More LaserDiscs
Mar. 22nd, 2019 04:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
psipsySomeone at Katsucon last month was selling off his own personal collection of LDs, and had the whole series of Akazukin Chacha. Best way I can describe the show is it's a comedic take on Little Red Riding Hood with some Sailor Moon and Harry Potter elements mixed in. It's a kid's show, but enjoyable.
(Whole 1st episode, 24 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuJe2WrblWg
He also had all of another anime called "My Dear Marie". That one, I already have on both VHS and DVD, but this short-but-sweet anime has a special place in my heart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLdOC3DcqzY
The LD sets are obviously not the only way to watch those anime. It's simply a matter of "because it's there and because I can". It's about the bling and the swag.
There were a few almost-complete sets, missing discs because some people were buying them, likely without really knowing what they were getting. Maybe they thought that if the disc was bigger, then it would have more video. Or maybe they're just getting it for the aesthetics, to be able to say that they officially own some anime on laserdisc.
In the meantime, I acquired a repair manual for my specific model of LD player. Not that I need it right now, I would just rather have it handy when I do need it instead of relying on abandoned forum posts from 15+ years ago on obscure websites. Parts availability is something I'd rather not think about, though.
https://xkcd.com/979/
How did I happen to have an LD player in the first place? Back in around 1999 or 2000, when it was clear that DVD was going to take over, the prices on LD players were starting to drop. An independent home theater store in the general area would take in used equipment for trades, and had a few gently used LD players. The one I got originally retailed for about a grand (in 1996 when it was made), then after factoring in that it was used and there were further price cuts, I got mine for about $250. Had I waited and/or been willing to spend a bit more money, I could have gotten a player that could handle both DVDs and LDs.
In retrospect, I might as well have, as my first DVD player was the clumsy-at-best Apex AD600A. Its main selling points were that Macrovision and region coding could be disabled but playback on normal discs was a troublesome affair anyway. If I really want to, I could still find a combination LD/DVD player on ebay, and I definitely saw some at the Hard Off in Akihabara.
In retrospect, it didn't matter as I've since had much better DVD players than the Apex, and any of my computers from 2003 and newer can handle DVD video. My BD player dates back to 2010; my BD-capable laptop is a similar vintage. Both of those are good enough for that format. If I absolutely need to, I can procure another BD player with ease and expediency.
For comparison (I may have mentioned this before), I bought the Apex in 2000, shortly after I got the LD player. At the time, it sold for about $200, making it the cheapest DVD player available at the time. In 2010, when I decided it was time to get into Bluray, I again paid about $200. The difference being that in 2010, I was getting a high-end name-brand player, one of the fanciest ones available, and it still plays any disc I put in it. If I wasn't picky about features, I could have easily found one for less than $100. This reversal was because most of the technology in BD players was already mature thanks to DVD.
And for a few evenings, I basked in the nostalgic warmth of watching untranslated anime. The format never stood a chance in the long run, but there's a certain feel to it that somehow can't be replicated.
(Whole 1st episode, 24 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuJe2WrblWg
He also had all of another anime called "My Dear Marie". That one, I already have on both VHS and DVD, but this short-but-sweet anime has a special place in my heart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLdOC3DcqzY
The LD sets are obviously not the only way to watch those anime. It's simply a matter of "because it's there and because I can". It's about the bling and the swag.
There were a few almost-complete sets, missing discs because some people were buying them, likely without really knowing what they were getting. Maybe they thought that if the disc was bigger, then it would have more video. Or maybe they're just getting it for the aesthetics, to be able to say that they officially own some anime on laserdisc.
In the meantime, I acquired a repair manual for my specific model of LD player. Not that I need it right now, I would just rather have it handy when I do need it instead of relying on abandoned forum posts from 15+ years ago on obscure websites. Parts availability is something I'd rather not think about, though.
https://xkcd.com/979/
How did I happen to have an LD player in the first place? Back in around 1999 or 2000, when it was clear that DVD was going to take over, the prices on LD players were starting to drop. An independent home theater store in the general area would take in used equipment for trades, and had a few gently used LD players. The one I got originally retailed for about a grand (in 1996 when it was made), then after factoring in that it was used and there were further price cuts, I got mine for about $250. Had I waited and/or been willing to spend a bit more money, I could have gotten a player that could handle both DVDs and LDs.
In retrospect, I might as well have, as my first DVD player was the clumsy-at-best Apex AD600A. Its main selling points were that Macrovision and region coding could be disabled but playback on normal discs was a troublesome affair anyway. If I really want to, I could still find a combination LD/DVD player on ebay, and I definitely saw some at the Hard Off in Akihabara.
In retrospect, it didn't matter as I've since had much better DVD players than the Apex, and any of my computers from 2003 and newer can handle DVD video. My BD player dates back to 2010; my BD-capable laptop is a similar vintage. Both of those are good enough for that format. If I absolutely need to, I can procure another BD player with ease and expediency.
For comparison (I may have mentioned this before), I bought the Apex in 2000, shortly after I got the LD player. At the time, it sold for about $200, making it the cheapest DVD player available at the time. In 2010, when I decided it was time to get into Bluray, I again paid about $200. The difference being that in 2010, I was getting a high-end name-brand player, one of the fanciest ones available, and it still plays any disc I put in it. If I wasn't picky about features, I could have easily found one for less than $100. This reversal was because most of the technology in BD players was already mature thanks to DVD.
And for a few evenings, I basked in the nostalgic warmth of watching untranslated anime. The format never stood a chance in the long run, but there's a certain feel to it that somehow can't be replicated.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-22 10:03 am (UTC)How did LD take off in Japan when it was barely a blip on the US radar??
no subject
Date: 2019-03-23 12:30 am (UTC)When DVD came around, that didn't immediately take in Japan because a lot of people were still heavily vested in their sizable LD collections. The guy I got a bunch of LDs from at Otakon last year has someone buying them from the used shops and shipping them to the US, which tells me that in Japan, there are still people holding onto them, at least up until recently.
VHS took the lead in the US because of people who didn't care about picture quality and just wanted the ability to record TV shows to watch later, and when we did buy movies on tape, we wanted the tapes to be as cheap as possible, something enabled by VHS.