Pioneer CLD-M401 Laserdisc Player

[Alienverse]

Hi all, I was browsing eBay last night when I came across a Laserdisc Player that looked promising. From what I've been reading, Pioneer apparently makes the best Laserdisc Players and luckily I found one. The best part is, the seller lives in the same city as me so instead of having to pay outrageous shipping fees I can go and pick up the Laserdisc Player myself. The model is the Pioneer CLD-M401 (as you can see in the thread title) and it plays both Laserdiscs, music CDs and includes both a remote and a five disc CD changer feature. It costs $40 CDN (roughly $33 USD) and I can return it within the first three days if I do not like the player or there is something wrong with it. I think it is a fairly good deal so I was just posting here to ask if I am making a wise decision by purchasing this Laserdisc Player. I have a decent amount of knowledge about Laserdisc Players and it also helps that some videophiles believe that it offers better visual quality than DVDs. Also, it is fairly cheap and will be a birthday gift from my parents. Please feel free to post replies with comments about the player or if the deal is any good. This isn't a big financial decision but I am just a student so to me it is fairly important. Thanks for all the help!

[jackal70058]

Seems to me that, you lucky to find something like this.

The Laserdisc player was discontinued, many no longer working. If you think it something you really want.

They get more rare to see because they break, were nice units but can't last forever. If you think it is that good deal, and It on the Internet, I would get it before somebody else. And Pioneer make some of the best electronics there are, wouldn't think it a bad unit.

See pitures first, though. I never buy stuff from Internet but if you go to person's house maybe he let you do it there instead of Internet.

[vhelp]

I would say, just keep it, when you get it.

I have the CLD-V2600 model. Its a great machine so far.

Quality wise. I wouldn't say it's better than DVD. Most DVD's
today are in Anamophic format, which is better than 4:3 widescreen
format, which is what laserdisc's use. But, that's ok, as long
as you know a few techniques to turn 4:3 widescreen into Anamorphic
widescreens. You loose some details, but not much (if at all) if
done right.

The best capture cards for this mediaum (IMO) are analog capture
cards, but DV devices are not too bad either.

In my next plan, I hope to try my hand at a hardware mpeg box that
I have been working on for the last week or so. I am using the
ADS DVD Xpress box, which can capture to 15mb. Since laserdisc's
do not have macroblocks/pixelations, this is a plus in the direction
of quality.. couple that with the 15mb capture rate, and who knows
what will become of the final results.

Well, that is just one avenue of ideas and suggestions, for that
matter

Good luck.

Till next time, cheers.
-vhelp 3296

[Alienverse]

Seems to me that, you lucky to find something like this.

The Laserdisc player was discontinued, many no longer working. If you think it something you really want.

They get more rare to see because they break, were nice units but can't last forever. If you think it is that good deal, and It on the Internet, I would get it before somebody else. And Pioneer make some of the best electronics there are, wouldn't think it a bad unit.

See pitures first, though. I never buy stuff from Internet but if you go to person's house maybe he let you do it there instead of Internet.

Actually, I heard Laserdisc Players are still manufactured in China and Japan. Also, I don't plan on using it too much cause I don't have any Laserdiscs and I'll only purchase a few. This is just more of a videophile thing that I want to get to see the quality and say I have a Laserdisc Player. Plus, it plays music CDs so I can't lose out. Also, I am going to check out the unit in person and if I bring it home and it doesn't work I'll just return it back to the guy and get my money back. No big deal. Hopefully this Laserdisc Player will be good and I can enjoy some quality movies.

I would say, just keep it, when you get it.

I have the CLD-V2600 model. Its a great machine so far.

Quality wise. I wouldn't say it's better than DVD. Most DVD's
today are in Anamophic format, which is better than 4:3 widescreen
format, which is what laserdisc's use. But, that's ok, as long
as you know a few techniques to turn 4:3 widescreen into Anamorphic
widescreens. You loose some details, but not much (if at all) if
done right.

The best capture cards for this mediaum (IMO) are analog capture
cards, but DV devices are not too bad either.

Well, I'll be playing this on a full-screen TV set and I actually did hear Laserdisc quality was better because analog video can handle powerful colours better than digital video. For example, something like a shot of a blue sky or a shot of a red room will come out choppy on digital video and perfect on analog video. Also, this question may sound stupid to many, but what is a capture card? I probably know what it is but call it something else.

[lordsmurf]

Moving this to video forum...

[Alienverse]

Well, I've been doing some thinking about the Laserdisc Player and I have been debating whether it is worth $40 or not. I've been asking myself questions like will I use the player? What if it breaks? Where am I going to find Laserdisc movies? I was on eBay earlier and to my surprise the Pioneer Laserdisc Player has a bid on it but I guess that is what auctions are all about. I found another Laserdisc Player in Canada today but it is not in Toronto so I have to get it shipped to me. The model is the RCA LDR-307 and it also plays CDs and comes with the remote. Now I know Pioneer is the best for Laserdisc Players but the RCA is nearly half the price. Basically the shipping prices are what will make the two roughly the same price. The only thing is I can return the Pioneer within three days if there is something wrong or I do not like it. Plus, it gives me the opportunity to test the unit out. I am still debating on whether or not I should buy it because the player is also a vintage item and everyone uses DVDs. If there is someone out there who has a Laserdisc Player and can tell me the pros and cons, that would be great. I am probably making a big deal out of nothing but I think I am a bit paranoid with everything let alone this...

