What would you do-laser discs?

RA40

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I have a small collection and they have been taking up shelf space. Except for a few, most are valued about $1-$5...I want the shelf space back and to me, giving them to the local charitable organization makes it easy. I dunno...your thoughts?
 

raggie33

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they make cool mirrors to say the truth i dont think i ever saw one before but i know there huge
 

LuxLuthor

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This is one of those unique slices of technology that not very many people had...and usually makes them valuable collectors items years from now. I have about 75 laser discs, all in pristine condition, and two quality players. Not giving them up.
 

greenlight

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Never had a laser disc, but I have three cassette recorders that I don't want. Does ANYBODY use those anymore?
 

ABTOMAT

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Older types of media have big followings. Get on a forum for that sort of thing and you'll find homes for it all. Audiokarma.org has some of that. Or post a free ad on Craigslist.

Charities are usually pretty worthless when it comes to things like this. Often just ends up thrown in the trash.
 

MrValiant

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the original E.T. and Bladerunner have value... I'd throw the bunch on Ebay an donate the money... or spend it on flashlights. ;)
 

DonShock

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......Does ANYBODY use those anymore?
Yep! I've got about 80 or so and my original Pioneer CLD-D701 is still chugging along. When I get the urge to watch one of the LD movies, it fires right up. Although I know it's bound to fail sooner or later. I keep telling myself to copy them to DVD before it's too late but I never get around to it.

The "Criterion Collection" editions were the forerunners of the Special Features section found on most DVDs today. I've got some nice mutli-disc sets of The Alamo, North by Northwest, The Quiet Man, and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. I'm not sure if the effort that went into all of these specials is duplicated on newer DVDs. But then again, on new movies they do a lot of behind the scenes stuff specifically with the thought of DVD Special Features. The stuff from the old movies just survived through chance.
 

RA40

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I had a 701, it had problems during warranty so Pioneer replaced it with a 702. After about 4 years, it only played a single side and that led me to buy a 909 combi player. That one is still doing well but it is a bit picky on some DVD media.

Maybe 2-3 times a year, I'll pull out an LD and watch but mostly...they sit. :(
 

Crenshaw

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I love laser discs, aparently they use NO compression unlike DVDS etc, so they actually have better video quality than DVDs. I have the original Free Willy, Michael Jackson's Dangerous,and even Top Gun(one of my favourite movies, they dont make em like that anymore)... and various others...well actually they belong to my parents, but still..

Crenshaw
 

3rd_shift

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Got some older movies on laserdisc?
They probably look better on those than today's media.
The master copies have aged quite a bit since then.

An example;
Star Wars episodes 4-6 in thier original pre 1997 forms are best viewed on laserdiscs as those were put on laserdisc before thier original masters started going bad in the mid 1990's.

Some laser discs are very much worth digitally copying over to a newer medium imho.
 

DonShock

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......Star Wars episodes 4-6 in thier original pre 1997 forms are best viewed on laserdiscs as those were put on laserdisc before thier original masters started going bad in the mid 1990's......
I might have to pick up a new set of the SW4-6 on DVD and see if there is a noticable difference. My SW4-6 laser discs were one of the first things I purchased.
 

Beamhead

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I still say that Laser Discs had better video and much more dynamic range than DVDs.
I sold my collection to a local Vinyl Record store and was surprised at how much I got.

I am still waiting for a few of the titles to be available on DVD.
 

nerdgineer

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Do LDs have an anamorphic widescreen format like DVDs? On a HDTV, an anamorphic format puts more viewable information onto a screen than the shrunk letterbox mode when viewing widescreen movies.
 
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