LaserDisc Database
https://forum.lddb.com/

LD: 2050
https://forum.lddb.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=8890		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  forper [ 16 Feb 2020, 02:09 ]
Post subject:  LD: 2050
As I more and more devote my video media collecting to Laserdisc exclusively, it does cross my mind that one day in my lifetime, my collection will become a useless row of unplayable curiosities.

Given moderate means (I don't earn a lot of money) and an average life span (I see myself hopefully living to see 2050) how likely do you think it is that I can keep enjoying LD over the next 3 decades?

I have 2 working players I use almost daily that are already 27 and 32 years old. I have one with a lot of issues that I hope to repair one day if I can find someone who can do it in Australia (unlikely apparantly). My attempts at even the most basic repairs (belt change) by myself on previously owned players have resulted in their total destruction.

Do you think existing and working players will start to climb drastically in price? Do you think any existing players will run out of spare parts? Do you think a new means of playing back LD's content will be developed, such as Zeta's flatbed scanner idea?

I guess these questions are always being asked and answered on this forum but I was just thinking about it..
Author:  gypsy [ 16 Feb 2020, 03:56 ]
Post subject:  Re: LD: 2050
So I was considering selling an extra working player awhile ago. Then I thought about it more. I have three in good working order and one that likely needs new caps. It just wasn't worth it to me for the little I would get to maybe face a situation where all my players break. Especially now that I can inject subtitles. I say get another for a good price if and when you can.
Author:  firehorse_44 [ 16 Feb 2020, 06:13 ]
Post subject:  Re: LD: 2050
I agree with gypsy.
We are in this for the long haul.

Since all things under the sun have a finite time on Terra Firma, make the best of it.
Find a few more working players over the years.

Player availability will inevitably taper off down the road a bit.
Will a new platform be released ? highly doubtful imo.......

Treat your players under your care with tlc. Keep an eye out for other abandoned players wherever you may stumble upon old electronics.

Most importantly, revel in the experience of keeping the platters spinning for as long as feasible ....

We are nearly 20 years from format termination people. Who would have thought that the players would have lasted as long as they have ?
Minus the ones manufactured in the new part of the millennium !
Pioneer stopped production of the DVL-919 circa 2009.

Cheers to all the membership keeping this format "current" ! :wave: :wtf: :crazy: :clap:
Author:  forper [ 16 Feb 2020, 07:53 ]
Post subject:  Re: LD: 2050
gypsy wrote:
So I was considering selling an extra working player awhile ago. Then I thought about it more. I have three in good working order and one that likely needs new caps. It just wasn't worth it to me for the little I would get to maybe face a situation where all my players break. Especially now that I can inject subtitles. I say get another for a good price if and when you can.


Yep, it's on my buy list, another LD player but reasonably priced units I want (mid to hi end Sonys) are just getting rarer and rarer. YAJ currently lists exactly two Sony LD players that aren't junk, but neither are pictured actually working and sellers can't confirm operation.
Author:  forper [ 16 Feb 2020, 07:57 ]
Post subject:  Re: LD: 2050
firehorse_44 wrote:
Find a few more working players over the years.


That's the plan

Quote:
Player availability will inevitably taper off down the road a bit.
Will a new platform be released ? highly doubtful imo.......


Opinion noted.

Quote:
Treat your players under your care with tlc. Keep an eye out for other a abandoned players wherever you may stumble upon old electronics.


Will do.

Quote:
Most importantly, revel in the experience of keeping the platters spinning for as long as feasible ....


That's it, always do. I always feel lucky to experience another LD.

Quote:
We are nearly 20 years from format termination people.


Yep, I feel like someone on a deep space mission, 20 years out from Earth with no way to return, we just keep heading on to oblivion with no means of resupply or repair except by our own resources..let's keep this LD journey going as long as possible..
Author:  substance [ 16 Feb 2020, 08:50 ]
Post subject:  Re: LD: 2050
Be optimistic. 30 years is a long time. You can teach yourself how to fix LD players in that time frame. Hopefully ever faster advancing technology will get us to a point we can replicate all parts. If there is will there is always a way.
Author:  je280 [ 16 Feb 2020, 15:18 ]
Post subject:  Re: LD: 2050
I have got two LD players & I have my fingers & everything else crossed that they don't have any major issues, every time I power them up I breath a sigh of relief when they spin up & all is okay.

Had a few more players in the past but passed them on years ago, wish I had held onto a couple of them now though.

I also don't have the funds to bag any more unless they are at a fair price & I can pick them up - cannot take the risk that is incurred with carriers or our post office.

I know this may be a bit of an anathema for you forper but would you not consider an LD player that is not a SONY?

Where you are is it not a little easier to pick up fairly reasonably PIONEER or PANASONIC units & others from Japan?

