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Laser discs are not good?

Well, the industry tends to label the lower resolution NTSC 4:3 format conversion to the wide screen 16:9 resolution as format "scaling".
I guess that is for the external format conversion devices, as I don`t recall that label used on my older (2009 purchased) 1080P flat screens that have the internal conversion of composite, S-Video, component, & (VGA/computer) inputs, along with several HDMI ports as well.

I had to really dig around to find the brand/size/LED flat screens, as those video formats were falling out of favor, that I desired with those features to convert my existing (1995 installed) NTSC based multi-room A/V distribution fed from my living room`s master A/V source & selection rack using separate audio and video coax cabling ( RF channel 3/4 was not acceptable quality for distribution to my house`s multiple rooms that I was interested in feeding my big dish`s receivers, LD, VCR audio & composite signals at that time.

While I had to distribute the rack`s video via composite video due to the extreme difficulties of soldering the very small 5 pin S-Video Din connectors at the source rack and the 3 rooms that the A/V signals were sent to, with the living room`s very high quality Barco brand 3 tube projector being sent S-Video from my HQ 4 input JVC A/V selector used for the big dish`s HQ receiver`s, Pioneer LD player, and JVC VCR`s S-Video outputs for best HT visual performance.

All this original older NTSC based setup became updated in 2009 when I converted over to HQ Beldon brand ethernet based cabling distribution using passive baluns at the sending (the master source/selection A/V rack) and receiving end point rooms with 4 different & separate video signal types (Composite, S-Video, VGA, & Component that could be selected at the house`s 5 room`s that the flat screens could select.

Yes, my current A/V signals distribution setup is rather complicated, but very versatile & flexible and meets all my desires for any type video signals I might wish to independently select to view at any given time.
 
Well if you have a working DVD player with a composite output give that a try and see if you can replicate the picture issues to confirm or deny the problem is with the laserdisc itself.

The Laserdisc players of this era were quite good all around, I have the Philips CDV-488 which made the #1 spot for 1989 and it has a digital memory video TBC and S-video output that's derived from the composite using a series of bandbass filters, not a "real" S-video but it's the thought that counts. I got this during my very short sales career at Audio King. That being said not all discs are created equally and prior to about 1989 they were mastered from a type-c videotape format which was miles above the others, after this it was the Sony D-2, this was the first generation of uncompressed digital composite with a data rate of some 60 megabyte/second (480mbp/s).

Everything I'm doing is at the broadcast level so it's somewhat difficult for me to replicate the same issues one may experience with consumer level gear.
 
I have no other things with a composite output. My DVD player died years ago and I never replaced it. I should pick one up, its not like they are expensive anymore.
 
gadget73 said:
I have no other things with a composite output. My DVD player died years ago and I never replaced it. I should pick one up, its not like they are expensive anymore.
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DVD players are giveaway items at virtually every garage sale I've been to in my neighborhood. Hard enough getting rid of Blu-Ray players.
 
I know, I just have to go to the bother of cruising around for a yard sale. I have too much crap so I generally avoid them. I don't want half of my crap, I definitely don't want other people's crap too. I've been using the PC thats hooked up to that tv as my DVD player, largely just because its one less extra thing that I need to find a home and a plug for.
 
gadget73 said:
I know, I just have to go to the bother of cruising around for a yard sale. I have too much crap so I generally avoid them. I don't want half of my crap, I definitely don't want other people's crap too. I've been using the PC thats hooked up to that tv as my DVD player, largely just because its one less extra thing that I need to find a home and a plug for.
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I picked these mini players up for a couple of bucks. The mini DVD player is NIB. I still haven't used it tho, as the mini Blu-Ray does what I need it to do and does Blu-Rays! Neither take up much space, being roughly the same size as a hard drive.

DVD player.jpeg DVD player 2.jpeg
 
Vintage audio is evolving into vintage tech, collectors love the look, feel and smell of vintage tech and higher end tech from the 80's and 90's is finding new homes. Laserdisc players and discs are starting to show up regularly at record stores and collectors know some versions of the movies or concerts were never re-published. I just looked through a huge collection donated to the local shop and they had some really good disks, classic movies and concert disks but unfortunately since they hit the radar a few years ago, now the good stuff is going for decent money.

Like music, there's collectors that want all versions of movies and laserdisc always seemed to have some extras with the releases. Definately not a hobby for all, but I'm sure you'll get a lot of looks when you pull out that disc and pop it in.
 
I like the Laserdisc over the DVD & BlueRay formats as it's far more life like, maybe the kids of today will grow up and come to understand this digital junk they've been pushing isn't all it's made out to be.
 
I think Laserdisc sucks compared to BluRay. That's why I threw over 100 Laserdiscs away a few years ago. I replaced any of the titles I had to have with much superior BluRays.

One of the biggest wastes of money I've ever made was investing in Laserdiscs back when they were popular. They were super-expensive back then too.

