Laserdisc Players

[MrMudPuppy]

Christmas company peeled the Martin Logan logo decals/stickers off my Ascent i's and toasted my Laserdisc player. I looked on eBay and found the following:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3067203531&category=3317

Do you think this is legit? Can you even buy "new" laserdisc players anymore?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[-=Rudy=-]

What the heck kind of party were you throwin' anyway?? :D

I've never heard of that model designation. Although I can vouch for a CLD-D406 if you can find one. ;) I would not question that it's sealed--there still may be some sealed LD units out there. Some retailers or distributors may have gotten stuck with one or two when DVD steamrolled the LD format. ;)

[MrMudPuppy]

Aww man, it was an office party at my house and the culprit was an unsupervised 15-month old :realmad:

Thanks for your help.

Anyone else have any input or suggestions?

[mudbone]

Originally posted by MrMudPuppy
Aww man, it was an office party at my house and the culprit was an unsupervised 15-month old :realmad:

Thanks for your help.

Anyone else have any input or suggestions?

Ron, I checked Pioneer's home page and couldn't find LD players. The seller probably means it's new in the sense it's never been used. I'd check his feedback and go from there.

mud-http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=459212

[greg_t]

Pioneer quit making LD players back in 2001, and I think those were pretty much Japanese players, if I'm not mistaken. You can still find some of their combo LD/DVD player new at places like onecall.com. You can also still find sealed ones on ebay. I picked up a sealed CLD79 about a year ago, and it was manufactured in 1997. The one that you linked to looks to be an industrial player and I wouldn't expect much video performance out of it. The fact that they state it comes with an RF modulator makes me think it's not made for a high quality image. You'd probably be better off getting a CLD 704.

[RetroSmith]

agreed!! Mr mud.....look on Ebay for a good LD player, there are hundreds of them.

[Gardo]

That looks like my Pioneer '604 machine, with extras like the RF modulator built in for the educational market. Many schools have/had old TVs without composite video or audio inputs, so the modulator addresses that issue. I don't think it'll compromise the video quality so long as you don't use it! Use the composite out instead.

Doesn't say if it passes AC-3 Dolby Digital signals, at least that I could see. That may or may not be a desireable feature for you, depending on whether you have a decoder. (I don't anymore.)

The price is pretty good, IMO. I'd imagine Pioneer's website would have a manual for this model that would explain more of what it is.

[Mike V]

Pioneer still makes an LD deck, though it carries quite a price tag:

Pioneer Combo LD/DVD deck (http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/product/detail/0,,2076_15020673_36104,00.html)

[Sckott]

Pioneer makes the best. Motor in mine has never quit, although it doesn't like discs that have started to rot a little.

Makes a good CD player too....

[poweragemk]

I'm real happy with the lightly used CLD-D604 I got from my college when they redid the audio cabinets in a classroom building with DVL-919s. Lightly used! And free! If you know anyone who works in A/V at a private college, they would be good people to send an x-mas card to...:D

[-=Rudy=-]

I bought my CLD-D604 online back before Ebay became really popular. Slightly used, and a great price. Also have one of those combo DVD/LD players, the first-generation DVL-700, but it has flaky DVD playback. (I think it needs a firmware upgrade.) Otherwise, they're both sturdy units. If it's any indication, the old Pioneer top-loader I bought in the mid 80's, which was the first $299 LD player (no chapter advance, but had CX noise reduction...digital wasn't even around then), still works today. The picture and sound have improved a lot in newer models, but this old thing still works fine!

Both of these replaced a Sony MPD-333, which was the absolute worst LD player I'd ever owned in my life. Had a good picture, in between the three or four times it quit on me... :rolleyes:

[Rspaight]

I've got one of those old DVL-700s, too -- crummy DVD player, but a pretty good LD player. (Both-side-play is a Good Thing.) I actually picked up a Yamaha RF Dolby Digital decoder for mega-cheap a few years ago, so I can get 5.1 out of LDs on the thing. (The 5.1 inputs on my receiver are taken up with SACD/DVD-A, though, so I rarely set that up.)

Mine actually had to have a firmware *downgrade* done to it at one point, because an upgrade they did along the line broke some things. (The Fleetwood Mac "The Dance" DVD refused to play until the firmware was changed.) It's still flaky even after the fix, and also does some of the worst anamorphic downconversion ever. It was an absolute first-gen DVD player, though, so I've got to cut it some slack. (They were *all* pretty flaky in 1997.)

But more on topic, when it comes to LD players, there's Pioneer and there's everything else. Stick with what works.

Ryan

[-=Rudy=-]

My other DVD player is a Toshiba first generation model...and it, too, is flaky. However, between the Toshiba and the DVD, I could usually find one or the other would play the DVDs. :laugh: I'd heard about problems with certain Warner Bros. DVDs in the Pioneer, which is what led me to find out that firmware upgrades were possible.

I have that DV45A universal player now. It's nice to be able to put any disc in and not have to worry if it will play or not. (This thing even plays CD-Rs that haven't been finalized! :eek: )

I'll still keep the DVL-700 as it's still a good LD player. I figure I have two good LD players now that work well, so I'll need to take care of them.

[fjhuerta]

I own a very similar model to the one shown on e-Bay. After some 8-9 years of heavy use, the disc tray won't open that easily... and the motor is showing signs of distress. Other than that, it works perfectly. I'd say "GO FOR IT"!

