How do I hook up a HX9 Muse Laserdisc player to my capture card best?

[wakalimus]

I see no component video.
I see S-Video,Composite,MUSE?, and two RCA looking ones that are not audio.
How do I hook it up to watch standard definition laserdiscs with the absolute best quality? Later I want to get hi def discs but right now all I have is SD.
And what kind of adapter do I need to feed it into the component inputs in my capture card? Is there a better card for this sort of thing? What is the adapter called?
Thanks

[usually_quiet]

Use composite video for the video output from standard laserdiscs. The video on a standard laserdisc is stored as composite video, and the laserdisc player's Y/C separation is likely to be worse than what a modern capture device or TV provides. For these reasons component converters and S-Video are not recommended for connecting laserdisc players to modern equipment. I don't recall seeing anything here at VideoHelp about hi-def laserdiscs or the connections used for playing them.

[johnmeyer]

+1 to usually_quiet's post. He is exactly correct.

I don't think there is such a thing as an HD laserdisc.

If you have RCA connectors that are not the stereo audio and not component output, then they might be for AC3 audio. I think some later-generation LD players included this capability (most required an aftermarket kit, like the one shown here).

[KarMa]

I don't think there is such a thing as an HD laserdisc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaserDisc#MUSE_LD

[aedipuss]

LOL no "HD" laserdisc equipment was ever offered for sale in the US. it was one of those esoteric formats that might have been. like home record-able laserdiscs, yes they were possible....

[KarMa]

LOL no "HD" laserdisc equipment was ever offered for sale in the US. it was one of those esoteric formats that might have been. like home record-able laserdiscs, yes they were possible....

You sure about that? They made MUSE LD players for 9 years. And if not you could probably import one to the US easy with few if any adapters needed, as they support 60hz NTSC. Of more concern would be simply getting a supporting TV.

[Cornucopia]

I'm confident that EVERY H'wood title ever produced for MuseLD was also available in easily-available HDDVD or Bluray, or even WVHS form.
That just leaves a smattering of specialty, novelty/demo, or corporate/industrial titles. You would probably have better odds contacting the original producer and getting licensed copies of their original HD tapes, and getting those transferred.

Scott

[lingyi]

MUSE LD and MUSE TV (Hi-Vision) was available in Japan only.

From the Wiki article KarMa linked to:

"Players and discs were never officially sold in North America, although several distributors imported MUSE discs along with other import titles. Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Lawrence of Arabia, A League of Their Own, Bugsy, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Chaplin were among the theatrical releases available on MUSE LDs. Several documentaries, including one about Formula One at Japan's Suzuka Circuit were also released."

Muse (Hi-Vision) broadcasts via satellite began in Japan in 1989.

"A One-hour daily experimental broadcast using the MUSE system started via the BS-2 satellite in 1989, and in 1991 was expanded to 8 hours a day of test broadcasting using the BS-3 satellite. In December 2000, digital HDTV broadcasts (BS digital broadcasting) began on 7 channels via BSAT-1b."

https://www.nhk.or.jp/strl/aboutstrl/evolution-of-tv-en/p19.html

I remember being green with envy when I'd see widescreen Hi-Vision TVs in the background of Japanese dramas.

[lingyi]

As I think about it, I don't know how capture devices would handle the odd 1125 line Muse signal. To watch a MUSE LD, you needed a Hi-Vision decoder and a Hi-Vision set or a Hi-Vision set with the decoder built in to watch MUSE discs.

Here's some tech specs on the MUSE signal (which all goes over my head) that someone may be able to figure if it fits within the capabilities of any existing capture device.

https://books.google.com/books?id=j9XSBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA450&lpg=PA450&dq=muse+ld+signal&so...signal&f=false

Edit: Note, standard LDs played on a MUSE player output as regular NTSC SD so no issues there.

[lingyi]

Forgot about this. Youtuber Techmoan talks about Hi-Vision and reviews a MUSE laserdisc player and discs.
https://www.youtube.com/user/Techmoan/search?query=muse

Cut to the chase, Blu-Ray blows away the too expensive MUSE disc and the player died.

This site lists most (possibly all) of the estimated 110 MUSE LD releases.

https://dadons-laserdiscs.com/japan-hi-vision-muse

[johnmeyer]

I had not heard about the MUSE LD, and apparently for good reason: it was basically a technology demo. According to that article there were fewer than a dozen titles ever released in that format. Also, it was a format designed to feed into the analog HD standard that, for quite awhile, was what was going to replace our SD analog TV standards.

If the OP really has one of these, it must be one of the rarest pieces of equipment on this planet. He also must be quite rich. Here is an eBay listing for a MUSE LD player:

PIONEER HLD-X0 Reference Laserdisc Player MUSE HD 100V NTSC USED JAPAN elite LD

It's a mere $7,560!!

Discs are listing for between $250 and $400. I see no point in doing this, since the same titles can easily be had on Blu-Ray for 1/10 that price.

[lingyi]

According the link in my third post above, ~110 MUSE discs were released. Also, MUSE LD players were definitely a consumer item, though officially only available only in Japan. Rare, but not ultra rare. More like hard to find in perfect working order. The HLD-X0 and HLD-X9 (as I recall the HLD-X0 is the top of the line) came out at the end of Pioneer's LD player line. Probably the last LD players produced.

Both players players are reputed to play regular LDs, even those with mild laser rot better than any other player and are the holy grails amongst LD lovers. I've known about their existence since their release in 1991 because I was a Laserdisc fan and I used to buy Japanese video magazines (even though I can't read Japanese at all) and just drool over the equipment ads.

There was a poster here and another poster at digitalfaq.com that was asking about them. The poster here was wanting someone to play his disc on it and provide a captured file. Maybe if he/she's still around he can work out something with the OP I explained to both posters that anyone owning one is probably tight lipped as ownership places them in an elite group that's generally pretty quiet about it. This is the first time I've ever seen anyone outside of dedicated LD player forums ever say they owned one.

Woot! Red Letter Day! I actually know about something that johnmeyer didn't! lordsmurf, jababo, usually_quiet, you're next on the list! *SIGH* ....someday...

[KarMa]

According the link in my third post above, ~110 MUSE discs were released.

Most of those were for fake HD Aquariums, kind of like watching a roaring fire on VHS but with fish. Plus the demos. Actual entertainment titles worth watching was closer to 30.

[lingyi]

According the link in my third post above, ~110 MUSE discs were released.

Most of those were for fake HD Aquariums, kind of like watching a roaring fire on VHS but with fish. Plus the demos. Actual entertainment titles worth watching was closer to 30.

This reminds me of when I got my first ED-Beta, Betamax. If you didn't own a ED-Beta camcorder (I didn't), the only thing that showed off what it was capable of was the demo tape that came with it!

[lingyi]

One of the funny things about Hi-Vision capable TVs (they required a usually separate decoder to receive and playback Hi-Vision broadcasts), i
s how ubiquitous they were by the mid-90's. Even (based on what I'd see on the Japanese news and documentaries) ordinary (though not poor) households and students without any furniture had a widescreen TV, though I suspect they may not all have been Hi-Vision capable even with a decoder.