Close! Tim Allen voices Buzz Light-year, Woody is voiced by Tom Hanks.

I cant get nothing right today!

The latest laser to arrive in the mail was the Digipak release of The Silence of the Lambs.

The Thing Signature Collection arrived today. Not sure I really needed it as I made my own ultimate edition using the Blu and the uncensored DVD commentary.

Hopefully the audio on this disc set is excellent?

Pray TV

I should get The Thing, that's such a great movie (and a remake!).

I have watched "The Thing" so many times that is the reason i never ends buying it
Such a great movie, the remake is pretty good too

Dunno about Amsterdam but chili mayo on fries is the sh!t.

Well....it arrived yesterday morning Ted, a mint copy perfectly packaged from a Lddb seller in Rotterdam

So late last evening got a chance to get into the cinema to test things out; didn't have time to view the complete movie but watched the first 20 minutes or so and was reasonably happy with both PQ and audio transfer for a 1974 film, some aliasing and perhaps a little digitally processed looking here & there at times but not too bad really.

So on to the much anticipated chapter 21 (The Big One) and.......sadly it was somewhat underwhelming on my outfit tbh. It definitely slowly intensifies and the chairs (and ribs) are vibrating in harmony but none of the really low earthmoving pant flapping sensations that are the norm in more modern movies released from the 1990s onwards, it sounded more like a lower mid/upper bass type of subwoofer test tone generated by your AV amplifier, actually towards the end of the chapter the ground really did properly shake till briefly pausing the playback revealed it was actually a heavy freight train passing by!

Anyway after testing out I went back to the house to google search any past reviews of Earthquake and soon learned the possible reasons why the soundtrack on this LD didn't meet the expectations I had - firstly there were some interesting discussions on this forum some years ago where a much respected member @disclord (who I believe is sadly now no longer with us) stated that the P/S LD 10002 is by far the best one to get with the original stereo audio and the proper Sensurround audio track included, on 42072 the widescreen release from 1994 Universal had for some reason remixed the audio into Dolby Surround format and the end result was rather lacking in comparison.

Reading the notes regarding Earthquake LD on lddb database, someone had reported that the JP widescreen release has both superior PQ and audio over the US widescreen remaster that we posses, also apparently the Bluray version has the same original audio mix as the P/S LD but the DVD releases have the messed about with surround track such as on 42072 if I've read correctly.

Great news! Yeah, he's good isn't he?







I am absolutely gutted that you didn't suffer a rectal prolapse. The freight train is concerning though. Do you live on the set of Brewster's Millions?



Yes from what I have read while searching LDDB and the LDDB forums for information, disclord definitely knew his stuff. Very knowledgeable. That is very interesting to know the P&S version is the one to get. I couldn't find anything about a Sensurround track on anything but the version we both have. There are mumblings that the Blu Ray has it, though you would be looking for the German Blu Ray and from what I have read elsewhere, it has been fiddled with substantially so it isn't the true experience you'll be getting (afaik). This semi-applies to the German Blu Ray of Rollercoaster too, except that release has the Sensurround track untouched (again afaik). I have the UK limited edition Blu Ray which carries the uncut version of the film that the German Blu doesn't have, yet the UK Blu doesn't have the Sensurround track so it's 6 of one half a dozen of the other!

I'm truely sorry your spleen remains unruptured, your pelvis remains unshattered, your bowels safely plugged and your rectum retrievable within a 3 mile radius. When a chap has a cinema rig and a sound system that can close black holes in nebulas as yet undiscovered by the human race and Earthquake sounds like a mere wet shart in a pair of discounted, unbranded grey tracksuit bottoms, well....it just leaves the common observer chap feeling somewhat deflated.

Just awesome! Ted your post is actually far more entertaining than the movie......absolutely love your style

Seriously though the movie is enjoyable enough but I was just expecting more; in all fairness and considering it's age the quality is totally acceptable but it's just so frustrating when you know there are far superior versions available, now there's no way I'm getting the P&S version and as you say the bluray versions have been meddled with so as a compromise I might just get hold of the JP LD widescreen + surround sound version at some point if it has superior PQ & audio, though this too has obviously been fiddled with?

Just a thought, but could it be that because it has the actual Sensurround track on it, you need about 487 subwoofers to get the actual genuine, one hundred percent skeleton-shattering brown noise supersub bass? A wall of pure bowel-exploding noise lovingly wrapped around a seething, roaring, shouting mass of bass that even Phil Spector would think twice about taking a shotgun to?

I think there's more to this. The quest to get you fitted up to an iron lung continues. We'll get there eventually!

Yes, in Amsterdam, París; they bath them in that sh!t

That's a fair point actually but the whole soundtrack just feels kind of flat and suppressed on my setup and really right from the start you could just sense it wasn't going to be capable of producing anything seismic, believe me there are plenty of movies in my LD collection (admittedly more modern) whose PCM soundtracks really shake the foundations - hell even the opening music on the "Jaws" mono LD from the same era has more depth and dynamics so I would think in a small auditorium such as this it would be more than capable if the information was actually there. If the P&S version did show up dirt cheap I think I'd probably grab it just satisfy our curiosity.

Ladies and Gentleman it is with regret that I have to announce that I heard off laserfanhld-gb earlier today.with some news.

During a second exhibition run of Earthquake at his gaf, he wrecked his cinema rig. His bowels unplugged and fell out of his arse while his entire skeleton shattered akin to a festive birthday piñata swaddled in a blanket of riotous Sensurround bass around 6 minutes in to chapter 21 on the discs.

From what I understand the police called to his gaf only to find a carcass that used to house a skeleton amid the smouldering rubble of his home cinema.

If his soul logs on at any stage it may fill you in on his Sensurround adventure.

Please forgive me as I'm now speaking from the other world...but yes it's true and all that remains of my beloved home theatre is a part melted old style Pioneer badge!...Charton Heston had a picnic by comparison (Just about to depart for a weeks lakeside getaway so will explain in more detail when we get home)

Found this at the local record shop,
Will have to upload more info and Covers to database when i get a chance.
Gold discs, beautiful gatefold.

Did pioneer have a Laserdisc rental store? Why make a new release just for the rental market?

Just speculating here but maybe the thought behind marking copies so clearly as 'rental' was a way to stop stolen or otherwise misappropriated copies from being sold without raising eyebrows.

Very valid reason!
Curious how popular laserdisc rental was in japan now even in USA.

Heres a photo of the gold discs,

Might be because of rental licensing. I know here well before the days of BD, rental places would need to buy rental versions of titles from distributors, they weren't allowed to buy common retail versions and slap rental stickers on them. A clue is the warning on some retail videos about not being allowed to rent the title, display it publicly or make copies.

Yeah rental versions were definitely still a thing in the US up until Blockbuster closed their doors. The releases never had actual disc art, they were always like a black & white etching.

I know the gold coloring on Japanese Rentals was to signify it being a rental so they couldn't be resold, as rental laws were much more strict in Japan as they are/were in the US.

While not video the japanese video game rental industry is another example of odd japanese rental laws.