10 Best Laserdisc Players

I bought my 1st laser disc player 20 years ago or so – long before I even had a VCR. But both of my players were Sony’s and both were always temperamental – mostly mechanical/laser glitches. The last one essentially stopped playing all together and that’s when I went trolling for a replacement.

The Pioneers always got the best reviews but the Sonys were prettier. Now I know why. Apparently built like old glass tube TV’s to run continuously for 20 – 25 years, it runs like a charm. It also seems to generate a somewhat better picture on the Samsung DLP I’m running it through. My only disappointment is the huge unweildly remote. It seems to have been designed for a 7 year old and really doesn’t do anything you can’t do from the front panel of the machine, unlike the Sony remotes.

I now have about 300 to 400 laser discs (they are so cheap now – I never bought them new or used in the 1990’s when they were still making them) and needed 2 players. After my travails with my 2nd Sony, a fancy one where the laser flipped over to play the 2nd side of the disc (my 1st one still plays fine once you get the disc in the machine – the door hinge sticks) I’m trilled with the Pioneer. I’ve never really had a problem with getting up to flip the disc over – the players’ only disadvantage versus VCR’s.

No problems with the shipping or packing. I recommend this vendor wholeheartedly for anyone in the market for a Pioneer player.

My question is: who is gonna be smart enuf to design an “upconverting” laser disc player for the 21st century? If they can do it with DVD players, then of course they can with a laser disc player. There are many many of us who would buy one and pay a premium to get it.

Other than a 2 sided player you can’t get better than this. THis player is listed as an ‘industrial’ machine and it is just. Bought this model at a swap meet for 20 bucks to review some of my laserdisc collection and it is completely solid. Probably been banged around a lot but upon hookup it has worked perfectly. Recently cleaned the lense since I am a smoker and it still plays perfectly. Even tried it with older Discovision titles and plays them without a hitch. If you need a player for laserdisc this is the one. Doesn’t offer DTS but don’t know of a laserdisc player that does. Also, If you mess with the Dip switches on the back you can play audio discs at much higher bitrate. Very nice player.

I had my Pioneer LaserDisc Player since ’92 & have probably played over 500 LD’s on it, and I haven’t had a single problem with it yet! During that time period I probably went thru 4 VCR’s, & each of those took less of a beating than the LaserDisc Player did!!!