You are closer to Japan than I am here in the UK so is shipping not perhaps a little cheaper?

Here in the UK most player that come up for sale are usually PIONEER units with some SONY units popping up sometimes, very rarely does anything else turn up apart from the ones that are highly priced & have been up for sale for years.

Hope we can all keep the big silver discs spinning for years to come.

Cheers :thumbup:
Author:  rein-o [ 16 Feb 2020, 19:02 ]
Post subject:  Re: LD: 2050
I personally think we will be fine for another 30 years, just stock up on working players and they should be fine for some time to come.
By that time we may not even be around due to other reasons or even be allowed to own such things as LDs due to our socialist allowances
of space and money.

I never thought I would have so many LD players, still have 4 and all are working last I checked but some are still boxed up, so really only 2 are fine 2 are untested.
So I will get this stuff sorted but will always keep an eye out for future players.
Author:  cplusplus [ 17 Feb 2020, 04:55 ]
Post subject:  Re: LD: 2050
forper wrote:
Do you think existing and working players will start to climb drastically in price?

They have definitely been climbing.

forper wrote:
Do you think any existing players will run out of spare parts?

Yes. The M-Holder and grip ring are two examples currently.

Another factor here is the lifespan of the discs themselves. The estimated lifespan for optical media varies greatly. i.e. I've read 50 years and I've read 200.

In regards to the longevity of players, I've never had one that just died on me. Further, the players I repair are mostly (relatively) trivial fixes: belt issues, grip ring issues, crosstalk, etc. It is not often I'm debugging something on the boards. These are all purchased locally though. The damage that occurs from shipping these players opens up a whole new world of problems. Buy local.
Author:  deadlegion [ 17 Feb 2020, 05:11 ]
Post subject:  Re: LD: 2050
Buying locally isn't really easy here. Yeah there are players around but not heaps, the country is so big that if you're after specific players the chances are it'll need to be shipped. Living in one of the major cities is a plus looking for something like this, but living in major cities sucks for a load of reasons.

The only player I have was shipped from another state but I got it very cheap considering local prices, it works ok but I'm pretty sure it has a problem switching to side 2. I don't care enough to look at fixing it atm though, I rarely play LDs so I just flip the LD.
Author:  Guest [ 17 Feb 2020, 06:35 ]
Post subject:  Re: LD: 2050
2 cents:

Always unplug your machine when unused, especially if it stays warm in standby.
Inspect all discs for the ring-label furrowing or detaching so it doesn't catch in the mechanism.
When you have to replace parts take the broken items to a machinist to see about getting their replacements in metal rather than plastic.
An uninterruptible power supply. These are costly.

An IDE reader seems a very possible development.
Author:  forper [ 17 Feb 2020, 09:37 ]
Post subject:  Re: LD: 2050
je280 wrote:
I have got two LD players & I have my fingers & everything else crossed that they don't have any major issues, every time I power them up I breath a sigh of relief when they spin up & all is okay.


I used to do this but I now think of using my players as regular exercise for em, overall a good thing, but yeah one day a part will just flat out fail I guess.

Quote:
I know this may be a bit of an anathema for you forper but would you not consider an LD player that is not a SONY?


I've owned lot of Pioneers, all have had digital audio issues first and then video issues. Sonys I've had (half dozen) have all had one failure point, the elegant disc trays and mechanisms. I'll take my chances with a Sony over a Pioneer anyday but if the disc spins on a Sony you know you're going to get solid sound and video every time through the whole disc. I'm not the only one who thinks this by the way:

Sony MDP-999

Quote:
Where you are is it not a little easier to pick up fairly reasonably PIONEER or PANASONIC units & others from Japan?

Prefer to stick with Sony if a working one of one of the nicer units ever comes up again, and I'm still in waiting mode for a nice example of one, willing to pay a reasonable price for a nice MDP-999 or a HIL-C1/2EX. I'll give it a year or two then I might compromise with a Pioneer backup. Maybe one of the more reliable, later models R7G or something.

Quote:
You are closer to Japan than I am here in the UK so is shipping not perhaps a little cheaper?


yeah it is not bad.

Quote:
Hope we can all keep the big silver discs spinning for years to come.


Definitely, LD is just a curious hobby to some but at this stage without it I'd be lost without this hobby as humans desert me more and more, LDs become more and more important to me. It's not really the coolness of spinning the big discs, it's the music and video inside that gives me so much happiness. People say music saves their life all the time, I say music on this format in this form and with LD's images attached to it saves mine. All these shows and movies I grew up with watched in the ultimate format is so full circle for me, it's essential.

