Rebooted my Laserdisc player

[TheLonelySquire]

My wife wanted to watch In The Line Of Fire last night and I realized I had it on LD. (Thank God we ended up watching Castaway as ITLOF is not Clint's best work) Anyway, I hadn't fired up the LD player in at least 6 years.

Worked like a champ! Anyone have one and is it still in use?

 

[Ward Fowler]

Mine is in a closet. It's a shame too, because I paid quite a bit of money for it. Not to mention the investment I put into my collection. I'll never forget watching some of my favorite movies over and over again. Some of my favorite laserdiscs were Alien, Blade Runner, Robocop, Superman:The Movie and T2.

 

[Mike Farley]

I loved my laserdisc player in its day. But I just Goodwilled it a few weeks ago when I moved. I hadn't used it in oh, four or five years and had long since replaced all my disks with DVDs. Sentiment kept it around in the closet for a few years, but I finally realized there was pretty much zero chance I would ever use it again.

 

[jkladis]

By the time I was a teen in the late 80s Laserdisc had stalled somewhere between being niche and mainstream. Everything was still quite pricey but not totally out of reach. I had gotten into film school and still attracted to the format. As I saved for a player I also educated myself about good home theater requirements, and discovered THAT was totally out of reach at the time. But by the time I had a good setup, DVD had arrived.

 

[Mike Farley]

I didn't have a great home theatre set-up--just basic surround sound and a 27 inch TV--but laserdisc allowed me to watch movies in their correct aspect ratio which was my main reason for adopting the format. Plus the special features, which may seem fairly humdrum or primitive now, but in the days of VHS were pretty kick ass.

 

[TheLonelySquire]

Add to that when you purchased a movie you actually felt you were buying something, due to the size.

 

[Mike Farley]

Not to mention the PRICE which made you consider each purchase carefully--discs ranged from $35 up to $100+ --there were very few impulse buys on laserdisc!

 

[Mr. B]

I still have a Sony MDP-600 and a handful of films. It's a pretty player with lots of features but the output is rather noisy on LCD and plasma TVs. I took a renewed interest in my LD collection recently but the player I have just isn't good enough and I'm not interested in picking up a competent Pioneer player for just a couple dozen discs.

 

[melancholymecha]

I didn't have a great home theatre set-up--just basic surround sound and a 27 inch TV--but laserdisc allowed me to watch movies in their correct aspect ratio which was my main reason for adopting the format.

same reason I bought mine. I still have it in my cabinet & I only have 2 discs of movies(I sold the other ones) that havent been put out on dvd in widescreen/letterbox yet. I have no idea what I should do with it really.

 

[TheLonelySquire]

I still have a Sony MDP-600 and a handful of films. It's a pretty player with lots of features but the output is rather noisy on LCD and plasma TVs. I took a renewed interest in my LD collection recently but the player I have just isn't good enough and I'm not interested in picking up a competent Pioneer player for just a couple dozen discs.

Mine is a Pioneer. Was pretty expensive but I don't remember how much exactly.

 

[Kelso]

My Pioneer LD-1100 is more reliable than my DVD player.

 

[erastus25]

We have some at work (I do media for classes at a major university as a part time gig) but they are very rarely requested. There is one prof who needs one every year for a film that our library has that was released on LD but not VHS and DVD (wtf?, I know). Other than that LD requests are VERY rare. I keep pushing to have them all thrown out as it seems ridiculous to hang on to a dead tech for one guy, but I work in a dept. that still has a dozen 16mm projectors lying around so I don't see that happening. *rolls eyes*

 

[Kelso]

^ That sounds like an awesome job! If they throw that stuff out you'd better go dumpster diving! I'd love to have a 16mm projector (in addition to my super 8mm).

I like this... Leonard Nimoy Demos The Magnavision VideoDisc Player.

 

[milo bloom]

I actually bought one after I got into DVD to pick up a few odds and ends (like the original versions of the Star Wars trilogy). I still keep my eyes open for stuff at the local Half Price Books.

 

[erastus25]

^ That sounds like an awesome job! If they throw that stuff out you'd better go dumpster diving! I'd love to have a 16mm projector (in addition to my super 8mm).

I like this... Leonard Nimoy Demos The Magnavision VideoDisc Player.

Yeah, it actually is pretty interesting at times. And I have scored a couple free VCRs over the last couple years. Which is nice b/c I don't know that I'll ever fully convert my collection. haha

But as for the 16mm...I just don't see the appeal. Maybe I just havent' been around long enough to appreciate them? A couple of the senior employees are already planning a fight to the death over who gets them when they're finally tossed.