Laserdisc-The godfather of ALL consumer optical disc media

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  • honestaquarian
    honestaquarian Posts: 3,186
    edited March 2019
  • honestaquarian
    honestaquarian Posts: 3,186
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    I didn’t actually buy the Jane Fonda or Bill Cosby titles. I DID, however score this one on Laserdisc database dot com. New and sealed.
    I have the Dolby Surround version as well as the Dolby Digital version. Methinks a comparo is in order....................
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,474
    Me thinks the THX wide screen is the best out of all of them followed by the DTS. Personally I have never been let down by any title that was THX'd
  • honestaquarian
    honestaquarian Posts: 3,186
    Just had one of my coworkers over doing some updates on his computer and decided to do the three way comparo while waiting for the updates to complete. My coworker is definitely NOT an audiophile, but he has heard things on my system in the past which surprised him. We played the same scene from all three Die Hard 2 movies starting with the Dolby surround, then the Dolby Digital (the THX disc) and then finally the DTS. We heard a difference right away between the first and second in the favor of the Dolby Digital. However the picture was the worst for some reason.

    The DTS won the day though!

    Everything seemed louder and clearer with the Dolby Digital compared to the Dolby Surround, but everything was much clearer (especially dialog) on the DTS.

    Back in 1999 when I used to work at the now defunct High Tech Service and exchange here in DC in DuPont Circle on P St NW (which later became Sound Images by High Tech) we used to do Dolby AC-3 (as Dolby Digital was called back then) versus DTS Laserdisc comparisons on the same movies if they were available in both formats. Even people who said they had hearing problems heard the difference. The DTS would always sound louder even though it wasn't. I later realized it was because there is a LOT MORE information there.
    On Laserdiscs the Dolby AC-3 soundtrack has 5.1 channels running at 384 Kilobits per second. The same 5.1 channels on a DTS disc are running at 1.5 Megabits per second. The same bit rate as the two channel PCM digital soundtrack that is encoded with Dolby Surround. The DTS soundtrack replaces the PCM track. which is why you must have a DTS decoder to play those discs or you're forced to play the analog soundtrack. The Dolby AC-3 encoding takes the place of one of the Analog channels and is modulated onto the FM carrier that they use for the Analog soundtrack. So if you don't have an AC-3 RF demodulator to be able to play back the 5.1 channel track, you still have the PCM Dolby Surround track to play back.

    This brings back a lot of fond memories when this stuff used to be FUN
  • verb
    verb Posts: 10,176
    Basement: Polk SDA SRS 1.2tl's, Cary SLP-05 Pre with ultimate upgrade,McIntosh MCD301 CD/SACD player, Northstar Designs Excelsio DAC, Cambridge 851N streamer, McIntosh MC300 Amp, Silnote Morpheus Ref2, Series2 Digital Cables, Silnote Morpheus Ref2 Series2 XLR's, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Pangea Power Cables, MIT Shotgun S3 IC's, MIT Shotgun S1 Bi-Wire speaker cables
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  • dolbyd
    dolbyd Posts: 430
    Commercial unit. Those are built like tanks for heavy usage.
    I don’t think those had AC3 (DD) capability though.
    Main room- RTiA9 x4, CSiA6, in ceiling Atmos RT-70 x4, SVS PC 4000 x2, Marantz 8805A, OPPO 203, Emotiva DR3 G3, Emotiva XPA-2 G3, Emotiva XPA-5 G3, Emotiva X300, Sony 75" 940E, Panasonic Plasma VT50, PS Audio Power Port X2, PS Audio AC-5 x8, AQ Rocket 33 Biwire speaker cables, AQ King Cobra XLR IC, Furman PFi20 W/Cullen cable, SoildSteel S4-4 rack, Gik room treatments

    Office- Legend L600, in ceiling Polk RC80i, Marantz 7704, OPPO 203, Pioneer Elite PDF-59 CD, PSA Stellar 300, Sony 55" 800B, Gik room treatment

    Master BR- Signature ES60, Signature S35 Center, Signature S15 Dolby Height, LSI700 in ceiling, SVS-SB4000, Marantz 5012, Emotiva XPA5 G2, OPPO 203, Pioneer DVL-919 Laser Disc, Sony 55" OLED

