Culturedog's Laserdisc Player Collection (2018 Edition)
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- čas přidán 9. 07. 2024
- Culturedog Sam Hatch is back with a stack of LD players - some old, some new (to him at least). With so many fresh additions to the fleet, it was high time he threw down a new overview video and gave you a tour of his favorite decks. Plug in and hit play!
Chapters:
0:00 Opening/Intro
1:00 Sony MDP-333
4:16 Sony MDP-800
7:17 ProScan PSLD41
10:50 Panasonic LX-H670
12:22 Quasar LD700
14:18 Pioneer CLD-D703
17:36 Pioneer CLD-D704
21:11 Pioneer Elite DVL-90
26:10 Pioneer LD-S1 (1st Unit)
27:38 Pioneer LD-S1 (2nd Unit)
29:38 Pioneer Elite CLD-99
Listen to "Culture Dogs" Sunday nights at 8pm EST on WWUH, 91.3 FM in CT. Also streaming live (and then archived via StreamRewind) on:
www.wwuh.org
WNPR:
www.cpbn.org/profile/sam-hatch
96.5 TIC FM:
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Intro music: "Anger Mgmt." by Sever the Drama.
www.severthedrama.com
This episode is brought to you by the word “elite” and the phrase “it’s my piece of crap”. - Krátké a kreslené filmy
Nice collection of LD players. I bought my Pioneer 704 from Kurtis (aka the laserdisc Jedi master). He lives fairly close to me and I’ve emailed him many times over the years about laserdisc stuff. The man is a living legend for anything related to laserdisc.
Since I recently discovered your videos I’m starting to rekindle my interest again in this video format.
Thanks! Yeah, Kurtis is great! He's helped me over email on a number of issues, and sent me replacement parts etc. Super helpful guy!
Thanks for checking out the videos!
My first player was an NAD-5900 (clone of the Pioneer CLD-900). I bought it in 1984. It was built like a tank. I sold it years ago. Players that I still own, that still work:
Pioneer CLD-D503
Pioneer CLD-D504
Pioneer CLD-D505
Pioneer LD-V8000 - The world's most advanced industrial LaserDisc player. Digital video memory for seamless search without image loss (largest buffer size offered in an LD player), Ultra-Rapid search speed, 0.5 sec. Maximum (CAV, 4 sec. Maximum (CLV), brushless motor, still picture with random access audio, interleaved video playback capability, text overlay: 12 line: 20 character (upper and lower case), automatic power on start/disc load start/repeat play, external sync and RS-232C interface for computer control.
RCA LDR-600
The D500 series always treated me well. I've used a D502, D504, and D505 at different points and they were very reliable players. Glad to hear your player fleet is still working!
I have ordered more LDs and will do a video once they all arrive.
Most excellent! Looking forward to it.
Wow Culturedog, you've acquired a good number of LaserDisc Players since your last LaserDisc Player Collection video.
That CLD-99 Elite is so damn nice!
WOW ! Culture dog it was great to see your collection of fine LD Players Fantastic !! I look forward to talking to you about L D Players and Disc titles , I worked many years in the Hollywood Studios and Film Labs and hit the laser stores each weekend to see and get the newest released titles. I thought everyone had abandoned their laser disc and players about 2000 for DVDs . That was" Easy Pickin's " for getting .any box set lasers and rare titles for low prices . Now DVDs are getting thin and not much much to select except on Amazon , eBay or elsewhere on the web , but most folks get there entertainment today from Apps . Well to each his own! Some of that is pretty good too. But I enjoy my lasers and DVD s . Well thanks for the video on your L D players and the Conference call video in another of your videos I saw on the web, Most Enjoyable . If you can reply to this message please list a few of the best laser and retro Type shows that you attend ,and I will try to link up with you if you would like too. ( After Covid 19 restrictions are lifted )
Thank you, and Enjoy Your " Lasers ". All the Best , Yours.
Sanford .
Those LD-S1's look pretty sweet! Nice to see how your collection has evolved over the last few years.
Thanks! I'm hoping I can get the other one to spark back to life - just need to spend some time with it.
My very first player was a Sony MDP 405. It looked almost identical to your 333. This brought back lots of great memories!
I just checked that one out on the Laserdisc Archive page - it does look a lot like the 333! Glad I could help deliver some positive flashbacks!
