Whilst trying to avoid teaching after I graduated, I went for a job interview at a company that made the discs. They had a room full of players, playing the discs to check them. Didn't fancy it though. That was early 80's.
I bought my laser disc machine off my roommate at the time. The store was going to give him a 'generous' $20 trade in for it, I gave him I think it was $50 on the spot trying to nudge them up. That's how I ended up with my Pioneer LD-1100 that still works today. No pictures of my actual machine but this is how it looks https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ef/4b/6b/ef4b6bc2f0aadc4230b263fa9580bb4f--s-music-had-to.jpg Just like the early CD players, it was a top loader. Trays came later on which are now the standard for cd/dvd. A bit more info about my model can be found here http://www.totalrewind.org/disc/disc_opt/D_LD11.htm although my remote has been missing for a long time, so long as I forgot it had one.
Love that Pioneer LD player Lance. It looks like something out of a UFO set! Beautiful and sleek. The remote sounds huge. You'll fall over yours one day and say 'oh yeah, that's were I left it'! Excuse my ignorance, does the video image appear on a TV screen like a VHS?
It does indeed. The connections are just like the ones on a VCR unit. Depending on the source material, LD was a clearer/sharper picture than the VHS was and after repeated playings, it did not get tracking issues or flakes of the magnetic particles falling off the tape or worse, the tape getting wrinkled/wrapped around the tapehead.
LDs are long out of production. The last time I saw LDs for sale firsthand was about 15 years ago. A record store had a slew of them for 99-3.99 each. Sadly the large amount they had was volume and not variety. I got about 12 of them that interested me at the time. Now every once in a while they wil show up at one of the Half Price Books stores in the area. Not sure how many I actually have but they are stacked in 2 pile each being about a foot high.
Whilst trying to avoid teaching after I graduated, I went for a job interview at a company that made the discs. They had a room full of players, playing the discs to check them. Didn't fancy it though. That was early 80's.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen a laser disc player in the flesh. Are they horizontal like a record player Kev?
DeleteThe ones I saw were. They looked like early VHS machines.
ReplyDeleteI bought my laser disc machine off my roommate at the time. The store was going to give him a 'generous' $20 trade in for it, I gave him I think it was $50 on the spot trying to nudge them up. That's how I ended up with my Pioneer LD-1100 that still works today. No pictures of my actual machine but this is how it looks https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ef/4b/6b/ef4b6bc2f0aadc4230b263fa9580bb4f--s-music-had-to.jpg Just like the early CD players, it was a top loader. Trays came later on which are now the standard for cd/dvd. A bit more info about my model can be found here http://www.totalrewind.org/disc/disc_opt/D_LD11.htm although my remote has been missing for a long time, so long as I forgot it had one.
ReplyDeleteLove that Pioneer LD player Lance. It looks like something out of a UFO set! Beautiful and sleek. The remote sounds huge. You'll fall over yours one day and say 'oh yeah, that's were I left it'! Excuse my ignorance, does the video image appear on a TV screen like a VHS?
DeleteIt does indeed. The connections are just like the ones on a VCR unit. Depending on the source material, LD was a clearer/sharper picture than the VHS was and after repeated playings, it did not get tracking issues or flakes of the magnetic particles falling off the tape or worse, the tape getting wrinkled/wrapped around the tapehead.
DeleteThanks Lance. Wish I had a player and some LDs now!
DeleteLDs are long out of production. The last time I saw LDs for sale firsthand was about 15 years ago. A record store had a slew of them for 99-3.99 each. Sadly the large amount they had was volume and not variety. I got about 12 of them that interested me at the time. Now every once in a while they wil show up at one of the Half Price Books stores in the area. Not sure how many I actually have but they are stacked in 2 pile each being about a foot high.
ReplyDeleteYou have a proper collection there Lance! I'll bring the popcorn!
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