Random Thoughts Thread

[marurun]

Any kind of analog image processing has the potential to affect the video quality of an LD, as the video output is indeed analog.

[SamuraiMegas]

@ Partridge where do you get those laserdiscs? I'd love a Lupin one.

Also my 4/20 was quite fun, but I believe it marks me slowing down on my consumption. I do smoke daily to sleep/eat extra (I'm too skinny) but I do it a little too much.

My shop also opens back up Friday which is good news, I got tired of not working for 2 weeks. Barely left the damn house.

[PartridgeSenpai]

@ Partridge where do you get those laserdiscs? I'd love a Lupin one.

I got them at my local resale mall, but the one Lupin one they had (Castle of Cagliostro) was broken, so I returned it. I could see if they put it back out for sale but with a "SCRATCHED" (well, actually 「キズあり」) sticker on it if you would want me to try and ship it to you still.

[SamuraiMegas]

@ Partridge where do you get those laserdiscs? I'd love a Lupin one./quote]

I got them at my local resale mall, but the one Lupin one they had (Castle of Cagliostro) was broken, so I returned it. I could see if they put it back out for sale but with a "SCRATCHED" (well, actually 「キズあり」) sticker on it if you would want me to try and ship it to you still.

If it's cheap then yes! shoot me a pm.

[Nemoide]

Do we have a laserdisc thread? I feel like we should have a laserdisc thread...

would something like a retrotink make a laserdisc look any better on a modern tv?

I have the new RetroTink 2X Pro which includes a comb filter designed for things like laserdiscs! It's... okay. It makes a difference in the image quality, I'd say it's a *slight* improvement, especially for still frames for some reason. Older HDTVs have really good filters built-in, meaning it's best to just plug the player right into the TV, but I think that feature is becoming less common.

What a lot of hardcore LD folks do is buy an old DVD-recorder as a lot of them have high-end (for the time) 3D comb filters that can strongly enhance the image. LD is at its heart composite-video only, while some players have S-video thanks to a built-in filter, the results are generally not much improved. I don't have firsthand experience with the high-end filters, but supposedly they can make the image look pretty good (usually with component output). Of course, a laserdisc is still a laserdisc and will NEVER look like a blu-ray, and will usually look worse than DVDs, no matter what processing you apply.

[RCBH928]

Today I hit up one of the last the last recycle shops around here I hadn't checked for LDs yet, and they had a complete(?) set of the Thunderbirds TV series of all things! I didn't pick it up, since it was 3000 yen, but still, what a neat find!

you mean 30,000 yen. Those people in the 80s and 90s buying anime to watch on LD must be some really rich people. What was the MSRP of LDs?
I know some stuff never made it to DVD(I wonder why not since DVD was so much more popular and easier to manufacture I guess), but isn't it cheaper now to get stuff DVD? DVD today are almost worthless, I believe they are even worth less than a VHS.

I will make a blind guess, and although LDs are surprisingly cheap, people rather have the LD because the LD is more likely to survive the used condition. DVDs will go to skipping hell if scratched.

Since you live in Japan, are the Japanese people into retro collecting tech too or do they treat retro system like they current, just casually going to the store to buy a Neo-Geo cartridge?

[marurun]

Today I hit up one of the last the last recycle shops around here I hadn't checked for LDs yet, and they had a complete(?) set of the Thunderbirds TV series of all things! I didn't pick it up, since it was 3000 yen, but still, what a neat find!

you mean 30,000 yen.

No, when Pidge says it was 3000 yen in the resale shop, I think they meant 3000 yen. That's approximately $30 USD, and I could understand them not wanting to pay that on a tight budget for something they find a curiosity but not personally compelling.

[PartridgeSenpai]

Today I hit up one of the last the last recycle shops around here I hadn't checked for LDs yet, and they had a complete(?) set of the Thunderbirds TV series of all things! I didn't pick it up, since it was 3000 yen, but still, what a neat find!

you mean 30,000 yen.

No, when Pidge says it was 3000 yen in the resale shop, I think they meant 3000 yen. That's approximately $30 USD, and I could understand them not wanting to pay that on a tight budget for something they find a curiosity but not personally compelling.

Maru is right. I mean 3000. They aren't still charging MSRP for this stuff some 30-40 years after they were released. Although I've certainly seen some box sets that retailed at 40,000 yen back when they were new (although many of those are only like 2,000 yen now).

I will make a blind guess, and although LDs are surprisingly cheap, people rather have the LD because the LD is more likely to survive the used condition. DVDs will go to skipping hell if scratched.

LD being an analog medium, it's far more affected by scratches, at least for me. You'll be able to see the image warp and such as the laser has trouble reading the disc, where for a digital signal on a DVD, a muffled read on a "011000" is exactly the same as a crystal clear "011000". You need to have a genuinely quite bad scratch to have a DVD start showing any signs of not playing back properly. Then there's also the case that LDs are far larger than a DVD and also almost always two-sided, so there's far more surface space on a disc that's possible to scratch TwT

Since you live in Japan, are the Japanese people into retro collecting tech too or do they treat retro system like they current, just casually going to the store to buy a Neo-Geo cartridge?