Awesome! Thanks for the player collection update. I love watching this while trying to figure out which player I want on my hardware wishlist.
Thanks for watchin'! I'm still kind of itching for a CLD-97 and/or an LD-S2, but I'm also cheap and those are on the high end of my LD expenditure comfort zone. I totally underestimated how much I'd fall in love with the LD-S1 - it's pretty much my favorite right now. It can't do DTS or AC-3, but I've just got it plugged into an old CRT and it rules!
EAD's first laserdisc transport was a Philips based unit heavily modified, built for CD really but had a killer picture quality. It weighed about 40lbs.
You really do have some fantastic machines there. This is a great update to your earlier player video.
Thanks man! Glad you dug the video!
That LD-S1 looks like something I would've seen at Service Merchandise. Now THAT felt like a classy electronics store. Excellent looking collection! I should really hunt down a player with digital audio outputs. I just have the composite A/Vs in my Pioneer CLD-D502.
Thanks man! That's funny, because when I bought my first player, I actually went to Service Merchandise first, but they were all out of Pioneers for some reason. I always remember you couldn't just grab something - you had to take a ticket and then go wait for your stuff up front after paying for it.
I didn't even use the digital out on my Sony until probably 6 or 7 years after I bought it, but I was just psyched to have the option. Haha!
Love your videos. Appreciate your enthusiasm for this format.
Thanks man! Appreciate you taking the time to check them out! Cheers!
Nice video. I have 4K tv, dvd, bluray, 4k bluray and yet I still hang onto my vhs player and my crt tv's. Some movies are expensive even on dvd (Only The Lonely) and this Christmas I'm looking to get a LD player. I like that old becomes new again. Modern tech is nice but these old technologies worked/work just fine and it's a shame to let them become forgotten.
Thanks for watching! I actually released a long overdue update video today. It's always fun digging into the player features etc. and reminiscing about them.
Top machines dude, love that Panasonic Quasar so sweet we never saw the likes in the UK!! Will have to do a vid on my PAL players one of these days!
Do it! I love watching player vids!
You have turned me a permanent shade of envy green ,alovely video
thankyou
Thank you for watching!
Great video :)
Thanks man!!
I missed a smoking deal for a CLD-99 yesterday. $100.00 for the player with it's original remote control. Somebody messaged the seller just ten minutes before I did and bought it.
That would have been an awesome player to have.
Holy cow!! You weren't kidding - that was a smoking deal! The price for those players has been spiraling up lately too. That sucks that you weren't able to grab it!
The original box and instruction manual were also included. As soon as I saw that ad on Craigslist I immediately contacted the seller but it was too late.
It isn't often when I see local ads for high end Pioneer LaserDisc Players. Heck, I still don't have a CLD-D704. After I eventually acquire a CLD-D704 I want to track down a CLD-99. I prefer buying LaserDisc Players if they have their original remote controls with them. The remotes can be harder to find than the players themselves.
Sam checked everything checks out except the laser for the laserdisc will not not find even flipping the disc but thank you for your help and time
Interesting - could be the optics need centering. Tough to say without poking around in there though.
The thing about the D703 is that it has the through holes for the internal AC-3 board. If only I could find the boards on ebay.
Yeah, it seems like the only source is Benedictus in Germany. I've been meaning to buy at least one board from him. I figure if Moyke can successfully mod his CLD-95, I can probably pull it off too.
I still have my original Pioneer CLD-D701 and it works like I just bought it,along with the remote.
That's awesome! The remotes are worth their weight in gold now. Enjoy that D701!
I found an mdp 333 for 6 bucks and it works GREAT! Aside from the door needing a little help opening. :-)
Can't beat that price either! Congrats!!
P.S. I checked out a bunch of your videos this morning - great stuff!
Hi Culturedog. You have a great collection. I envy you hahaha. Have you ever show your TV sets? I wonder if you like to watch your LDs in modern TVs or in CRT-TVs? Bye!
There used to be a guy that had an online shop that did Laserdisc player mods to freshen them up. Adding better quality parts and outputs. I wish I remembered who he was or how to find him.
