Friday, February 1, 2008
Member since:
June 2006
June 2006
I bought quite a few components over the last 27 years!
When VHS/Beta units were first produced in the market in the late 1970s, a high-school friend of mine's parents bought one of those HUGE Betamax VCRs (low-fi mono sound) that Sony had released (about $1000, just like the one John Puccio mentioned). It was 1980-81, the first time I had the chance to "watch" a movie (wow - on videotape!) outside of a theater. I don't remember the very first movie my friend "rented" (from an independent video store), but one I remember seeing around that time was TAXI DRIVER, etc. The A/V quality was (of course) nowhere near resembling what we can view today with discs.
So, by the summer/fall of 1982 (my senior year in high school), I'm looking at the VCRs at a local video store [Video Concepts in the local mall], and the prices have now come down some, but while I'm interested in watching movies/concerts at home, it's disappointing that these VCRs (VHS especially) don't have "hi-fi" sound yet, instead the audio is called "Linear" stereo (with Dolby B noise reduction), which is still "low-fi" in quality, without a strong dynamic range.
Then IT HAPPENS... I see a Sunday newspaper advertisement for a brand new $299 Pioneer LaserDisc player (model #VP-1000), being promoted and sold at my Houston-area PACIFIC STEREO (a national chain). I see the ad and am VERY INTRIGUED. A "laser videodisc" with true hi-fidelity stereo sound, from a major brand name, and much cheaper than a VCR and the high cost of VCR movies (priced between $70 to $125 - which is why so many people paid a membership fee to RENT VHS movies instead).
So, I went to the Pacific Stereo, and was shocked to see how incredible a demo looked of STAR WARS (just released in full-frame 4x3) with hi-fi audio (and CX noise reduction), and also concert discs from GROVER WASHINGTON JR, THE GRATEFUL DEAD, THE KNACK, KENNY LOGGINS "Alive" (great!) and several others. I GET HOOKED on buying a laser disc player, and bought the Pioneer unit. I'll never forget the first 3 movies I purchased on LD - STAR WARS, AIRPLANE!, and SLAP SHOT. Each was $29.95 each (the usual price), and LDs varied in price from a low of $19.95 to $39.95 for many years, until some of the larger SpEd Box Sets were produced.
(Most LDs I purchased were at stores like Sound Warehouse, Video Concepts (who also RENTED LDs for many years!), Audio-Video Plus, etc. And later I discovered the huge California LaserDisc seller, Ken Cranes (who I believe was owned at one time by Image Entertainment). KC is no longer in business, but most of you know that Image Entertainment is a very dedicated -smaller- distributor of many great DVDs, and is now getting into hi-def discs.
So, my very first "video" machine to own was not a high-priced videotape VCR, but a lower-priced $299 LaserDisc player. Unfortunately, these first generation Pioneer models, "gas powered" players, did not have long-lasting power, as mine "died" one day (with a slight odor) in 1985. By that time, I had purchased a few hundred movies/concerts on LD, and so needed another player.
Pioneer had just come out with their 3rd generation unit (and smaller size), the #LD-700, and it cost a whopping $799! I bought it, and loved it (it never died ever - later sold it about 9 years later), BUT it was made right before LDs added "digital" sound channels to discs (as previously it was analog stereo only). So, in 1990, I upgraded to another Pioneer player, and later a couple of more (with DD 5.1 capability), and to this day I have 3 working LDs players (and 2 non-working, including a lame Philips LD player that didn't last but just under 2 years - crap). I also owned a good Kenwood LD player, but sold it.
Over the years, I purchased a SuperBetaHiFi VCR ($499), several VHS Hi-Fi VCR's (between $199 to $399). I've owned two different SuperVHS VCRs - the first was a very deluxe JVC model that costs $899 (and allowed special audio dubbing of music being inputed, and the video didn't get erased). The one I have today, another JVC, cost $399 when I purchased it new at C.City in 1999, still works great, and I'm sad to hear recently that JVC is now discontinuing SuperVHS stand-alone units, but will still sell basic VHS VCR's that will offer quasi-playback of SuperVHS recorded videotapes (will play, but have the same 240 lines of resolution as basic VHS).