You'd be better-off with an obsolete 8-track collection because at least there are guys with classic cars that have 8-track players in them who will actually buy old 8-tracks. I couldn't give my Laserdiscs away after trying to for quite a while on other forums. So the last time I moved I set them all out at the curb (2 big boxes that were super-heavy) for the trash man to haul away. I kept a few of the music titles just because they have nice covers and figured I might use them for wall hangings or cut them up for something like that.
 
MuchoReverbo said:
I kept a few of the music titles just because they have nice covers and figured I might use them for wall hangings or cut them up for something like that.
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I did the same. Much easier to frame a laserdisc which isn't being used, instead of an album which you still listen to!
 
I wasn't planning on doing anything with the actual discs other than maybe use them for target practice. I wanted the sleeves which are like album covers to possibly frame. Music titles from the Stones and a few others I had a hard time chucking with the rest just because the covers were nice enough to be framed. The discs themselves just look like big CDs.
 
MuchoReverbo said:
I wasn't planning on doing anything with the actual discs other than maybe use them for target practice. I wanted the sleeves which are like album covers to possibly frame. Music titles from the Stones and a few others I had a hard time chucking with the rest just because the covers were nice enough to be framed. The discs themselves just look like big CDs.
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Yeah, but better to just save the discs in their sleeves anyway. They don't take up any room and LD values may change for the better.
 
People used to throw away LPs, 8 tracks, cassettes, VHS, Beta, and are currently dumping CD and DVD. Some of that has made a comeback, others still might. Could make this same observation about cars, toys, or lots of other things. Ultimate performance is and never will be the point with any of it, its all about nostalgia.


BR I think is permanently hobbled because its a physical format which isn't cool. Who needs a physical device and media when everything is streaming? Surely it won't magically become unavailable.
 
LaserDiscs are different in that they were a transitional format that really never did take off. Players are scarce and the video quality sucks by today's standards.

BluRay and DVD are definitely hobbled but they are not totally obsolete. LaserDisc is totally obsolete. There is no market for them and never will be other than maybe a super small percentage of people who want them purely for museum pieces or wall decorations. VHS and Betamax have a brighter future than LaserDisc (and they really have no future either).

CDs and BluRay are making somewhat of a comeback (especially CDs). Their digital quality is still relevent and people miss having physical media.

LaserDisc is a dead format though that was doomed from the day they started producing it and was only revelent for a few short years.

I just wish I would have had the foresight to avoid LaserDisc altogether when it came out. I would have saved a lot of money back then.
 
gadget73 said:
People used to throw away LPs, 8 tracks, cassettes, VHS, Beta, and are currently dumping CD and DVD. Some of that has made a comeback, others still might. Could make this same observation about cars, toys, or lots of other things. Ultimate performance is and never will be the point with any of it, its all about nostalgia.


BR I think is permanently hobbled because its a physical format which isn't cool. Who needs a physical device and media when everything is streaming? Surely it won't magically become unavailable.
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Audio CDs are making a strong comeback. Recently, I have heavily shifted back to CD from streaming and....gasp...have considered getting a turntable again.
 
Vinyl records are definitely back and CDs are making a resurgence. It's because they still sound good and anyone with half a brain prefers physical media over just a download. Maybe not to play every time but to rip and also have that nice physical product you paid for with all the nice artwork and everything else. I can count on one had the number of digital downloads I paid money for over the past 20 years but I still spend hundreds of dollars every year on vinyl recrods and CDs. Most are brand-new releases too.

A lot of the indie bands I primarity buy from are now back to offering all 3 options; vinyl records, CD, and digital downloads. For while a lot were starting to skew towards digital only. When you buy either of the physical media options, you get the digital download for free and it doesn't cost a whole lot more than just paying for the digital download alone. It's a no-brainer for me. I'll gladly pay the few extra bucks to get both.

Some of the bands that were only offering digital downloads for a while are now re-releasing their material on physical media for consumers like me who refuse to buy digital downloads.

Here is a stack of vinyl records I just received in the past week or so and all came with a code to download the digital version too in lossy MP3 or lossless FLAC, ALAC, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, WAV, or AIFF too.

All are new releases. I also bought 3 or 4 CDs over that same time period too.

20260817_135612.jpg
 
MuchoReverbo said:
A lot of the indie bands I primarity buy from are now back to offering all 3 options; vinyl records, CD, and digital downloads. For while a lot were starting to skew towards digital only. When you buy either of the physical media options, you get the digital download for free and it doesn't cost a whole lot more than just paying for the digital download alone. It's a no-brainer for me. I'll gladly pay the few extra bucks to get both.
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100%. A large percentage of the music I like is from independent artist. All of them offer CD, vinyl, and even cassettes. One band I follow will be releasing on tape (reel to reel). That said, the bulk of the physical media I buy comes from Bandcamp. It's important to me to support these artists. Also, the prices of the physical media on Bandcamp is reasonable; I usually add a couple of bucks to each purchase to help out the bands.
 
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