Cheers :thumbup:
Author:  forper [ 17 Feb 2020, 09:43 ]
Post subject:  Re: LD: 2050
rein-o wrote:
I personally think we will be fine for another 30 years, just stock up on working players and they should be fine for some time to come.
By that time we may not even be around due to other reasons or even be allowed to own such things as LDs due to our socialist allowances
of space and money.


:lol: s**t hadn't even thought of that. I demand the right to bear laserdiscs! "..from my cold dead hands"..first they came for plastic shopping bags, then plastic straws, then the plastic packaging, then they came for the big plastic frisbees, laserdiscs. "You want that laserdisc to end up around a baby sea turtle's neck a*****e murderer? You're part of the problem, whitey" they said to me as they held me down and took my collection. Then they taxed me for disposal fees. Bold new world :sick:
Author:  rein-o [ 17 Feb 2020, 16:07 ]
Post subject:  Re: LD: 2050
forper wrote:
rein-o wrote:
I personally think we will be fine for another 30 years, just stock up on working players and they should be fine for some time to come.
By that time we may not even be around due to other reasons or even be allowed to own such things as LDs due to our socialist allowances
of space and money.


:lol: s**t hadn't even thought of that. I demand the right to bear laserdiscs! "..from my cold dead hands"..first they came for plastic shopping bags, then plastic straws, then the plastic packaging, then they came for the big plastic frisbees, laserdiscs. "You want that laserdisc to end up around a baby sea turtle's neck a*****e murderer? You're part of the problem, whitey" they said to me as they held me down and took my collection. Then they taxed me for disposal fees. Bold new world :sick:

:lol: :clap: LMAO

Heard something on the radio recently about all the recycling centers in the UK I believe that are overflowed with all these CDs and DVDs
along with cases that everybody is dumping due to streaming so they can get rid of stuff.

Fools.......
Author:  substance [ 17 Feb 2020, 17:21 ]
Post subject:  Re: LD: 2050
Just to chime in on keeping electronics on power or off while not in use. If you are using it daily or even a couple of times a week, it is always best to keep it plugged in and in standby. Use a decent surge suppressor with MOVs (very common and cheap) or even better with a micro processor controlled relays (rare and more expensive) with some common mode and differential mode filtering.

Unplugging and plugging power often will put a much larger stress on electronics. They will wear and tear much quicker. Minor voltage fluctuations and some transients are tolerated and filtered at the power stage of electronics. That’s why keeping it in standby is no a problem. As a matter of fact it is the preferred way as most electronics do not have hard power switches anymore.
Author:  takeshi666 [ 17 Feb 2020, 20:56 ]
Post subject:  Re: LD: 2050
rein-o wrote:
Fools.......

You got that right.

This obsession with streaming reminds me of what people have said to me about cloud-based computing; One said to replace "cloud" with "for idiots", and another pointed out "cloud" is really just "someone else's computer".
Author:  forper [ 18 Feb 2020, 10:39 ]
Post subject:  Re: LD: 2050
takeshi666 wrote:
This obsession with streaming reminds me of what people have said to me about cloud-based computing; One said to replace "cloud" with "for idiots", and another pointed out "cloud" is really just "someone else's computer".


But these people were right.
Author:  firehorse_44 [ 18 Feb 2020, 11:02 ]
Post subject:  Re: LD: 2050
forper wrote:
takeshi666 wrote:
This obsession with streaming reminds me of what people have said to me about cloud-based computing; One said to replace "cloud" with "for idiots", and another pointed out "cloud" is really just "someone else's computer".


But these people were right.




Felt like "cloud" and the like were just bad juju. Never subscribed for new DVD Cloud options once !
Brown outs frequently in my area, (very rural ). I am spinning media uninterrupted while others are consistently frustrated with broadband drops.

Love this thread forper !

I find myself daydreaming about "2049" and the dystopian doom and gloom story of a ten year "cyber crash" wiping all records, banking info, property ownership, and education data off the grid.... Like, forever never to return and only to be remade over time and not with any semblance of what was recorded "before" the fall ! ! !
(Re; BLADE RUNNER sequal )

Cannot help imagining and feeling that computers are flat out letting us down in the short term. I work every night at a hospital and the computer mainframe is "barely making it" each and every day with a myriad of short falls and delays, not even mentioning black screen in the middle of duties.

A. I. had better straighten out all quirks before making the move for world domination, otherwise it will be a short venture lol ! :?

To sum up :
Find those players one likes, secure a few of them, and enjoy the ride folks.....

We are riding this pony LASERDISC style into the sunset !

keep 'em spinning kids ~
Author:  forper [ 20 Feb 2020, 08:16 ]
Post subject:  Re: LD: 2050
well said man
Page 1 of 1 All times are UTC [ DST ]
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
http://www.phpbb.com/