Best LD player? Soon find out

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

Hi group!

I started this new thread because the old got political. So please,
only LD talk here!

Within one week (hopefully) I will compare my Pioneer HLD-X9 to my
HLD-X0 and my friends heavly modified HLD-X9. The display will be a
Barco RetroGraphics 808s rear-screen projection system
(http/www.barco.com/Presentation/en/products/product.asp?GenNr=334)
capable of superb CRT image. My heavy modified 9500LC haven't been
sent from US yet and I cannot wait for it to be set-uped.
I will use the Crystalio video processor for all three players from
the S-video output. Quality cables will be used for the test.

Now, I will use VE, EP1, Lost highway and Fifth element for
comparison, but if anyone have any good/bad LD's I should try (and any
chapter) let me know.

Anything else I should test or look for?

The heavy modified HLD-X9 have changed MUCH from the original machine.
Here is some of the things he have done:

*Taken out the MUSE circuit board so no interference can come from the
the cables of circuit boards.
*Improved shielding of chassis, head trafo, NTSC video-card and audio
trafo (just the audio trafo had a leakage/electronic field of 150V,
that can bring noise to the picture).
*Taken out the "VOUT" circiut board, and by doing that 6 joint on the
S-video path been erased. So the S-video path is not going to have a
lot of degrading splices.
*The output impedance was 68ohm on his player, and he have now fixed
this to the correct 75ohm.


He have done a lot more (specially on the power suply, and skipping a
lot of other stuff, plus have a true 75ohm BNC output for the S-video
signal using two BNC!!) and we will after the test tell you about all
the things that have be done. Not all maybe necessary (like BNC
s-video) but more on that later.

Any questions or suggestions?

/Mattias

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

Mattias Karlsson wrote:
>
> Now, I will use VE, EP1, Lost highway and Fifth element for
> comparison, but if anyone have any good/bad LD's I should try (and
any
> chapter) let me know.
>

Anamorphic discs have been suggested, though the de-squeezing will add
a whole lot of parameters to the test.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

I'm just getting my big screen LD/DVD setup going, but I've found
showing well-transferred black and white movies is useful for examining
the sharpness and contrast of a picture. I've heard the Criterion Dr.
Strangelove is an excellent transfer. Good, complex lighting situations
as well.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

Mattias,

Are you able to let us know who performed the X9 modifications?


Mattias Karlsson wrote:
> Hi group!
>
> I started this new thread because the old got political. So please,
> only LD talk here!
>
> Within one week (hopefully) I will compare my Pioneer HLD-X9 to my
> HLD-X0 and my friends heavly modified HLD-X9. The display will be a
> Barco RetroGraphics 808s rear-screen projection system
> (http/www.barco.com/Presentation/en/products/product.asp?GenNr=334)
> capable of superb CRT image. My heavy modified 9500LC haven't been
> sent from US yet and I cannot wait for it to be set-uped.
> I will use the Crystalio video processor for all three players from
> the S-video output. Quality cables will be used for the test.
>
> Now, I will use VE, EP1, Lost highway and Fifth element for
> comparison, but if anyone have any good/bad LD's I should try (and
any
> chapter) let me know.
>
> Anything else I should test or look for?
>
> The heavy modified HLD-X9 have changed MUCH from the original
machine.
> Here is some of the things he have done:
>
> *Taken out the MUSE circuit board so no interference can come from
the
> the cables of circuit boards.
> *Improved shielding of chassis, head trafo, NTSC video-card and audio
> trafo (just the audio trafo had a leakage/electronic field of 150V,
> that can bring noise to the picture).
> *Taken out the "VOUT" circiut board, and by doing that 6 joint on the
> S-video path been erased. So the S-video path is not going to have a
> lot of degrading splices.
> *The output impedance was 68ohm on his player, and he have now fixed
> this to the correct 75ohm.
>
>
> He have done a lot more (specially on the power suply, and skipping a
> lot of other stuff, plus have a true 75ohm BNC output for the S-video
> signal using two BNC!!) and we will after the test tell you about all
> the things that have be done. Not all maybe necessary (like BNC
> s-video) but more on that later.
>
> Any questions or suggestions?
>
> /Mattias

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

I'm curious about the modifications performed. It seems the main things
done were removing circuit boards and other electrical components.
Do you really think you'll be able to see the difference with the
naked eye? Sometimes interference reduction modifications are only
really visible on lab testing equipment!
I wonder if this process is akin to replacing a set of $100 speaker
cables with $1000 speaker cables. It SHOULD sound better with cables
that cost 10 times as much but can the human ear really tell the
difference?
Kevin