Laserdisc player : great opportunity on ebay

[FinalBaton]

If you're thinking about picking up a laserdisc player, check this out :

http://www.ebay.com/itm/272182620137?_t ... .S2.R1.TR6



This auction flew under the radar because of a spelling mistake in the model number in the title

From many reviews online, the CLD-D703's composite output is on par with that of the CLD-79, CLD-99 and LD-S9.
Those last one go for $500 and up on ebay. The D703 seems to sell at $150 - $200, so at $40 it's a total STEAL. Maybe the current bidder will bid higher to a certain point, but it should still be worth it up to $100 I think. Comes with a remote too
The D703 doesn't have a good comb filter like that of the CLD-99, but you can get an dedicated external one. Or even then : modern HDTVs have better comb filters than that of LD players from my reserches, so you might not even need an external one. Also the D703 doesn't have the AC-3 RF out, but it can be modded to have one.


I personnally don't plan on getting into laserdisc, but I'm curious about the medium and sometime check out ebay auctions. That's how I stumbled upon this one. I thought I would share, so that a fellow shmuper can take advantage of this great opportunity



there's only 2 hours and a half left to the auction

[bobrocks95]

Wow, nice find! I will actually jump on this if it doesn't go too much higher. From what I've read it's exactly the same as the CLD-79 just with a different faceplate, while of course the CLD-99 has a much better comb filter. I would use it on my Trinitron that already has a 3D comb filter, so there's no need for anything past the D703/704 in my case.

The AC-3 Dolby Digital thing requires a separate decoder, doesn't it? I kind of just wrote it off as unnecessary when I looked into Laserdisc previously. Willing to bet not a ton of releases even have it since it was only on very high-end players, but maybe it became common on later models that aren't talked about frequently.

Now to make sure I don't end up in a bidding war against another Shmups member...

[FinalBaton]

Wow, nice find! I will actually jump on this if it doesn't go too much higher. From what I've read it's exactly the same as the CLD-79 just with a different faceplate, while of course the CLD-99 has a much better comb filter. I would use it on my Trinitron that already has a 3D comb filter, so there's no need for anything past the D703/704 in my case.

The AC-3 Dolby Digital thing requires a separate decoder, doesn't it? I kind of just wrote it off as unnecessary when I looked into Laserdisc previously. Willing to bet not a ton of releases even have it since it was only on very high-end players.

Now to make sure I don't end up in a bidding war against another Shmups member...

yeah ac-3 requires a separate decoder. Of course if your audio setup is not 5.1, then you don't need Dolby digital anyway.

Your Trinitron is an FV310, right? These have a great 3D Digital comb filter, so you should be all set in that regard

[bobrocks95]

yeah ac-3 requires a separate decoder. Of course if your audio setup is not 5.1, then you don't need Dolby digital anyway.

Your Trinitron is an FV310, right? These have a great 3D Digital comb filter, so you should be all set in that regard

Yeah I've got an FV310, so I figured its comb filter wouldn't be beaten by any LD player except maybe that one Japan-only model I've read about that's like $5k+.

No 5.1 setup right now, maybe one in the future when the room's rearranged. Looks like there's a bunch of cheap Chinese AC3 decoders, but others look pretty expensive. I wouldn't consider it a high priority, I'll probably mostly buy anime LD's that probably wouldn't be Dolby Digital anyway.

[FinalBaton]

Did you get it bob?

[bobrocks95]

Haha, yeah, I did! A whole one dollar over the starting bid! I had about $120 shipped down on my max bid, can't believe it.

Thanks so much FinalBaton. Even if I end up not liking the look of Laserdiscs I'll just sell it to someone on here who wants it for the same price and pass the savings on. Don't imagine that happening though!

I'll spend more on 7 or so US Laserdiscs than I did on the player... Can't believe it.

[FinalBaton]

Wow! This is a friggin' STEAL! Holy...

Congrats on getting into laserdisc wich a top notch player!

[bobrocks95]

It'll need a good, deep cleaning when I get it, but I see freaking broken or as-is ones listed for $200! I'm still in shock a bit tbh haha.

[FinalBaton]

Yeah I can't believe it either! there are very few "absolute steals" on ebay. This is one for the ages, for sure!

Thought for sure the first bidder would have set his/her bid at $80 or something (and even at that price, it would have been a total steal).

$40 is just... wow... that's insane



You know how many Laserdisc enthusiasts wish they could snag a working D703 with jug remote at even $125 excluding shipping? haha

[nissling]

I really cannot recommend anyone getting into Laserdisc unless you just want the artwork. So far I've only seen one single LD that's actually comparable to DVD (DTS Experience), it just hasn't aged well at all. Poor textures, high amount of noise and ghosting/smearing from hell makes it an underwhelming alternative by now as very few current Laserdisc exclusives are any good. Although I will say that the CLD-D703 is a decent player and a very good start indeed.

If you're not planning to use it along with a CRT be ready to get a good video processor, otherwise you will lose interest very quickly.

[bobrocks95]

It will exclusively be hooked up to a CRT and I've already had my eye on some anime LD boxsets that have a very collectible aspect to them. Unless it looks just awful I'll enjoy the experience of having and collecting them.