My first DVD player (1998) was a great-quality Panasonic unit (still works today - but I upgraded since it's maximum output is 480i thru S-Video). And I also own other DVD players (Sony of course), had a Pioneer too, but sold later to my brother. In July 2006 I bought a new Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD player (will never sell it!) - AND JOINED DVDTOWN AS A MESSAGE BOARD MEMBER, later adding a Sony Playstation 3 (from May 2007).
I've been a long-time LaserDisc supporter/owner, from 1982 until the format ended in 1999 (USA) and 2000 (Japan), having purchased many new/used/discounted LDs over many years (well over 2000 in my collection), and I still enjoy watching LD movies (many are Widescreen, and SpEd, some with DTS, some with DD, etc) and the many concert discs I have collected (some of which have never been re-released on DVD).
As much as I have benefited from DVD, HD-DVD, and now Blu-ray, my first and favorite "home video love" will always be the legacy LaserDisc format - who DEFINED the standard for all SpEd content we have today!
-Love Hendrix! (The Loverboy)
~ DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-ray/KURO Plasma owner ~
[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on Feb 1, 2008]
When VHS/Beta units were first produced in the market in the late 1970s, a high-school friend of mine's parents bought one of those HUGE Betamax VCRs (low-fi mono sound) that Sony had released (about $1000, just like the one John Puccio mentioned). It was 1980-81, the first time I had the chance to "watch" a movie (wow - on videotape!) outside of a theater. I don't remember the very first movie my friend "rented" (from an independent video store), but one I remember seeing around that time was TAXI DRIVER, etc. The A/V quality was (of course) nowhere near resembling what we can view today with discs.
So, by the summer/fall of 1982 (my senior year in high school), I'm looking at the VCRs at a local video store [Video Concepts in the local mall], and the prices have now come down some, but while I'm interested in watching movies/concerts at home, it's disappointing that these VCRs (VHS especially) don't have "hi-fi" sound yet, instead the audio is called "Linear" stereo (with Dolby B noise reduction), which is still "low-fi" in quality, without a strong dynamic range.
Then IT HAPPENS... I see a Sunday newspaper advertisement for a brand new $299 Pioneer LaserDisc player (model #VP-1000), being promoted and sold at my Houston-area PACIFIC STEREO (a national chain). I see the ad and am VERY INTRIGUED. A "laser videodisc" with true hi-fidelity stereo sound, from a major brand name, and much cheaper than a VCR and the high cost of VCR movies (priced between $70 to $125 - which is why so many people paid a membership fee to RENT VHS movies instead).
So, I went to the Pacific Stereo, and was shocked to see how incredible a demo looked of STAR WARS (just released in full-frame 4x3) with hi-fi audio (and CX noise reduction), and also concert discs from GROVER WASHINGTON JR, THE GRATEFUL DEAD, THE KNACK, KENNY LOGGINS "Alive" (great!) and several others. I GET HOOKED on buying a laser disc player, and bought the Pioneer unit. I'll never forget the first 3 movies I purchased on LD - STAR WARS, AIRPLANE!, and SLAP SHOT. Each was $29.95 each (the usual price), and LDs varied in price from a low of $19.95 to $39.95 for many years, until some of the larger SpEd Box Sets were produced.
(Most LDs I purchased were at stores like Sound Warehouse, Video Concepts (who also RENTED LDs for many years!), Audio-Video Plus, etc. And later I discovered the huge California LaserDisc seller, Ken Cranes (who I believe was owned at one time by Image Entertainment). KC is no longer in business, but most of you know that Image Entertainment is a very dedicated -smaller- distributor of many great DVDs, and is now getting into hi-def discs.
So, my very first "video" machine to own was not a high-priced videotape VCR, but a lower-priced $299 LaserDisc player. Unfortunately, these first generation Pioneer models, "gas powered" players, did not have long-lasting power, as mine "died" one day (with a slight odor) in 1985. By that time, I had purchased a few hundred movies/concerts on LD, and so needed another player.
Pioneer had just come out with their 3rd generation unit (and smaller size), the #LD-700, and it cost a whopping $799! I bought it, and loved it (it never died ever - later sold it about 9 years later), BUT it was made right before LDs added "digital" sound channels to discs (as previously it was analog stereo only). So, in 1990, I upgraded to another Pioneer player, and later a couple of more (with DD 5.1 capability), and to this day I have 3 working LDs players (and 2 non-working, including a lame Philips LD player that didn't last but just under 2 years - crap). I also owned a good Kenwood LD player, but sold it.
