Looking for a LD player
22 messages in this thread
There seems to be enough interest about this to start a new thread, so here
goes. 🙂
I'm interested in getting an inexpensive laser disk player to hook up to my
Amiga for when I get AmigaVision. There is a list of players in the
current issue of AmigaWorld, and I'd like any additional information anyone
would be willing to contribute. What type of prices should I expect to
have to pay?
What's the best place to get a used laser disk player? Through the
classifieds in the local paper? Are refurbished players available (and if
so, where)? What about getting used disks?
Thanks for any information!
Steve
I'm not certain, but all the units listed in the AmigaVision manual appear
to be commercial units as opposed to consumer units. As such, they're
probably going to cost a bit more than the consumer units, which run from
about $400 to over $1000 list price for a new unit. You might be able to
use a consumer unit if you can get the right interface and are willing to
write a driver for it.
Classifieds in local papers are pretty unlikely places to find used LD
players. I'd try the video stores selling the players, or some mail order
places. (Sight and Sound, in Waltham, MA. is where I get a lot of my LD
stuff, and they sell both new and used consumer LD players. They also sell
used LDs, although LDs are relatively cheap, so I usually get them new.)
Finally, the industry is a quickly moving target. New models are
introduced yearly and older ones discontinued, and prices are dropping on
an almost monthly basis. So what is mentioned today may be well out of
date in a month or two…
–>Steve Bennett
Thanks for that information Steve. I'm not super close to getting anything
yet, I'm just in information gathering mode at this point.
Steve
Steve, if you want more info on Laserdisc players, be sure to check over in
Library #2 of CEFORUM, for the article LV89.TXT. It's a reasonably-good
introduction to the subject, and includes several recommended models, etc.
This article will be updated in just a few more weeks, BTW.
Also, you can ask around for further advice in Section #2 (Video Hardware).
We've got tons of laserdisc-nuts on-line, and all of our sysops have at
least one LV player. A few (*ahem*) have three or four. 🙂 And there's
generally at least one or two used ones for sale every month, in our
classified section. –MFW
One of these days I'm going to have to mosey on over to CEFORUM. Most of
my laserdisc info comes from being heavily into Japanese Animation (and of
course, the preferred method of import is on laser… <grin>) (…at least,
amongst us JA people over in COMICS forum…) and from the dealers who
import it for us.
–>Steve Bennett
Steve,
I might be able to get a used Pioneer 3030. I had been looking at the
3070 and grimacing at the price, but the 3030 might be OK. Further, Martin
tells us that there's a send-only interface that can be used with at least
the 3030 to control the deck from AV.
I want an all-format LD player, as I have put off buying a CD player. Is
the 3030 this type of machine? What am I giving up by opting for the older
3030, as opposed to the current models?
Thanks,
Karl
I'm fairly certain the 3030 is a combination player, and in fact a rather
high end one, although somewhat dated. (The *3080* is now out and
available, so the 3030 is at least two generations old.) I'm not certain
what the feature differences between the 3030 and 3070 are offhand. The
main differences between the 3070 and 3080 appear to be incredibly enhanced
video and sound quality, but Pioneer had been concentrating on other types
of features in prior years, so you might want to check with the stores.
Prices have dropped, also, so you might be able to get a new 3080 for not
too much more than your 3070 was (maybe *less*!) and the 3070's should be
dropping in price real quick…
–>Steve Bennett
Steve,
Yeah, I'm COUNTING on the 3030 to be a generation or two old, so I can
justify the expense of getting an LD. I forgot a requirement though. It
needs to have digital frame-store, as I want to digitize frames into Amy,
and most of the movies seem to be in CLV for length. I wonder if the 3030
has this. Maybe I'll pop over to the CEForum. Yeah, it'd be great if the
3080 has drivent the 3070 down in price to what I was hoping to pay for the
3030! (Then again, what does that make the price of the 3030 now?!?)
Have they really "improved" the sound that much on LD the last few
years? Were the combi players not up to current CD quality until recently
or something? That puzzles me.
Karl
Karl,
I have a Pioneer 3030, and have digitized some frames from a number of CLV
(as well as CAV) discs using the digital frame store capability of the
player and Digi-View via the Color Splitter. (In other words, the 3030 DOES
have a digital frame store.)
The differences in features between a 3030 and a 3070 are: (1) the 3070 has
an S-VHS output and (2) the 3070 has the capability to play both sides of a
disc while the 3030 does not. One of the features that I really like about
the 30×0 line of players is the "jog dial." The jog dial allows you to go
forward or backward in the video at any speed by rotating a dial clockwise
or counter-clockwise — it makes for some VERY interesting effects in the
videos that I tend to watch…
Wayde
Ahh, bless you sir!
