For whatever reason, I decided to conduct a Weird Experiment/Survey after thinking about physical media. I looked at the various LDs I had purchased online over the past several months with price excluding shipping (some were part of small lots), and then looked up the same films on bluray.com which has a quite extensive database and links to the going Amazon price. Sure, I’m comparing used vs new, but I would point out that all the LDs were in VG+ condition or even in their original shrink wrap. I was just curious – what’s out there and how do the prices compare? So now, the bell sounds and the Battle of the Decades commences. In this corner – Laserdisc at a lifespan of 22 years and 425 horizontal lines of resolution. And in the other - Blu-ray Disc, with a 15 year lifespan to date and a total of over 2M pixels.

[list=]Title............................... LD $.................BRD $
Stalin 1993 miniseries_____________5______________Not Available
38: Vienna Before the Fall_________8______________Not Available
Is Paris Burning__________________7______________No Release Date
The Alamo (roadshow)____________19_____________No Release Date (either version)
Blue Tornado____________________16_____________Not Available
Two Girls and a Guy______________6______________70; 2 cuts, OOP
Khartoum_______________________5______________99; LE of 3000, OOP
The Rapture_____________________10_____________No Release Date
Final Notice_____________________5______________Not Available
Andrei Rublev (Criterion)__________12______________29
Demetrius and the Gladiators_______5______________137; LE of 3000, OOP
The Fan (81)____________________1______________21
The Brady Bunch Movie___________1______________No Release Date
Sleeping With the Enemy__________2______________7
The Naked Jungle________________6______________Not Available
Ironclads_______________________14_____________Not Available
Rollerball_______________________15______________25
Dune Warriors___________________15______________45; Screen Archives OOP
The Thief of Bagdad (1940)________2_______________No Release Date
The American President___________2_______________15
Hamburger Hill WS_______________6_______________7.50
Wild Side______________________10_______________Not Available
Fatal Attraction WS______________8_______________17
Ice Station Zebra________________6_______________15
December______________________5________________20 MSRP for Bundle pack in May 2021
Quigley Down Under______________4________________20
No Way Out WS_________________5________________80; OOP?
Altered States__________________3________________15
Last Days of Man on Earth________3________________20; Shout
Alexander the Great_____________3________________35; LE of 3000, OOP
The Blue Lagoon________________8________________90; LE of 3000, OOP
Yanks_________________________5________________21; LE of 3000
Topaz_________________________2.50_____________15
A Midnight Clear________________2.50______________22
The Time Guardian______________15________________listed as 'Early 2021'
Cat People_____________________7________________16
The Prodigal____________________9________________Not Available[/list]

The results were surprising to say the least. 22 of 37 titles (nearly 66%) either have never been released on Blu-ray, or are currently OOP with inflated prices. If I were to try and replace my LD collection with BRDs, at this rate I’d go bankrupt! LD for the win, I’d say Blu was KOed in the fifth round. If I reran the experiment with DVD, I’m sure prices would be lower on average and the number of available titles higher, but I’m guessing LD would still be the overall winner.

This just calls into question the naysayers we typically run into on web forums who seem to leap at the chance to call Laserdisc expensive, useless, pointless. Looking at these results, which format is more accessible? Which one is the ‘niche’ format? Which has a more robust catalog? Is more consumer friendly, even? I’m preaching to the choir on LDDB, but these are real questions with murky/evolving answers. LD definitely has a role to play in 2021.

When it comes to many subjects, a $1 LD can be better than a Blu-ray that costs anything.

Many b/w European movies, silent stuff, or TV is about as good as it’s going to get on LD. If I have the LD I rarely buy the BR. If it was shot wide screen in the 60s or later and it’s a major Hollywood sort of thing, I may get the BR because there will be a LOAD more picture information.

For this reason many of my Criterion LDs are the only versions of those films I plan on owning.

I'm sure its pretty much the same with DVDs also.
Some reason people are keeping the prices stupid high on DVDs, this is why I've been stockpiling them before I make another move.

Your mention of The Final Programme/Last Days of Man on Earth DVD is actually asking 25+ for the US DVD release which is stupid if you ask me as
I'm sure the Blu-ray is better than the DVD.
Last Days of Man on Earth________3________________20; Shout

So it really comes down to how many times do you want to keep buying said film and do you really need to IF you've had it on LD for a few months or even 15 years.

