Pioneer finally kills production of its remaining laserdisc players
By Laura June 
posted Jan 14th 2009 12:22PM
posted Jan 14th 2009 12:22PM
Yes, we're just as shocked and horrified to hear the news as you are, but it seems to be true. Pioneer, the last major electronics manufacturer to continue production of laserdisc players, has announced they'll discontinue all three of the models they currently offer, leaving dozens of hardcore fans in the dust. But cheer up: we'll always have the memories, and this poster.
YOU DAMN DIRTY APES!
Charleston Heston must be rolling in his grave because of this..
I remember when my elementary school were using Pioneer LDs in science class to show images of the earth etc, it must have taken 6-11sec to load each image lol
nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Forget Planet of the Apes - Laser Disc saw the last, greatest release of the original Star Wars trilogy before George Lucas started dicking with them.
Which I have, and made my own DVDs from way back when. Sadly, they just sit in the garage now. Big shiny records. :-(
George Lucas rubbed his dick on the laser dics too. I saw him.
Please don't ever post another scary simian in a tuxedo again. Oh and yo soy numero uno, big whoop.
correction:
Yo soy dos
Just remember: Being first to respond to an Engadget story is very important... in the middle of a workday. So refresh... refresh... refresh... refresh... refresh...
What is this strange term you refer to? Workday? Since I'm on Engadget I must be a pimply face 37 year old in his parents basement typing on an old HackinDell munching on Cheetos and dreaming of Demi Lovato.
Actually, 'yo' is implied in the context of 'soy uno/dos' so the 'yo' is just redundant and will get you goofy stares like when a Chinese guy says "This make wonderful toy gift".
scary simian??
I thought it was one of those scary albino guys from I am Legend
Actually, native Spanish speakers often include the "yo" in front of "soy" for emphasis. I had an exchange student from Canary Islands one summer, and when he and his pals were playing hoops they would say, "yo soy machina" whenever they did an especially cool move or shot.
no... it's Powder!
@dead rebel.
Yo soy = I am. word by word. Now you look silly trying to correct a language you don't understand yourself (redundancy intended)
Soy is the yo form of ser. You don't need to say the yo in front of the soy, but you can.
Laser what???
my thoughts exactly
newbs
I have a Sony LDP-900 (still working, digital picture art modes with slow-mo jog wheel and all).
http://www.laserdiscarchive.co.uk/laserdisc_archive/sony/sony_ldp-900/sony_ldp-900.htm
LD is uncompressed (unlike DVD) and the shelf life is longer, so my collection stays (no panic'ed rush to eBay). Oh, and blast you Frankenstein White!
Yeah, what's a LD? :D
Ok, i'd be lying if i said i didn't even know they existed, i read an article on wikipedia about them about a year ago when i was trying to find out what if there was any kind of optical disc older than CDs. But before that i had never heard of a laser disc, i never saw one or a player for one, i thought there was only VHS. It's kind of weird that most of the people here know what LDs are.
I'd argue that the shelf life is shorter, what with laser rot being a serious issue on laserdiscs.
LaserDisc doesn't really have any significant advantages over DVDs. Sure, they're uncompressed, but they're an analog (composite) signal with limited chroma information. They suffer from crosstalk and only have about two thirds the resolution of a DVD.
Like anything, if you compare a good Laserdisc to a bad DVD, Laserdisc is going to look better. But if you compare a good Laserdisc to a good DVD, there's no question. Plus, DVDs have a lot more future longevity, as they'll likely be playable for decades to come.
You may not realize this, but Laserdisc was actually pushed pretty heavily during the mid-1990s as the next big step for video, eventually to replace VHS. Obviously it didn't work out that way, but if you were old enough to go to video stores fifteen years ago, you've more than likely got at least some vague memory of Laserdisc.
WHATTTTT??!!! o my gosh, where the hell would you be able to find these at anyway. thats just crazy
I've actually seen them for sale in some used DVD/CD stores. I don't know WHY anyone would really bother buying them anymore, but then people make a lot of decisions that leave me scratching my head.
Well if you have a collection of 100 disks that you paid a lot of money for, and then your player breaks down seems you might buy a new one.
I wonder if pioneer will do a deal where you can swap laserdisks for DVD's, after all the movies on them are all 15 years old anyway so it's mainly the cost of the media.
