# Converting DVD's to laserdisc



## Poon (Jan 18, 2007)

Anyone have any experience with this? I hope to convert all my DVDs to laserdisc very soon but I'm having a little trouble finding information about how to accomplish this. Obviously I'm not the first person to have this idea so hopefully you can point me in the right direction.

Thanks.


----------



## lee101 (Jan 18, 2007)

Are you sure this is what you want to do, convert your DVD's to the much bigger laserdisc, this seems pointless to me, as you will not gain any quality due to being unable to undo any compression made on the dvd, if you are wanting to convert laserdisc to dvd on the otherhand then you will need a laserdisc player, which you can plug into a DVD recorder and transfer them


----------



## Poon (Jan 18, 2007)

It is not pointless at all.

It is a great technology that was under-utilized.

A while back I invested in a top-of-the-line laserdisc player and I'd like to be able to enjoy it. Any suggestions are appreciated.


----------



## lee101 (Jan 18, 2007)

Well, have you got a laserdisc recorder, if so you may be able to plug your DVD player into that, play the dvd and record on the laserdisc machine.

Although the reason why I am saying that it seems pointless is that if you already have a copy of something on a DVD, then why spend time transferring it to a medium which uses up much more physical space, and will cost money to buy the discs


----------



## Yasu (Jan 18, 2007)

Well...Laserdisc is dead(though I still have one).  If I remember correctly it's pretty much DVD(ish, probably less than that) quality on a huge CD.  To transfer your DVDs over to laserdisc you would have something that can burn laserdiscs, and as far as I know, they don't exist.  Where would you even find blank Laserdiscs? 

This also brings up the question on what kind of DVDs you want to convert.  If you want to convert movies like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc. then you're going to have to get passed the security which isn't legal...but home movies are fine.


----------



## Poon (Jan 18, 2007)

lee...where can I find one of these "laserdisc recorders"?

It is a great technology that was under-utilized. I spent a lot of money on my laserdisc player and I would like to watch my movies on it. Some people prefer the way records sound vs CDs. I simply enjoy laserdisc. I don't understand why that's so hard to believe.


----------



## The_Other_One (Jan 18, 2007)

If you find a Laserdisk recorder, more power to you!  However, Laserdisc's have a much lower capacity than DVDs(I'm thinking 540MB, but I can't find for sure) and the resolution is lower than DVDs(567x480)  DVDs have other improvements that LD's don't have...


----------



## lee101 (Jan 18, 2007)

I haven't a clue where you would find a laserdisc recorder, since laserdiscs have been out of production for years now, thats why I can't understand your idea. It would basically be spending a lot of money for not much (if any) end result

edit: http://www.laserdiscarchive.co.uk/laserdisc_archive/sony/sony_laserdisc_archive.htm lasedisc recorders exist, but where is the question

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laserdisc#Laserdisc_vs._DVD - there is a comparison of them both


----------



## heyman421 (Jan 18, 2007)

laserdisc is analog

it's basically an optical vhs tape

there is absolutely no point in converting from a compression based digital stream to an uncompressed PCM analog signal


----------



## Poon (Jan 18, 2007)

> there is absolutely no point in converting from a compression based digital stream to an uncompressed PCM analog sig



I'm not necessarily hoping for it to be better than DVDs.

What right is it of yours to dismiss this as ridiculous? It is my personal preference to watch laserdiscs. Call me old-school or whatever you want but I just want to know if its possible to convert my DVDs to laserdisc or not.


lee, check this out...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-ES-MDP-700-CD-CDV-LD-LaserDisc-Player_W0QQitemZ220017196187QQihZ012QQcategoryZ3317QQcmdZViewItem

Now imagine not only that high-end laserdisc player for sale, but the machine plus an extensive library of laserdiscs. All three back to the futures, when harry met sally, groundhog day, lord of the rings 2, and baby geniuses to name a few. I'll be laughing all the way to the bank while people clamor to bid.


----------



## heyman421 (Jan 18, 2007)

i have a feeling you're a bit dense, so i'm gonna break this down as much as possible

Laserdisc recorders were around in the mid 80's and were for data storage, and professional duplication use only.

You're not going to find a unit that still works, and if you do it's probably a $1000+ piece of equipment.

Even if you got one, you're not going to find discs.  Companies aren't in the business of making media that nobody's going to buy.

And if you could find an original unwritten piece of media, it would be so old, that it would be unwriteable.

Whatever it is that you like about laserdiscs, you're not going to GAIN by copying your dvd's onto laserdiscs.  That's like saying you like the sound of AAC compression better than MP3, so you're going to convert all of your MP3's into AAC's. 

If you don't understand why that's completely absurd, then i guarantee that you'd never be able to figure out how to transfer a DVD to a laserdisc in the first place.

And lastly, and i can't possibly simplify this any more, your dvd's are already on dvd's, so why not just put them in a dvd player, and watch them?

So hurry up and enjoy your laserdiscs, get a hug and have a cry over laserdisc's retirement, and once they all laser rot and become unplayable, you'll figure out why you've ALREADY wasted a considerable amount of money buying legacy equipment that can be outdone for less money.


----------



## Poon (Jan 19, 2007)

> i have a feeling you're a bit dense



Please save the flame posts regarding laserdisc. 

As I said before, some people prefer listening to records vs. CD's. Some people even prefer old Atari and NES games to the newer stuff. I have a top-shelf laserdisc player and I prefer to watch laserdisc over DVD. There is nothing wrong with this.

I'm not worried about cost or difficulty in getting this done, I just want it done. I have many memories that are very dear to me, tied to laserdisc.


----------



## diduknowthat (Jan 19, 2007)

Ok so i googled up "laserdisc writer" and i got about 3/4 page of results, mostly garbage. But I did pick out a forum where someone gave a link, I'm pretty sure it's a writer, the price tag looks right. 100,000 JPY ~ $825 

http://www.hifido.co.jp/cgi-bin/new...ce_mode=0&keywords=&page=3&lang=e&text_mode=0

and this..

http://www.andovercg.com/Audio/Pioneer/Pioneer-Laserdisc_LD_Recorder-10262.shtml


----------

