OK Outlaws...here's a strange one.....
I love my Laserdiscs!! OK. I've said it. Laserdiscs Rule!!!!! DVD's are a wonderful thing, and incredible thing. I would never part with any of my DVD collection, or my new DVD player, the fabulous (and naturally just discontinued) Denon DVD3800. But it was Laserdiscs - (and Jim Fosgate actually) that started me down this incredible road that led to this thing I call Home Theater, which led me to the Outlaws! Sure, I loved my stereo...records, tapes, 4 track, 8 track, cassette, reel to reel, CD's...and a good movie now and then on Beta or VHS - played through the stereo..how good could it get?? But then I discovered Laserdiscs. These were so cool! And the players were beasts!! All this good stuff led me to a thing called Surround Sound...yes, I do remember quadraphonic, but it wasn't the same...this surround sound thing....there was nothing like it. Laserdiscs. They were the ultimate. Incredible picture and sound all in one. All of what I had been building up to...a great sound system, a great way to watch and listen to movies, it all of a sudden really came together and mattered.
Music was one thing, with a great sounding music system an important part of my life already. But Laserdiscs....Wow!! What was this all about? And Jim Fosgate! What was that propriety high speed digital servo logic stuff all about? And why did I need all of those speakers to watch a movie??
The rest is history.....but my Laserdiscs..I still love to watch a clunky old Laserdisc. My old Pioneer 704 is still holding up, and having just purchased a new Outlaw system in the last few weeks, and kinda beginning to get things figured out...with a few Outlaw PSC's for "digital" choices(finally)thrown in.....got to see about this newfangled digital coax plug stuff. yippee skippee!!!! I'm in no hurry, changing, eliminating....basically scaling down the works, rethinking, and finally joining the 21st century.(and being able to use a digital plug!!!)...I'm the guy that has always said....analog all the way....... but that is a whole other story,......digital, analog, Outlaw has given me a whole new world of options....and I couldn't help but think of my old, favorite......Laserdiscs...
Anybody else out there still watch a Laserdisc now and then? Or, am I a total mess....well, never mind about that......
Anybody even remember....Laserdiscs??? Once top of the heap, now forgotten.....
but not by me.

After buying my Outlaw 1050 I immediately began the hunt on Ebay for an AC-3 LD player and the RF-demodulator to go with it.
There was no way that I was giving up my 400+ LD collection just because of DVD.
Don't get me wrong, I love DVD too, that collection is growing strong as well. I'm just not going to toss out all that I own for every new standard that comes along.
I am happy to say that I can watch the original Star Wars trilogy in all it's digital glory with my Def. Ed. boxed set.
Lovin' LD still,
Trace

People forget that Pioneer brpught those into existence. I know people that think Sony did it. But then again, most zombies think Sony was the first to the gate with everything.

I can't say I miss laserdiscs, but being over 20 years old, their technology was pretty damn good for all those years. Their prices is obviously what kept it from going mainstream. Weren't they like $80.00?



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Play it LoUd!!

They were'nt $80.00, but they were pretty clumbsy for average consumers to use.

RCA and RadioShack (!) marketed a laserdisc format in the early 80s that used a stylus, like a record turntable!! Talk about a hassle!! It worked on a different principle, using capacitance instead of record modulations, but you still had to replace the stylus once and awhile. The format died a well-deserved death, although the image quality wasn't all that bad.

I still run two laserdisc players in my main theatre (along with prog scan DVD) and with the addition of four used Outer Limits box sets last week the LD collection just hit 300 (versus 175 DVD.)

A significant number of my LD titles are not yet available on DVD (Raiders of the Lost Ark etc. being an example - for at least a few more weeks). But one of the things I like (and will miss the most) about LDs (versus DVDs) are the covers. Gotta love the big(ger) print and more information. Included booklets are eye friendly - as opposed to DVDs (which I hate to admit I can't read without reading glasses). Very similar to the difference between record and CD packaging.

But there is no disputing (at least in my mind) that, just as CD is clearly superior to vinyl, given the choice, I would always watch a movie in DVD instead of LD. (As we all know, the AC-3 / DTS LD sound is the same as a DVD's DD /DTS. It's the image that's considerable better on DVD - even with the use of a good de-interlacer / line doubler for the LD.)

And the old CED system that Soundhound mentions? It had one advantage over LD and DVD: an integral hard case that did a very good job of protecting the media from most damage. Something that I wish had been adopted for DVD.

Jeff Mackwood