[nissling]

Anime LDs tend to have high chroma noise due to strong colors. Pre 90s anime LDs are usually less noisy but has less contrast, rather dark and soft looking. Only the players with lowest noise floor (HLD-X0, LD-S2, CLD-97) can do those justice.

I'd highly recommend getting Video Essentials for proper calibration. 1989 version has more test patterns but the 1996 one is more suited for starters. No LD player outputs a really proper image (all of them are way off compared to any standard) and will look really bad with factory presets, which already are bad enough with better sources.

[Koop]

Hah, awesome stuff glad to see it went to someone here.

[Ji-L87]

Great deal and get!

Just wanted to stick my head in an mention that we have an LD thread going in the off-topic section:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=51716

If you're interested, feel free to join the discussion there!

Sure, it's a bit dead now though, but I don't think one can ask for constant activity in such a niche area.

[bobrocks95]

Anime LDs tend to have high chroma noise due to strong colors. Pre 90s anime LDs are usually less noisy but has less contrast, rather dark and soft looking. Only the players with lowest noise floor (HLD-X0, LD-S2, CLD-97) can do those justice.

Haven't heard much about those models aside from the CLD-97 as compared to the CLD-99- S/N ratio is sort of the general indicator of quality, right? Comb filter quality isn't a factor for me.

I'd highly recommend getting Video Essentials for proper calibration. 1989 version has more test patterns but the 1996 one is more suited for starters. No LD player outputs a really proper image (all of them are way off compared to any standard) and will look really bad with factory presets, which already are bad enough with better sources.

I'll keep an eye out for a Video Essentials disc, thanks.

Great deal and get!

Just wanted to stick my head in an mention that we have an LD thread going in the off-topic section:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=51716

If you're interested, feel free to join the discussion there!

Sure, it's a bit dead now though, but I don't think one can ask for constant activity in such a niche area.

I'll keep a tab open if I find something interesting or have any questions, thanks! I've been studying Japanese for 2 years now at university so I might as well import some anime and fumble my way through it.

[nissling]

Haven't heard much about those models aside from the CLD-97 as compared to the CLD-99- S/N ratio is sort of the general indicator of quality, right?

Can be in some cases but you should certainly not only look at those numbers. I.e. the LD-S2 has almost the same amount of visible noise compared to the HLD-X0* (with noise reduction disabled) yet the CLD-97 has a slightly higher S/N ratio than the S2 but is certainly noisier. The Panasonic LX-900U also has higher S/N ratio but is certainly noisier, although it has barely any smear compared to nearly any of the players by Pioneer.

For many years the top of the line players by Pioneer had superior electronics in order to get a cleaner picture, something that started around the LD-S1. In the mid 90s it was more or less impossible for them to make cheaper players without changing the technical route by using more basic analog components which were then compensated by digital chips in order to reduce noise levels and such. This is the reason why players like CLD-99, D704, LD-S9 and HLD-X9 have a more digitized look than earlier high-end players. Theoretically those players may give a clean signal on the paper but if the signal isn't filtered properly you will not get a lower level of noise and such.

* The X0 was heavily based on the S2 in the NTSC department, despite the design being six years old when released. Technically they share many similarities but the S2 is somewhat more sophisticated when it comes to repair. Possibly the most difficult player to work on.

[cfx]

.

[bobrocks95]

Looks like there are very few LD-S2's in circulation. LD-S1's are selling for around $250 including shipping. I only see one LD-S2 on the US ebay and it sold for $1,020 once you include shipping. It only had one bidder though, so might not be a great indicator of demand.

All said, you could probably get at least $600 of profit from it easy. Kinda sounds like high-end LD players have held their value better than nearly every other consumer electronic, unless you're counting musical equipment.

[nissling]

It all depends on the condition and the buyer, especially since working S2's are getting rarer and very few can fix a defect one (for obvious reasons). It is a very good budget alternative to the HLD-X0 and with a bit of patience I'd say it would be possible for you to get $800 on eBay. You could also try LDDB.

[bobrocks95]

So I got it in and have a couple nagging hardware questions that seem like they would fit here:

1) Is the disc supposed to make a sort of hard brushing noise when it starts up? It sounds like it's rubbing along the pads on the disc tray when it starts up, and side 2 on the one Laserdisc I have has seemingly new dust marks that seem to corroborate that. Is something miscalibrated, or is that par for the course?

2) The laser rotation was extremely hit or miss, mostly miss. I had to flip the disc over to play side 2 after it failed to flip the laser the first time, and then it worked and did it automatically, going back to side 1 thinking it was side 2. From then on any attempt to manually flip the laser sounds like the system is trying to but gets stuck or just decides to stop and won't even attempt it again until I do an eject cycle on the disc.

Beyond that it's in good shape, aside from me having to clean battery corrosion out of the remote. Laserdisc is... Much noisier than I thought it would be, but also sharper and has less color smearing than I thought too. Someone mentioned a Video Essentials disc to calibrate the machine, but the only video option on this machine seems to be a DNR separated into chroma and luminance, and off and max are barely discernible from each other, so I don't really see the point in that.

[ELabit]

the laser itself flips over the disc via a U shaped rail. It probably needs to be lubricated