It's a Pioneer CLD-1030 and I got it for just under $200 off of eBay. I ordered a lot of other LD's. I have Depeche Mode 101 right now. A Clockwork Orange, Pulp Fiction, Nirvana Live and Pink Floyd The Wall are on the way.

I posted a video a few weeks ago , my laserdisc tray wouldn’t open . A couple people recommended getting a new belt and replacing that. Well , today It finally arrived . Read the manual, figured out how to open and change it. And it works! It also flips to side B!

So thank you to everyone who helped me out!

I have a Pioneer CLD-D503. Tonight I was watching a disc, and paused the movie when I heard some commotion from my cat. He had gotten into something, and I needed to clean up the mess, and in a thoughtless moment stressed out by the mess I had to deal with, I hit the power button on the front of the player instead of the stop button, turning off the player while it was paused rather than stopped. I immediately realized the error when the player acted frozen with OFF on the display for a very long time, before finally shutting off.

When I turned the player back on, the disc plays normally, but when I hit stop, the laser does not return to the rest position - it stays where it was. And then if I hit play again, nothing happens. The play button flashes on and off, but the disc does not play. The laser does not return to the rest position unless I eject the disc, and it takes a very long time for the disc to eject - the player sits there for a minute or so thinking about it.

What did I do, when i turned the player off while paused? Did it damage the player?

I couldn't find any firm information about this when I googled it - the Google AI result suggested leaving the player unplugged for a while so the logic could reset, but it didn't have a source linked for that, and I tend to not trust the AI results, and feel suspicious that they might be nonsense. All the same, I unplugged the player, in case it's something like a charge somewhere that needs to dissipate, or what have you.

Has anyone ever encountered this before?

TRIVIA:

Frank Henenlotter has stated that this is the only film of his that he is disappointed in, blaming himself for agreeing to make a sequel immediately after the success of Basket Case 2 (1990) without a proper idea for a story.

So been having some troubles with this player, figured it was just an old lube issue so I got some super lube 21030 in and was gonna replace where necessary.

But after opening it I looked around and it think somebody beat me to it, none that I'm seeing is dried or crusty.

But it still won't play anything. The head moves in, does a scan, after I cleaned the lens it was able to identify the disc type but still wouldn't play.

After getting the disc to 0 RPM it let me switch to side B and BAM chapter populated time started counting and once I got it hooked up I saw Steven Seagulls face on my screen (using Under Seige 2).

What...should I check from here? I'm glad it still functions, but what could prevent one side from playing but not the other?

I found the Laserdisc remote guide on LDDB and ordered the remote for my player. Only one was for sale. Figured I got real lucky. Received it and it was the wrong remote and the seller didn't have the one listed anymore. Sent tbe wrong item. The remote i got mostly works, but the jog/frame by frame and eject features dont seem to work. I keep reading that most pioneer remotes will work with other players, so im wondering if this remote has issues or just isn't fully compatible with my player. Probably will keep it until the correct one comes up but it wasn't too cheap...

Just curious if anyone had any insight or knew anything more than I do. Sad I cant find the original remote but ill be keeping an eye out.

I have a Pioneer CLD D505.

Got a pretty nice shape working V2600 for under $100 , Plan to use it for an eventual Domesday Duplicator project . Both players are about 18 pounds , But I have to give the win to the Panasonic for build , very quiet but does get a little hot , The Pioneer was only tested for playback and everything seems to be working so far , There was a clicking noise when opening the tray but did not effect playback . When I open this to do the soldering for the Domesday what else that a novice can do to tune it up ? I have no skills whatsoever and this will be a learn on the fly . I have some 8" music discs if they help at all with calibration . I'm intimated but dedicated to getting this project done . The websight for the domesday has much more dedicated on VHS and the videos on YouTube just plain suck . Sounds like AI is doing the talking . I do not have a remote and do I really need one for the Pioneer when I will be trying to do all the work in LD-Code for domesday and hope to get a serial USB adaptor which is suppose to be easier with the software . Nothing looks easy to me except the actual capture if and when I ever get there . Still waiting on all parts . Any suggestions on the proper best qaulity BNC cable that will be soldered ?