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by that, but in my experience, the massive retro price surge that's so prevalent in the West hasn't really hit here the same way. Retro stuff is generally cheaper, although there is still definitely a market for it and some stuff will still cost you quite a pretty penny. Like Neo Geo stuff isn't quite as expensive as it is in the States, but it's just as niche and still quite expensive. Retro anything is still a niche, just like it is in the States, but I'd say if there's anything different, it's that there's a wider net of nostalgia for people who've played games when they were younger that I haven't really experience in America. The number of teachers I've worked with who get all nostalgic when I mention to a kid I'm currently playing Final Fantasy 6 or Ape Escape has been really surprising (and also very sweet :3 ), and that's just not an experience I've had in the States.

[RCBH928]

No, when Pidge says it was 3000 yen in the resale shop, I think they meant 3000 yen. That's approximately $30 USD, and I could understand them not wanting to pay that on a tight budget for something they find a curiosity but not personally compelling.

I don't know, a complete set of LaserDiscs of 4 Season/130 episodes seems like an absolutely cheap price at $30. Thats the equivalent of 1 brand new movie DVD in its time. I am not saying he should have bought it if he did not want it, but as a deal I don't think it gets better than this.

LD being an analog medium, it's far more affected by scratches, at least for me. You'll be able to see the image warp and such as the laser has trouble reading the disc, where for a digital signal on a DVD, a muffled read on a "011000" is exactly the same as a crystal clear "011000". You need to have a genuinely quite bad scratch to have a DVD start showing any signs of not playing back properly. Then there's also the case that LDs are far larger than a DVD and also almost always two-sided, so there's far more surface space on a disc that's possible to scratch TwT

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by that, but in my experience, the massive retro price surge that's so prevalent in the West hasn't really hit here the same way. Retro stuff is generally cheaper, although there is still definitely a market for it and some stuff will still cost you quite a pretty penny. Like Neo Geo stuff isn't quite as expensive as it is in the States, but it's just as niche and still quite expensive. Retro anything is still a niche, just like it is in the States, but I'd say if there's anything different, it's that there's a wider net of nostalgia for people who've played games when they were younger that I haven't really experience in America. The number of teachers I've worked with who get all nostalgic when I mention to a kid I'm currently playing Final Fantasy 6 or Ape Escape has been really surprising (and also very sweet :3 ), and that's just not an experience I've had in the States.

I once heard/read that part of the LD promotion is that they were very resistant. I heard/read during one demonstration they spread LDs on the ground and let people walk on them, and they played just fine. I don't remember the exact details but it was something like that. As for DVDs I had a splendid time dealing with scratches and abuse especially of those from rent shops.

I imagined the Japanese deal with retro tech as modern technology, as in a lot of the consoles and games can be found in new or extremely good condition, and its just part of the culture to utilize older tech. I built this idea as I have seen their retro game stores super clean and there is abundance of hardware/software.

[PartridgeSenpai]

No, when Pidge says it was 3000 yen in the resale shop, I think they meant 3000 yen. That's approximately $30 USD, and I could understand them not wanting to pay that on a tight budget for something they find a curiosity but not personally compelling.

I don't know, a complete set of LaserDiscs of 4 Season/130 episodes seems like an absolutely cheap price at $30. Thats the equivalent of 1 brand new movie DVD in its time. I am not saying he should have bought it if he did not want it, but as a deal I don't think it gets better than this.

Probably just season 1 or something then (or perhaps the entirety of the series that aired in Japan?) and a misread on my part. I wanna say what was there was like 4 discs and 25 episodes? I didn't take too close a look since it was so out of my price range XP. That said, I've seen the complete TV series (50 episodes each) of the original Gundam and Gundam Zeta for 2000 yen EACH, so prices like that for 100+ episodes of TV on LD isn't exactly unheard of around here.

I once heard/read that part of the LD promotion is that they were very resistant. I heard/read during one demonstration they spread LDs on the ground and let people walk on them, and they played just fine. I don't remember the exact details but it was something like that. As for DVDs I had a splendid time dealing with scratches and abuse especially of those from rent shops.

I have never personally heard that as a feature of laserdisc, but given that they ARE discs, I'd be nervous literally walking on them. They come in plastic sleeves for a reason, so far as I imagine. They're not exactly paper, but walking on them seems like you're asking for trouble ^^;

I imagined the Japanese deal with retro tech as modern technology, as in a lot of the consoles and games can be found in new or extremely good condition, and its just part of the culture to utilize older tech. I built this idea as I have seen their retro game stores super clean and there is abundance of hardware/software.

I think it's more so that people here a bigger culture around taking care of their possessions, rather than literally treating retro tech as modern technology. There's a big culture of recycling and refurbishing here, so people tend to take care of older tech and then take it to a recycle shop when they're done with it (rather than throw it away).