LASERDISC OR BLU RAY / DVD

For me all other film formats are unable to compete with the mighty laserdisc and when the dvd came along all it was good for was films that were not available on laserdisc. The laserdisc was still king of film veiwing of all film genres , I found little noticeable improvement in the picture quality and the sound quality of my laserdisc player was still superior to a dvd. If I had the choice I would watch a laserdisc over dvd everytime. Laserdisc 1 vs DVD 0 .
Now with the arrival of bu ray and high definition picture could it be that for certain films laserdisc now loses its advantage , if you compare laserdisc to blu ray when viewing the old classic films I dont think there would be any significant improvement on the blu ray version , if anything I think I would prefer the softer picture of the laserdisc but with films such as toy story 3 and other animated films the improved definition might just give the blu ray an advantage.
When we set out to watch the best version of films is blu ray to be considered, dependant on the film type? My own opinion and it is the opinion of someone who does not own a blu ray player is blu ray may have an advantage with only some of the films but the packaging of laserdisc is still far superior and for thoose reasons I think if I have the choice and the film was available on both formats then I would still choose laserdisc.

I'd have to go with blu-ray I'm afraid. The hi def picture is very nice. But the clincher for blu-ray is the sound. Lossless DTS Master Audio and Dolby True HD Soundtracks just sound sooo good, much better than Laserdisc and a million times better than what rubbish DVD has to offer.

Of course I still buy laserdiscs over blu-rays. (blu-ray titles are still crazy expensive over here in japan-$30-$40us even for dud titles), but I'm a little embarrassed to admit that even if I already own a movie on Laserdisc, If I want to watch it and it's available to rent on blu-ray at my local video store, I'll rent the blu-ray.

I would stll go for laserdisc the sound is completely uncompressed(dvd sound is 1/3 size of a laserdisc and heavily compressed) watch saving private ryan that dolby digital thx soundtrack is amazing, dts discs are unbelievable too i got eyes on a few on ebay.

Sound is compressed on Laserdiscs too I believe. Blu-ray is the first to have uncompressed lossless sound.
Im reasonable sure too that Dolby Digital on Laserdisc has a smaller bit rate than Dolby Digital on DVD (not exactly sure but something like LD 370 versus DVD 450kbs). Blu-Ray destroys both though with 15-18 MBS.

I can't really say for sure as I don't own a Blu-ray player, but then again until recently I didn't own a laserdisc player...but I think Blu-ray wins. I've heard a lot of hard core laserdisc fanatics picking holes with Digital Noise Reduction on Blu-ray but to be honest in my opinion BR it's vastly superior to laserdisc.

Had to happen sometime I'm afraid.

Give it another 5-10 years and I think arguments will finally have to end as disc capacities get so high that we can store uncompressed films. Currently 1TB discs exist, but to store a truly uncompressed film (video and audio) we'd probably need somewhere around 3-5TB.

Once that happens then every other home format will be unarguably inferior.

i got this from wikipedia:

Audio could be stored in either analog or digital format and in a variety of surround sound formats; NTSC discs could carry two analog audio tracks, plus two uncompressed PCM digital audio tracks.

DTS encoded Laserdisc have fullbitrate DTS soundtracks (1536 kb/s)

Thats cool but the uncompressed PCM is only 2 channel stereo right.

Here is some more interesting reading on bit rates with Dolby and DTS
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Anyway, without getting into the nitty gritty of it all. If you have the opportunity to get a blu-ray player and an amp that can handle the new DTS and Dolby audio codec, I suggest giving it a whirl. To me the audio really does sound better much than laserdiscs Dolby Digital and DTS offerings (which are both still very good-especially the DTS).

It's amazing how many people think that DVDs just appeared out of nowhere, some kind of technical spontaneous generation. They think all the key features, including commentaries, extras, director's cuts, etc., started with the DVD, whereas WE all know that DVDs were just a logical development of the laserdisc. This is evolution, but LDs laid the groundwork. They were the grand-daddy of home entertainment. Now, of course, the new kid on the block has spawned its own love child: the Blu-Ray. So can the younger generation teach the old dog any tricks?

