The Wonderful World Of Laserdiscs
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- čas přidán 11. 05. 2019
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After publishing I realized that I was thinking of Futureworld - the Peter Fonda/ Blythe Danner sequel to Westworld for that CGI stuff. Also, the Apollo Command Module Simulator that I stood on at the Smithsonian is in the background of a shot in Futureworld! True Fact!
My dad and grandpa worked on the Apollo 8.
They made small medallions from the pieces that came back to earth and NASA gave one to everyone who worked on it. They also presented them a letter signed by someone but I can't recall his name.
@@rarex50484 - Time lapse of fluid experiment.
You ever work in aviation? I do. You seem familiar. Don't have to be specific, yes or no is fine. I know that is OT, but I did dream of having a laser disc system for the games when I was a kid.
Mario Bava! Director of my first favorite science fiction film (there is now a long list of favorites). Terrore Nella Spazio (AKA Planet of the Vampires - there are no vampires). Alien was "inspired" by this film, as were others.
@@Miata822 - I love that movie!
I loved laserdisc. I had over 5000 of them in the mid 90s. It was the only way to hear director’s commentaries. Great video.
Yay! Another LD cinephile! The day I watched Forbidden Planet, letterboxed, in beautiful color, ruined me for VHS. There was a local video store that had wall-to-wall LDs for rent and purchase. I still remember watching the traveling matte boxes as they followed the T.I.E. fighters on that very same Star Wars disc. That's when the video store owner introduced me to the phrase "Never The Same Color" and taught me about video color space.
This video was a joy. Thank you so much for this.
I was an electronics engineer in Britain back in the 80's and did quite a lot of work on video broadcast and related stuff. There was always a bit of rivalry and ragging between European and American engineers over our respective video standards. The American nicknamed our system Picture Always Lousy :-)
I noticed those matte boxes before too.
@@mycosys They (the Americans) thought they were terribly clever, and we (the Europeans) thought the same about ourselves. We (in the tradition of Swift - at least when it came to the Brits) and they (in the tradition of Twain) were always good humoured about this rivalry :-)
You have such cool things....love when you share them with us. You are one of my favorite YT stars......ps....anytime with you is never a waste of it.
Fun Fact: Silent Running is also the movie that gave Joel the idea to make MST3k in the form of "guy alone on a satellite with robot friends"
Thanks for the frame sync!
Laser Disc format was definitely ahead of its time. I remember seeing the first Philips LD player being demonstrated in their research labs in Eindhoven in 1974!
@@mycosys Yes, it was a very productive period for Philips in the area of electronics and audio visual recording. I'm from the UK, but I was working for Philips in Eindhoven at that time in their main research laboratories. During the time I was there they were developing the CD format following their success with the Compact Cassette and also Compact Video Cassettes which were the forerunners of VHS. Philips were also doing a lot of fundamental research on materials. I worked on the discovery of the first high coercivity, rare earth, magnets which were used for the first time under licence by Sony in the Walkman and are now found in all smartphones, tablet and computers, not to mention speakers, headphones and most electric cars.
I would put 2001 a Space Odyssey up there with Blade Runner as one of a few influential films in the Science Fiction Genre.
Absolutely!! And the effects for 2001 (in 1969) were better (IMHO) than Star Wars, in 1975.
I love that Movie! I agree with Shufei; Blade Runner was good, but it didn't "move" me anything like 2001.
2001 is often shelved in top films of all time lists by critic's and film fanatics, understandably. I agree with the second commenter that BLADE RUNNER is more of a niche film, but it has that amazing soundtrack and explores interesting commentary on what it means to be Human.
Blade runner turned me cyberpunk
My friend has a rare copy of “ A Clockwork Orange”
It was especially rare because we are in the U.K. he worked for a publishing company “Dennis Publishing” and his boss Felix Dennis was a friend of Stanley Kubrick and I believe he was presented this by Stanley many years ago.
Got that...
Fran Blanche I thought you might but I doubt yours is signed by mr Kubrick.
Shufei from all accounts he was reluctant to sign it but they were good friends so he did.
Cool stuff, Fran.
"Forbidden Planet", one of the best sci-fi movies ever made. 👍👍🖖😎
Listening to Fran ramble about Laserdisc is truly the greatest thing on CZcams.
