Cliff Richard & The Shadows on laser disc

[iefje]

During the last couple of years, I have managed to collect the videos "Thank You Very Much", "Together 1984" and "At Their Very Best Live" on the laser disc format. The last of these is the only one to have been issued on DVD. I don't actually have a laser disc player, but these issues are quite rare and I have had the fortune to buy them for relatively low prices on eBay. My question is, what is the picture quality of the laser discs, is it better than the VHS and Betamax issues or about the same?

[Shadoogie]

Try this link for info:-

http://www.starlaser.com/dvd-lasr.htm

I think laser disc quality "could" be better depending on the source material.
My experience of the first two titles mentioned is one of poor quality possibly going back to the original source video.

If you could ever find a laser disc player these days - it would be good to find out how the quality is - and if really good it would be great to get it tranferred across to DVD.

Good luck

Geoff

[jacob]

laser disc was the best before dvd i still play laser discs i got a laser disc player about 20 years a go i got a lot of ventures live on laser disc
the trouble with laser disc was they could only store up tp one hour on laser disc quite often they would be a two disc set which was pricey
hope this helps
sounder

[Didier]

My question is, what is the picture quality of the laser discs, is it better than the VHS and Betamax issues or about the same?

The anwer is yes, the Laserdisc quality is not as good as DVD, but far better than VHS or Betamax. Many years ago I had the possibility to borrow both a Laserdisc player and Laserdiscs (three discs box)from the Knebworth Festival (with Cliff & the Shads), and it was quite good.

Didier

[bgohara]

Does anyone know if the footage on laserdisc for 'At Their Very Best' was slightly different to that on the video / DVD? I seem to remember reading here once that it was?
Thanks,
Bernie

[iefje]

Does anyone know if the footage on laserdisc for 'At Their Very Best' was slightly different to that on the video / DVD? I seem to remember reading here once that it was?
Thanks,
Bernie

I haven't seen the laser disc version yet, but I think the content is exactly the same, just looking at the tracklist.

[iefje]

I also read somewhere, that not every laser disc player plays every laser disc. This has something to do with multiple standards. I don't only mean the difference in television system: PAL, SECAM and/or NTSC. Does anyone know more? Also, are the three laser discs I mentioned above the same in format/standard?

[Didier]

I also read somewhere, that not every laser disc player plays every laser disc. This has something to do with multiple standards. I don't only mean the difference in television system: PAL, SECAM and/or NTSC. Does anyone know more? Also, are the three laser discs I mentioned above the same in format/standard?

There was two Laserdisc formats : PAL for Europe and NTSC for North America, most players could only play PAL or NTSC, but there has been also a few dual-format players for PAL and NTSC (mostly by Pioneer).

Didier

[JimN]

As far as I can remember, Laserdiscs will operate internationally. It is the player which converts the disc's contents into a signal appropriate to what the TV expects to see (PAL, SECAM, NTSC, etc).

It's nearly thirty years ago now, but Laserdisc was a near-contemporary of the Compact Disc, and from what I can recall, the Laserdisc might have come along a little earlier than CD. Certainly, Laserdisc players were expensive to begin with, but their prices fell like a stone inside about two years (from c. £500 to about £100), whereas the original Philips CD player held its £500 price for several years after introduction in 1983 and the price only fell when other companies started to compete with Philips and Sony.

Laserdisc (which had competitors on introduction) was simply asking too much of the consumer: it wasn't recordable and software, in the form of the discs, was way too expensive, especially for movies, and there is a limited number of times the customer will watch any one film. As a result, it died a commercial death quite quickly after introduction. VHS videocassette was the undisputed home video champion all the way through to the introduction of the hard-disc recorder, because it offered more of everything: time-shifting, cheapness (especially of blank media), availability of movies via rental and the ability to archive off-air recordings. Rights-holders took a little while to find the correct level for pre-recorded cassettes (I recall seeing a pre-recorded VHS of "The Young Ones" on the shelf at £40+ in the late 1970s), but they got the "established" price down to £10 or less during the 1980s.

It was only the advent of the DVD, coupled with the early growth of the internet (with its possibility of international purchase) which prompted the early introduction of region-coding on the smaller discs in the mid-1990s. Before then, cross-border sales would have been too small to worry about - and Laserdiscs were never cheap, no matter which territory they were released in.

If the OP wants to try his discs, perhaps he's like to consider:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/laser-disc-player-and-terminator-2-laserdisc-/180966837678?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Other&hash=item2a2276cdae#ht_500wt_1361

JN

[Didier]

As far as I can remember, Laserdiscs will operate internationally. It is the player which converts the disc's contents into a signal appropriate to what the TV expects to see (PAL, SECAM, NTSC, etc).

No sure about that, PAL and NTSC Laserdiscs had different definition and frame rate :
NTSC : 425 points/line x 486 lines, 30 frames/sec
PAL : 440 points/line x 576 lines, 25 frames/sec

There has never been Laserdisc players with output in the French SECAM system, it wasn't needed as almost all TV sets used in France were PAL playback compatible. Only VHS existed with SECAM, but it wasn't really needed, it was rather a protectionist choice... Sony's Betamax and 8mm existed only in PAL for France.

Didier