Evie's Conquests

[EvieSigma]

I haven't gotten any Macs (or computers in general) lately, but for fans of old stereo equipment, I did pick this beauty up a few days ago:

Much to my surprise, unlike the last ancient piece of Panasonic stereo equipment I picked up, this one actually works and won't cause an electrical fire!

 

[Unknown_K]

What fire causing Panasonic equipment are you talking about?

 

[EvieSigma]

I've got an old Panasonic solid-state receiver from the late 60s with a seriously damaged plug, that made quite the nasty spark when its previous owner foolishly tried to plug it in. Need to get a new plug wire and plug for that one for sure.

 

[Unknown_K]

You collect old stereo equipment then? I have a bunch of Technics gear from the 90's and 00's that I use (plus a Panasonic DAT unit because I could not find the Technics badged version).

I never cared much for old tube amps or record players but I do like high end tape decks for some reason (lived through that era I guess).

 

[EvieSigma]

That cassette/AM-FM combo and the receiver are all I've got. I'd love to get some Technics and/or Marantz stuff though.

I've also been looking for a Laserdisc player for at least two years, to no avail...

 

[Unknown_K]

Laserdiscs would be hard to find outside of thrifts or ebay and you have to flip them. I went from VHS to DVD in my movie watching and never bothered to collect movies outside of a few classics (I have the 3 original stars wars boxed set on VHS) and a small stack of DVDs.

 

[EvieSigma]

That's the great thing about the later players (early to late 90s), no need to pull the disks out to flip them. And I want one mostly because I find the technology fascinating, since the movies are only in composite quality anyway.

 

[Unknown_K]

If I remember correctly they are without compression so action looks crystal clear without artifacts (sure at a lower resolution but I grew up watching VHS sooo...).

 

[EvieSigma]

Oh yeah, they look great on a CRT but on a modern big screen they suffer compare to newer DVD releases.

 

[TheWhiteFalcon]

Eh, that depends greatly on the TV, the player, and the LaserDisc. A TV with a good comb filter, a good player, and later quality releases (the DTS LaserDiscs in particular) look great.

 

[EvieSigma]

The only thing that's gonna be frustrating if I ever actually find a player is getting the movies. I've seen Laserdisc movies mixed into the record section of thrift stores on occasion but never a movie I actually wanted to own. And I bet popular movies like Terminator and Aliens are not cheap...

https://m.ebay.com/itm/T2-Terminator-2-Judgement-Day-TXH-Widescreen-Laserdisc-Movie-/152803785721

...consider me surprised!

 

[olePigeon]

I have a few LaserDiscs and player.  They look fine on my crappy old 720p TV.  It's basically my dedicated Star Wars player, but I also have a few movies that I like to play on it including TRON and Hackers.  Hackers is a joke, but it's especially funny watching it on a Laserdisc.  It seems so appropriate. :lol:

I'm on the lookout for an affordable Nightmare on Elm Street collector's edition.  It has a some really cool cut scenes that weren't even included on the Blu-Ray release.

Also, the limited edition Hellraiser Collector's Edition is off-the-walls awesome.  The box art is unbelievable.  It's the centerpiece of my collection.

 

[EvieSigma]

I'd love to watch Star Wars on laserdisc but I imagine those disks have gotten quite pricey! At least if I want to watch something like RoboCop or Jurassic Park I won't be paying TOO much.

 

[CC_333]

If anybody is is a Star Trek fan, Laseerdiscs of all six original cast movies, plus most of the TNG movies up to I think Insurrection are relatively plentiful and inexpensive.

The entirety of TNG and much of DS9 (depending on where you look) were available on the format. I wonder how they look compared to the DVD versions, which are quite good....

c

 

[EvieSigma]

Ooh yeah, I'll have to track those down...if I can get a player.

 

[CC_333]

If you're willing to do some work, okay players that need minor repairs can be had for around $100 on eBay?

c

 

[EvieSigma]

$100 is about double what I'm willing to pay though...

 

[CC_333]

Yeah, I can relate to that

I payed *way* too much for my players.

And one of them got a shattered laser assembly, so I had to pay another $60 to get a replacement (it's worked perfectly since, though, so that was money well spent).

c

 

[EvieSigma]

What a bummer! This is what I get for not knowing GPUs well. My free HD 4890 turned out to be a free HD 2900XT instead, a vastly inferior card with half the VRAM.  

 

[Unknown_K]

A 2900 is a power hungry disappointment, but for free its a good deal.