Techmoan and Technology Connections both has great videos explaining about laserdisc.
We had Русь-501 ВИДЕО and 3 more players in USSR but it was ultra rare thing
I worked at an Interactive TV company back in the dotcom days where we used custom pressed laserdiscs for trade shows and other areas. Since it was an analog signal the data injected in the VBI it would be preserved and played back correctly to the set top boxes. Also we had an internal broadcast cable network running various content with one notable channel playing BladeRunner 24/7.
I love this! My only experience with Laserdisk was seeing it once... in middle school, and the teacher used one of those pen scanners to scan a book that would bring up different video clips of science stuff. Really wish they'd have used it more!
I somehow just knew that you are a Repo Fan.... Back in the 80's when I was in film school we would pool our money and rent 5 or 6 laser discs and then cram 25 people into the living room of a tiny apartment for a classic movie Marathon! It would sometimes run from the early afternoon and all night...well we would have to look at the photos, and read part of the scripts. 2001 was a favorite....and Escape from New York(but that one might have been on Betamax).
Love Repo Man. "The life of a repo man is always intense."
"plate, or shrimp or plate of shrimp"
FORBIDDEN PLANET !!! woo whooo loved that since I was 4 years old !!! David warner is Awesome !! Omg Fran Brainstorm!!! You never cease to amaze me with everything and I mean everything that you dig is the same that I do!! You are totally from my space and time!!!! I've never known anyone so dead on frequency with my way of being !!! Are you AI reading my mind??
♥♥HuGGs♥♥
@Shufei - I'm 59 and my Son is 12. He loves Forbidden Planet and he has for years! I've been trying to bring him up right. He also loves 2001 and Twilight Zone etc. I'm hopeful he will show these things to his kids one day.
I had the good fortune of buying an early Pioneer VP-1000 LD player and discs from the estate of a Honeywell engineer. He had a lot of classic discs, but the glory of the collection were 3 of the Space Archive discs!
CX is a noise reduction system from CBS and it was tried on 33 rpm LPs as well. Perhaps you are thinking of Dolby AC-3 (Dolby Digital), a predecessor of later Dolby Surround systems.
Ah yes, Compatible Expansion. Not as high-fidelity as DBX, but backwards compatible with players that didn’t support it.
Amazing stuff, thanks for some random movie tips I'd never heard of. Fond memories of 90's laserdisc experiences (thanks to friends), spending 14hrs going through the entire Spinal Tap Criterion Box Set, the Brazil Criterion, scraping frame by frame out of the CAV Taxi Driver, the clarity of analogue audio on Alien compared to DVD.... plus the Star Trek : The Motion Picture longest TV version edition that remains my favourite cut to this day.
You are a National Treasure, Fran! Thank you so much for this. Not only a wonderful look at Laserdiscs, but what a filmography! I eagerly await each new video from you you, but this one might be my favorite of all. So many films that i've seen, and agree with you on (any comments on "Repo Man?"), yet so many more that i now must see! Thanks again for sharing another of your multiple facets with us.
I've got almost all of those in my library, including Repo Man. "a repo man's always intense"
How uncultured can you get to dislike an awsome video like this ? I Love what you're doing keep it up
Love and greetings from Germany Fran. Your channel is awesome! Thank you for all your work!
This was delightful. A lot of the films in your stack there (including Repo Man) are top favorites of mine too, and there were only 3 or 4 I haven't seen. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, memories and insights.
REPO MAN!! One of my all time Favorite Movies and an all time Cult Classic!! "Your gonna be OK Man; maybe not". "It happens sometimes. People just explode. Natural causes.". " The life of a repo man is always intense.". "Oh... You don't wanna look in there." "You eat a lot of acid, Miller, back in the hippie days?". ;-)
GREAT TASTE! of course, lovely collection Fran...thanks for the rundown on laserdisc - yes Capt Scarlett and The Mysterons!
Really enjoyed this Fran, thanks for sharing your collection!
NY used to have a pirate ship in half moon bay. It was really cool.
What an absolutely STUNNING collection, you are a treasure, thank you so much for sharing!!!!!D
One small correction: CX was the noise reduction system that was added to the analog soundtrack of LaserDiscs beginning in 1981 (similar to Dolby NR on audio cassettes). Digital audio came later, in 1984.