[gshelley61]

Laserdisc is essentially a dead medium, much more so than VHS. Pioneer has not built a new LD player for the U.S. market since 2001, and the last laserdiscs were manufactured in Japan about three years ago. The video on laserdiscs is composite analog, with the best transfers (various Criterion CAV releases, the Star Wars Trilogy Definitive Collection, etc.) at about the same quality level as S-VHS. The vast majority of commercial DVD's are far superior in video image quality over laserdisc. Laserdisc is said to have an audio quality advantage in that many discs have uncompressed PCM audio tracks, which would be far too large for DVD. Still, the only reason to have an LD player is if you have an LD collection, and/or want to transfer some LD titles not available on commercial DVD to your own DVD's.

FWIW, the best non-Elite Pioneer laserdisc players were the CLD-D704 and the CLD-D703. Another excellent player is the Pioneer industrial LD-V8000. The CLD-97 and CLD-99 are the two best Pioneer Elite units. There are a few mega high-end players that were built for the Japanese market (like the HX-LD9, for example), but they are way expensive.

[lordsmurf]

The only good thing about laserdisc is the catalog of releases that are not on DVD or VHS and never will be.

[gshelley61]

True, there are lots of rare movies and music videos on laserdisc that are not available on VHS or DVD...

[spectroelectro]

Yes, but that's a good enough thing that it's well worth spending $40 on an obsolete LD player. Especially since you can often find OOP LD titles never released on VHS or DVD for a buck or two at the local thrift shop.

[musher70]

the nice thing about laserdiscs
is u can get them at a buck each...

though some can cost hundreds each

frighteners, robinson crusoe on mars, song of the south
etc...

a good player sells for $60-100
a ac3 player double that
an elite model many times that
but u usually get a bunch of discs...

[vhelp]

About the worse you can do with laserdisc, is dot-crawl in certain
areas. That's a give-or-take in each laserdisc movie, depending
on requals (ie, OE; SE; etc) etc. In fact, they show up more often
than the other anamalies, like 411-bug / mpeg-bug, etc.

(IMHO, you would be better off to leave (these 'glitches' alone,
and process the project, as-is. Weather DV; MPEG; or other type
of capturing process, in most cases, it is truely not worth the
effort and time to fight these enemies of video. If you encode
your capture source project well, you won't have to worry so much
about these nonsens'es)

Anyways..

Then, you have to factor in other key elements such as the given
capture device and capture codec; and weather or not,
the capture device features some kind of Filtering (usually
some variation of a 2D/3D-comb) during the capturing process.
.
These key type features will either help or make worse, a given
capture project.. though you can get by with snail-ware filtering
these out. ( I prefer to leave them alone, unless I am in a serious
restoration mode, and even then.. )

-vhelp 3497

[Alienverse]

So do you guys think it is a good idea to buy this Laserdisc Player? I was thinking that even if my Laserdisc collection is small, I still can resell it on eBay and make the money back or even possibly make a profit since it is a vintage item. I understand that $40 is not that much but I can use that amount of money on DVDs, games or music CDs. I like the fact that the Pioneer Laserdisc Player has a 5-disc CD changer and if I get a new boombox with audio inputs I can play the music through the boombox's speakers as opposed to my TV's speakers. I also like the fact that the Laserdisc has some rare movies as lordsmurf mentioned because there are a few extended/composite cuts of movies that are not available on VHS or DVD. This is especially good since I am a hardcore fan of the Alien series and there are several cuts of all the movies that Alien Quadrilogy doesn't have. I asked my friends about this and they said that this is a good deal alone because of the 5-disc CD changer and the Laserdisc player is a 'bonus'. I still have a few days left on the auction and I will continue to think about this. Keep the replies coming, the more opinions people give me the easier my decision will be. Thanks for all the help!

[hiptune]

First off, Pioneer LD players are not known as the best by a long shot. But some of them seem to last and last. Note the quality from player to player was not consistant.

At any rate, 40.00 for a LD/CD is fine. I have three players, and just love playing my rare discs and also making DVDs from them.

I just finished doing The Loved One, a rare black comedy from 1965. I did the two hour flick to 2 DVDs. Once I took the trailer from the end of film, and put it at beginning, the natural break point from side change happened almost exactly at half way point. My 2 DVD set came out wonderful. It is a 3 sided LD set, so there was not promise of a half way break point.

Anyway, if you want to get into LD players and the cheap discs, now is the time. I am seeing the prices drop when compared to even a year ago. Folks want out of the format because they fear if they wait, they risk not being able to unload their players while they still work, or the discs before there is no market for them at all.

I plan on picking up the disney Snow white and Pinnochio deluxe box sets cheap soon on LD. They were still in demand 2 years ago, and now are in a free fall price wise.

[Alienverse]

Well, thanks a lot Hiptune, I definitely feel more confident about purchasing the Laserdisc Player. I am mainly looking forward to being able to purchase cheap and rare movies. If worse comes to worse, I'll just resell it like I mentioned in an earlier post. Hopefully the flea market near my house has some vendors that sell cheap Laserdisc movies. Please post more comments. One thing that is bugging me is whether I should get the Pioneer or the RCA Laserdisc Player? Ideas anyone?

[Alienverse]

Well, I never did get the Pioneer CLD-M401 because the auction ended this morning. I won't be buying a Laserdisc player either, Laserdiscs are obsolete and I also read that many of the discs were poorly manufactured resulting poor video quality. I am going to stick with DVDs and if worse comes to worse I can always download an alternate edition of a movie that has not been released on DVD. Also, Laserdisc players are very bulky and laserdiscs are very big and fragile, I'm already used to my standard DVD. Although, if I find a cheap Laserdisc player in the future I might purchase it. Thanks for all help though, but I feel that I made the best decision in the end.