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RedTail
Joined: 25 Aug 2004
Posts: 176
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 7:35 am
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AirCooledMan_2006 wrote: | Couldn't they have put extras on Laserdiscs, too? |
They did sometimes. If your LD had extras, they were usually either at the very end of the disc or on a separate one.
If anyone's looking into collecting LDs, keep an old analog TV handy. Laserdisc looks terrible in digital.
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
Joined: 25 Oct 2003
Posts: 7580
Location: Wales
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 8:11 am
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I may once have seen a player as they had what looked like one hanging around the computer room in high school. Virgin Megastore used to sell Laserdiscs as I remember they had a film I wanted, I think is was one of the later Star Trek films, on laserdisc before it was available on VHS in the UK.
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LordRobin
Joined: 25 Feb 2003
Posts: 354
Location: Akron, OH
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 8:17 am
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AirCooledMan_2006 wrote: | Why the hell didn't Laserdiscs catch on here in the States anyway? Did retailers WANT it to fail? |
Back then, anytime you mentioned laserdiscs to anyone, you'd hear the same thing "But you can't record on them!" It was a mental thing. The dominant format, VHS, allowed recording, and in music, cassettes were slowly supplanting LPs. Also, few consumers had anything resembling a home-theater setup, so the improved sound wasn't much of a selling point.
By the time DVD came along, CDs were dominant in music, so lack of ability to record (true of DVDs at first) wasn't a big deal. ("They're like CDs, but for movies!") And by then, many if not most consumers had their TVs hooked up to their stereo systems.
My LD player is vintage 1993 (bought it for the US Tenchi disks), and it still works, although it's a little noisy when the tray slides in an out. I should use it this weekend to say goodbye to the format.
------RM
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prime_pm
Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Posts: 2358
Location: Your Mother's Bedroom
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 8:34 am
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NO! How will I ever watch my anime now?
Looks like...I...must...buy...a...DVD player!
CURSE YOU, CAPITALISM! CURSE YOU!
On a serious note, I still have my collection of Pioneer anime fom back in their heyday before being bought by Geneon. Makes you think what would have happened if they still held onto their productions.
...I just imagined a Code Geass of Pioneer still in anime productions and achieving global domination of the market. And ADV being subjugated by Pioneer, before allying with other production companies to form the United Federation of Geneon against Pioneer.
I have too much free time at work.
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sunflowerseed
Joined: 16 Nov 2008
Posts: 106
Location: South Texas
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 9:43 am
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Wow I had no idea Laser Disk players were still being made and thought it was gone like in the early 1990's. I have seen a few disks in person long ago but don't think I ever watched any thing on one.
What is Laser Disk rot? Do they start dissolving and turning to powder?
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Unit 03.5-ish
Joined: 07 Dec 2008
Posts: 1540
Location: This space for rent
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 9:46 am
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Paploo wrote: |
gohmifune wrote: | LDs would have been fairly useless for anime here, by the time of that boom in the nineties for us, DVDs were on their way. |
Keep in mind that Animeigo, CPM, ADV and others released numerous LaserDisc versions of their releases in the early to mid 90's. It was a popular niche format with anime fans domestically until DVD came along- ADV's initial Evangelion release included a LaserDisc edition. |
How rare/expensive would the LDs of Evangelion be?
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Descent123
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:04 am
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Unit 03.5-ish wrote: | How rare/expensive would the LDs of Evangelion be? |
$10-$20 per volume depending on condition. Personally I wouldn't recommend it, ADV only released two volumes of Eva until they said good bye to LDs. Then again they didn't publish that much on LDs in the first place and their LD library is full of incomplete series runs.
And many of ADV's LDs are full of laser rot.
CPM, AnimEgo and Streamline Pictures had a lot of LD releases.
Still good to have around, since there's always Lensman on LD.
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writerpatrick
Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 679
Location: Canada
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:06 am
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We use to have an old RCA Selectavision which we picked up second hand. It stored films digitally on vinyl! It was extremely sensitive to dust, which caused the film to skip. Naturally, it didn't take off and I think LD followed it shortly afterwards.
