I'm sitting here listening to a German release of Itzhak Perlman - Beethoven: Violin Concerto. Carlo Maria Giulini - Philharmonica Orchestra on PAL Analog STEREO audio CD-Video Laserdisc. (Not mono)
I am quite blown away at the quality of the audio. It easily surpasses 44.1/16 and to me equals 24/96. The video is quite noisy however. When the bow of the violin crashes into the strings my mind goes "This sounds real to me".
Everything is spot on to what it would sound like in real life. I'm using Frugalhorns. I've heard digital audio thats as good though.
Catalog number: PMI 90 0493 1
My laserdisc player is a Pioneer CDV-2600 from 1992.
Anyone else here appreciate the CD-Video laserdisc technology for audio?
I am quite blown away at the quality of the audio. It easily surpasses 44.1/16 and to me equals 24/96. The video is quite noisy however. When the bow of the violin crashes into the strings my mind goes "This sounds real to me".
Everything is spot on to what it would sound like in real life. I'm using Frugalhorns. I've heard digital audio thats as good though.
Catalog number: PMI 90 0493 1
My laserdisc player is a Pioneer CDV-2600 from 1992.
Anyone else here appreciate the CD-Video laserdisc technology for audio?
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My laserdisc player is a Pioneer CLD-95 -- I found that it works best outside it's fancy wooden cabinet which must twist the chassis somehow.
I have about 60 laserdisks and a Panasonic LX-600 laser disk player. It supports both the older FM audio format and CD quality stereo. It was a rather expensive machine in its day and does not require you to turn over the disk to play the other side.
I bought it new about 19 years ago, the fact that it still works is something of a testament to its build quality.
I find the audio quality whether analog FM or digital to be better than average for that time frame. When new I used it both as a transport and a stand alone player for CDs. (It will play any size LD or CD.)
The video quality frankly sucks. (sorry) At best a little over 400 lines of vertical resolution which of course is way better than VHS tape which was far more common at the time. In comparison to my DVD player over S video connections it is a distant second.
Yeah I'm still all analog, set is a 27 inch V series Sony also quite ancient now.
Unfortunately it all works fine (good picture for NTSC analog TV as well) and as a thrifty New Englander my plan was to replace when worn out. It doesn't seem to be working that way. I've been waiting for 10 yrs for this stuff to expire. I guess I need a new strategy..
I bought it new about 19 years ago, the fact that it still works is something of a testament to its build quality.
I find the audio quality whether analog FM or digital to be better than average for that time frame. When new I used it both as a transport and a stand alone player for CDs. (It will play any size LD or CD.)
The video quality frankly sucks. (sorry) At best a little over 400 lines of vertical resolution which of course is way better than VHS tape which was far more common at the time. In comparison to my DVD player over S video connections it is a distant second.
Yeah I'm still all analog, set is a 27 inch V series Sony also quite ancient now.
Unfortunately it all works fine (good picture for NTSC analog TV as well) and as a thrifty New Englander my plan was to replace when worn out. It doesn't seem to be working that way. I've been waiting for 10 yrs for this stuff to expire. I guess I need a new strategy..
I too have a CLD -91 (40lbs ) and a CLD 79 both that still function, although the 91 is slower on drawer speed than back in its day. The 79 was getting close to end of days for LD,s and you could tell it was a little clunkier in operation and cost cutting began.
The 91 sounds a little better balanced top to bottom than the 79,s mid range bloom.
I think the 79 was 1 bit.
When Pioneer was pulling out, everybody was down at their warehouse grabbing new Laserdiscs for 3 bucks sealed. Their was a line all the way around the building and out to the street.
Considering the weight of the discs and speeds , they were built like tanks to handle the load.
Fun and short lived hi tech video of that era.
When you could stock 4 dvd,s in the space of one LD along with better video quality , it was easy to see where LD,s were headed in retail store chains.
Regards
David
The 91 sounds a little better balanced top to bottom than the 79,s mid range bloom.
I think the 79 was 1 bit.
When Pioneer was pulling out, everybody was down at their warehouse grabbing new Laserdiscs for 3 bucks sealed. Their was a line all the way around the building and out to the street.
