east questions about laserdisk

[alucard2050]

i know next to nothing about laserdisk so hopefully someone can fill me in...i know the size of the disk but is the quality dvd quality? what about sound..is it pro-logic,dd,dts???i remember seeing a few of the movies and such years ago in video stores but never really got into it...is it something worth having or should i just stick to dvd's??? and what would be a decent price for a used one??thanks.............

[pacmania_2001]

Stick to DVD's. Laserdisk's(LD) are virtually obsolete these days. As for the audio go to IMDB to check out what each individual laser disk has in the way of that. Down the left hand side menu you should see something saying "Laser Disk Specifications", if it isnt greyed out then it means that the movie is available on LD.

Video is analouge based but is uncompressed so it is of very high quality but seeing that it is uncompressed a movie generally comprises of two or more disk's.

The advantages that LD has over DVD is that some titles are available on it that havent been released on DVD i.e Star Wars (meant to be awesome) and Indiana Jones (George Lucas was a supporter of LD).

The downside of LD is the lack of titles (mostly new titles anyway) for it. Also the titles are generally more expensive than their DVD cousin but second hand ones can be picked up cheap off eBay. Also LD players can be found on eBay averaging in the $80-$120 range. I believe that the best players are the Sony and Pioneer brands.

[Robbins1940]

Avoid Sony laserdisc players.

David

[JGDragov]

Alucard.
Like you I wasn't sure whether to invest in getting a laserdisc player or bother buying laserdiscs. That was about six months ago and I am really glad I did. First off the video quality is awesome. Only a dvd is better and not by much in some cases. The audio is just as good according to my ears but you would have to judge for yourself.
Despite production of this format being stopped several moths ago there are still a lot of advantages. Like one of your replyers said there are great titles not on dvd yet that laserdisc has. The Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Back to the Future trilogies alone make it worthwhile(I have original vcds and laserdiscs of thes films and the LDs just blow them away). I also have the original King Kong on LD(The best quality of that movie I've ever seen) and The THing(1951).
Another benefit of it being a "dead" format is that you can pick up a lot of these real cheap. My collection is at 36 and I've paid total of $120.00 from a dozen different sellers on EBay. I also got a used LD player for $59.00 and it plays great.
If you're a movie collector or someone who is going to watch a movie you buy at least once you should go for it. If you go to Ebay right now(every single laserdisc, including the player, I have is from there) you should get what you want.
Good Luck.

[poopyhead]

heh..anyone mention the size of those things? they're huge! bigger is definitely not better in this case...

however, i do have to agree that the quality isn't bad...it better not be since each LD is huge....

however, don't think you can rip them..but you can copy to VHS or cap them..but that's about as much as you can do w/ them..

i'm sure old star wars and indiana jones are gonna be released on DVD..maybe not that soon..but the greedy ppl in hollywood will prolly do so to make few more $$

so recap on some downsides to LD:

1) they take up more space and they're bulkier to handle

2) they're also much easier than DVDs to get dirty (i.e. fingerprints, etc.)

3) you can get new standalone dvd players (Apex) for $65, so it's not that much more expensive than the used LD players off ebay

but the good thing is there's plenty of LD you can borrow from public libraries, then you can copy to VHS or cap them

[alucard2050]

i know LD's are huge and i am loaded with dvd's and vhs but i was kind of intersted in the quality and the movies that are on LD and not on DVD...i might get one cause the price is cheap and it can just add to everything else i manage to collect......thanks.............

[JGDragov]

Alucard.
I forgot to mention, and you may already know, that Pioneer makes a DVD/LD player. I have never used one but all reviews I have read of this player from other sites and actual users give it high praise. These are on ebay as well but they tend to be pricey.
Also, unless someone is giving it to you for free, don't get any brand other than Pioneer. My personal experience with their LD players have all been positive. Based upon accounts I've gotten from friends and countless reviews online, other makes don't hold up very well.
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