Woah.........I haven't seen an LD for 15 years.
WOW! LaserDisc was still in production?! I would have thought that format was completely dead a few years after DVD came out.. like 15 years ago. It was a format that never even really got it's footing for crying out loud.
Seriously! I thought the format was dead at least 10 years ago.
My uncle had a player and he still has his collection of LD. I remember watching Waterworld on LD as a kid. Stupid DVD-like discs the size of a 33 1/3 LP that also needed to be flipped. I thought it was a dumb idea as a little brat.
I'm impressed that there was actually enough demand for players for them to continue manufacturing them until now.
I've actually started seeing the Laser Discs for sale in some second hand DVD shops.
For all of you complaining about having to flip the disc, my Pioneer LD player had an auto-flip feature - it didn't literally flip the disc, of course, just read the other side of it. I'm proud to say my player still works. I never had a huge collection though. Very proud to have an original LD copy of MST3K: The Movie. That's probably rarer than the original DVD release.
Sooo... LaserDisc outlived HD-DVD by like 13 or 14 years then? That's nuts.
did LD's offer any benefit?
When they came out? Yea they did. After dvd came out? Nope.
They did, they had better video quality and supported Dolby Digital/DTS audio, and multiple audio tracks/subtitles
Also even after DVD came out, somethings, like the ORIGINAL master of the Star Wars trilogy and some other movies were only available on Laserdisc or VHS, and Laserdisc is a much better format from an audio/video quality standpoint...
Hell, you'd be surprised the number of DVDs that are in fact just rips of the Laserdisc version....which means for people with good Laserdisc players, they don't find a big reason to really re-purchase a lot of it...
Laserdisc was more like Blu-Ray than VHS however, it was for Home Theater Enthusiasts....they never got the players affordable enough to the masses and the discs stayed at the $25 mark or so...
When the alternative was VHS, yes, they had a spectacular picture in comparison. Even compared to DVD, the uncompressed analog video on laserdisc lacks the compression artifacts that you see occasionally on DVD. At the time, laserdisc was the only viable format for a serious home theater.
Having to flip the disc is what killed it IMO, then the high cost, and to make matters worse, there were two formats, CAV and CLV, and later on a digital audio track, so each time some new format came out, the older players couldn't play it.
Superior audio(digital) and video(425 lines of analog video)....
Best picture and sound possible at the time.
But DVD killed it completely....it was bound to happen anyways....plus people like collecting the same movie over and over and over...
I have Star Wars on three different formats...and will buy it on Bluray when released. Why? Cause I'm f*cking stupid!
As a former LD fan and owner (my ex-wife still has 80% of my collection), the format had some great quality advantages. But as others have said, once DVD hit, it was the death knell. I had no idea players were still being made. Anyone with a serious collection should pick up a player or two.
@xcrunk:
I have My Neighbor Totoro in like five different formats: Japanese LD, VHS fansub, VHS commercial release, and both DVD releases. I will probably buy it on Blu-Ray at some point in the future (most DVDs though I wouldn't bother rebuying).
Laserdisc was the best format available in its heydey, but DVD made it instantly obsolete. Particularly for anime fans, as DVD solved the sub vs. dub dilemma.
yeah, they did have an advantage. you could pop them in and actually WATCH a movie.
No forced FBI warnings.
No non-skippable previews.
No menus that you had to try to interpret in order to play the movie.
No floaters in the cases.
of course there was the price.. :-(
@xcrunk:
How is the video analog? How is the analogue video waveform contained on a laserdisc? Do these discs not store information the same a cd/dvd/bd as a series of microscopic pits and landings (0's and 1's)? Perhaps merely just uncompressed digital video? Although that would take so much...
I'm so confused.
"the discs stayed at the $25 mark or so.."
Yes, but movies on VHS and Beta tapes sold for about $100. They were priced for RENTAL; the thought was that video stores would soon recoup the cost. I worked at a VideoConcepts store where we sold all of this gear AND the movies, and once I saw LD I pushed it hard. Great sound, unbeatable picture, and ZERO WEAR. Why would anyone buy a crappy VHS tape for $100 when you could get an LD for $35?
But people complained that "you can't record on it." So I'd point out that you couldn't record on CDs either, but they were flying off the shelves. "Uh, oh yeah, that's true," said the shopper. And years later we come to find out that 99 percent of VCR owners NEVER record anything.