[4_everyman]

If you're searching for an LD player, my recommendation would be to talk to Duncan at Bayview Electronics in Lacey, WA. Here's a pointer to his site:

Laserdisc service/sales (http://www.laserdiscservice.com/)

About six months ago, Duncan serviced my Pioneer DVL-909 (combo DVD and LD player). It played DVDs just fine but LD playback was bad. He fixed it quickly. It's solid now. Depending on the player, he may be able to do some mods. In my case, i can reset the region code. Pretty sweet.

Duncan obviously services players and he also sells repaired/refurbished units. He's a very friendly and knowledgable guy. :thumbsup:

[GabeG]

Originally posted by greg_t
The one that you linked to looks to be an industrial player and I wouldn't expect much video performance out of it. The fact that they state it comes with an RF modulator makes me think it's not made for a high quality image. You'd probably be better off getting a CLD 704.


This isn't really accurate. In many cases their industrial players had better video sections than the consumer models. This was especially true of their later consumer machines where picture detail was sacrificed in order to seem less noisy (sound familiar?). The fact that the machine has an rf modulator shouldn't mean anything one way or the other - it's only in the dvd age that we don't see rf modulators anymore (for the most part).

[GabeG]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by -=Rudy=-


Both of these replaced a Sony MPD-333, which was the absolute worst LD player I'd ever owned in my life. Had a good picture, in between the three or four times it quit on me... :rolleyes: [/QUOTE

I hear you on that. I went through three Sonys (can't remember the model) before giving up altogether on Sony and going with a Pioneer.

[Michael St. Clair]

This was especially true of their later consumer machines where picture detail was sacrificed in order to seem less noisy (sound familiar?).

Are you claiming that on later models (like the CLD-99, CLD-D703/4, CLD-79, etc) that even if you turn DVNR off, that some amount of DVNR is still occurring?

I can tell you that the comb filters on the typical industrial models are terrible compared to those on the later consumer models (except for the entry level players, of course).

[GabeG]

Originally posted by Michael St. Clair


Are you claiming that on later models (like the CLD-99, CLD-D703/4, CLD-79, etc) that even if you turn DVNR off, that some amount of DVNR is still occurring?

I can tell you that the comb filters on the typical industrial models are terrible compared to those on the later consumer models (except for the entry level players, of course).


Yup.

If memory serves, the players after the cld-d702 started suffering, but I'll have to check my back issues of the perfect vision to be sure. I went through a bunch of machines in the early nineties wondering why they all seemed to offer less detail than my older pioneer. It wasn't until TPV's two part expose with Joe Kane that helped restore my sanity.

As far as comb filters are concerned, I've always believed that if your using a good monitor, you're better of using the composite output of the laserdisc player and letter the monitor's filter do the work. While many feel that using the s-video out of a player (and its filter) can be better, it was never my experience.

[Michael St. Clair]

Well, sure, if your TV has a great comb filter, use that instead of the LD player's s-video output. That varies a lot, though...it totally depends on your TV/player combination. These days lots of HD sets do have 3D comb filters that will beat almost all LD player comb filters, but the situation was very different a few years back.

I'd be interested in hearing about the articles that you have.

My favorite LD player is actually the Panasonic LX-900.

[soundboy]

Audio Advisor still carries the Pioneer DVL-919 (http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/productdetail.asp?sku=PIODVL919&product_name=DVL-919%20DVD/LD/CD%20Player) for $999.00 w/ free shipping.

http://www.audioadvisor.com/images/products/PIODVL919_000.jpg

[GabeG]

Originally posted by Michael St. Clair


My favorite LD player is actually the Panasonic LX-900.


If I get a chance I'll scan them. PM me and I'll email it to you. But it probably won't happen for a couple of weeks.

I agree with you on the LX-900 - great machine. I actually settled on the Yamaha cd 870. Bare bones, but great picture and it could track any disc without crosstalk. Still works great.

[JoelDF]

Originally posted by -=Rudy=-
...Sony MPD-333, which was the absolute worst LD player I'd ever owned in my life. Had a good picture, in between the three or four times it quit on me... :rolleyes:

I just won a Pioneer 704 from ebay this week. It's to replace my Sony MPD-433 I bought back in '92 and lasted up until just last year when the motor gave out and could no longer spin up that huge hunk of plastic.

The picture on that Sony was okay but it was terrible at tracking - I got cross-talk on it (that wavy herringbone noise that you can just barely see in the picture) with a lot of my discs, especially with (but not limited to) CLV discs that had just the slighted warp.

All I need now is an RF-demodulator so that I can send the DD AC-3 tracks from some of the discs I have to my receiver - which was made after they stopped including the demodulator in them.

Can't wait to get it and watch the Star Wars Trilogy Boxed set again. :)

Joel

[greg_t]

Originally posted by Michael St. Clair


Are you claiming that on later models (like the CLD-99, CLD-D703/4, CLD-79, etc) that even if you turn DVNR off, that some amount of DVNR is still occurring?



I'd also like to see those articles regarding DVNR remaining on. I know that the 97 kept the DVNR on by default, but my 79 lets you set it to off, and I believe it stays off. At least that is what I recall Kurtis Bahr stating. Either way, I don't think the DVNR is very good to begin with.

[michael w]

Those machines machines do allow you to switch off the Noise Reduction but the video signal is still being digitally processed.

Agreed DVNR was not that great though later machines gave the user flexibility in setting Y/C NR levels independently.


cheerio