I still watch my laserdiscs. thanks for doing a video on this format.
YAY! FRAN'S STILL HERE!!! I don't have to keep looking for music videos here. :)
Dick York is "The Shy Guy". I didn't spend time in the basement building radios, it was more like taking them apart (to my dads dismay) to see all the parts. Which now leads me to my broken Pioneer VP-1000. Wish I could fix it so I can watch all of my LD movies. Great episode Fran, love your show!
A friend dumped a huge collection of laserdiscs on me and I’ve acquired quite a few players at thrift store including one that plays Genesis games, but I never knew much about the features on these. This has rekindled my interest.
Well that certainly takes me back-my home-video setup for a couple of years was a LaserDisc player hooked up to a Commodore 1702 monitor. Widescreen movies were a very squinty experience on that rig.
C1702 has been my gold standard for NTSC composite since childhood. Elementary school principal gave me five of them and I'm realizing they're getting hard to find now.
They're stackable and need four more to build a 3x3 video wall of Commodore 1702s
Given what they’re going for on eBay I think the retro community agrees with you! Mine definitely made the colors pop, especially compared to my parents’ RCA console down in the living room.
Nobody remembers brainstorm! Yet it stuck in my memory for years. I didn't know what it was called for a long time because I saw it on TV. And yes! David Warner is a very underrated actor. He pops up everywhere. THERE ARE FIVE LIGHTS!
What a wonderful episode Fran!
Watched it all the way through to the end in one go.
I liked the scene where you didn't want to break off the Apollo 17 launch. :-)
That really was to most beautiful Saturn V launch. That goes for the EVA's too by the way.
Thanks Fran. You made me realize I have some movie classics to watch in the near future.
HEY!
It's Fran
Again!
Howdy Fran!
Not a waste of time Fran, was worth every minute.
Absolutely luv the retro tech info vids you do. Franlab - turning retro tech up to 11 👍
I am so impressed that the LD quality even lets you see the artifacts from the color wheel they used on the moon video camera!
I loved that player. Jog on the remote was so cool, and you didn't have to flip the disk over!
Awesome video, Fran.
Fascinating vid! Thanks for sharing your laserdisc memories. Great to see all that glorious artwork on the covers. You have impeccable taste in movies btw. Top notch collection. :-)
I love the intro (start of the video) fran… 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Yes I DID watch captain Scarlett & the Mysterons ;-) I started watching Thunderbirds in 1966 on a 9" black&white tv. I wish I could stop by some time and visit you and your museum (will most likely never happen). Thank you so much for sharing these memories, knowledge and treasures with us.
Great channel. I love laserdiscs too. I found some good ones together with vinyl at the local rubbish dump. Paid £15 to the guys there. Better laserdiscs and vinyl to what I can normally find in charity / thrift shops. I also have a smaller collection of CED discs that are fun to watch especially when they skip!
What entertainment! My first LD I watched was JAWS. Never seen Spinal Tapped (D'OH!). I've never seen such cool variety on a single CZcams channel. Fran, you're the best!
During one of my classes in grad school, we created a Laserdisc that could be accessed using Apple HyperCard and a Macintosh. Each of us did an educational stack and did a content video. This was probably 1994. A lot of fun and we all felt pretty special. This was when we were still updating software via floppies. Burning "disposable" CDs was still in the future for us.
Great collection.
Laserdisc was so awesome!
I had one, with a huge collection of discs! I lost them all in an ugly divorce, but I digress...
It really was the most awesome format from the late 70s, 80's, and 90s.
The first Pioneer unit I had contained a Helium Neon laser, and the driver board kept overheating and burning out.
It was so awesome when Pioneer came out with a player that had an integrated laser, because it got so old having to lug that ten ton player back to the stereo shop for warranty replacements, LOL!
I think that's what gave it a bad rep back when it first came out. But one fascinating thing about the original was how industrial it was.
That Helium Neon laser was the real deal! That sucker was BRIGHT!
Awesome collection!
Awesome video! Thank you for sharing your collection 🙂
Built quite a collection of these several years ago when everyone was dumping them on eBay. I also managed to grab several players for next to nothing around that same time. Definitely worth the effort!