@zeta: That's similar to my tendencies. I have a growing number of silent-era LDs, and I doubt they'll look better (in fact, some of them can't be found on any other disc format).

@rein-o Agreed; from my list above I doubt I would watch any title more than once in a 2-3 year period. If I do watch something annually, I consider the upgrade.

I'm still scratching my head as Last Days of Man on Earth is a fairly obscure, cult title, but Shout Factory released it on Blu last year and it can still be obtained reasonably. Meanwhile, No Way Out, a mainstream Kevin Costner thriller you'd expect to be in the $5 bargain bin, apparently goes for big bucks ($50-$90 on ebay)?!

I have a lot of Criterions of classic Japanese cinema. From what I've seen of them on BD and LD, you wouldn't be losing much to just have the LD. Of course, selection is better on BD and the BDs are still in print and available. I will buy Criterion LDs for the right price. I have Ugetsu because it was cheaper.

Thank you OP. All those LEs and OOPs...very good example you have posted of why this era sucks. Everything is available but at the same time, nothing is because production numbers are so small they are bought up by resellers so the real fans get screwed.

If you want to see Koyaanisqatsi that isn't matted to widescreen your only option outside of LD (or VHS) is the really early made-to-order pressing DVD that can set you back like $80; meanwhile you can get the LD for quarter that much or less.

Fabulous Baker Boys (great film) is another one you'd think could be had for pennies. Twilight Time released about minus 57 copies on blu ray. Thus all the scalpers bought them and it now sells for about $6.3trillion a copy.

The only Twilight Time release I have is Zardoz and it's not even unique, it's been released on blu-ray all over Europe by now.

I cope by telling myself "at least it has the isolated score".

Zardoz is still one I have to see. Heard it's great.

There is a Spanish Blu of Baker Boys but it's too expensive and it looks like some sort of bootleg?

Also there is a Japanese release which is oddly under ITV Studios. I can't fathom why ITV, a UK terrestrial broadcaster, would have the rights to distribute the film on Blu Ray in Japan? Not sure if it's a bootleg or the real deal.

Koyaanisqatsi I have an older analog copy, think I got it for $7 right here on LDDB. Fabulous Baker Boys is great, I have that on LD also.

Zardoz (I own a copy on DVD). . .yikes. Amazon has it at $159 new/$90 used. As Forper pointed out, this Screen Archives Limited Edition trend is creating artificial demand and one I hope goes away. . . assuming the rights have reverted to the studio maybe we'll see 'non-limited' releases of some of these titles (but I'm not holding my breath).

To be fair, there are some examples of this happening the other way 'round: Night at the Roxbury on LD has skyrocketed to $300 on eBay; the DVD can be had for $5 and a new Blu is being released for $12.

This is also the same for stupid stuff like 6th day, I was going to post a pic of the DVD that was at the salvation army for a buck and say look what I found.

I can totally understand stuff being expensive when its not available and its a risk game to wait for it to come out etc.
But roxbury

I mean it sort of makes sense, a lot of the titles released under the Twilight Time banner probably might not get a blu-ray release at all otherwise. But I movies like Zardoz are cult classics with a much higher demand than the 3000 or so copies would meet. One argument I always hear is "the people who want it won't wait"; but what about the latecomers' tax, eh? Imagine coming across a movie and watching some low-res copy of it that you find and you're like "holy sh!t this movie is f***ing great I must have a copy" and then you go to amazon or ebay and find it's $200 or something because you only discovered this thing years after that limited edition release.

Also I pre-ordered those Studio Canal 4K limited edition box sets of the John Carpenter movies that came out a couple of years ago but I couldn't make up my mind between them and the steelbooks, so I canceled the former thinking I could just get them later...well that turned out to be a freakin' mistake and the steelbooks aren't worth anything so I can't even trade them.

Also, LDs are likely to have the original sound mixes that are often altered on Blu-Ray and 4K. I replaced my 5.1 remixed DVD copy of The Shining with the 1991 Laserdisc, and haven't looked back.