Putting things into perspective

[ffutures]

I appear to own 119 laserdiscs - of these 16 are not playable with the replacement laserdisc player. Three I already have on DVD, others are readily available. I can't persuade myself that it's worth trying to get another player, or repair the old one, just for the other 13 disks. The list is as follows:

Blade Runner - Got the DVD
Romancing the Stone - Got the DVD
Star Wars - This is the "Han Shot First" cut, but I have a DVD version - it was on the 2nd disk of the limited edition release, a straight transfer of the laserdisc to DVD.

2001 - Thought I had the DVD but apparently not - definitely one to buy
Chariots of Fire - Cheap on DVD
Dune - cheap DVD
Escape from New York - cheap DVD
The Great Muppet Caper - cheapish DVD
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - I can live without.
MASH - Cheap on DVD
Queen: Greatest Flix - I will miss this one, it has some interesting performances, don't think there's a DVD.
Raiders of the Lost Ark - Cheap on DVD
The Stunt Man - Available on DVD but moderately expensive - but it's a film I like so it's on the buy it now list.
The Thing (John Carpenter) - Cheapish DVD
Witness - cheapish DVD
Young Frankenstein - cheapish DVD

So I think that I'm going to sell the old player on a "spares or repair" basis, which hopefully will cover most of the cost of the replacement, buy the discs I really don't want to live without on DVD, and give the unplayable laserdiscs to the Science Fiction Foundation, charity shops, etc., since it's rarely worth trying to sell them on ebay.

Comments

[ggreig]

You're probably aware of this guy and his novel, but I didn't find him mentioned in a quick search of Forgotten Futures, so just in case: http://www.roadswerenotbuiltforcars.com/astor/.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I'm aware of it, but I hadn't actually read the book - thanks for the link. Might be useful for a future release of the game.

[murphys-lawyer.livejournal.com]

I've got the Queen LD, and if my player still works it'll talk to the disk. Want me to do you a backup copy for format-shifting purposes? (Arrr...)

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

That would be VERY kind of you - do you want any of the disks?

[dandello.livejournal.com]

At least you're not worrying about Matinee (with John Goodman) - the LD had great features that weren't transfered to the DVD. If you had that one, it would have been worth getting the old LD player fixed.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

If there's an NTSC version I could probably play it - it's apparently only PAL disks with analog tracks that give this problem. But I'm really not planning to buy more laserdiscs unless I find them cheap in a charity shop or something, I'm just praying that when / if they stop making DVD players I'll have enough warning to stockpile a few so that I don't run into this problem!

[robertprior.livejournal.com]

I backed the Kickstarter. He's fallen behind his original estimate by quite a bit — I have no idea when I'll eventually see the book, if if it will turn out to be money for nothing…