LaserDisc hailed from a time when some people and companies wanted to push quality ever higher, and thought that it would sell. Sadly, we know now that people not only can't recognize high quality, but will setlle for just about anything. Look at the abysmal state of "digital quality" today: screens full of compressed hash that we wouldn't have accepted from VHS tape 20 years ago.
DVD marks the last gasp of the high-quality movement, and even it was crippled by short-sighted design blunders and old technology when it came out. It's downhill from here.
I was actually more afraid the article would say that they were going to try and revamp the format.
This isn't the music industry :p
So does anyone think the average engadget reader actually remembers laserdiscs? I think I sold mine about 12 years ago. Had all three Star Wars movies too.
Wow, Im old school. :) I still have to pioneer LD players and about 60 LD's. I still watch them from time to time.
Well, I'm far from average, but I've got 70+ LD's and the last player Sony manufactured. I've got every one wrapped in a nice, clear vinyl sleeve to protect my "investment." Hard to believe I paid $40+ for these things back in the day. More for my Criterion titles. Honestly, I haven't cracked one open in over a year. I'd probably craigslist the whole lot if it wasn't for the Star Wars trilogy. I still can't believe that Lucas hasn't released a DVD set with the original cut for enthusiasts. I refuse to buy it on DVD until then.
Yeah Well, I've got 71+ LD's so top that
Nice avatar... I wish I had a wireless card that supported injection in kisMAC.
Back on topic, the only time I think I've seen a laserdisc is during school a few years ago, where they had some nice cheesy educational videos on LD. Schools always seem to keep the most obsolete things... like IE6.
I still have my LD player - in fact, I bought it new just a year or two ago. Guess I'd better hold onto it now and hope it doesn't go belly up! (I got a deal on a "new old stock" LD-2000 or whatever the model # is - it's one of their later "educational" models. Paid $50 for it.)
I have some LD's that have never been released on DVD, so for that small investment, it's worth keeping around. I had an old CLD-S303 before that, but it quit working completely one day - would no longer eject. These things were notoriously unreliable.
Someone's probably going to jump on me like a rabid dog and tell me I'm wrong... i could be, but i'll say it anyway...
about a year and a half ago you could buy a limited edition set of DVD's with what i understood was the original star wars cut on standard DVD. i've got it sitting next to me in a nice little best-buy collectible tin... all three original movies, one disc with the original theatrical cut, and the second disc with the special edition. As far as I know, save for the LD edition, that's as close as anyone can get to THE original theatrical release, save for the long lost five seconds from the scene where luke was captured by the wampa in empire. They never even made it out of the theater... poor little guys.
I still has mine and love it :) BTW I have a Laseractive, Pioneer CLD-A100 with Sega pac installed :D
I honestly had no idea anyone was making anything related to laserdiscs anymore. I'm not shocked they finally stopped producing them - I'm shocked they STILL WERE producing them.
DOZENS of users. I've seen one before, in a garage sale for a school.
My fondest memory of Laserdisc was music class wherein my rather uneducated classmates thought it was a Record [as in an LP]
I practically CRIED for their stupidity...
Anyways, somewhat a shame, I always wanted a Laserdisc player for some things..mainly Anime..but with DVDs these days, theres little reason to have one sadly
Discovision is dead... :(
In 1987 I recall spending long days watching movies and music videos on LaserDisc. The original pioneer used to find the oddest spots to get stuck at in a movie. While watching the wizard of Oz one time it got when Dorothy was in the middle of her crisis and she kept shouting, "Auntie Em" "Auntie Em" "Auntie Em" "Auntie Em" "Auntie Em" "Auntie Em" "Auntie Em" "Auntie Em" .... after about the 100th time my upstairs neighbor pounded on the floor and shouted, "Auntie F*ing Em is DEAD".
We used to drive 45 minutes each way just to rent the discs....and it was worth it at the time.
*sniffle* Goodbye Pioneer LaserDisc.
Thanks for sharing that I truly LOLed.
Hahaha! That's the funniest thing I've read online in quite some time. My son just stared at me like I was nuts because I was laughing uncontrollably. Good stuff.
That was funny.... That made my day.
Love the ad!