Over the years, I purchased a SuperBetaHiFi VCR ($499), several VHS Hi-Fi VCR's (between $199 to $399). I've owned two different SuperVHS VCRs - the first was a very deluxe JVC model that costs $899 (and allowed special audio dubbing of music being inputed, and the video didn't get erased). The one I have today, another JVC, cost $399 when I purchased it new at C.City in 1999, still works great, and I'm sad to hear recently that JVC is now discontinuing SuperVHS stand-alone units, but will still sell basic VHS VCR's that will offer quasi-playback of SuperVHS recorded videotapes (will play, but have the same 240 lines of resolution as basic VHS).
My first DVD player (1998) was a great-quality Panasonic unit (still works today - but I upgraded since it's maximum output is 480i thru S-Video). And I also own other DVD players (Sony of course), had a Pioneer too, but sold later to my brother. In July 2006 I bought a new Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD player (will never sell it!) - AND JOINED DVDTOWN AS A MESSAGE BOARD MEMBER, later adding a Sony Playstation 3 (from May 2007).
I've been a long-time LaserDisc supporter/owner, from 1982 until the format ended in 1999 (USA) and 2000 (Japan), having purchased many new/used/discounted LDs over many years (well over 2000 in my collection), and I still enjoy watching LD movies (many are Widescreen, and SpEd, some with DTS, some with DD, etc) and the many concert discs I have collected (some of which have never been re-released on DVD).
As much as I have benefited from DVD, HD-DVD, and now Blu-ray, my first and favorite "home video love" will always be the legacy LaserDisc format - who DEFINED the standard for all SpEd content we have today!
-Love Hendrix! (The Loverboy)
~ DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-ray/KURO Plasma owner ~
[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on Feb 1, 2008]
Friday, February 1, 2008
Member since:
March 2002
March 2002
Now this is fun!
My family was one of the first in the neighborhood to own a General Electric VHS for $1000 back in 1982. Talk about a big old beast and the remote used a cord!
We all thought it was the shit at the time and loved it, but soon prices droped, and by the time I was able to by my own, they were around $80.
in 1998 I purchased my first DVD player, a Sony for a littel over $500. It lasted about three years before it finally stopped reading anything.
My family was one of the first in the neighborhood to own a General Electric VHS for $1000 back in 1982. Talk about a big old beast and the remote used a cord!
We all thought it was the shit at the time and loved it, but soon prices droped, and by the time I was able to by my own, they were around $80.in 1998 I purchased my first DVD player, a Sony for a littel over $500. It lasted about three years before it finally stopped reading anything.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Member since:
March 2002
March 2002
Oh, and when I said our first Betamax cost over $1,000, I forgot to say that my wife bought it for me for Christmas from a hi-fi dealer friend of ours who gave it to her at cost! But it played well and lasted a heck of a long time.
John
John
Friday, February 1, 2008
Member since:
November 2007
November 2007
Back when I was about 10 years old, I remember a family gathering in our uncle's place, where the centerpiece was his newly-bought Betamax for $1500 (after proper $$$ conversion). That was a big deal, considering I was still living in one of the poorest 3rd world (asian) countries, back then.
I remember it vividly since none of the children were allowed to enter the house, since his BEER BUDDIES were watching porno flicks- while the women & children were singing "Happy Birthday" to one of his own kids, at the backyard! The porno playing on the tube (ironically, which anyone was able to peek from the open windows), was not such a big deal, as the idea that my now-dead-uncle -- owned THE MOST EXPENSIVE gadget in the whole block.
Now that's quality time with the bloodline.
I remember it vividly since none of the children were allowed to enter the house, since his BEER BUDDIES were watching porno flicks- while the women & children were singing "Happy Birthday" to one of his own kids, at the backyard! The porno playing on the tube (ironically, which anyone was able to peek from the open windows), was not such a big deal, as the idea that my now-dead-uncle -- owned THE MOST EXPENSIVE gadget in the whole block.
Now that's quality time with the bloodline.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Member since:
October 2007
October 2007
xplaytendo, which Asian country are you from?
Friday, February 1, 2008
Member since:
October 2007
October 2007
I was enjoying the whole post until:
Why??
Quote:
And I also own other DVD players (Sony of course)
Why??
