting grating while making sure not to brick it. I probably have 20 LD players here at the moment. Six are keepers and the rest are in various states of disrepair- majority strictly as donors and about three on the "todo" list so other people can enjoy them. And out of all that I have only one spare VNL1779 M-Holder available. Zero spare parts for my LD-S2 except for maybe the spindle grip.

Then on the flip-side of this, you can see posts of people (not here) where they have something like a loading belt issue on a player and then completely destroy the unit in the process of trying to replace it. No telling if they just throw the rest in the trash. That brings the question: What happens to all the eBay returns that aren't relisted?

I also have to say that owning an LD player isn’t all stress and LD players are usually super reliable. I haven’t bought any in like...eight years maybe. Once the things are safe in your house the only real danger is neglect and spindle motors/laser which fail only after thousands of hours. The VAST majority of these nightmare repair stories are related to people who just turned their player on for the first time in 15 years or they just got it from someone else who hadn’t used it in 15 years and it breaks when powering up from seized grease or it can’t grip the disc or open the door. It’s not like gears snap in half daily.

This + all the shipping damage. These two combined account for the vast majority of problems that I have seen here as well as locally.