Pioneer CLD-503

[Agentsusp]

Hey, I just won a Pioneer CLD-503 LD plaer on EBay but can't find any reviews or info about it online. Anyone know anything about these players? seems decent, plays both sides, S-VHS output, which is all I really wanted, and I got it for 175 bucks including postage...but anyways I was just wondering if anyone had any info about these players
Ken

[Paff]

Pretty good first player, and an OK price. I started out with a CLD-D502, and I was pretty happy with that. It's not as good as the upper players, but I'm sure you'll be happy with it. It's probably around 5-6 years old.

The only suggestion I'll make, is that if your TV is fairly new, you should NOT use the S-Video output of the LD player. Laserdisc is a composite source, and requires a comb filter to separate the signal into S-video. It's likely your TV has a better comb filter than that older LD player. Using S-video means you bypass the comb filter in your TV, not a good idea. You'll get a MUCH better picture with a high quality composite cable.

Other than that, enjoy.

[Agentsusp]

I actually have an old Pioneer Laservision LV-2200 right now, the picture quality isn't all that great, but the setup I have with it is the yellow RCA composite cable is going into my S-VHS VCR which goes into the S-Video input in my TV
How would you suggest hooking the 503 up? I was going to go with a S-VHS cable into the S-Video input on my VCR and then into the TV, is this a bad idea? should I just go with the yellow composite RCA video cable into the VCR? or should I go with that right into the TV?
also I know with my LV-2200, I can only listen to the left and right channls of sound, therfore if I can watch a movie that has a commentery track in stero sound, without hearing the commentary, would it be the same deal with the 503?
thanks
Ken Agentsusp@aol.com

[Paff]

Not sure what you're asking there.

If you mean, can you listen to a movie without hearing the commentary, then yes. Commentary (and Dolby Digital) is on the Analog tracks, and your old player probably could only read those tracks. The 503 will read either the digital OR analog tracks, so for regular movie viewing, just leave it on digital and you'll be fine. You'll have to select the analog tracks to hear the commentary (this REQUIRES a remote, make sure you get one).

As far as connecting through a VCR...why?

A laserdisc player should always go through a composite (the single yellow RCA one) all the way through. Trying to change it to S-video at any point will degrade the quality. (Unless you have one of those expensive external comb filters)