I remember there was a guy who went by laserdiscmodder who would replace capacitors and just about everything he could with higher quality variants. Not sure if he's still in the game though. It's a great idea though - getting rid of all those old electrolytic caps would keep these players going for a while!
"It's a piece of crap but it's my piece of crap." LOL!
That thing's my Millennium Falcon for sure! lol
Great video still waiting on on laserdiicotech podcast and pickups I got Patton widescreen ac-3 jurrassick park dts version brave heart widescreen ac-3 alliden widescreen cav blue gate fold and who framed Roger rabbit widescreen 40th anniversary box set of The quite man, thanks cheer's to another great video
Thanks man! The podcast video should be up soon, and I'll be filming the next pickups video this weekend.Nice pickups - especially that DTS Jurassic Park! That's been getting tough to find at a good price. I don't see that Quiet Man box very often either - cool stuff!
hi Sam
great video I got the pioneer dvl 90 and 704.
I wished I didn't pass on that proscan you have, curses!! lol
keep up the good work man, peace!!
Thanks Mike! I'm thinking of selling the Proscan if you're still in the market for one!
possibly yes message me on Facebook, about it $,etc.
thanks dude
Hey Sam I picked up a pioneer dvl 909 black model DVD combo have a problem the DVD works fine but when you put a laserdisc it takes it spins but for some reason the laser does not fire and the the player slows the disc down and stops do you have any idea what could be going on any help would be appreciated thank you
Could be a couple things, but usually there are two things most 90s Pioneer players need if they've been sitting around for a bit: cleaning the loading belt and the grip ring on the spindle motor. Do you hear any weird sounds when the disc tries to get going, like it's slipping or losing traction? That's usually what happens when the grip ring starts to lose traction. I've had 2 DVL-90s and they both had that issue. Even if the discs do spin up okay, then you'll get the scenario where if you hit stop or the end of a side happens, the disc will spin freely and you have to wait forever for it to slow down before you can eject the tray.
You might be able to still find OEM replacement rings out there, but for a quick fix you can resurface it and bring it back to life. Kurtis the LD Yoda always recommended a chamois stick and video head cleaner for the job, but you might be able to get away with a Q-tip and water in a worst case scenario. In any case, just scrub the heck out of the little black rubber ring at the top of the motor that presses up against the hub of the disc. That should roughen up the texture a bit and give it a little more gripping power.
If that doesn't work, then on to Step B! Random troubleshooting! Haha
Sam, your Sony isn’t a piece of shit of its still working over 30 years!!! That’s a good machine.
Thanks! Just fired it up recently too - still going strong!
I have my Denon LA2300 player hooked directly into my Samsung led TV (42 inch) through the composite connections. Would I benefit getting a DVD recorder with a comb filter and running the laser into the recorders composite in and then out from the component jacks into the tv's components?
Might be worth a shot, especially if you can find some of the earlier 2000s DVD recorders. There's a list kicking around the Original Trilogy forums with the best models and chipsets, but Panasonics like the DMR-ES10/15/20/25 models are very popular for their comb filters. There's always a chance the Samsung TV has a better comb filter and can deinterlace well, but if you can experiment cheaply it's worth a go. I know a lot of people who go into the DMR-ES25 and out via HDMI and seem to be satisfied. Still happily using my DMR-E20 as well.
@@Culturedog thanks for the info. Really enjoy your videos. Any experience with the Dennon? 10 bucks at goodwill with a E3 code. A compact disc had dropped into the innards preventing the main drawer from opening. Easy fix!
No problem - thanks for watching!!
Nice! I got a "broken" Panasonic that was the same thing - someone must have transported it with a CD still inside and it cracked and shifted sideways over the spindle. Just had to extract it and good as new!
I haven't owned a Denon player yet, but the LA2300 is a Pioneer rebadge so it should treat you well.
I’d love to have a player collection. Somehow, I don’t think my wife agrees. You’re living the dream Sam!
Haha! Thanks man!!
After few months of disappointment I finally foung a working player,the Pioneer CLD-2070.
I really hope this thing will finally do it for me.
Has it been delivered yet? Hopefully it's in good working order.
I got it for awhile now and it only play LD for 3 minutes until it goes on a loop and cannot go past the mark.
That's too bad. Sounds like laser lock. If it does that on multiple discs the player may be out of alignment.
It did on all of my LDs and CD can't play past 2nd track.
