I just recently stopped collecting cadillac memorabilia and hood ornaments and emblems and scripts (was doing it when I was 19 and got my first cadillac but have now since stopped since I drive an economical Japanese car now 🤣)

Still have my comic book collection and a small classic book collection as well as some select 80s toys (speak and spell, some popular board games and radio shack electronic toys...things like that)...Also I have started collecting Miami vice memorabilia and whatever I can find Miami vice related.

I also still have my old film camera collection of some old brownies and my old pentax and 110 cameras...since going full digital using a Canon 5d mark ii now has made me lose some interest in collecting old cameras but I may get back into it one day if I get more space.

If I had the space and the money I would continue to collect all these things but retro computer and gaming console stuff pretty much dominates most of my time and space allocated to my hobbies.

retrofanatic wrote:

Also I have started collecting Miami vice memorabilia and whatever I can find Miami vice related.

In that case, you may want to keep track of my filler videos during my off months in November and December... provided everything goes according to plan... ;)

Besides retro gear and games, I collect Marvel/DC books and comics. Space is my main real issue....oh and trying to control my spending haha

Gemini000 wrote:

retrofanatic wrote:

Also I have started collecting Miami vice memorabilia and whatever I can find Miami vice related.

In that case, you may want to keep track of my filler videos during my off months in November and December... provided everything goes according to plan... 😉

I will keep my eye out on that for sure. Great videos on your website BTW...saw the one on the tandy 1000sx recently as I am putting together my tandy setup slowly but surely.

I collect all sorts of things but limited cash and space kills that quick but got a horde of 19th century rare books. Some even have hand written notes dating before the civil war 😮

I'm curious about laserdiscs. I've never used them and don't know much about them but they're so cheap on eBay that I've been tempted to buy a player and start a small collection of them. Video quality is somewhere between VHS/VCD and DVD apparently. Does anyone have a laserdisc collection?

I have about 20 LD's.

The thing to watch out for is "laser rot". The adhesive that keeps the two halves of the disk together starts to break down over time, allowing air to get in, causing the data surface to oxidise, and affects the player's ability to read the data. Some manufacturers are worse than others, and it's accelerated by the disks not being looked after properly. None of the disks in my collection have any such damage, so I think you have to be unlucky to come across a "bad" disk.

Otherwise, it's very cool, if just for the amazing cover art on offer. Try to get a PAL/NTSC switchable player if you can.

Yes I've been reading about that. I need to do some more research. It would be cool to have a small collection of famous movies from the 1970s-90s in LD format.

Quality can be on-par with DVD depending on the release - LD ran for a VERY long time (it's about as old as VHS); pressings from the late 1970s and early 1980s can be a far cry from some of the final-era stuff in the late 1990s. Player quality also plays a fairly big role - again, you're looking at a very wide (and turbulent) period for CE. A decent player with CAV discs can easily match DVD quality assuming the TV is up to it (generally LD will mean CVBS or Y/C - Y/C being the ideal, but a lot of newer HDTVs don't have Y/C and skimp on their CVBS inputs), a decent CLV release can certainly get close to DVD quality, but then there's older (late 70s to mid 80s) releases that can be barely a step up from VHS. And remember that even with CLV you're dealing with disc flips (newer players mechanize this) and multiple disc sets depending on the length of the movie (you get 30 min/side for CAV, 60 for CLV - a 2 hour movie on CAV is 2 discs each flipping once, a CLV is usually just flipping once). Personally I gave up on LD a few years ago when DVD pricing hit rock bottom. Quality on DVDs is generally more consistent (even the direct-to-video stuff or TV releases tend to be pretty good), and there's no flipping, obtuse external decoders, etc. LD is still cool (and there are some cool releases on LD), but it's a dinosaur compared to DVD or modern formats. And as SquallStrife points out, disc longevity/condition can be a problem too (IME laser rot isn't as common as finding discs that've been used as cutting boards at some point in their life).

If you've got the space, time, etc and don't mind the (relatively) minor cash outlay, it can be fun to play around with, but I'd very much suggest comparison shopping it against DVD, Blu-ray, etc (unless you're purely interested in it as a collector) - IMO if I can get the same movie on Blu-ray, HD-DVD, or DVD for the same (and in many cases for less), and get a player for one of those formats for the same (or less) than the cost of an LD player, I'll take the newer format.

I don't know anybody that collects LD because of the picture quality. 😉

The picture data is actually stored on the disk in composite. Players that output Y/C had an internal comb filter to separate the luma and chroma parts of the signal, supposedly they went this way because TVs started having shitty comb filters in them. 😜

SquallStrife wrote:

I don't know anybody that collects LD because of the picture quality. 😉

For a while it wasn't uncommon to have (or want to have) various titles on LD because it was the best way to get them or to get them in an un-adulterated manner (e.g. Star Wars). DVD releases have "grown up" substantially in the last 5-10 years though.