Friday, February 1, 2008
Member since:
June 2006
June 2006
mvckalel... you and your "anti-Sony", "anti-PS3" bias/phobia strikes again! 
My Sony DVD players...
The first one ($230, from 2002-03), and I still use it, features a 5-disc changer (so you can load a combination of 5 DVDs and/or CDs - plenty of content to watch or listen to), has 480i output over component (no DVI or HDMI). ALSO features SACD playback capability (for my small SACD collection - remember the other recent thread?), and a headphone jack.
What's "cool" about this 5-disc unit, is that while 1 CD or DVD disc is playing, you can still open the tray (via remote or on the player), and add to -or- remove from any of the other 4 disc slots - very convenient.
The second one ($149, from August 2005), was my first "upconversion" player (720p or 1080i ouput), single disc unit, great slim build, excellent quality, and I use it regularly for most of my standard DVD playback, although occasionally I use my Toshiba A1 for it's great upconversion (for certain visual-entertaining movies). The Sony will also play CDs, and MP3 CDs, but not SACDs (and no headphone jack). I usually like to save my A1 for HD-DVD discs, and my PS3 strictly for Blu-ray.
And, SO THAT'S WHY! Quality units at a fair price. Sony is one of the leaders in DVD sales, don't you know?
-LH (The Loverboy)
~ HI-DEF DUAL FORMAT SUPPORTER ~
[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on Feb 1, 2008]
My Sony DVD players...
The first one ($230, from 2002-03), and I still use it, features a 5-disc changer (so you can load a combination of 5 DVDs and/or CDs - plenty of content to watch or listen to), has 480i output over component (no DVI or HDMI). ALSO features SACD playback capability (for my small SACD collection - remember the other recent thread?), and a headphone jack.
What's "cool" about this 5-disc unit, is that while 1 CD or DVD disc is playing, you can still open the tray (via remote or on the player), and add to -or- remove from any of the other 4 disc slots - very convenient.
The second one ($149, from August 2005), was my first "upconversion" player (720p or 1080i ouput), single disc unit, great slim build, excellent quality, and I use it regularly for most of my standard DVD playback, although occasionally I use my Toshiba A1 for it's great upconversion (for certain visual-entertaining movies). The Sony will also play CDs, and MP3 CDs, but not SACDs (and no headphone jack). I usually like to save my A1 for HD-DVD discs, and my PS3 strictly for Blu-ray.
And, SO THAT'S WHY! Quality units at a fair price. Sony is one of the leaders in DVD sales, don't you know?
-LH (The Loverboy)
~ HI-DEF DUAL FORMAT SUPPORTER ~
[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on Feb 1, 2008]
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Member since:
November 2007
November 2007
Quote:
xplaytendo, which Asian country are you from?
Latitude - 57° 9 N' / Longitude - 2° 9 W' / 5:00 p.m. (time corresponding to 12:00 noon, Eastern Standard Time)
Where the ousted First Lady (the ex-president included), was popular for her Elegant Parties, VAST COLLECTION of Expensive Shoes, and numerous home videos of George Hamilton- ever-so-tanned while joining her, at many Ballroom Dances. Ahhhh.... corruption.
[Post edited by xplaytendo on Feb 2, 2008]
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Member since:
December 2002
December 2002
Firstly , very good topic !!!
I got my first VHS when I was in high school. Back in 1987 it was Grundig VHS and it costed in that time over 1.500 DM or in today's money arround 750 EUR.
My first dvd player I got in 2000 and it costed arround 300 EUR. I still got that player, and works OK.
I am looking forward in HD players/Blu Ray to start coming in Europe !!!
[Post edited by Kajser on Feb 2, 2008]
I got my first VHS when I was in high school. Back in 1987 it was Grundig VHS and it costed in that time over 1.500 DM or in today's money arround 750 EUR.
My first dvd player I got in 2000 and it costed arround 300 EUR. I still got that player, and works OK.
I am looking forward in HD players/Blu Ray to start coming in Europe !!!
[Post edited by Kajser on Feb 2, 2008]
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Member since:
October 2007
October 2007
Quote:
Latitude - 57° 9 N' / Longitude - 2° 9 W' / 5:00 p.m. (time corresponding to 12:00 noon, Eastern Standard Time)
saan sa pinas?
Guess where I took this picture: http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/Sky_44/RiceTerraces3.jpg
It's been over a year since we've been back again, and I miss everything so much