I think most would be surprised to hear that LD was still being made. Then again, turntables are still being made. Although I'm sure they'll still be available for purchase for the next decade, this is the time to transfer any films you haven't already.
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cool3865
Joined: 31 Aug 2006
Posts: 770
Location: Austin, TX
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:10 am
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Unit 03.5-ish wrote: |
Paploo wrote: |
gohmifune wrote: | LDs would have been fairly useless for anime here, by the time of that boom in the nineties for us, DVDs were on their way. |
Keep in mind that Animeigo, CPM, ADV and others released numerous LaserDisc versions of their releases in the early to mid 90's. It was a popular niche format with anime fans domestically until DVD came along- ADV's initial Evangelion release included a LaserDisc edition. |
How rare/expensive would the LDs of Evangelion be? |
the other sets are not that expensive, but expect to pay a lot for Eva 00 LD.
all the others like the other poster said are around $10-20
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Unit 03.5-ish
Joined: 07 Dec 2008
Posts: 1540
Location: This space for rent
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:14 am
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I have the series on DVD, I was just curious. I find obscure/little-known releases fascinating for nostalgia/historical purposes.
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HSaabedra
Joined: 05 Mar 2007
Posts: 18
Location: Fort Worth, TX
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:42 am
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Makes me glad I invested in MUSE gear back in 2004. At least Pioneer has a long-term maintenance plan in place for those that purchase players, but it does make sense that the format would finally be shelved by now.
With Pioneer shifting focus to Blu-Ray, and the purpose of the format more than served after so long, it's more of a historical footnote for them, though it would be nice for them to finally drop those archaic contracts with musicians who released live concerts on LD, since that meant that Pioneer was the exclusive distributor for a lot of great concerts that haven't made the jump to any other format, with the notable exception being Genesis.
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Chrno2
Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 6172
Location: USA
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:54 am
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Wow, talk about history in the world of anime.
Even though I heard that the production of discs would stop yet the players were still being produced. I had wondered when they would finally stop. It's kind of surprising.
I own one of the older models the DVL-700. I got into collecting LDs late. First LD series I bought was 'Stellar Buster Mito'. It looked so interesting. But being a niche title I knew it wasn't coming over. Then I bought the 'Devilman Lady' LDs, with covers so HOT that if they had chosen those over the VHS ones folks would have mistaken the show for hentai. Nobody was spared showing some skin. Not even the little burned girl. Fast forward, waa waa waaaaaa. AAAAARGH!! They finally made it to the shore. Oh well. But hey you get to own a little piece of history.
But LD players were really great for their time. I'd like to learn more about how the players really took off in Japan. Because I never saw a huge market for them here. I knew people that owned them and bought discs but they really bought them to import anime shows. As far as domestic movies there wasn't much. And between the cost of the player and the discs themselves was a pretty penny.
So long LD player you served us well. We'll, miss you old friend.
*cue the last scene of T2*
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Teriyaki Terrier
Joined: 26 Mar 2008
Posts: 5689
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:55 am
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Man, its been years since I've even seen a Laserdisc player. I thought dvd players took over and laserdisc players were a thing of the past. But twenty seven years, that is quite impressive to continue to make them despite current trends. I don't know many people who still use laserdisc, it's been that long since I've even seen one.
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Kagatoamv
Joined: 16 Feb 2007
Posts: 4
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 11:04 am
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I should power up my old LD player and see if it still works. Its heavy old beast.
I bought a bunch of anime LDs directly from Japan "back in the day", I remember waiting for the latest Lodoss War disc to arrive. Ordering the Japanese LDs was a little hit or miss, I never did find the 2nd Lodoss LD. Sad to say, one imported LD cost the same of an entire series DVD box set today, what was I thinking?
I sold most of my LD collection on ebay years ago, it just didn't make any sense to keep them, I kept a few of my favorite movies, and the anime LDs.
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Unit 03.5-ish
Joined: 07 Dec 2008
Posts: 1540
Location: This space for rent
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 11:10 am
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Wow. I'd heard about LDs before, but I never saw one in person in my life.
Those f*ckers are HUGE! No wonder they never caught on, they'd take up way too much space and be too unwieldy for any kind of sensible usage.
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