I think a lot depends on how your view your discs. I don't have Blu-Ray and I don't have an LCD or plasma screen, just a conventional tube TV (mind you, it's a good one). However, I do watch a lot of DVDs through an AV projector (using an S-Video cable) on to a large reflective movie screen - yep, this is true "home cinema", folks, everything except the popcorn! I have to admit that laserdiscs, which look perfectly fine on the TV set, lose out a little when projected thus - the image is a little less sharp and the colours not so rich. Black-and-white movies look OK, but the definition is simply not there with more recent colour films, especially widescreen ones. DVDs, on the other hand, look superb, especially those that have been well mastered. Criterion editions come out top here - it's just like being at the pictures.

I won't be getting Blu-Ray (I'd need different equipment and I don't want to buy my film library all over again!) but, from what I've seen, the results are variable. The Blu-Ray edition of 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY is incredible - you can read all the small print notices in the space station and shuttlecraft (the Zero Gravity Toilet is a must!) and, for those who know the movie well, the scene where Heywood Floyd arrives at the space station within a circular lift has always been marred visually on a TV set by the moire patterns of the grid-like lift walls. On the Blu-Ray, that anomaly diappears!

The Blu-Ray of THE ITALIAN JOB is also another stunner, but I've seen others that don't seem any different from the standard DVD versions - except in price.

However, I don't collect laserdiscs just to view hi-definition images (although they were certainly cutting edge in the pre-DVD era and they're good enough for me now). I collect them because they're solid, durable and aesthetically pleasing, the sleeves are works of art, not merely functional inlays, they were produced for a specialist market of movie buffs and collectors who took their films seriously, not as simply something to have on in the background or to play on silly little portable screens in the car or on the train. (What a way to view a movie!) And, although I'm not technically qualified to argue the point, I always understood that the encoded laserdisc signal for both picture AND sound was uncompressed. That, I always believed, was one of the format's key selling points and the reason why a disc side had limited capacity - because it WAS uncompressed.

Whatever the pros and cons, for me - laserdiscs are King. DVD (and Blu-Ray) is just the jumped-up kid brother.

To me they're about equal. Both sound amazing and what LaserDisc lacks in PQ it makes up for in presentation (size, box art, etc). I prefer LaserDisc though as Blu Ray's tend to have remixed soundtracks with stuff that wasn't in the original releases. One example is Terminator. The LaserDisc has the Theatricall mono soundtrack while the Blu Ray has a 5.1 track that sounds great but is nothing like the original. I also like that LaserDisc has analog video and in most cases, analog sound.

My plan is to have all the films I like on LaserDisc, except for the ones that came out after LD. Those, I'll buy on Blu Ray.

The picture quality is better on blu ray but then that could be a matter of opinion , I prefer the softer image of laserdisc picture and
would much prefer to watch a film as close to the original release as possible in its original veiwing ratio. The soundtrack on blu ray
is often mixed and digitaly enhanced but there is nothing like the original version with the original soundtrack to keep the films atmosphere.
When you watch a laserdisc you get to view the film in the highest quality whilst keeping it an original recording of how it was filmed and seen
on its release in the cinemas. I love vinyl too purely for the same reasons , I can listen to my beatles records in there original mono recordings
and whilst not perfect sound or recordings they are real sounds not messed around with digitally and sound how they should and would have sound
when first recorded. You cant improve on great original recordings music or films.
I have found a youtube video of laserdisc vs blu ray
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as much as i like laserdisc it was never good enough to sell to the mass market sidebreaks too many discs for cav special editions i can still remember friends howling with laughter when having to swap a disc not to mention laser rot and while i dont think dvd had much to offer over laserdisc other than you could get most films on one side of a disc for me bluray takes it to a new level new films such as terminator salvation take audio and video way above anything laserdisc has to offer

HippieDalek wrote:

I can't really say for sure as I don't own a Blu-ray player, but then again until recently I didn't own a laserdisc player...but I think Blu-ray wins. I've heard a lot of hard core laserdisc fanatics picking holes with Digital Noise Reduction on Blu-ray but to be honest in my opinion BR it's vastly superior to laserdisc.

