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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Author
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Topic: Tom joins the ranks of the Elite
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Aaron Garman
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1470
From: Toledo, OH USA
Registered: Mar 2003
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posted 04-02-2011 10:57 PM
quote: Tom Petrov
Also, knowing that the studios took the care to certify titles such as 48hrs, Trigger Effect, Mission Impossible etc with THX mastering whereas the DVDs and BR were shitty transfers.
I can only speak for Mission: Impossible, but I wouldn't call it shitty. I think maybe what you mean is that back then, Paramount put what appeared to be effort into the LaserDisc, and it was one of the best you could get at the time and represented the state of the art for the mid 90s. The Blu-ray, on the other hand, does not represent what the format is truly capable of, and in fact a lot of studios are guilty of that.
AJG
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Tom Petrov
Five Guys Lover
Posts: 1121
From: El Paso, TX
Registered: Jan 2003
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posted 04-03-2011 12:50 AM
quote: Aaron Garman
I can only speak for Mission: Impossible, but I wouldn't call it shitty. I think maybe what you mean is that back then, Paramount put what appeared to be effort into the LaserDisc, and it was one of the best you could get at the time and represented the state of the art for the mid 90s. The Blu-ray, on the other hand, does not represent what the format is truly capable of, and in fact a lot of studios are guilty of that.
I think the whole industry put more effort info laserdiscs than they did DVDs. Its seemed liked they cared more about the laserdisc consumer than they did the dvd. There were about twice as many THX laserdiscs than there were DVDs.
There is just something to be said about my THX certified gatefold Pulp Fiction or my Criterion THX Robocop disc or the even my THX Dolby Digital English Patient disc.
Yes DVD are great too, but the quality of my 48Hrs discs exceeds the 48hrs dvd I once had.
There seemed to me be more of connection between studio/artist and the laserdisc owner than there is on DVD or BR.
The only studio IMO who appear to not care was Warner Bros. Only one movie ever got the THX certification and for the most part there were always packaged the same. Warner did support Dobly Digital.
If you had a good laserdisc player, there were a whole bunch of movies that looked and sounded better on LD than on DVD.
quote: Monte L Fullmer
Looks like my Pioneer CLD D-503 ...
It really comes down to in finding LD's in thrift stores in MINT condition for less than a buck.
- Monte
Not sure if the 503 had a RF out, but the 53 and 704 looked the same.
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Jesse Skeen
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1517
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 04-04-2011 08:17 PM
THX was just a marketing gimmick- it was a good idea, but they didn't actually do what they were supposed to with it. Supposedly the masters were quadruple-verified for the absolute best quality, but then how do you explain that "Stargate" laserdisc that had the PCM track out of phase, or the Star Wars box set with a shot accidentally cut out of "Empire Strikes Back" between side breaks?
A number of VHS tapes had "THX certification" too- that format really needed it more than laserdisc, but again it didn't really mean anything. THX standards should have forbidden pan and scan right from the start, but they didn't, so you had people watching Star Wars and The Sound of Music in pan and scan thinking they were seeing them in the absolute best quality since they were THX certified.
They sure as hell didn't monitor tape duplication quality either- I wish I could've kept the defective "Return of the Jedi" tape I'd received back from a customer when I worked at Tower that had the picture shaking side to side through the whole thing. I cracked up during the THX intro on that when I played it! My THX laserdisc of "Heavy Metal" got laser rot after just a few years, so they didn't have any standards for laserdisc manufacturing either. (I didn't have many THX theaters in this area until recently; now I see that their theater standards don't mean much either.)
Universal and Sony also used THX as an excuse to price their discs higher too- the aforementioned "Heavy Metal" was priced at $39.99 when Sony's usual single-disc movies were $34.99. At Universal, they released a few movies including "Timecop" and "The River Wild" in separate pan and scan and letterboxed editions, the letterboxed discs were THX-certified and the pan and scan discs weren't. They priced the letterboxed discs $5 higher than the pan and scan discs just because they were "THX"! Funny thing was I got slammed on the alt.video.laserdisc newsgroup back in the 90s for daring to criticize this- being a cheap bastard I usually spoke out against overpriced discs. I got one email from someone saying "If you think laserdisc prices are too high, I suggest you find a less expensive hobby." I'd love to know what he thinks about DVDs selling for under 5 bucks nowadays.
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