    Patio- SDI Atrium8 x3, Emotiva A-100 amps x3
  • honestaquarian
    honestaquarian Posts: 3,186
    edited March 2019
    That thing long predates even Stereo Digital Sound on Laserdiscs. Never mind Dolby AC-3 or DTS.
  • honestaquarian
    honestaquarian Posts: 3,186
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    A friend just gave this to me on DVD 📀 and then a few days later I find it on Laserdisc here👇🏿
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  • SIHAB
    SIHAB Posts: 4,491
    Have a nice Memorial Day weekend Honest.
    Maybe time to fire up the DVL-90 tonight...
    Speakers: Polk Lsim, ATC SCM19 v2, NHT SuperzeroSpeaker Cables: DH Labs, Transparent, Wireworld, Canare, Monster: Beer budget, Bose ears
  • honestaquarian
    honestaquarian Posts: 3,186
    Fire it up!!
    Methinks it's time to fire up the DVL-91
    Happy "Morial Day" Weekend to you as well @SIHAB
    Anyone else gonna fire up their Laserdisc players over the holiday weekend?
  • jbail2011
    jbail2011 Posts: 102
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    thats $5 too much...
    Polk Audio SDA SRS 2.3 TL
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    Carver M 1.0 MK2 Opt 2 x2
    Carver CT Seven Preamp
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  • SIHAB
    SIHAB Posts: 4,491
    this workout vid was better..
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    Speakers: Polk Lsim, ATC SCM19 v2, NHT SuperzeroSpeaker Cables: DH Labs, Transparent, Wireworld, Canare, Monster: Beer budget, Bose ears
  • xmv1imvd9auf.jpeg

    Okay now I’ve gone and done it. I went and watched Star Wars Episode I and then decided to go ahead and watch the next two Episodes on DVD (they came out after they had stopped making Laserdiscs) That’s when I realized this series has been around SO LONG that I have the movies on four different formats. From Laserdisc to DVD to Blu-ray to 4K Blu-ray.
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    Survey: Which boxed set is better?
  • https://youtu.be/fCWLaAwr3sM

    Here it is finally
    I've been saying for years there were three competing Videodisc formats, but I could not for the life of me recall the third one.
    Laservision
    CED (Capacitance Electronic Disc)
    VHD (no this is not a typo as it stands for Video High Density)
    Both of the other formats besides Laservision were discs inside jackets which were read by needles, but in different ways.
  • I've still got my DVL-91. And a spare in storage...
  • @jrice1972 pics or it never happened ;)
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    ONLY a Laser nerd 🤓/pack rat would care about such things!
    This is a twenty year old bucket list goal finally achieved. I wanted to have both the Dolby AC-3 (remember when they called Dolby Digital that??) and the DTS versions of all three of these movies.
    Goal achieved.
  • StantonZ
    StantonZ Posts: 439
    My CLD-99 is still the best-sounding CD transport I have...when I play CD's. The truth is now I've ripped everything to FLAC files that I play via USB HD through my UHD player. I still watch a LaserDisc once-in-awhile (I have an external AC-3 RF demod).
    Yamaha RX-A2050 AVR (5.0.2); LG OLED77C2 4K TV
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    (2) Polk RC80i (Top Middle)
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    Analog: B&O TX2 Turntable, Nakamichi Cassette Deck 1
    Digital: Pioneer CLD-99 Elite LD, Panasonic DMP-UB900 UHD Blu-Ray
    Bedroom: Arylic Up2Stream AMPv3 driving Polk Monitor 4's w/peerless tweets
  • honestaquarian
    honestaquarian Posts: 3,186
    @StantonZ
    Ya gotta love that Legato Link D/A converter. Pioneer was ahead of their time with that!
  • honestaquarian
    honestaquarian Posts: 3,186
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    Okay I got a little carried away on this album!
    It’s interesting how both the Oppo and the Pioneer will play all three, but in different ways.
    The CDVideo-The audio only tracks will play on any player that plays CD’s. The video portion will only play on Laserdisc players as it is analog video and digital audio. Laserdisc players will play the music video first and then the audio tracks.
    The DVD-A will play Dolby Digital or DTS on the Pioneer as it is a Laserdisc/DVD video combi player. The HiRez MLP tracks will only play on a DVD-A capable player like the Oppo.
    The MQA CD will play in any CD player. However the HiRez MQA will only be decoded by an MQA decoder which the Oppo 205 has.
  • Clipdat
    Clipdat Posts: 12,557
    "What a beautiful world this will be. What a glorious time to be free."
  • honestaquarian
    honestaquarian Posts: 3,186
    edited December 2021
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    Well she's in the shop. Suddenly she began blowing fuses, so I brought her to the shop. Turns out one of the more common problems with these is the power board going bad. So I have to get my greasy grabbers on another one. May not be worth it to some, but it's worth it to me.
    I actually have more Laserdiscs than I have DVD's, Blu-ray's and 4K Blu-rays. So I'M KEEPING MY PLAYER.
    It was hard enough finding one that was not only built in the year 2000, but also had the new Pioneer logo.