DVDC's Laserdiscs

[Paff]

LASERDISC HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE......at CinemaPaff

I just took possession of a Faroudja NRS Digital Video Processor and have been playing with it all evening. Laserdisc looks remarkably better with it, and I will defnitely be watching a lot more discs in the coming weeks. Now, I'm no fool, and they sure as hell don't hold a candle to my Blu-Rays. But I have over 500 of these things, and it's cost prohibitive to replace them all at once. We're talking about the Indiana Jones movies, Star Wars, Terminator, Alien, Hammer horror, Kurosawa Criterions, Roan's Spaghetti Nightmare collection (Demons 1 and 2, Phenomena, Tenebrae), the list goes on and on. $150 to improve the look of my sizeable collection is not a bad option at all.

Unfortunately, the end cost was double what I intended (and could go to triple), as the first unit I purchased off of E-bay was DOA. It also has the wrong preset output resoluton, which is NOT user-changeable. You must get a factory repair, which is about the cost of the unit itself (at current E-bay price). Instead of getting the factory repair, I just chose to get another one with the correct preset output. I'm hoping to get a refund from the E-bay seller, although that's a longshot. If not, I'll get it upgraded from the factory, and then I'll have one available for sale here.

If anyone is serious about keeping LD alive in their systems, this is an excellent way of making the picture somewhat palatable on today's HD screens.

[SaxCatz]

Originally Posted by Paff

LASERDISC HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE......at CinemaPaff

I just took possession of a Faroudja NRS Digital Video Processor and have been playing with it all evening. Laserdisc looks remarkably better with it...

If anyone is serious about keeping LD alive in their systems, this is an excellent way of making the picture somewhat palatable on today's HD screens.

I told you!
Similar results can be obtained with an upper-mid-range or better AVR equipped with a sophisticated video processor such as the Silicon Optix HQV Reon or Vida or the Marvell qDeo. There are some mid-range AVRs available with these chips but I specify "upper-mid-range" as that is when AVRs start to pack in better analog sections for better analog to digital conversion, which is the most important part of the process.

[Paff]

I will admit, it was this thread that revived my interest in the format. I saw those photos of all those discs, some of which I already own, some I've wanted to own. And how it was a shame that I never actually watched those discs anymore, they just sat in my racks collecting dust.

Did some further testing last night. For one thing, I retract my original statement that the Altona scaler I was using eliminated the chroma noise on the Snell & Wilcox pattern. No option I've used has eliminated that yet. Secondly, that Altona scaler was absolute shit, and far worse than simply plugging my LD player directly into my plasma. Why I was even using it is beyond me, and I probably would have watched more LDs in the last few years just using the composite in.

Has anyone ever gotten rid of that rainbow effect on the Snell & Wilcox pattern? Is it even possible with LD, short of getting one of those $1500 Japanese players?

[DVD Connoisseur]

Really pleased to read that this thread has brought new life to your collection, Paff! I think it's a shame that mine will probably never be played again (and I have some titles that I won't upgrade).

Love the link, too, startide!

[SaxCatz]

Originally Posted by Paff

I will admit, it was this thread that revived my interest in the format. I saw those photos of all those discs, some of which I already own, some I've wanted to own. And how it was a shame that I never actually watched those discs anymore, they just sat in my racks collecting dust.

Did some further testing last night. For one thing, I retract my original statement that the Altona scaler I was using eliminated the chroma noise on the Snell & Wilcox pattern. No option I've used has eliminated that yet. Secondly, that Altona scaler was absolute shit, and far worse than simply plugging my LD player directly into my plasma. Why I was even using it is beyond me, and I probably would have watched more LDs in the last few years just using the composite in.

Has anyone ever gotten rid of that rainbow effect on the Snell & Wilcox pattern? Is it even possible with LD, short of getting one of those $1500 Japanese players?

Unfortunately I don't have the Snell and Wilcox test disc so I can't say. But I do know that I definitely still have some chroma noise/bleed on my setup but I've always attributed that to my player which is just a CLD-D701.

[Paff]

The Snell & Wilcox pattern is on the Video Essentials LD, which is (if you'll pardon the pun) essential to own if you are a laserdisc viewer. Poor video calibration becomes far more noticeable on LD than Blu or DVD.

But yeah, I'm thinking I won't get much more chroma noise reduction than what I have, without upgrading the player. And since it's a CLD-D704, there's not much more room to improve (Elite CLD-99 or one of the super-expensive Japanese players).

I still think I'll throw in a few old favorites over the weekend and see how they stack up with the new scaler. Definitely one of the Roan Argento discs (either Phenomena or Tenebrae), maybe something like Jurassic Park, Mimic, The River Wild, or In the Mouth of Madness on DTS. And one of my Hong Kong discs with the dual subtitles.

