Which Pioneer Laserdisc Player??  

There are some better LD players that are harded to find and cost more money but I would say look for the Pioneer 704. I don't know what they go for but is the last /best simple player they made.----There is a big step in pq above what came before it and yes on auto-turn---and ac3/dts.--Outboard rf demodulator required.

As mentioned the CLD-D704 is the best bang for the buck and usually sells for around $300. If you want to spend less, the last units were the CLD-D406 and CLD-D606. The 606 has digital memory so you get a picture when using pause or steping, etc. with CAV and CLV laserdiscs. The 406 is the same but without the digital memory meaning only picture when using pause or steping, etc. with CAV recorded LD's. You get a picture when scanning with both. These two are not as good as the 704.

I refurb and sell used players as a hobby. You can write me at kbahr@comcast.net if you want.

Kurtis

I'll also suggest the 704 as it's a very good player.

If you can find a CLD-92 or CLD-99, they are a little heavier as well has vae a slight performance advantage.

Personally, I liked the CLD-92 a little better than the 99, but you need to make sure the CLD-92 has a DD output upgrade.

Love my CLD 99, which I picked up on eBay for $450 when ld players were even more 'out of favor' than they are now.

Kurtis IS an excellent resource, and contributes regularly to this forum. I'd seriously consider contacting him to see what he's got. As the saying goes, he 'services what he sells'.

htomei

I`ll second that :)
The CLD-99 , the last of the LD "Elite" players.
Still , if you realy want the very best that Pioneer ever made , then you`ll need an LD-S2.
IMHO , only plays on side at a time , but it was made like a rock !!
A very solid rock at about 64 lb`s.
And don`t even think about using it as a CD player , nope , just LD`s one side at a time.
When I got my CLD-99 , ( directly from Pioneer , for a defective 703 ) I asked about getting an LD-S2 but they were all gone and that was back in 95.
Gary :)

That's certainly debatable.

I bought my LD-S1 in 1987. Groundbreaking machine for it's time. I upgraded to a LD-S2 in 1994. Played about 700 lasers on it since. All perfectly. Still use it - although not often. I still think the LD-S2 the most gorgeous piece ov AV equipment ever produced. I love my laser discs as well. I'll never get rid of them.

The Pioneer 704 or Pio Elite CLD-99. I have the 99 and it's a terrific player.

Here's a good website to learn about getting the most out of the LD medium
with digital displays...

http://www.mindspring.com/~laserguru/digitalage.html

Don't forget the Elite CLD-79, those three were a trio of essentially equivalent picture performers, though the 79 was really just an Elite repackaging of the CLD-D704.

(I stocked up on good players when it became apparent they weren't going to be manufactured anymore :) )

-- Trevor

703 is an excellent choice. But newer doesn't necessary mean "better" in terms of player performance. There are newer models than the 703 that have inferior PQ.

Also, the above mentioned three models marked the end-of-the-line in terms of the manufacturers taking the medium seriously. The later models were either transitional (compatible with DVD) or budget wind down -- no further serious effort was made for units sold in the US.

The CLD-D703 is basically the same as the CLD-D704 except that it doesn't have an RF output for Dolby Digital 5.1.

I doubt you'll find one for $50. That may be the starting bid, but they usually sell for around $200.

With laserdisc, sometimes composite video is better than S-video, depending on the player. Most LD players had crap S-video output.

See my LD site in the sig below for more info on how to choose an LD player.

Regarding S-Video on an LD player. The thing to realize is LD video is inherently composite in nature. Therefore, you lose absolutely nothing in using the composite output. Chances are good that a current TV comb filter (converts Composite to S-Video) is equal to or better than the filter internal to an LD player.

Generally speaking, with DVD, you never want to use the composite output, S-Video is much better and component is preferred. However, with LD, composite is usually the way to go.

-- Trevor

The DVD-R recorders will most likely have better comb filters than all but the very top of the line laserdisc players like the X9 and S9.

If Mike (or anyone else) is still looking for an LD player, I have a Pioneer 703 and a small collection of LDs (about 35 or so) that I'll let go for cheap.

PM me if interested.

Both standard and S-VHS store the Y, C seperately. VHS does not have enough bandwidth to store a native composite signal.

A standard VHS deck only has composite inputs, so yes. For S-VHS it is again a question of whether the recorder's internal comb filter is a better choice than the LD filter. My expectation is the LD filter could easily be superior to an S-VHS deck filter -- the deck is designed to do a good job with S-Video inputs, composite is merely backwards compatibility.

TV's have to deal with composite from cable or antenna signals, and therefore need to do a decent job. I'm not sure the same can be said for DVD-Recorders, they will probably be more concerned with S-Video and component than composite (backwards compatibility again).

My expectation is that the best comb filters in the system are likely to be in either the LD player or the TV. Others are more likely to be purely for backwards compatibility purposes.

Depending on how serious you are, you could take the outputs from your composite sources and feed them into a high quality external dedicated comb filter. Then you would have a known quality S-Video signal for all S-Video accepting devices.

-- Trevor :)

THere are menu's for the high end players to adjust the Digital Noise Reduction and Adaptive filters and for some Industrial units. With the S201, what you see is what you get.

Kurtis

Does the player have a digital audio output? From what you say above it sounds like it doesn't. Most LD have 4 audio tracks, a left and right digital and a left and right analog. If you select "digital" the player reads the digital audio tracks on the LD. If you select "analog", it reads the analog tracks. Now if you don't have a digital output on the player and can only use analog ouputs, then if you choose the digital option the player will play the digital track but will convert it to analog using it's internal DACS. So either way you are outputtig digital which could be why they sound similar.

The player has no part in getting dolby surround. All your player is doing is passing an audio signal to your reciever, which will then determine whether to use dolby pro logic, etc. If you output a 2 channel analog signal to your reciever, it should be able to decode it as pro logic at least.

The separate mono output should be next to a video output plus a pin jack between them. You can buy a little channel 3/4 RF modulator to plug in there and view on a TV with an antenna input only.

The right/left are controlled by what you select on the remote, analog/digital/right/left. Depending on the quality of the Audio tracks sometimes the analog can sound better than the digital , sometimes the digital is better and sometimes they are the same. A lot of the original digital tracks were the analog track digitized with no separate mixing. Some were done correct. THX started making companies put more effort into the digital tracks. But I must say the analog is actually pretty good itself. I have a Celine Dion Music LD and the digital track sounds muted and not much life compared the the analog which is clearer, more top end and more dynamic. Not the norm but the analog can be better.

Kurtis

There are some releases that actually have a digital sound track but the analog right = AC-3 and left = commentary. Upset people with older analog players as all they can get is the commentary.

Kurtis

Is it possible to hookup this unit to an older Power MAC with a G3 upgrade card?

What is involved in terms of software, etc?

I assume that I will need a voltage converter as teh local voltage is 230 volts, and the machine is designed for 120 volts, 60 Hz, 39 watts.

The computer has a new 17 inch LCD from BenQ: Model T720.

Thanks for any suggestions or pointers.