I still collect them, still pick up large collections a couple of times a year through Craigslist. I agree that DVD was the nail in the coffin, but probably 25% of the discs in my collection have never been on DVD and probably never will be (mostly live concerts/video collections).
Laugh if you will, but I am happier watching a LD that I bought for $1 than I am watching the same on a DVD that I bought for $15+ or rented for $4...
lolwut
I heard about them...back when I used to watch movies on VHS.
What was the capacity on those things? Resolution?
What is Laser disc? I can't say I've ever heard of it.
Really? And you are on a tech site. You don't have to have some age to know tech history.
I feel old now...
I only know VHS and onwards.
LaserDisc is older than VHS.
Kris, you're a fool.
that's like saying you don't know what a sony mini disc is...
im still wondering what happened to RCA's videodisc
IIRC, kris is from the UK, and I assume that it never took off here. Certainly I have never seen any for sale.
Then you should be fine with discovision as it's a bit younger.
I still have my LD Player and a good set of discs. I will never part with them.
how am i going to play my Akira CAV Criterion Collection disc??? that new english soundtrack doesnt compare to the original.
On your existing player ;)
My Akira CAV set is not going anywhere. One of the coolest Criterion sets ever.
Great... now what am I supposed to do with the copy of Ghostbusters I just bought on Laser Disc off of eBay?!?!?!?!
Sell it on eBay?
When this came out, i immediately dismissed it. As bad as a VCR tape is, its form factor was more convenient than an LP sized LD.
DVDs were actually revolutionary since the form factor matched that of popular CD's for music and data.
As much as I don't care for either HD (blue ray or HD-DVD) disk technology, they did get things right by going with the CD form factor that is already existing.
Many schools still use Laserdisc for training videos that were never remade. Also still used in many biology departments in high school and college since a lot of the best videos were never transferred to another format.
I still have a RCA Videodisc player in the basement with Star Wars IV and V along with Raiders of the Lost Ark. Movies on vinyl, awesome.
Why the hell would they not transfer the videos to VHS or DVD? I don't remember LaserDisc having any copy protection - though I could be wrong, it's been a while since I had the LD/Betamax rig.
I find it amusing that production of LD players lasted longer than VHS.
VHS players are still being made (mostly or only in combo players), so... no, it didn't.
What the hell is a laser disc! lmao!
It's what home theater folks used before DVDs.
Resolution was good, but the best LDs couldn't match a well authored DVD.
/stunned. I threw my Pioneer LD player and Sony Super VHS in the garbage during the Clinton administration.
I remember S-VHS. Massive FAIL!
Count me in as surprised that they were still making laserdisc players. To think, a whole another video disc format born & died in the lifetime of laserdisc(that being HD-DVD).
This is like finding out they still make original Volkswagen Beetles. Makes me wonder what other forgotten technology(or general products) out there that's still being made.
They still make the original VW Beetle!?
No they don't still make the Beetle, though they did up until 2003.
Yeah, I rented a brand spankin' new VW Beetle in 2001 or so when I visited Mexico (where they were manufactured). It had something like 35 miles on the odometer when we rented it. Very fun/cool. Had modern seats and seat belts and steering wheel/controls/dials and am/fm radio (no CD IIRC) but otherwise was just like the original Beetle (i.e. mechanically & body/chassis).
Actually, mechanically it was probably a VW Golf, but in a Beetle chassis. The original innards of the Beetle were scrapped in favor of just stuffing another line's parts into the shell of a Beetle several years ago.
When I worked AV for a company they handed me the key to a closet that I had to configure for multiple displays. I open the closet to find about 40 LD players and ridiculous amounts of discs with all sorts of sickening educational material......... It was probably the weirdest experience Ive ever had converting someone to current tech.
I know LD had a strong following in Japan years ago but I never would have guessed anybody was still making players.
Soundtrack for Jurrasic Park DTS Laser Disc > Soundtrack for Jurassic Park on any other media
I only remember watching them in my 5th grade class. Don't remember WHAT we watched, but def remember having to flip the discs...
And hecl, while I'm only 23, I also still remember watching Spaceballs on BETA! Or BetaMax... I forget, lol. Good times.
I watched them in 5th grade as well.
Those LD's used to have math lessons on them. We used to watch them once a week.
test
laserdisc, lol...the next generation's equivalent to the catchphrase "do you remember Beta?"
I think VW beetles are still made in Mexico.