Had to happen sometime I'm afraid.

Give it another 5-10 years and I think arguments will finally have to end as disc capacities get so high that we can store uncompressed films. Currently 1TB discs exist, but to store a truly uncompressed film (video and audio) we'd probably need somewhere around 3-5TB.

Once that happens then every other home format will be unarguably inferior.

Only if that format comes with a sleeve the size of an LD (in my opinion that is)

Darth Laser wrote:

Only if that format comes with a sleeve the size of an LD (in my opinion that is)

Haha! Agreed! That is the one thing no other format can touch.

You cant compare a dvd to a laserdisc the packaging and artwork of the laserdisc is far superior and it certainly justifies paying more for a laserdisc rather than owning a cheap looking dvd. I have just got fight club on laserdisc and the gatefold cover and artwork is great , I feel the same about my vinyl collection if its available on vinyl I will buy it rather than a cd and in most cases I will pay that little bit more but the covers and content are worth the extra and they are sure to be a better investment but then that is just a bonus.
Its the great covers and contents of the laserdisc that appeals to so many collectors , you get the film in a unique format in a cover the size of a poster so laserdiscs have to be no1 imo. I feel the same about dvds as I do about downloads its just a means to watch a film, I dislike having to buying dvds and I have no doubt missed out on some great films by almost refusing to buy dvds therefore my knowledge of recent films is pretty poor but there are so many more films that I have yet to see that are available on laserdisc , enough to keep me going for many years to come.

I DO buy DVDs but only within certain limits.

I hardly ever buy a recently released movie as I've simply lost interest in contemporary cinema. I know I've probably missed out on some great stuff that may be the film classics of the future, but I think I've also spared myself an awful lot of rubbish. (Ye gods, all those remakes!)

But I do buy certain TV series boxed sets. That's because we don't receive broadcast TV from any source anymore, and there are certain series which we used to watch avidly and which we've wanted to continue. So we spend our licence money on the DVDs instead. However, when these individual shows come to their natural end, that's it. We certainly try to resist any new series although we have recently got into THE 4400, and we love WITHOUT A TRACE and DAMAGES, both examples of programmes we never saw in broadcast form.

Apart from the above, I buy quite a lot of vintage movies from my favourite genres of horror, science-fiction, film noir and world cinema. I will buy a DVD version even when I have the laserdisc because the DVD will often offer a greater package of extras. The film commentaries, for example, on the various Universal Monster Legacy collections are hugely interesting and worth getting the DVDs for those alone. Having said that, I still wouldn't part with my laserdiscs of the same films.

Which do I prefer to watch? It depends. As I've said before, I occasionally use an AV projector and a large projection screen (more in the winter months when the room can be properly darkened), so then it has to be the DVD. But if I just want to watch a movie on the old TV monitor, then it's the laserdisc every time.

Besides, I don't know about anyone else, but I get real pleasure just from handling laserdiscs, looking at the sleeves (especially gatefolds), reading the sleeve notes, poring over the artwork. I've never got that same thrill from a DVD. As Admin says, it's like the difference between a vinyl record and a download. One is an actual thing of beauty in itself, the other is just a stream of data.

I always felt that people who simply want to watch a movie (for whatever reason) can go to the cinema or wait till it comes on TV, but for those who want to own it and everything it represents to them, emotionally and intellectually, then it has to be a laserdisc. Why settle for a Reliant Robin when you can have a Rolls-Royce?