Joel
11-23-17, 11:34 AM
Welcome to the Laserdisc review thread. Here I will be reviewing my slowly building collection of laserdiscs and attempting to only collect choice cuts or curiosities on LD rather than typical commercial hype pictures.
Laserdisc was/is a home video format of the 1980's and 1990's. The technology can be seen as inferior by dvd standards and certainly HD DVD and blu ray, However, there are things about LD's that I feel are better than all of the other technologies/formats.
The jackets/sleeves
Loaded with extra info, LD's still pack on commentaries, features, etc, as well as being the size of an LP vinyl, so, you can frame it, display it, and heaven forbid you get a gatefold! The artwork is always a treat, lots of it, too! Take a whiff, this is why physical media will always be better than digital streaming.
The sound. Usually laserdiscs have original dolby tracks that are later re-tooled/mixed or bypassed on dvd/bd's. On laser, this audio track is analog or digital, with analog sometimes hosting director commentary as well as an alternate mix. Lots of options still, and run out of your player, the music, booms and clicketty clacking sounds incredible. Still the most powerful sound south of some tricked out ATMOS design that isn't even natural to the film itself.
The image. True, this is standard def. It's not HD. But, it's also not sharpened to all hell - meaning..with dvd's and even some blu rays, digital effects are used to "clean up" the image, often resulting in unsightly artifice and doubled lines around objects and lettering.
Next time you watch a dvd, notice the white on black credits/titles. Are there outlines with a ghosting? That's sharpening.
Laserdiscs rarely have much of that garbage applied, so, even though it's a standard definition medium, you get a softer, more filmic, more natural presentation of the film, especially if it's presented in widescreeen, a format I aim to keep my collection exclusive to, primarily.
This thread will also be focusing on some technology in line with laserdisc, as well as feature actual images of the laserdisc and screen grabs instead of stock google images pertaining to the film.
I'll use my own photos to show you the disc, the jacket/sleeve, and what it looks like on my HDTV.
How does LD compare to dvd/bd on an HDTV?
Fine. I use a composite (yellow) cable into the green (bottom) jack of the YPBPR inputs on my HDTV (or regular yellow compositie in, if available) and then select my input on the remote as "AV".
Done deal.
Not a bad comb filter to display the material onto my set, and with better cables (maybe a gold tipped?), the signal can look even better. This is not HD, but it's a STABLE image. No tracking issues, and, if a good transfer (very important), then you get a very nice experience. These things can and do work for HDTV's!
Laserdisc is just a badass format. You can own a record album sized silver platter (films served on a silver platter!), an analog rendering inside this optical disc that fuses digital/analog sound with an analog image all on pits and stops, you can own beautiful artwork with inserts and goodies, special features, little to no, and often, much often, rare cases of sharpening (thank technology not being there yet), a soft, filmic 16mm equivalent charm to your motion pictures, and just a really fun, awesome sounding movie experience and collector hobby you can horse around with, involving friends, some carelessly spent money, and a fair amount of time on the weekends.
Enjoy!
https://i.imgur.com/A0wLdVu.jpg?1
Laserdisc was/is a home video format of the 1980's and 1990's. The technology can be seen as inferior by dvd standards and certainly HD DVD and blu ray, However, there are things about LD's that I feel are better than all of the other technologies/formats.
The jackets/sleeves
Loaded with extra info, LD's still pack on commentaries, features, etc, as well as being the size of an LP vinyl, so, you can frame it, display it, and heaven forbid you get a gatefold! The artwork is always a treat, lots of it, too! Take a whiff, this is why physical media will always be better than digital streaming.
The sound. Usually laserdiscs have original dolby tracks that are later re-tooled/mixed or bypassed on dvd/bd's. On laser, this audio track is analog or digital, with analog sometimes hosting director commentary as well as an alternate mix. Lots of options still, and run out of your player, the music, booms and clicketty clacking sounds incredible. Still the most powerful sound south of some tricked out ATMOS design that isn't even natural to the film itself.
The image. True, this is standard def. It's not HD. But, it's also not sharpened to all hell - meaning..with dvd's and even some blu rays, digital effects are used to "clean up" the image, often resulting in unsightly artifice and doubled lines around objects and lettering.
Next time you watch a dvd, notice the white on black credits/titles. Are there outlines with a ghosting? That's sharpening.
Laserdiscs rarely have much of that garbage applied, so, even though it's a standard definition medium, you get a softer, more filmic, more natural presentation of the film, especially if it's presented in widescreeen, a format I aim to keep my collection exclusive to, primarily.
This thread will also be focusing on some technology in line with laserdisc, as well as feature actual images of the laserdisc and screen grabs instead of stock google images pertaining to the film.
I'll use my own photos to show you the disc, the jacket/sleeve, and what it looks like on my HDTV.
How does LD compare to dvd/bd on an HDTV?
Fine. I use a composite (yellow) cable into the green (bottom) jack of the YPBPR inputs on my HDTV (or regular yellow compositie in, if available) and then select my input on the remote as "AV".
Done deal.
Not a bad comb filter to display the material onto my set, and with better cables (maybe a gold tipped?), the signal can look even better. This is not HD, but it's a STABLE image. No tracking issues, and, if a good transfer (very important), then you get a very nice experience. These things can and do work for HDTV's!
Laserdisc is just a badass format. You can own a record album sized silver platter (films served on a silver platter!), an analog rendering inside this optical disc that fuses digital/analog sound with an analog image all on pits and stops, you can own beautiful artwork with inserts and goodies, special features, little to no, and often, much often, rare cases of sharpening (thank technology not being there yet), a soft, filmic 16mm equivalent charm to your motion pictures, and just a really fun, awesome sounding movie experience and collector hobby you can horse around with, involving friends, some carelessly spent money, and a fair amount of time on the weekends.
Enjoy!
https://i.imgur.com/A0wLdVu.jpg?1