[jscott]

Checked out some LD's this weekend on my new 32" Sony LCD, and the image looked surprisingly good (I'm not talking HD quality, but for SD it's very solid. Even with older titles like Phantasm II, and newer ones like Kids In The Hall's Brain Candy, looked nice on the LCD. Not quite as sharp as my 30" Toshiba CRT "HDTV" (it only produced a 540P/1080I image), but still, really decent, especially considering Phantasm II is an old, VHS quality release. Also I'm still using my 504 (the only player I have that still works, my 701 conked out a couple years ago).

Tried running the LD through my Panasonic stand alone recorder (which only puts out a 480P signal), then to the old Toshiba tube and my new Sony LCD, and the image wasn't as good as going straight to the TV. Next I'm gonna try the S-Video connection instead of the composite, see what difference it makes.

[Paff]

Originally Posted by jscott

Next I'm gonna try the S-Video connection instead of the composite, see what difference it makes.

I wouldn't expect a big improvement, if any here. The 504 wasn't a top-line player to begin with, and even though today's HDTVs don't require a top-notch comb filter anymore, it's gotta be better than the one in the 504.

You'll probably notice the same thing I have; that full frame and 1.85:1 movies will do the best on LD-to-HDTV. The scope films will suffer. I did try watching In The Mouth of Madness a few weeks ago and it wasn't too good. Still watchable, of course, but noticeably lesser in quality. Phenomena looked outstanding though, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre wasn't too bad either.

[sinister]

Originally Posted by startide

BTW, what is the quality like on that Last House LD?

IIRC it was quite soft and grainy. Better than any VHS release at the time but not really comparable to the DVD versions that came later.

BTW sorry about the broken links to the pics, my webspace seems to be having problems lately but I'll fix them when I can access it again.

[sinister]

Finally fixed the picture links on page 2. My webspace has been timing out for months and still isn't fixed, but it lasted long enough to get the links updated at least.

Oh and I'll post a link to much better pic's of the DOTD booklet over on the other thread here:

http://www.horrordvds.com/vb3forum/s...ad.php?t=43765

[Sam]

I've been getting a little nostalgic for LDs lately and have watched a few under the radar types such as Martial Law 1 & 2, Bikini Carwash Company II, Girlfriend from Hell, and Slumber Party Massacre 2. While the pic quality was glorified VHS at best, it actually kind of works for some of these lower brow flicks. But the real reason I love spinning the old LDs is the PCM audio. I've often wondered how difficult and time consuming it'd be to make custom dvds and transfer the PCM track from the LD and synch it up with the anamorphic video from the dvd release for a homebrew' DVD5/DVD9. That'd pretty much be the ultimate compromise for me on movies that I don't expect a blu ray release for quite some time.

[Paff]

Originally Posted by Sam

I've often wondered how difficult and time consuming it'd be to make custom dvds and transfer the PCM track from the LD and synch it up with the anamorphic video from the dvd release for a homebrew' DVD5/DVD9. That'd pretty much be the ultimate compromise for me on movies that I don't expect a blu ray release for quite some time.

It would be worth it for Suspiria. The LD used the original audio track (which did make active use of the surrounds), but the Anchor Bay DVD did too much "cleaning up" of the sound. As in, sometimes Argento WANTED the music to overpower other sounds. AB tried to make the soundtrack more conventional, a word which makes no sense when talking about Suspiria.

[SaxCatz]

Originally Posted by Sam

I've been getting a little nostalgic for LDs lately and have watched a few under the radar types such as Martial Law 1 & 2, Bikini Carwash Company II, Girlfriend from Hell, and Slumber Party Massacre 2. While the pic quality was glorified VHS at best, it actually kind of works for some of these lower brow flicks.

That's because films of this nature never received anything better than quick and dirty (and cheap) video masters meant for the VHS market. A laserdisc minted from a high quality master will look MUCH closer to a good DVD than any VHS. However, as the old Mill Creek box sets are abundant evidence of, no matter the potential of the format, the product will look like crap if you just don't give a sh*t and throw whatever on a disc and call it a day. Garbage in, garbage out.

[Dobby]

Originally Posted by SaxCatz

That's because films of this nature never received anything better than quick and dirty (and cheap) video masters meant for the VHS market. A laserdisc minted from a high quality master will look MUCH closer to a good DVD than any VHS. However, as the old Mill Creek box sets are abundant evidence of, no matter the potential of the format, the product will look like crap if you just don't give a sh*t and throw whatever on a disc and call it a day. Garbage in, garbage out.

Some of my LD/VHS look better if not superior to their DVD counterpart. Plus allot of movies on VHS have yet to see a DVD release. So why some people trash or disregard older media I just can't understand. Especially when the VHS or LD looks superior to the DVD.

[wago70]

I miss Laserdisc. Ever since I sold off my collection in 2008, gone are the days of NEVER having to turn the sound up and down to hear dialogue in between bombastic music and sound effects (hello DVD and Blu Ray).