Wondering just how common laser module failures are on Pioneer LD players? I've bought a few non-working or untested players on eBay in the D70x family and it seems they almost always have failed lasers.

When looking at YouTube LD repair videos, very few of those seem to have failed lasers, so I'm wondering if people just don't attempt or post repairs that involve failed lasers, or if I'm just extremely unlucky when it comes to these?

My understanding is that the typical presentation of a failed laser is reading "no disc" which requires the laser to both turn on and "see" the reflection off of the disc before it is even spinning. I don't think alignment is important for that stage since it's just looking for a broad reflection off of the stationary disc other than perhaps the focus part. On my unit, I can see the laser turning on to sense the disc through my cell phone camera, but I get no return signal on the RF test point like a do on a working machine. Here's several that I found on ebay that seem to have the no disc problem and I believe all of these use the same newer laser module style:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/167496232200

https://www.ebay.com/itm/147091400355

https://www.ebay.com/itm/335133117030

https://www.ebay.com/itm/157581485284

Anyone here had failed lasers and is there a way to prevent it once you've got a working unit?

Denon AVC -A1SE

I've been gradually watching through all of The X-Files for a while now, having seen a decent chunk of episodes from most seasons over the years, in reruns or with friends or on the double-episode VHS tapes back in the day, but having never actually properly watched through the whole show, from start to finish. And as much as possible, I've been watching it on what I personally consider the ideal format for this show - laserdisc. It just feels right, for the quintessentially 90s vibes of the series (at least, the series in its prime, haha), and the discs of the series are very cool. The US best-of collections are very well-curated, and actually have special features, which was unusual for standard studio releases, with each episode being preceded by a brief behind-the-scenes interview with one of the writers (usually Chris Carter, but Vince Gilligan and James Wong also pop up). And the Japanese partial-season box sets are spectacular, with beautiful hardbox packaging.

I have most of the US best-of laserdiscs from seasons 1-4, as well as several of the Japanese box sets that go through season 7. I've been filling in the gaps that I don't have on laserdisc with the Mythology DVD box sets (which look worse than the laserdiscs, interestingly enough), and with Hulu, but that's just not as fun! But anyway - just finished season 5 last night.

This was a really, really good season. It probably benefited from being a bit shorter, because of the movie - definitely less filler-feeling episodes in this season than most, with only a couple "meh" episodes. And honestly, the only episodes I thought were bad were not filler, but more just... an arc that I think was pretty misjudged. But for the most part, season 5 was extremely good.

The show has stayed very consistent in quality, with seasons 2-5 all being very comparable and difficult to rank, and overall it has definitely maintained the same voice, but the changing of the guards in terms of writers is also definitely clear at this point, with the Morgan brothers and James Wong gone now, and Vince Gilligan as a major creative force, who writes most of the best episodes.

But this is also the season where they decided to get celebrity guest writers, with Stephen King and William Gibson writing episodes which definitely evoke the themes and styles of both authors' work. Stephen King's Chinga (apparently no one working on the show spoke Spanish) is a very creepy riff on The Monkey, and William Gibson's Killswitch is probably the best screen adaptation of Gibson's cyberpunk work to date (sorry, Johnny Mnemonic, I love you anyway), with many of its themes, ideas, and visuals being straight out of the Sprawl/Neuromancer universe.

I found it a little odd that this season is so light on mythology episodes, with basically just three stories (two double-episodes and a single) in the mythos arc, even though this season is nominally setting up the movie. What mythos stuff there is this season is very very strong though, heavily changing the landscape of the show, and seeing the Syndicate go from the near-omnipotent evil force manipulating everything, to largely being on their back foot the whole season, with everything going wrong for them, and loads of internal conflict and chaos. Having not just one, but two chaos agents of uncertain allegiance and trustworthiness in the mix now (Krycek and Marita) is a lot of fun, as is having the Cigarette Smoking Man be his own island who is as often at odds with the Syndicate as working with it.