What would be a good reliable dual side player to look for in the under $500 range?
I've always been a fan of the Pioneer CLD-D50x series for basic dual-sided workhorses. I've personally owned the D504 and D505 and they both had a decent picture and a few bells and whistles. Plus they're relatively easy to maintain if a belt goes bad etc. There's also an Elite variant (CLD-59) which is decent.
If you're looking for more audio output options, the CLD-D604 and D704 are still within that price point, and the D703 is another option if you don't need AC-3 audio.
I've also had great luck with the 90s Panasonic models. The LX-900 being the best of the bunch, but the LX-600, LX-670 and LX-680 all deliver the goods and are usually super quiet machines too.
One other great option is the Japan-only Pioneer model CLD-R7G. The only downside is to get it cheap, you have to import it yourself and risk needing repair etc. The models on ebay that have already been imported and refurbished usually cross the $500 mark, but you can sometimes get as-is models wicked cheap on Japanese auction sites.
Hey, Sam ... can you post a quick video of the 704 smear? I’ve never seen this.
Will do. It's almost like the rainbow effect on DLP devices - it drives some people crazy but doesn't bother others at all.
Hey!!! Thanks for the Videos about LD Players. QUESTION: I have a Sony MDP (I forget the number, but it looks like yours... I think mine is 6 something or 4 something. Mine changes disk side. It is in storage right now...). Mine does not work. Is it worth fixing? I think it will cost $100 for a new laser, as the current one does not work. IMHO
I'd kill to have any of these players, I ended up with a LDV-4200 because it was the most affordable working player I could get my hands on...
Well I say that, but then I got an insane deal on a LaserActive on Sunday...
The industrial Pioneer models are usually pretty hearty - how's it treating you so far?
Not well! It won't eject or play discs at the moment. I'm hoping the people at the LD Archive can help me fix that.
Will Japanese units plug into us outlets without any problems?
They'll fit the outlets and operate like normal, but just to be safe I use a stepdown transformer for mine. Some models have the same power supplies as the US versions, so there's not much to worry about. I'm just overly cautious.
I have a Pioneer CLD 3030, I picked it up from the original owner about a year ago with the remote and it works absolutely flawlessly!! It's my first LaserDisc player and I absolutely love it. But is there anything I can do maintenance wise to keep it running good? Thanks...
Nice score! With most 90s-era Pioneers, the basic stuff would be to clean/replace the loading belt, resurface/replace the little grip ring pad on top of the spindle motor, and wipe off any old, nasty grease and replace with fresh white lithium grease.
That said, I don't recall there being any spindle grip problems with the 3030, and if I'm thinking of the correct model, it doesn't use a rubber loading belt, but rather a series of interconnected plastic gears. It might be a little time consuming tearing it apart and putting back together again, but I have heard tales of the old grease hardening and causing teeth to break off the gears, so it certainly wouldn't hurt to freshen things up if you're feeling adventurous.
I know a few people with experience maintaining that particular player, so I can get you their contact info if you'd like to get some tech support!
Three years ago a gentleman who lives near me gave me his CLD-3030 with it's remote control for free. I have not had any problems with it, it has always worked perfectly, and the loading mechanism has always been smooth.
I offered the original owner money for it but he wanted was hellbent on giving it to me for free because he wanted give to someone who would actually use it instead of it being stored in a closet in his house for more years to come. He said that he bought the player in 1988 and used it for ten to fifteen years. He said that stopped with LaserDisc once he bought his first DVD Player. He was a hell of a nice guy.
Nice laserdisc player collection. I have a Pioneer cld-d504 and one cld-d704. Unfortunately my 704 had some issues, when you turn It on, the first time you put one disc it make some noise and eject the disc. Then you need to repeat a couple of times until it finally start. And, when you press stop, the disc still running for one minute until stop... Because of this, the automatic side change doesnt work anymore. Sad...
The little rubber grip ring on the spindle motor that clamps the bottom hub of the disc has a tendency to lose texture over time - especially in the D704 and similar models. Once it does, that's when the slipping starts - it'll have a hard time spinning up to reading speed and will usually fail to brake properly, causing that slow spindown you mentioned. Pioneer's online parts department used to stock replacements (part no. VEB1237), but they recently stopped selling LD parts directly and whatever's left is sold through PacParts. You can find them on Ebay from time to time though.
