Backward compatible LaserDisc players?

[Cole]

As a vintage UK television programme collector I am in the postition to be able to get hold of some early BBC Video PAL LaserDisc releases that are very hard to find on VHS. These LaserDiscs were produced from the mid to late 80s and were of an old LaserDisc standard to what it was, as I understand it, when LaserDisc was re-launched in the 90s.

So; not having a LaserDisc player at all I would have to trawl ebay to find a player. There are several available therefore this isn't the issue. What I need to find out is will any recent LaserDisc player be able to play older, potentially different, LaserDiscs or will I have to try and find one of the older LaserDisc players to accommodate them?

Any advice appreciated.

[Cornucopia]

There is only ONE Laserdisc standard, although it was revised later to include: CX analog noise reduction, multisession CDV discs, PCM digital audio, and finally AC3 digital audio. A player built near the end of LDs tech cycle ought to have support for all of these (and of course be compatible with the original type of discs as well). Best to get a newer player to be able to make use of these capabilities. However, lack of a newer player, should still allow playback, but with reduced quality (e.g. fallback of audio from Digital to Analog).

Nothing was ever "changed" or "deleted" from the spec to make it not compatible with an earlier version, only added to.

And Laserdiscs were "launched" once, in 1978. There were never stopped until after the millennium.

Now, there has always been a "specialty" branch of discs that have a "digital program dump" included to provide microprocessor-based FULL INTERACTIVITY (for things like Kiosk use), but they were only usable on Pioneer Industrial decks, and even then were EXTREMELY RARE. I don't think that that is what you have.

Scott

[RowMan]

I can only speak for NTSC-land, but I have a Sony laserdisc player that was manufactured in the mid 90's and it has no trouble playing laserdiscs produced in the early 80's.

My opinion is that you'll probably be OK if you buy a relatively new player.

[Marvingj]

If you are to get one Pioneer are the best second to none. Google yourself & see.

[jman98]

Whatever you do, you better be sure that the discs are really and truly laserdiscs and not the following pile of crap:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SelectaVision
I wouldn't take a SelectaVision disc for free and note that this format has NOTHING AT ALL to do with laserdisc and is IN NO WAY COMPATIBLE.

I'm not sure that anyone still makes players. Pioneer did until a few years ago, but I think they stopped. Their last combo laserdisc/DVD players (yes, they actually made one) was really expensive though. I'd try to buy a used one from Ebay and hope for the best. You better NOT buy one from a USA seller as US models only supported NTSC. Many European and Asian laserdisc players did support both PAL and NTSC though, but in the USA we got NTSC only players.

If the discs are true laserdiscs and say so then any PAL compatible laserdisc player will play them. I'd advise capturing any laserdiscs you may get as soon as possible. They are fairly notorious for "laser rot" where the adhesive breaks down between the plastic outer covering and the metal disc and once that happens, video quality quickly degrades. There is no fix for so-called "laser rot" except to get another laserdisc and hope it's OK. Most of my collection appears to be OK at this time, but I rarely play my discs and I have to say that mine are stored in a place protected from sunlight and big temperature changes. Still, I've seen a few of my discs break down.

[Cole]

Thanks for all the responses everyone

There is only ONE Laserdisc standard, although it was revised later to include: CX analog noise reduction, multisession CDV discs, PCM digital audio, and finally AC3 digital audio.

That is interesting; my basic information about LaserDisc was from a magazine article from the mid-90s that gave the impression that there were several formats in the 80s and that a mid-90s re-launch did standardise the format. I did do a search of the forums regards LaserDisc and didn't see any evidence of that. I (wrongly) assumed that things were different in the US as LaserDisc had been so much more popular than it had been in the UK. 'Revised' seems to make more sense. Thanks for clearing that one up for me.

I'd advise capturing any laserdiscs you may get as soon as possible. They are fairly notorious for "laser rot" where the adhesive breaks down between the plastic outer covering and the metal disc and once that happens, video quality quickly degrades.

That would be the final destination of the project as my search did turn up many referrences to laser rot. However it also suggested that laser rot would have affected any discs in the first couple of years as tghe problem was down to poor manufacture. The LaserDiscs that I am after are all about 20 years old; at that age I imagine that they will either play or won't!