@Falcon. Check your PMs

Don't suppose anyone has The Warriors Theatrical Cut on DVD? I would like to compare the colors on the German Blu Ray to see if they have been messed with

Thanks Hitcher.

You guys might remember Mike Verta's Star Wars restoration from a few years ago; here he goes into detail about his (insane) process.

The Sony Laserdisc player I bought for digital captures is on the fritz. It works properly about half the time and is becoming more trouble than its worth. Anybody have a lead on a sub-$200 (shipped) laserdisc player with an optical out?

Good luck, @alinskey, LD player prices have gone through the roof over the last few years. A player I bought for £1 about 10 years ago is now regularly priced over £500!

^^ what exactly is wrong with the player? It could be something as simple as a new belt

A wide range of issues. Some cosmetic and some just frustrating. The front try doesn't open properly (only one side) which means I have to "help it" open and close it by hand. CD-Rs don't seem to play properly (sounds like the lens is clicking on the CD) which makes it difficult to do a bit-perfect test. The front display doesn't work (knew that when I bought it but still kind of sucks). It sometimes just refuses to start the disc unless I turn it off and on again and sometimes have to insert the disc repeatedly.

After about a day, I'm finally able to record down over the S/PDIF digital out but since I can't play a burned CD, I'm not sure how to test bit-perfection. It will play laserdiscs and regular CDs (although sometimes it doesn't even recognize either). Lots of the player not starting the disc properly, on/off, open/close, walk away for a while, try again later and THEN it works. Just needlessly frustrating.

It also sometimes just refuses to "let go" of the CD. It stays connected to the disc holder inside and the tray comes out empty. I've had to unscrew and remove the covering to get the CD. Sometimes it just falls into the machine.

If you are on facebook I would look at a group called laserdisc forever, a lot of people in there seem to be experts at fixing players and if yours cannot be fixed you will perhaps find plenty of people selling players. It's quite interesting really, they know certain belts that are the right fit for certain players and I've even seen people making replacement parts on 3D printers. Have to warn you though I don't think they have a lot of love for Sony players!

Totally understand the Sony hate. I bought it since there were so few affordable ones with optical out and then read a lot of the hate toward the brand. Frustrating that two months ago great Pioneer players were going for $130 shipped and now it is a crapshoot on eBay.

The intermittent loading issues could well be a worn loading belt, if it's stretched or dirty there won't be enough torque to complete the loading cycle . The laser most likely can't 'see' burned CD-Rs, but you should be able to play that in a CD/DVD player for your bit-perfect test (remember you're testing the capture device/chain) . Sticky discs holding onto the upper clamp could be the grip ring breaking down or just dirty.

Oh wow! I totally didn't consider the idea of using a CD/DVD and that it was about the capture device/chain. Off to experiment even more!

^^ There's nothing inherently wrong with Sony's, any working player is a good player these days. Its just that if you get problems spares are going to be hard to come by beyond generic things like belts or circuit components. Pioneer basically kept the LD torch burning for as long as they could although spares are beginning to dry up now

^^as long as the player is set to bitstream out you should be good. Ld players are bit-perfect by default, otherwise DTS laserdiscs wouldn't work

Presented without comment.

After tinkering for multiple days, I was finally able to make a bit-perfect recording. I will be offering up some recordings in the next week or so. So excited to be a part of this community!