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Laserdisc vs Bluray on CRT?

post #1 of 7
11/24/12 at 7:34am
Thread Starter 
I have bluray and HD etc etc at home, but for my beach house Ive been keeping it an almost digital free zone. Ive been watching a small Btionvega Doney TV down there and I realised that resolution etc is not everything, sometimes a gentle image is quite pleasing too old films and 70's TZv shows.

So, remembering a 1252 Id seen that first got me into CRT, I grabbed a cheap 7" off ebay. Now, I never had a Laserdisc player, and Im wondering if that would be taking my retro theme too far. The projector can take 1080i and has a built in line doubler I believe.

So Do I put on my rose tinted glasses and go laserdisc or just grab a $100 bluray player and stick with one format?

Sound is no concern, Ill be listening mono smile.gif

Daniel.
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post #2 of 7
11/26/12 at 5:48pm
As someone who just watched a Laserdisc over CRT a few minutes ago, I guess I can speak to this one with a bit of experience:

Resolution depends on the viewer. Some people make a bigger deal over it than others. As a note, DVD via component is sharper and less susceptible to noise than LD over composite.

LD Players vary on their output via the type of player. Higher and more expensive model LD Players often have higher quality parts and put out less noisy pictures. I'm running an NTSC Pioneer D704 LD Player and the colors look great. They are sometimes closer to the actual film prints of the time than digital remasters, but don't tell anyone that in the BluRay section biggrin.gif

Since you are in Australia though and are using PAL, the Laserdisc story is a bit different. PAL LDs are often just transfers of NTSC masters. The picture benefit is minimal. Unless your collection or player mostly NTSC, you are unlikely to really benefit anything from the PAL releases.

As far as a line doubler goes, 1080i should be fine for regular "legacy" inputs. If you have the option, try 960 to reduce unnecessary banding (i.e. doubling the image exactly)
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post #3 of 7
12/12/12 at 12:13pm
laserdisc is fun...and can make a good picture, but it's just not that practical anymore.

You will be stuck watching nothing but old movies....but, maybe you want that.

If you find an LD player with a huge stack of movies for a cheap price...maybe you should buy it...but, other than that, start with a blu-ray player and see how it goes.
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post #4 of 7
12/12/12 at 12:27pm
And if you want to watch a BD movie at standard def, just use the player's composite video output. (Although that option will be disappearing in future BD players.)

Of course, there are some LD titles which never will be available on either DVD or BD, but they're usually very specialized.
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post #5 of 7
12/13/12 at 11:19pm
Thread Starter 
I set up my blu-ray player to watch some dvd's. Id never noticed the edge enhancement and compression artifacts on some DVD's before, but I notice it now after years of Bluray. Ive bought a bunch of old films on LD and it will be interesting to check them out. I dont mind a softer picturer with nice colors if it has a less digital look. Oh, and yes, I just want tonwatch old movies, 70's 80's to early 90's!
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post #6 of 7
12/14/12 at 2:46pm
Laserdiscs use an analog composite video signal, so they certainly don't look digital !

While most LDs are higher quality than VHS, some of them aren't. Sadly, even the best Criterion LDs can't match the quality of well mastered DVDs. Just as with DVDs and BDs, some LDs have serious edge enhancement problems and some don't. Since they use a composite video signal, smearing of red text in titles can be quite noticeable, and credits often are almost unreadable.

I'm a "glass is half empty" kind of guy, but I have no plans to sell my substantial collection of LDs. smile.gif
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post #7 of 7
1/5/13 at 2:50am
Thread Starter 
Well, I have my NOS Pioneer V2300 setup with my Seleco CRT projector using the nbuilt linedoubler and its all I hoped for. Has a lovely optical look, when watching Neil Youngs, Rust Never Sleeps, very average source material, there is a shot of a stage light shining through smoke, and its looks natural and gentle. Not hyper sharp, no pixels. Kitaros LD has some wonderful scenery which shows how detailed good LD can be. An original 70's LD on Sophies Choice, showed how time has progressed, it was soft. Anywhich way, relaxing too watch and not in your face.

What is interesting after 10 years of only digital, is how different good quality "broadcast" PAL or NTSC looks to digital. There are definately artifacts in digital that LD doesnt suffer (and visa versa). No one can deny they look different.
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