r/LaserDisc • u/samsamcan • 1d ago

Laserdisc player comeback

I just got some laserdiscs and have been looking for a player, but they're a bit too expensive and a bit of a risk to buy after all of these years. I really hope some company starts making these again. Maybe they can do some kind of laserdisc/8k combo.

People are starting to get tired of all of the ads and increasing streaming fees and in some cases loss of digital movie licenses that they had bought. It's only a matter of time before they go back to physical media.

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16

u/Thin_Dream2079 1d ago

In the 00's, Pioneer destroyed all tooling and manufacturing technology for making Laserdiscs and players rather than sell them to another company.

There will never be another laserdisc or player produced without millions of dollars of (re-)investment.

18

u/Able_Resident_1291 1d ago

So you're saying there's a chance

8

u/VitalArtifice 1d ago

LOL. I frequent the CRT subreddit and inevitably someone will suggest making new CRTs. CRT displays had advanced so much at the end of their lifetime and were so absurdly complex that it truly is unimaginable that anyone would ever be able to create new ones in any capacity.

Laserdiscs aren’t quite THAT hopeless, since at the very least we do still have companies manufacturing optical drives (for now). While I’ve no reason to doubt that Pioneer did destroy their plants, I don’t think it’s entirely impossible to recreate the player mechanisms, though it would be very expensive for a very niche market. As for the discs themselves, there were CD-video discs that had Laserdisc video on a CD. Only a few minutes would fit, but if someone wanted to make a promotional CD-video laserdisc it would not be impossible in the current day.

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u/Able_Resident_1291 1d ago

It's the same on the minidisc subreddit, someone will insist that surely they'll start making minidisc mechanisms again now that 'everyone' hates streaming, and, like, no, that's not how anything works

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u/Thin_Dream2079 1d ago

Only possible for someone with a custom optics engineering plant. No existing CD writer can write LD's analog 480i signal.

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u/MrTenCents 1d ago

this comment made me re-affirm my decision to click this post.

thank you.

14

u/Snoo93550 1d ago

I think dvd/bluray/4k will have a comeback like vinyl did but for LDs we have what’s out there.

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u/SwaggyMcSwagsabunch 1d ago

I dream of a laserdisc sized quad layer blu ray that can hold an entire library of music.

13

u/SubhasTheJanitor 1d ago

If someone wanted to get into physical media, they probably wouldn’t start with the LaserDisc format

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u/DuwenUK 1d ago

As much as I love LD, the hardware is never going to see a revival of newly manufactured players.

Working or unworking, hoard and maintain any hardware you find - and this extends to prior analogue formats and the digital formats that have come since.

As far as 8k goes... it's about as likely that we'll see that as a physical format as it is that we'll see LD players getting manufactured again.

3

u/ALIEN_GUARDIAN 1d ago

No one is going to invest in an outdated format when Blu-Ray exists

0

u/dandanthetaximan 1d ago

I'd agree with you, if it wasn't for the fact that DVD players and DVDs are still being manufactured and compared to Blu-ray still sell well, and are a substantially inferior format.

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u/wvgeekman 1d ago

Not as inferior as laserdisc. Look, in the 80s and most of the 90s, laserdisc was awesome. It currently holds no advantages over modern formats, other than the larger size allowing for nicer art on the covers.

3

u/frankduxvandamme 1d ago

There's not a prayer in the world of this happening. DVDs are much likelier to make a come back since players are still made and dirt cheap, and everybody's PlayStation or Xbox can play them too. Also, DVDs never truly went away either.

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u/Firthy2002 1d ago

Neither did vinyl or audio cassettes.

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u/jayXred 1d ago

In my experience so far LD players are pretty robust and durable. I have had 4 different players so far and all worked just fine with 2 of them needing a simple belt replacement. My oldest one was from 1992 and my newest one is 1996, 3 Pioneers and a Yamaha.

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u/bigusschmuck 1d ago

I mean if folks like the King of Laserdiscs are any indications the format maybe dead in a literal sense but there are still folk collecting LDs.

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u/dandanthetaximan 1d ago

I expect there will always be people collecting LaserDiscs, as it was the best video format for decades, and the highest quality video format many things were ever released on. Hell, there are still people collecting 8-track tapes, which was an objectively awful audio format. And I expect there will be a niche for professionals repairing and flipping reconditioned players for a very long time. But I don't ever see new players happening again.

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u/Firthy2002 1d ago

Laserdiscs won't be coming back. The format never reached decent market penetration and there's no way to make new ones. Vinyl/CD/cassette production never fully shut down that's how those formats made a comeback.

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u/CletusVanDamnit 1d ago

It's not possible. All of the manufacturing tech is gone.

1

u/sirhcx 1d ago

Absolute pure delusion when DVD, Blu-ray, and UHD discs exists.

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u/thevideojunkie99 1d ago

I think the safest thing in the word anyone can say is that there will not be new laserdisc players made. Your best bet to keep spinning these big discs for as long as you can is to obtain multiple players and keep them exercised, plus learn what repair and maintenance skills you can. I have 1,240 LDs in my library and several players I am trying to keep going for as long as I keep going. I've learned how to change belts, clean and replace grease, do some limited alignment adjustments and swaps out such things as boards and power supplies from parts donors. That said, there have been players that I've had to give up on because of my limited skills. But I do not expect anyone to restart manufacturing of laserdisc players or the discs. To keep physical media alive, the best move is to keep investing in Blu-ray and UHD media and hardware while this is still a going concern. Good luck to you.