On the plus side, if you get a chamois-tipped swab and some video head cleaner, you can resurface the top of the grip ring by scrubbing it like crazy. That'll help with the grip issue. There still might be more going on with the player, but this and old loading belts are the two most common maintenance scenarios with D704s.
@@Culturedog Thanks. I'll try to solve this issue.
Any advice for someone who’s trying to buy a new player with a working remote? I recently bought one on eBay and it didn’t work.
It might depend on your location - it's tough, since eBay has the instant selection and access to numerous players, but sellers often don't know how to package them correctly and they routinely get damaged/destroyed in transit. Local sales (through craigslist or facebook marketplace, offerup, kijiji, etc.) can be great, but that's more of a waiting game and you have to keep looking all the time. And some regions are better than others for finding players.
If you do have a player that needs a remote though, eBay usually has a decent amount at any given time, even if they can get a little pricy. If you're not worried about having the exact one for your model, luckily most brands' remotes work on different decks. Or, you can still get the codes if you have a good learning remote like one from Harmony. That said, I'm a sucker for having the exact original remote for the player.
I'll probably be selling off a few of the ones in this video, but I still have to go through and do some mild maintenance on them first.
I love how the MDP looks, such a gorgeous design, I would have bought one myself but here in Europe they are PAL only.
Yeah, I'm a sucker for Sony's faceplate designs. Too bad they didn't make any PAL/NTSC combo units.
The double sided ones are available as PAL/NTSC combo, but many of them are listed as broken ( usually a dead power supply ).
I have a pioneer cld 2950(1994)which looks like your 703/4,someone in my player's history upgradged it to ac3.Mine also has two scart alongside the normal video outputs.Is scart used in the US?
Nice collection.
Thanks man! No, we never got scart here for some reason - just composite and s-video. Seems like a pretty cool, versatile option though - kind of like HDMI's great grandfather!
SCART is great especially with a true RGB signal on a high quality cable.
So, where does the Panasonic Prism LX-1000 figure in with the Quasar model? Was the Quasar a later model? The LX-1000 was the last laserdisc player I owned back in the day. I ended up selling it to a local retailer along with some discs for far too little. Also, the DVL-90 was my very first DVD player.
The LX-1000 was the king of Panasonic's 1st generation of dual-sided players, though many units had some wrong parts that caused CLV tracking errors. They fixed that with the king of the 2nd generation - the LX-900 (not sure why they decide to roll it back by 100 instead of calling it the 1100, but whatever), but it was give and take. The LX-900 didn't have the crazy awesome build quality or power supply of the LX-1000, but it did have an amazing picture. On the negative side, early models of the 900 had a gain control bug that messed with black levels, but it could be compensated for with TV calibration. The other drawback was some missing imagery on the right side of the screen for some reason - not enough memory perhaps?
There weren't too many Quasar rebrands, but there is one that looks a lot like the LX-1000 and confuses people, but it's actually a clone of the lower-level Panasonic LX-200 - which features a faceplate very similar to the Prism. The Quasar LD700 I have is a little newer than the Prism, and fixes the small errors found on the LX-900. The boutique company MSB then took the Quasar (and some tweaked LX-900s) and used it inside the Runco LJRII, with some special custom modifications to make it even better.
It's too bad the LX-900/LD700 didn't maintain the heavy duty build quality of the Prism though. That thing is a beast! And as cool as the Runco LJRII is, its exterior is nowhere near as aesthetically pleasing as the LX-1000.
You are the king of laserdisc players and their history.
Though I have to give credit where credit is due - the late, great Disclord on the LDDB forums taught me a lot of player-related information.
Hey Sam...I'm not on Facebook and haven't joined any other online collectors groups...so you're my man for questions if you'd do me the honor. I haven't found good information regarding the Pioneer CLD-53. For an Elite Series it looks like their lower end. I currently have a CLD-S201 that was the first and only Laserdisc player I've owned and got it for cheap realizing it was an entry level player.
I'm looking to upgrade but I'm not interested in surround sound just a better image mainly...I can get a -53 (no remote) down the street for $200, which is an okay price point but is that model a nice enough jump from my current model that would justify that amount? Any information would be better than nothing if you have the time...but no hurry this is not time sensitive.