Thanks for sharing your gems Fran
My Dad just sold his Laser Disc version of the original Night of the Living Dead. It was signed by all the living members at the time back in the early 90's.
I loved Laserdisc, but then along comes 1080 P and I kinda gave up on them. And then I learned you could upscale, and I'm in love again! A happy ending. Great video. Take care...
You're awesome, Fran! Thanks
I'm a recent LD person, so my only LD is Independence Day on PAL, which thankfully is in perfect condition. Disc rot is a major problem.
Fran, 'Brainstorm' is possibly my favorite film. Aspect ratio use as you say in this film is fantastic - must have seen it in the cinema back in the day 4-5 times. Great LD collection Fran, love them all!
I remember my uncle briefly got into laserdisc back in the day, but I personally have zero experience of them.
I am old enough to have watched the last few moon landings on tv, so I would love to sit through that Apollo 17 footage.
I kept waiting for you to talk about Rep Man, but I’ll just have to go watch it instead.
Thanks for sharing some of your collection and knowledge of the system.
Fascinating video. I never got into laserdiscs but I do remember seeing original broadcasts of Star Trek on big TVs. The color and clarity were nothing like the later syndicated shows.
Thanks for taking us on this voyage. I first saw Laserdiscs in the mid 80's, it was so 'high tech' and brilliant but never owned one. I used to race home from school to watch Thunderbirds and love it still. Danger Diabolik is one of those films I have heard about but never seen, now I must seek it out. You have great, fun taste.
“Lasahdisc”. Love your pronunciation of “Laserdisc” and love this video! I’ve been into laserdisc since 1990, and this video explains everything so nicely. I look forward to exploring your channel.
I was introduced to Danger Diabolik through Mystery Science Theater 3000. It was the final episode until the Netflix reboot and it's on CZcams. Actually, i got to thank MST3K for making me fall in love with 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s cinema but especially science fiction. I enjoyed this video Fran, thanks for sharing.
Definitely. There are quite a few i like with or without commentary. The Sword and The Dragon, Soultaker, The Thing That Couldn't Die, Overdrawn At The Memory Bank, The Phantom Planet... A lot of the B&W 50s movies. Good stuff.
I bought and have alot of laserdisk back when they came out. I boxed them up and have forgoten about them. This video will give me an excuse to go to storage and search for them.
30:05 - Local stations also cut out scenes to make room for more commercials!
Awesome video, I’m just now getting into laserdisc and love your channel! I subscribed 💿
Love Laserdisc - I still use them, just not as often nowadays
I love your collection of esoteric equipment you just have LoL ❣️
Back in the day I was computer technological cutting edge with my C64, two Commodore 1851 3 1/2 disk drives, but that 1701 was key, the Commodore monitor that was so much better than using a blurry TV.
Great video, I too was a Laser Disc viewer. I like your videos but I must say my three favorites are the one about 45s, was so much interesting facts I was unaware of and also the disc collection from the Voyager probe. That video was both entertaining and informative. And the third is this one on Laser discs.
Thanks.
You seem like such a fun and nice lady. I really enjoyed watching you geek out. I love how something like your lazer disc collection or my commodore 64 can just make someone light up. I'm planning on purchasing my first laserdisc player before the end of this year. It seems laserdiscs are rather affordable besides buying a machine. I love your videos fran. Sorry for being long winded
Nice collection
I am sooo coming over to watch movies at your place!!! You have all the best movies and toys ever made!!!!!
I'd be more excited to watch an old Laserdisk on a CRT tv than a new blue ray.... I just don't care for all the eye candy, but this is something I'd get excited for!
Useless fact of the day, the Saturn 5 took 167,000 kg of fuel to get to the top of the launch tower.
How fast was it travelling by the top of the tower?
@@andrewwhite1793 Some speed?
@@andrewwhite1793 About 60 Mph. Considering it's a flying 36-story building, getting it moving that fast in just 400 ft. is pretty damned impressive.
The Woodstock 3-disc Director's Cut and Elephant Parts are my two favorites.
Repo Man -- yeah!
Man, you're hitting all my favorites there... Gerry Anderson and Brainstorm and Colossus... good stuff!
