# Rate my laserdisc collection **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 6, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-my-laserdisc-collection/545711 "2010-07-06T14:12:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-my-laserdisc-collection/545711/1 "2010-07-06T14:12:14Z")
Player: Pioneer CLD V-2400 w/ remote movies: Home Alone Always Weeds Everybody Wins Glory Good Morning Vietnam The Chocolate War Unforgiven (this is a 2 disc movie and I only have disc 1 eheu) Dr. No From Russia With Love Goldfinger Thunderball You Only Live Twice On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Diamonds Are Forever The Living Daylights Goldeneye Enter the Dragon Treasure Island (Disney 1950) Back to the Future Star Trek: The Motion Picture Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Star Trek III: The Search for Spock Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (I have two copies, one is widescreen and one is not) Star Trek V: The Final Frontier Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country Star Trek: Generations (the first seven Star Trek movies are in a limited box set: Star Trek: The Movie Votages; only 8000 made and I have #5460) Star Trek: First Contact A Clockwork Orange Escape From New York The Time Machine (1960) Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back Return of the Jedi Alien (I have two copies, one is widescreen and one is not) Aliens Alien 3 The Right Stuff Blade Runner 2001: A Space Odyssey Independence Day Deliverance Groundhog Day Apocalypse Now The Fly (with Jeff Goldblum) Jurassic Park (2 editions, one CAV and one CLV) Spartacus ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-my-laserdisc-collection/545711/2 "2010-07-06T15:02:44Z")
Size-wise, your collection of discs is about average IMO. Mostly solid films, though no real rarities. Is your Blade Runner the Criterion edition? I’d upgrade the player to a double-sided unit, though, and keep the V2400 as a backup. With careful shopping, you can get gems for cheap; I bought [this model](http://www.laserdiscarchive.co.uk/laserdisc_archive/pioneer/pioneer_cld-d604/pioneer_cldd-604.htm) for $35 or so (plus hefty shipping for almost as much… the thing is massive). Double-sided, digital frame memory for still frame and smooth multi-speed playback. It relegated to backup [this bare-bones model](http://www.laserdiscarchive.co.uk/laserdisc_archive/pioneer/pioneer_cld-980/pioneer_cld-980.htm), which only did single side play and had no digital field memory (but only cost me $10!). My collection is at 293 titles right now according to my account at the [LaserDisc Database](http://www.lddb.com). However, I have 30 or so industrial and educational titles that aren’t listed in the database, so I’m over 300. Four players (the best is the Pioneer CLD D-604 mentioned above, the CLD-980 is a backup, and then I have two pre-digital models for novelty value; this Pioneer [LD 600](http://www.laserdiscarchive.co.uk/laserdisc_archive/pioneer/pioneer_ld-600/pioneer_ld-600.htm) top-loader with a gas tube laser, and an [RDI Halcyon](http://www.laserdiscarchive.co.uk/laserdisc_archive/rdi_halcyon/rdi_halcyon_model_200/rdi_halcyon_laserdisc_archive.htm)). I have a few duplicate discs that I’d be willing to send to someone who actually uses LD; would you have any use for Pulp Fiction, Die Hard, Top Gun, and some Playboy title that escapes me at the moment? ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-my-laserdisc-collection/545711/3 "2010-07-06T15:12:48Z")
No, Blade Runner is not Crietion. How does the double sided one work? Does it take time for it to switch from one side to another? I have been wanting to get another player for backup, I just haven’t seen any for sale. I have bought discs online, but never a player. I got my current player at a college surplus sale about a year ago for $15. I got a lot of movies at the flea market. If I ever see a player for sale at the flea market, I will pick it up. I would cherish those laserdiscs as my own. Those titles would be a welcome addition to the collection. Also let me ask, what do you use to store your laserdiscs? As my collection grows I am having trouble finding a place to keep them. Now I am using some plastic cube storage things I got from Target. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-my-laserdisc-collection/545711/4 "2010-07-06T15:20:45Z")
I never got real familiar with Laserdiscs. Did they hold any advantages over DVD technology as far as quality or what not? Or are they the equivalent of collecting 8-track cassettes? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-my-laserdisc-collection/545711/5 "2010-07-06T15:21:04Z")
You have **Alien** covered, but no **Predator**. Please enlighten me. Nice collection. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-my-laserdisc-collection/545711/6 "2010-07-06T15:23:01Z")
DVD players are weak and puny. When you turn on a laserdisc player, you can hear the motor purring away. 12 inch discs are better than the tiny DVD discs. I don’t have Predator because I have never found it for sale. But I have it on VHS anyway. The disc flips and changes with laserdiscs help me time out my bathroom breaks. If I am watching a DVD, I have to decide if it is a good time to pause, or just wait it out. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-my-laserdisc-collection/545711/7 "2010-07-06T15:44:05Z")
Takes a second or three for a double-sided player to switch sides; the player has to spin down the disc and spin it back up in the opposite direction, while the laser assembly moves along a track which flips it upside down to read the other side. It takes slightly longer than a normal start to playback. Players with digital frame memory will freeze on the final frame during the process (which is why proper LD authoring became a big deal-- put the side break at a scene break and the process is pretty painless); players without memory will usually show a blue screen with A\>B or something similar to indicate the side is changing. I spent ten years using a single-sided player before finally upgrading… well worth the cost. I store my LDs in [these closet-organizer shelves](http://www.lowes.com/pd_12889-77268-851200_4294857752+4294965732_4294937087?productId=1010249&pl=1¤tURL=/pl_ClosetMaid_4294857752%204294965732_4294937087_). Hope that link works. Remove one of the shelves, and adjust the remainder to form two niches that hold ~40 discs each, leaving an inch or two of clearance at the top for taller boxsets, or keep the shelf in and move the shelves close together to provide two niches for laserdiscs and most boxsets, and a niche between to hold 8" LDs. The narrowness of the unit is good-- LDs are heavy, and longer shelves will bow or break under their weight. I have four of them, stacked two high and placed side by side to form a tower about 5 feet high and 2 feet wide. I’ll soon be adding two more for more discs. You’ll notice that the specs show the depth is only 11.625 inches; the discs stick out slightly, but it looks fine. Dug through my discs and found six that I’d be willing to send along; in addition to the above listed, I have single-disc versions of Toy Story and The Aristocats… PM me and we can figure something out. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-my-laserdisc-collection/545711/8 "2010-07-06T16:00:24Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > I never got real familiar with Laserdiscs. Did they hold any advantages over DVD technology as far as quality or what not? Or are they the equivalent of collecting 8-track cassettes? Probably more like collecting reel-to-reel. It was a high-quality, high-cost connoisseur format that never really went mainstream, but stuck around for eons. Their primary advantage over DVD was being on the scene about 20 years prior. 🙂 The LD market disappeared within months of the introduction of DVD, as most of the early DVD adopters were LD users. It started in the late 1970s and held on until 2000 in the US, a little later (2001?) in Japan. Things like alternate audio tracks, DTS and/or AC-3 surround sound, commentary tracks, including trailers/outtakes/extras for a film were pioneered on LD; widescreen presentation was pioneered on CED but taken up wholeheartedly on LD. That said… a properly mastered late-era LD is probably the pinnacle of analog NTSC video, andit took years for DVD studios to figure out how to do compressed video correctly, so for quite a while, there were titles on LD that still outperformed their newer DVD counterparts. The bitrate of digital sound on LD is also higher than on DVD, so audiophiles liked to gush about that. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-my-laserdisc-collection/545711/9 "2010-07-06T17:44:14Z")
Laserdiscs? [Pogs?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=568296) [Questions](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=566990) about the _Back to the Future_ films? I don’t know what crazy time machine you’ve invented back there in 1994, **PSXer** , but would you please stop pestering us here in the 21st-century? ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-my-laserdisc-collection/545711/10 "2010-07-06T17:49:28Z")
I will join the 21st century when we get hoverboards ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-my-laserdisc-collection/545711/11 "2010-07-06T19:44:03Z")
I, for one, will rate this thread much more highly in Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-my-laserdisc-collection/545711/12 "2010-07-06T19:51:53Z")
I have a couple hundred LDs, and while most of them have been replaced by DVDs, there are some titles that still have not been released on DVD like _The Pirates of Penzance_. Also, there were a lot of art laser discs - I’d love to get the Japanese “Visual Pathfinders” series that featured Oskar Fishinger and John Whitney. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-my-laserdisc-collection/545711/13 "2010-07-06T20:25:15Z")
You’re clearly a big SF fan. I’m surprised by the absence of **Forbidden Planet** and **The Day the Earth Stood Still** (the original, of course). Were these not available on LD, or do you not care for them, for some reason? There are others I’d put on a list of SF, Bond, and Classics, but I’m not sure which appeared on LD and were readily available. ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-my-laserdisc-collection/545711/14 "2010-07-06T20:31:34Z")
> [@Student\_Driver](#): > > Size-wise, your collection of discs is about average IMO. Mostly solid films, though no real rarities. Is your Blade Runner the Criterion edition? > > I’d upgrade the player to a double-sided unit, though, and keep the V2400 as a backup. With careful shopping, you can get gems for cheap; I bought [this model](http://www.laserdiscarchive.co.uk/laserdisc_archive/pioneer/pioneer_cld-d604/pioneer_cldd-604.htm) for $35 or so (plus hefty shipping for almost as much… the thing is massive). Double-sided, digital frame memory for still frame and smooth multi-speed playback. It relegated to backup [this bare-bones model](http://www.laserdiscarchive.co.uk/laserdisc_archive/pioneer/pioneer_cld-980/pioneer_cld-980.htm), which only did single side play and had no digital field memory (but only cost me $10!). > > My collection is at 293 titles right now according to my account at the [LaserDisc Database](http://www.lddb.com). However, I have 30 or so industrial and educational titles that aren’t listed in the database, so I’m over 300. Four players (the best is the Pioneer CLD D-604 mentioned above, the CLD-980 is a backup, and then I have two pre-digital models for novelty value; this Pioneer [LD 600](http://www.laserdiscarchive.co.uk/laserdisc_archive/pioneer/pioneer_ld-600/pioneer_ld-600.htm) top-loader with a gas tube laser, and an [RDI Halcyon](http://www.laserdiscarchive.co.uk/laserdisc_archive/rdi_halcyon/rdi_halcyon_model_200/rdi_halcyon_laserdisc_archive.htm)). > > I have a few duplicate discs that I’d be willing to send to someone who actually uses LD; would you have any use for Pulp Fiction, Die Hard, Top Gun, and some Playboy title that escapes me at the moment? Oooh! Oooh! Me! Me! Pick me! Die Hard, Top Gun please… no can do on the playboy thing…:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-my-laserdisc-collection/545711/15 "2010-07-06T22:17:46Z")
I still have a double-sided LD player and 50-odd discs. If you’re interested in upgrading and/or expanding your collection, shoot me a pm. ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-my-laserdisc-collection/545711/16 "2010-07-08T20:38:11Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > I still have a double-sided LD player and 50-odd discs. If you’re interested in upgrading and/or expanding your collection, shoot me a pm. Which discs do you have?