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In Reply to: Was this laser rot in a laserdisc? posted by John C. - Aussie on April 09, 2003 at 17:14:11:
Just about 90% of the LDs in this collection were imported from Big Emma (bigemma.com) and the discussion below caused me to look again at the site. I had not bothered for ages because of the bad exchange rate we have had with the USD lately (improving now) + the high costs of freight across the Pacific Ocean.But I am surprised at the relatively high prices some are prepared to pay for used LDs - as much or more than a few years back. Most of us now have DVD players and, at its best, DVD can be slightly crisper than LD on the big screen. However the general run of DVDs appears no better in video quality than LD.
Follow Ups:
As for video quality . . . DVD's have slightly greater resolution and when they are played on a good progressive scan player they can be quite impressive. The X9 fed to a scaler-de-interlacer is also quit impressive. Both look great on a digital projector.However, a CLD-97 or an LD-S2 fed to an excellent de-interlacer to a CRT projector makes for a very "film-like" image. Slightly less resolution than a DVD but very, very smooth with no digital artifacts.
The cost of such a set-up is astronomical, however. Besides, LaserDisc is dead and CRT projection is dying.Another cause for the prices is the fact that LaserDisc DTS soundtracks are generally better (they don't have to be, it's a choice made by the DVD guys on a disc by disc basis. . . sigh! Not to mention some DTS Lasers do not exist as DTS DVDs) things like Independence day on Laser still command a fortune.
I have both Laser and DVD since I have far too many Laser movies to replace, if they even existed as DVDs. It took a while, but after I finally got over getting a headache when I watched DVDs and could mentally block out the artifacts I found them as good as or better than LaserDiscs. When I then changed to a digital front projector (92X52 image) from a CRT rear projector I found I generally preferred DVDs.
I have "Independence Day" but it is only widescreen with AC3 audio. Not a great movie IMHO so I'd gladly sell it but I gather from what you say that it is a special edition with DTS soundtrack that is valuable?Not trying to start an argument but I disagree with your comments about CRT. Maybe it depends upon the breed of CRT but I can get genuine film quality with the Barco projector (after a Barco VSE40 has quadrupled), not so consistently out of the HLD-X9 on LD or Meridian 800 on DVD but from s-video tapings or direct view off digital satellite. We get 600 line resolution (PAL) on good material. It is only the odd DVD that levels with the best broadcast. Most irritating because I fail to see any excuse for poor video these days. Rant over.
and of NTSC. I am very fond of PAL for broadcast (I assume given your other comments and your locale that your broadcasts are PAL). Given a quadrupler and good reception the picture should be excellent indeed.I used an S-VHS and a doubler to record in South Africa (also PAL). The results were also quite good. And I was able to rent a CRT projector for a bit. The resultant tapes were as good as anything I saw on Laser (NTSC) after I returned to the states (I kept the PAL player, the projector here was multi-system.) Perhaps better, it's been a while.
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