Considering the weight of the discs and speeds , they were built like tanks to handle the load.
Fun and short lived hi tech video of that era.
When you could stock 4 dvd,s in the space of one LD along with better video quality , it was easy to see where LD,s were headed in retail store chains.
Regards
David
The technology lasted about 20yrs but was superseded very abruptly. I got my first DVD player in 2003 (late adopter) and knew instantly I was never going to buy another new LD. I did buy a few used ones from a fellow on eBay in the 2004 - 2006 time frame for bargain prices. I imagine there are a few fans/collectors out there scheming to keep it alive for a while longer.
Anyone use one of these players with a modern HDTV through a line doubler or similar? I have to face the reality that an HDTV is in my future at some point.
Anyone use one of these players with a modern HDTV through a line doubler or similar? I have to face the reality that an HDTV is in my future at some point.
If you get rid of the projection TV you'll have room for a pool table or wine fridge.
I have "The Graduate" on LD and DVD -- will have to examine some of those frames where Ms. Robinson is undraped.
I would recommend for the american lads in this thread to consider getting into PAL laserdisc, it does look a whole lot better than NTSC LD and its so late in the game of laserdisc that it doesn't really matter.
As long as you can find a compatible PAL LD player that is. I have to import 90% of all of my LDs from the UK mainly because there are very few LDs in australia to begin with. I get the rest from LD groups on facebook.
PAL LDs are also only either analog audio or digital audio, a PAL title aren't both at the same time like NTSC is.
I make this recommendation mainly because if you are going to be upgrading to a HD set then it makes sense to be only collecting PAL LDs from now on, they do compete fairly well with DVD when you have a PAL LD in your machine.
I was very impressed when I recently got back into LDs and I'm very happy with my choice/descision to stick to PAL only LDs this time around. I figured I would make a last ditch attempt to like the format and I'm not disappointed.
I recently acquired Batman (1989) on PAL LD from europe, when buying LDs from europe its a good idea to check the LD title against lddb.org to see if it has an english audio soundtrack. This one does, though it does have optional subtitles (which are enabled through a teletext enabled tv set) which are in German. All up it cost me only $23 AUD + $11 AUD shipping.
I got way out of NTSC LD in 2012, I knew it was a dead end.
As long as you can find a compatible PAL LD player that is. I have to import 90% of all of my LDs from the UK mainly because there are very few LDs in australia to begin with. I get the rest from LD groups on facebook.
PAL LDs are also only either analog audio or digital audio, a PAL title aren't both at the same time like NTSC is.
I make this recommendation mainly because if you are going to be upgrading to a HD set then it makes sense to be only collecting PAL LDs from now on, they do compete fairly well with DVD when you have a PAL LD in your machine.
I was very impressed when I recently got back into LDs and I'm very happy with my choice/descision to stick to PAL only LDs this time around. I figured I would make a last ditch attempt to like the format and I'm not disappointed.
I recently acquired Batman (1989) on PAL LD from europe, when buying LDs from europe its a good idea to check the LD title against lddb.org to see if it has an english audio soundtrack. This one does, though it does have optional subtitles (which are enabled through a teletext enabled tv set) which are in German. All up it cost me only $23 AUD + $11 AUD shipping.
I got way out of NTSC LD in 2012, I knew it was a dead end.
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I just have a standard 27" CRT V series set, a flat screen will definitely take up less floor space since I can wall mount it. I would probably just get a low end BD player that line doubles DVDs and be done with it.. Video is secondary in my man cave.
The best picture for LD is obtained by simply plugging a 75 ohm composite cable directly into your modern flatscreen tv set. The tv set has the best digital comb filter (ALL comb filters in LD players were rubbish (but good for the time) unless you get an Elite player).
Pal is definitely superior to NTSC in every way I can think of (I grew up overseas) but I don't have any of the disks or the hardware required. There were a few universal players sold here that could play PAL and NTSC disks but mine isn't one of them. It seems a bit too late in the game to follow that path now, if anything I'd eventually like to find a new home for the player and the disks I currently have outside of a local landfill. (Space for another 80 LPs or so.. LOL)
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