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Did You Fall Into A Coma In The 1980's And Just Wake Up?

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  • Did You Fall Into A Coma In The 1980's And Just Wake Up?

    Not even kidding, but today at The Big Yellow Price Tag we had a customer ask if we sold Laserdisc players and VCRs.
    "Sigh, I'm going to Hell.....but I'm going with a smile on my face." -- Gravekeeper

  • #2
    VCRs I can sort of understand, but laserdisc players? I still own mine, but I don't think I've watched a movie on laserdisc since 1998.

    Heh, last year I was taking a walk, and saw a battered VHS copy of Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead by the side of the road. I was half-tempted to take it home and see if it still worked.

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    • #3
      Has he cured his Boneitis yet?

      Seriously, though, WTF? I will admit that LaserDisc technology stuck around a lot longer than you might think. Here in the US, the movies were produced into the 2000s, but the format continued to be popular for karaoke (mostly in Japan, naturally) well beyond that. Pioneer produced their final LD player, the DVL-919 (which could also play DVDs and CDs) from 1999 until about 2009. A local electronics store actually had a later LaserDisc player (DVL-V888, IIRC) available for sale until fairly recently. They might still have it, actually, though I doubt it'd be going anywhere with its $999 price tag..........

      Being a retro technology enthusiast, I have a few LaserDisc players, along with several LaserDisc titles (mostly comedy, action/adventure and sci-fi titles). I also have a few players for RCA's Selectavision CED format, which died out a long time ago. If the guy had asked about CEDs, you can all but guarantee that he just awoke from a time-stasis pod of some sort, and there might be a lab somewhere looking for him..........
      -Adam

      PS: The LaserDisc format was also the basis for one of the first high-definition video playback formats (Japan-only, AFAIK), known as MUSE. One of the MUSE players can be seen here. Guessing the format wouldn't work with modern HDTVs, of course, but it'd be interesting to see in action.
      Goofy music!
      Old tech junk!

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      • #4
        I saw an electric typewriter in bent staple yesterday.
        AkaiKitsune
        Sarcasm dear, sarcasm. I’m well aware that dealing with civilians in any capacity will skin your faith in humanity alive, then pickle anything that remains so as to watch it shrivel up into an immortal husk thus reminding you of how dead inside you now are.

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        • #5
          Quoth AdamAnt316 View Post
          Has he cured his Boneitis yet?
          My only regret is that I have...Boneitis.

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          • #6
            Quoth Monterey Jack View Post
            VCRs I can sort of understand, but laserdisc players? I still own mine, but I don't think I've watched a movie on laserdisc since 1998.

            Heh, last year I was taking a walk, and saw a battered VHS copy of Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead by the side of the road. I was half-tempted to take it home and see if it still worked.
            Yeah, I get VCRs too. I still have a number of VHS tapes at home. We have a DVD/VCR combo, and two broken VCRs.
            Skilled programmers aren't cheap. Cheap programmers aren't skilled.

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            • #7
              Bought a VCr

              Quoth mjr View Post
              Yeah, I get VCRs too. I still have a number of VHS tapes at home. We have a DVD/VCR combo, and two broken VCRs.
              The last VCR I bought for my mom not only played tapes and DVDs, it could record to DVD too. That made it worth buying. But while I used all the functions, my mom only learnt how to play tapes with it.

              Somehow the idea of pressing the DVD button on the remote before pressing the play button was to complicated for her.

              Please note, this is the same woman who could never learn how to use a VCR until I was at my cabin up North for a week and she wanted to record the previous royal wedding. Somehow she learnt when she really needed to.

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              • #8
                Quoth Rosco the Iroc View Post
                I saw an electric typewriter in bent staple yesterday.
                Well, the modern ones are probably closer to being word processors without screens, but yep, they still sell 'em. They also sell ribbons for older typewriters, as well as some dot-matrix printers. I actually bought a new ribbon for my IBM Correcting Selectric II typewriter there last year. The units are built like tanks, and often still work outside of needing some lubrication and whatnot. And appropriately enough, mine is colored Big Blue:
                Goofy music!
                Old tech junk!

                Comment


                • #9
                  Quoth AdamAnt316 View Post
                  PS: The LaserDisc format was also the basis for one of the first high-definition video playback formats (Japan-only, AFAIK), known as MUSE. One of the MUSE players can be seen here. Guessing the format wouldn't work with modern HDTVs, of course, but it'd be interesting to see in action.
                  It might. Looks like it's outputting on S-video. The A/D setups used in modern TVs are surprisingly flexible.

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                  • #10
                    Quoth TheSHAD0W View Post
                    It might. Looks like it's outputting on S-video. The A/D setups used in modern TVs are surprisingly flexible.
                    I believe the S-video outputs on the backs of these machines were for SD video (notice how they're next to the standard composite video/audio jacks), though I could be wrong. The jacks labeled "MUSE" are on the other side, and are meant to be used with an external decoder which outputs some sort of component video signal. Anyway, since MUSE was an analog HD format, I'm not sure that modern digital HDTVs would be able to handle it, but who knows. More technical information about the MUSE system can be found here.
                    -Adam
                    Goofy music!
                    Old tech junk!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Selectrics were GREAT typewriters!

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                      • #12
                        Quoth Minflick View Post
                        Selectrics were GREAT typewriters!
                        And in "The Devil's DP Dictionary" there is a claim of a hole-in-one scored with the golf-ball in circumstances too disgusting to mention...
                        I am not an a**hole. I am a hemorrhoid. I irritate a**holes!
                        Procrastination: Forward planning to insure there is something to do tomorrow.
                        Derails threads faster than a pocket nuke.

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                        • #13
                          I've got an electric typewriter that's more like a word processor without a screen, but I haven't used it in years.

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                          • #14
                            I don't have a LaserDisc player, but I do have a Selectavision CED player. But I'd never think of trying to buy movies for it at Yellow Pricetag! Or anywhere else but online.

                            Funny story, when I bought it I thought it was a LaserDisc player, but since it came with 20 movies, I was able to watch anyway.

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                            • #15
                              Quoth Sparklyturtle View Post
                              I've got an electric typewriter that's more like a word processor without a screen, but I haven't used it in years.
                              Yeah, most of the modern ones are like that, including the IBM Wheelwriters, which are still being made for them by Lexmark. I see Wheelwriters all the time, particularly in banks and whatnot. I have a Wheelwriter 2000 which obviously has word processor-like functions; it beeps when it thinks you've misspelled a word, and allows you to delete entire words you typed using the correction tape. Not as solid (or fun) as the Selectrics, but still quite nice.

                              Quoth Silent-Hunter View Post
                              I don't have a LaserDisc player, but I do have a Selectavision CED player. But I'd never think of trying to buy movies for it at Yellow Pricetag! Or anywhere else but online.

                              Funny story, when I bought it I thought it was a LaserDisc player, but since it came with 20 movies, I was able to watch anyway.
                              Yep, CEDs are fun. I found my first CED player at a radio swapmeet, along with 30 discs. Knew exactly what it was, and got it for about a buck per disc. Went through quite an ordeal getting it running, due to a stretched drive belt (most modern belts of the same size as the original are a different thickness, causing it to fit tight and run slowly) and dried-up bearings under the platter. Once I fixed these issues, I was treated to video quality similar to VHS, but with extra added skipping. Still fun to watch movies in the format; I've acquired a few more players and several more CEDs since then, including all of the Star Wars movies (one of which is still sealed in the original cellophane!).
                              -Adam
                              Goofy music!
                              Old tech junk!

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