BTW, I contacted Kevin at GoodSquid and have him searching for a copy of Terrorvision for me..I told him you were my referral. Anyways, I appreciate your time...thank you!
No problem! Yeah, there are a few Elite models that are essentially juiced up versions of mid-grade players. I had the CLD-59, which was basically a CLD-D504 with more outputs and a fancy faceplate. The CLD-53 should be based off an earlier player - maybe the CLD-D503. The only bummer is that they didn't even bother to drop a glossy urushi finish faceplate on it - just an Elite stencil graphic. $200's a little steep for that player, when you could probably nab a CLD-D703 for around that price on a good day and get a nice picture upgrade.
The cool thing about the CLD-S201 is that it has a pure composite output that hasn't been messed about with digitally inside the player. On the negative side, you get more video noise, but you could theoretically clean that up externally with a device with noise reduction. I had one for a while and was surprised how decent it looked. It's probably one of the coolest entry level players Pioneer ever made.
But yeah, I think I sold my CLD-59 with a stack of discs for around $150. So without the remote or any bonuses, I'd try to talk the seller down or go for a beefier player.
@@Culturedog Thank you for the response back. Solid advice....I'll keep searching. Much appreciated.
i love laserdisc but i feel its best for live performance lds like beatles,stones,etc. rather than standard movies as it so closely resembles an lp.
Hey Sam have you ever seen a McIntosh MLD-7020? I saw a review a long time ago in a magazine here in the UK. It looked like very pricey but excellent player.
Yeah, it's a slightly modded Pioneer CLD-97. I'm one of the few crazies though who actually prefers to the look of the original Pioneer player. I like the top half of the McIntosh, but not the plastic buttons on the bottom half. That said, I wouldn't leave it out in the cold if I had an opportunity to get one! :-D
+Culturedog do you ever see em for sale? How much do folks want for em?
They can creep up to $800-$1000, especially if they're in good condition and/or one of the units with an added AC-3 RF output.
Though my friend Peter over at the Laserdisc Home Theater channel got a "broken" one for just a few hundred dollars that he was able to bring back to life.
Which laserdisc player would you say has the best picture quality you have seen?
So far, it would be the Sony HIL-C2EX, using the direct-BNC composite output.
@@Culturedog Hmm I see, interesting. What do you think of Pioneer D790 when it comes to picture quality. Really interested to hear your honest opinion??
My DVL 909 ( and 919 that I had before ) produces an awesome picture through S-video.
For some reason I've had terrible luck finding players with digital out jacks. of the six players I've come across at yard sales and Goodwills in recent years only one had digital out.
Yeah, there are a ton of players out there with only rca outs. People are always talking about adding AC-3 mods to players, but I think there's just as much demand for adding digital outs to players without 'em.
I'm pretty set for AC-3. Three of the six I've come across were CLD-D505's. seems to of been a popular model in these parts.
I used to have a D505 - it was a good player and I used it a lot. The only work I ever had to do on it was the basic loading belt change type of maintenance.
Is a Mitsubishi M-V6027 a decent player?
Sorry for the late response! Yeah, that's a solid player - it's basically a Pioneer CLD-D504. I used one as a daily driver for a long time!
Dude, the LD-S2 may be beefier, but only cause dat 1 be dainty... and hella regal!
Joking aside, it's actually a pretty impressive unit. cool video
Haha thanks man! Yeah, that S1's deceptive - it's got a cast iron bottom plate that's heavy as a sumbitch!
Yeah but my old LD-W1 was a sight to behold. RIP.
Legato thing!
Haha the best feature evarrr!
Over 30 minutes long and not one camera shot of the picture quality of even one of those players?
Yeah, I haven't been able to make any meaningful replications of the actual image quality from screenshots. Though there are some screenshots of my old rig in the original player collection video:
czcams.com/video/kW6_LOYaa1Y/video.html
Awesome!...I got the dvl 700 and the industrial 8000u...never really bothered with the elite...I think it's overrated..
LD-S1 #boner
Motörhead
\m/ All hail Lemmy! \m/
This is not as good as the classic “vhs player collection” on CZcams
I'll try to hunt down some Yay-Vee-See and Salora players ASAP!