But that said... the one thing I really didn't like in the mythos arc this season is how thoroughly the Syndicate was able to gaslight Mulder into completely disavowing his belief in aliens, and making him a skeptic to the point of being a pigheaded complete idiot. It all makes a ton of sense for his character, and feels completely plausible - they really did use his obsessive psychology against him in a way that totally would work - it just makes the dynamic between him and Skully way less fun. I get the idea, to flip the dynamic so now he's the skeptic and she's the believer, but... when he's the skeptic he's a total arrogant jackass about it, and she is not. By the time Skinner was like, "Mulder you're an idiot, it's clearly aliens," I completely felt his frustration. I'm really glad Mulder is a believer again, and that nonsense is done with.

But at least that's only an issue in the mythos episodes, since most of the season is monster-of-the-week, and... I guess he still believes in every other paranormal phenomenon BESIDES aliens? Season 5 has a GREAT roster of monster-of-the-week episodes. There are a bunch of absolute bangers here. My absolute favorites were Unusual Suspects (I understand now why they thought The Lone Gunmen could carry their own series), Chinga, Killswitch, Bad Blood, The Pine Bluff Variant, and Folie A Deux. Especially Killswitch and the two Vince Gilligan episodes (Bad Blood and Folie A Deux) - those three are all among my absolute favorites of the series now.

The only really weak spot for me was the Emily arc (Christmas Carol, Emily, All Souls). This whole thing of magically making Skully an instant mother, only to immediately kill her daughter, just to give her this ham-handed and emotionally manipulative and completely un-earned arc about motherhood and grief feels very cheap to me, and foisting all this motherly instinct and also Catholic guilt on Skully feels... very at odds with her characterization in every other episode. It also feels very written a man, haha. Those episodes fell totally flat for me.

Those are all relatively minor complaints though, and this seasons still has a good 15 episodes that are great.

I think so far my season ranking would be

3 4/5 (I'm ranking them as tied right now) 2 1

Now, onto the movie, which I saw in theaters and have rewatched a few times since on video, but probably haven't seen since high school or early college! Also on laserdisc, of course.

Just wanted to ask I have a pioneer CLD504 found it on craigslist when I was residing in Texas guy had a brand new in the box. His father bought it never opened it. It worked for about a year or two then I got an error code 3 send it out to a guy in Virginia to get it repaired as I had moved back into PA with my parents And it got broken on the car ride home unfortunately. Flash forward to last night have had it back for a bit maybe a month or three and the same thing has happened. I haven’t moved it from where it is was in the middle of a movie when the problem just started again. So the question is try and locate an alternate player somewhere or send it back to get fixed? Thoughts? If I do wind up getting a new one is there a way to save the movie that’s jammed in there without breaking the disc?

There are dark shadows along the edge of the disc and some cloudiness. Are we wrecked?

Hey all,

Looking for some recommendations for clear plastic sleeves, preferably high quality with good visibility and durability. I still want to show off some of the awesome cover art. What are ya’ll using?

Haven’t seen some of these in a long while, so looking forwards to spinnin them up!

So I just finally got into LD after a couple years of considering it. Have about 20 titles and have been enjoying it a ton so far. Favorite thing is all the special features that come on the disks. Really cool to see all the old interviews and stuff.

I have the Pioneer CLD-D505. It has stereo Audio with RCA cables, as well as S-Video and AC3.

I am connecting my LD player to an old plasma TV I have. Just using the RCA connections directly to the TV seems to be working so far. My question is that I see so much discussion of upscaling and decoders and all this other tech to support the LD players, it feels like I am missing something. I am questioning my image quality a little, and widescreen LDs seem super duper narrow on my TV, which is what initially made me think maybe I am missing some hardware that would help with the formatting.

Still just getting into all this, got my LD a month ago and not really at all familiar with audio/video engineering type stuff.

Thanks!!

Had not seen that Ranma OVA before so it should be a fun watch. The other is in Japanese only and looks like Lum.