Forum - View topicNEWS: Pioneer Stops Making Laserdisc Players After 27 Years
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cool3865
 Posts: 770 Location: Austin, TX |
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they are only as big as vinyl, make a crate and you have a nice shelve space.
forgot to say, if you think about it you can put more LD's on a shelf than you can using DVD's |
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firedragon54738
 Posts: 3113 Location: wisconsin |
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i did even know that there where still being made
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MeggieMay
 Posts: 607 |
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Unit 03.5-ish has probably never seen a vinyl record or even the playing device they are used with, so you can now feel really really old along with the rest of us that remember life before CD's 
Oh, and I'm with the group who didn't know LD's were still being made. I just figured fans of the format were keeping there existing players alive. BTW, I have seen a LD and players in real life, as well as the other RCA Disk player that use to be out (actually used one of those quite a bit back in the day). |
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
 Posts: 1684 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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This makes me a sad panda, though I have to admit I thought they'd all been discontinued a few years ago. Last time I was in Tokyo I hauled back a ton of LDs of old rare stuff that never got DVD release in any country. Paid through the nose for the overweight bag I had them in... These suckers were heavy!
I should see if I can track down the old Streamline LD of Twilight of the Cockroaches and the Criterion LD of Akira. (It was bilingual!) |
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ZeetherKID77
 Posts: 982 |
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I only saw laserdiscs once, but yeah, they are HUGE. There were even video games that used the format, off the top of my head I can think of Dragon's Lair, Cliff Hanger (which was actually Castle of Cagliostro made into an arcade game) and Galaxian^3 which used laserdisc projectors on 6 large screens to produce a background. (There was a 28-player version in Japan with a MASSIVE circular screen) There's even a laserdisc-based home console called the Laseractive, but it's hard to find and requires special "modules" in order to play its games.
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st_owly
 Posts: 5234 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland |
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Don't forget that the laserdisc was the father of the audio CD, which then fathered the DVD.... Much higher quality than VHS, accoding to my dad. My dad reckons the reason LDs failed was that people were so obessed with the fact you could "record" your own videos, which you couldn't do with LDs.
Philips made LD players in Europe ~1982. My dad created a museum exhibition called "Technology of the Future" in 1983 (something like that) featuring fax machines the size of filing cabinets on each side of the gallery sending faxes to each other, an ATM dispensing genuine Bank of Toyland money, a barcode reading till and a LD player! Seems almost comical now... |
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RedTail
 Posts: 176 |
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I found Twilight of the Cockroaches a few months back. Pristine condition. Seller only wanted $10 for it. Can you believe that? I've got Criterion's standard Akira release too, but I've been trying to get my hands on the special edition for a while. I can never find it cheap enough though. While you're trying to snag old Streamline LDs, Justin, it might be worth tracking down a copy of Lensman too. The 3D animation is just awful. You find yourself wondering why anyone on the production staff ever thought it was a good idea splicing traditional cel animation with that crap for the entire final battle scene.
Stern's Cliff Hanger actually used footage from both Cagliostro and Mystery of Mamo. |
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Descent123
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LD Twilight of the Cockroaches was good but the subtitles were FAIL! Terrible timing on the subtitles to the point that when they were speaking they weren't NO subtitles! LAME. I paid $40 shipped for a mint one, a little too much but I don't see this title often on LD.
Lucky for $10. 
I paid $25 for my Criterion Special Edition of Akira not too long ago. It's a great release and it's full of nice extras which some are still not found on the current releases. You know what I hate about the Streamline LDs: They include both Japanese and English audio but NO SUBTITLES! Pioneer LDC LDs were great since they include both English and Japanese audio with CC subtitles.
Lensman, what a ultra lame movie (while typing this I'm looking at my Lensman movie poster and my LD copy of the movie). The CGI was cool for its time, but yeah it aged. Man, that chick in Lensman looks too much like Princess Leia from Star Wars. 
I got lucky on Lensman, I picked it up for $7.
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Michi
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 741 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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I think the people crying about how big they were never grew up with a vinyl collection... haha. You store them the same way you did with those, in crates or boxes. 8D My family had some laserdiscs, but by the time I got into anime we were really just using VHS.
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kusanagi-sama
 Posts: 1723 Location: Wichita Falls, TX |
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I remember those things from way back in 3rd grade! This one was a TV with an integrated RCA Selectavision player, and the school I was going to had them so we could watch specially made programs. This was way back in 1986, and back then I didn't think anything of it because they looked like regular LPs to me. I am suprised myself to see that LD players were still being made. I never ever saw a LD player in any store, and the only time I saw a LD itself was at Disney Land in California in 1988, spring break. |
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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Well, I have seen some vinyls my mom had, so I have an idea. I just can't imagine my anime collection being stored on discs bigger than my head 
It's an interesting bit of history/nostalgia, like Beta tapes (which is why that one scene in Cowboy Bebop with a Beta tape was funny, but sadly this generation probably wouldn't get the joke). |
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megumi's guy
Posts: 67 Location: Murfreesboro, Tennessee |
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I remember getting laserdisc boxes of the entire series of Cardcaptor Sakura, Creamy Mimi, Kimagure Orange Road, and Magic Knights Rayearth. The boxes probably weigh 40 pounds for each series. You knew you got your money's worth and the picture was 10 times better the VHS or Beta. I bought the last laserdisc player in the store - Pioneer Elite DVL-90 for 75% off. The best player Pioneer ever made.
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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LOL, and my World of MKR box can't weigh more than a few pounds. Isn't it funny how the technology gap can be sometimes? |
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jcaliff
 Posts: 156 Location: Houston |
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You guys make me feel old.
Yeah, I collected LDs in the 90s, have a large LD collection and LD player I use fairly frequently. I don't know what I would do if my LD player dies. How else would I watch the complete version of Area 88 OVA 2: The Requirements of Wolves? |
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megumi's guy
Posts: 67 Location: Murfreesboro, Tennessee |
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Me too. I have about 700 laserdiscs (not all anime) and 3 players (all pioneer). If your laserdisc player dies there's only one thing to do - eBay!!! |
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