Fran, I watched Star Trek and Lost in Space originally in the 60's. I was about 8 or 9 years of age.(Great Shows!)
You have great taste Fran!
Thanks for some awesome film recommendations. Many of my favourites are in there and a few I've never heard of (but will check out) :-)
Spot on about Hard Day’s Night - “transportive” - yes, it is!
The fact that it can DO still frames, where VHS just made a mess on screen, is impressive for the day. Too bad they were so bloody expensive.
This is an amazing video, thank you so much for sharing. You are my new hero.
Fantastic collection & selection Fran :-) S.I.G.!
I thought they would make great frisbees glinting in the sunshine when our elementary middle school had them. They wouldn't let me test it out. Didn't know it was analog tech, very cool stuff Fran.
Thanks for the memories Fran, big LD fan here are you might guess from the username. I deffo need to get that Apollo 17 disc now!!
Just found you Fran. Sooo good see you. I shall enjoy hearing about the wonderland you live in. Cheers mate
Thanks for the memories Fran, I also invested in Laser Discs, and with the S connector the picture was even better. Unfortunately I had to throw out my entire collection due to disc rot. And now my DVD collection is going through the same thing...good episode, and yes Brainstorm is still a great movie!
Gotta love that old Commodore monitor!
Nice collection - I still have my dual side play CLD-2950 with a DIY AC-3 RF output and a stack of LDs - although not got it out for years!
Fran,
Loved the video on the venerable laserdisc.
I think this may have been covered but just to clear up any confusion.
The audio on LaserDisc is carried in several ways.
Mode 1 the original that laserdisc launched with, 2 AFM audio channels that could be strapped together for stereo or separate for selecting a second language or directors commentary.
Mode 2 An update of mode 1 done by Pioneer adding the CBS CX (compatible Extension) noise reduction system to the standard AFM audio.
Mode 3 PCM 44.1 kHz sample rate 16-bit quantization digital sound, this was added to LaserDisc in 1984 by Pioneer, it does not disturb the standard analog audio channels.
Mode 4 DTS a 1.5 Mbps DTS 5.1 signal replaces the PCM digital audio, for compatibility the standard analog channels have a stereo or Dolby stereo signal included on the analog tracks.
Mode 5 Dolby AC-3 (Dolby Digital) The Left analog audio channel is replaced with a 384 kbps encoded(RF) signal that replaces the left analog audio channel, leaving right for directors commentary or a second mon language channel, the 44.1/16 PCM signal is left along on the digital audio track, with it being either stereo or Dolby stereo enoded.
The RF signal is demodulated and converted into the AC-3 bitstream and sent out to a Dolby Digital decoder, this involved either a separate demodulator, a demodulator/dd decoder or on some receivers an RF input that had an internal demodulator inside the receiver.
You just made me flip though my 30 disc collection. Blade Runner and Forbidden Planet are in there.
How about re-encoding the rotting discs into mp4 so at least you have archival copies before the rot progresses to the point it's unplayable?
I approve muchly of your disc collection! Movie nights at your place must be great!
Oh the 1702 / 1701 CBM Monitor! That's a great unit. I've only had experiences with Pioneer Laser disc players and this Mitsubishi I've never seen! Thanks for sharing!
The Mitsubishi players were Pioneer OEM.
@26:10 I can hear all the young people saying "DAMN!! DVDs were that BIG? Wow!! That is one BIG ASS DVD!! Huh."
You have GREAT taste in media, Fran. There are some titles I do not recognize. I will be checking them out. Thanks!!
Thanks for sharing.
Fran! Somehow, by some miracle, CZcams decided to put you in my feed, and I am so glad! While this video is 3 years old, it’s very relative today - I am a HUGE LaserDisc collector. And your speaking style, your screen personality, was instantly relatable. Subscribed! Thank you for making such a wonderful video, I am looking forward to your others! (By the way, your taste in films and mine… well suffice it to say that we could be twins in that aspect LOL)
Thanks Fran awesome video I'm going to go watch repo man now haha
LOL, my Commodore 64's monitor was my TV for years after I stopped using the computer itself, plugged into a VCR. Nice of them to include the regular audio and video jacks!
Very good video I plan on getting into laserdiscs soon