I hadn't expected to find someone who was doing exactly what I want to
do with the same equipment. It sounds like I can do without the 3070,
opting for the 3030, as long as the 3030's sound is OK. I wonder what used
3030's are going for these days.
Karl
Karl,
IMHO the sound from the 3030 is pretty good. I had two other (an old Sony
portable and an old Technics tabletop) CD players when I bought the 3030. I
gave both of them away because, at least to me, the 3030 sounded better.
By the way, the 3030 has both analog and digital/analog stereo outputs…
Wayde
P.S. If you have CD-V discs: the 3030 will do a random search of the video
track, pull a frame into the frame store, and display the frame while the
audio portion of the disc is played…an interesting use of the frame store
don't you think? Of course, not many people (other than me) buy CD-V
discs… 🙂
Wayde,
Well, thanks to you, the 3030 sounds better and better. If it has
digital stereo outputs, I'm not sure how they could be any worse than
current models, unless it's a comparison between it and
quad-mega-oversampling-with-whipped-cream, or somesuch.
Can you explain a little more about the use with CD-V disks? That
random-sample feature definitely sounds interesting, though I guess you
mean that's what it does if you want to listen to just the music. What
"normally" happens when you pop in a CD-V? I guess I assumed that it would
play the video and the sound at the same time, but that doesn't make sense,
now that I think about it.
Karl
When you play a CD-V disc on a Pioneer CLD-3030: (1) the player recognizes
the format of the disc and immediately goes to the video track (I am not
certain, but I believe that the video track is always track 5), (2) it
plays the video track, (3) after it has completed playing the video track,
it goes back and randomly does a frame store from the video track, (4) it
displays the frame, (5) it skips to track 1 (the first audio track), and
(6) plays all of the audio tracks (displaying the single frame throughout).
By the way, the video track also contains audio. The discs that I have
contain what is essentially one music video, a la MTV, and four regular
audio tracks, as in a regular audio CD.
Heh. Actually, from what I hear, the 3080 sound quality is beyond the vast
majority of CD players. All CD players are not alike, and the 3080 matches
the very top end in sound quality. The same applies for image quality as
well.
–>Steve Bennett
What's the status on Tandy's THOR technology?
When will the "read/write as many times as you like" CD drives be
available??
**** Vance ****
THOR? THOR??? Oh… *THAT* THOR. <grin> Frankly, I haven't the foggiest
what the situation with THOR is. I just know it ain't out yet. It's one
of those things where you worry about it when it's out, and otherwise
ignore it.
As for read/write as many times as you like CD drives, they're here. You
can get one for the Amiga for something like $5000. (In fact, I've even
seen one in operation on the Amiga…) NeXT has em also. The thing which
makes/made THOR a nice thing to have was that it was supposed to be a
*low-cost* Read/Write optical disc.
THOR was Tandy's read/write Compact Disc recorder. It's been on the
back-burner for about a year, following their 1988 announcement. The
Japanese manufacturers were very, very unhappy about these announcements,
which they hold responsible for making DAT somewhat of a bomb. –MFW
OK, how about older ones, like the 3030? Anywhere near CD quality? If
not, why not?
Heck, ANY and ALL LD players which support Digital sound are going to be at
least average CD quality. It's the same technology. (Actually, CDs were
derived from LD technology…) And since I'm NOT aware of a combination
player which doesn't handle digital sound, then you'll get CD quality at
least from any disc encoded with Digital sound. And you'll get awfully
close with any disc encoded with analog Dolby CX, which is what most of the
non digital discs are.
What we're seeing with the new LD players is not LD catching up to CD
players, but rather LD pulling way ahead…. <grin> (And if you *really*
wanna hear some neat stuff, try a surround encoded disc with the proper
surround decoder and it's like being in the theatre…) (…and maybe even
better… 🙂
Steve,
Yeah, that's what I thought. So when folks have been yakking about older
LD players' audio not being as good as current ones, they're really talking
about how much better the current ones are, not how "bad" the old ones
were.
Karl
]] "…the 3080 sound quality is beyond the vast majority of CD players."
Most of our wacky audio experts over on CEFORUM might dispute that
somewhat. I think it's clear that a $1000 combo LV/CD player will not
sound or measure as good as a $1000 CD player, for example–all things
being equal. One could argue that the differences are so close that they
are inaudible, but to me, the jury's still out on that question.
On the other hand: I own the CLD-91 (very, very similar to the CLD-3080),
and it does look and sound splendiferous. –MFW
As far as buying a used laser disk player, you might check an authorized
factory service center, they often have reconditioned players for sale. A
pioneer service center here in San Francisco used to have a bunch for sale.
-=Martin=-