But that wasn't my original point - my point was that a decent LD release can have good PQ/SQ (two that come to mind are Heat and Aladdin CAV), which can rival DVD assuming you're hooking up to something that doesn't cook the signal.

There's also HiVision MUSE-LD, which runs at 1125i. 🤣

The picture data is actually stored on the disk in composite. Players that output Y/C had an internal comb filter to separate the luma and chroma parts of the signal, supposedly they went this way because TVs started having shitty comb filters in them. 😜

Yeah - I've read back and forths over the years about Y/C vs CVBS depending on the TV in question and how good its filtering is. A lot of later TVs have *awful* comb filters (which I've seen continue on to modern sets - they really seem to just hate analog), so Y/C is usually a better choice when available (hence why I suggest it). OFC if you have a nice TV, like one of the better Wega family members (with the 3D comb filter), CVBS and Y/C tend to be basically equivalent, but I find Y/C still tends to look better for OSD features on players, processors, etc. 😊

This whole discussion is also making me re-think recycling all of my LDs... 😊 🤣

Oh yes, Star Wars 1.0 would be an essential part of the collection

2fort5r wrote:

Oh yes, Star Wars 1.0 would be an essential part of the collection

They did eventually put them on DVD (if you just want those 3); otherwise you're looking for the CAV box set ($$$) or the faces LDs. 😊

I don't watch non-anamorphic DVDs anymore unless its the only release (The Abyss). So I don't see me watching LaserDisc, there kinda pointless to me now. Having said that the quality of packaging and artwork on many LaserDiscs is astounding.

There are rumblings of new Star Wars 1.0 releases coming out now Disney own Lucasfilm.

Soupdragon wrote:

I don't watch non-anamorphic DVDs anymore unless its the only release (The Abyss).

*shakes fist at James Cameron*

Regarding the Star Wars films, the official transfer from LD to DVD (in the two-disc collector edition per film) is no longer available for purchase (unless used or on eBay or something) - out of print. Until new Blu-Rays come out with the unedited versions as have been rumored, I am making do with fan edits discussed on originaltrilogy.com such as Harmy's DeSpecialized Edition.

Star Wars is the reason I bought my laserdisc player in the first place, I just feel embarassed watching the special editions. Probably the biggest issue I have with LD is the requirement to flip the disc. Even if you're lucky enough to have a player that flips the disc there's still the issue of having multiple discs. That said, not having a CGI Jabba the Hutt in Ep4 is fantastic whatever the cost.

Stiletto wrote:

Regarding the Star Wars films, the official transfer from LD to DVD (in the two-disc collector edition per film) is no longer available for purchase (unless used or on eBay or something) - out of print. Until new Blu-Rays come out with the unedited versions as have been rumored, I am making do with fan edits discussed on originaltrilogy.com such as Harmy's DeSpecialized Edition.

Are you kidding me? 😵

I figured those were still readily available, negating the need for people to kill each other over CAV boxes. 🤣 But that's too optimistic for a Lucas/Disney release I'd guess (and just wait - we'll get to see Star Wars become "Disney Vault" releases over time).

SquallStrife wrote:

I don't know anybody that collects LD because of the picture quality. 😉

The picture data is actually stored on the disk in composite. Players that output Y/C had an internal comb filter to separate the luma and chroma parts of the signal, supposedly they went this way because TVs started having shitty comb filters in them. 😜

Maybe the same reason I have the original US run of Dragon Ball Z on DVD. Subsequent releases, including BluRay, have had awful DVNR and other poor "restoration" choices that mean a higher bitrate and resolution results in a poorer picture. 😀

obobskivich wrote:

Stiletto wrote:

Regarding the Star Wars films, the official transfer from LD to DVD (in the two-disc collector edition per film) is no longer available for purchase (unless used or on eBay or something) - out of print. Until new Blu-Rays come out with the unedited versions as have been rumored, I am making do with fan edits discussed on originaltrilogy.com such as Harmy's DeSpecialized Edition.

Are you kidding me? 😵

Well, depends how you interpret this:
http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Region-Only/d … &qid=1412272986
http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Versions-Two- … &qid=1412272986
http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Episode-New-H … g=UTF8&sr=&qid=
http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Episode-New-H … g=UTF8&sr=&qid=
http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Episode-VI-Th … g=UTF8&sr=&qid=
http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Episode-VI-Th … g=UTF8&sr=&qid=

But most of what's left is a. Region 2, not Region 1 and b. full screen, not widescreen.

There was an official announcement somewhere about them going out of print, I'll see if I can dig it up.

The DeSpecialized Edition is a work of must-see art.

I have a 1994ish VHS version of the three films, which is good enough to satiate my nostalgia when I need to rewatch Empire. 😁