Ask John: Should I Buy Laserdisc Also?

Question:
I was wondering about anime on laser discs. I was thinking about getting a new DVD player, and was considering getting one with a laserdisc player built in also. Would it be worth getting an LD player? How is the quality on LDs? Any kind of cool features? Audio tracks? Picture quality? Is there a decent selection of anime on LD, and if so, are they outrageously priced? Are there any animes on LD that aren’t yet released on DVD? Any really cool “buys” out there on LD?

Answer:
First of all, finding a new LD player nowadays is quite a task as virtually every manufacturer stopped making LD players several years ago. Whether or not you should buy an LD player in addition to your DVD player depends largely on how much import anime you like to watch and plan to buy, and exactly how “hard-core” of a fan you are or want to be. There were never all that many American anime LDs released, and those that were are getting increasingly difficult to find. Up until recently though, laserdisc was the format of choice for discriminating anime fans in Japan, and virtually every anime title you can think of has been released on LD in Japan. DVD is now the best selling home-video format in Japan, surpassing even VHS, and the Japanese LD market is quickly disappearing, although some current and recent anime series do still get released on LD in Japan.

Some of the benefits of LD include picture clarity, universality, and loading speed. Some of the disadvantages of LD include their bulkiness and relative delicacy, and their content limitations relative to DVDs. The picture quality of LD is excellent. The difference in color clarity and image crispness between LD and even an extremely good VHS copy is significant. In fact, I own LDs that have better image quality that even their DVD versions! Remember that content on an LD is not compressed the way it is on a DVD, so LDs do not exhibit any of the “artifacting,” the graininess, common in DVDs. But, keep in mind that no other video format can match a top-notch, perfectly mastered DVD for picture reproduction quality. The sound between a DVD and an LD is identical. Both are full digital, and LD is capable of containing all of the same audio formats that DVD is, including Dolby Digital, AC-3, DTS and THX. Like CDs, laserdiscs cannot be copy protected or region-locked. LDs don’t have region codes, so any Japanese NTSC LD will play in any American LD player. Furthermore, like CDs, LDs offer instant scene and chapter access while DVDs have menus and load times that vary in length from disc to disc.

The main disadvantage of LD, beside the large size of the discs, is that because LD is not a pure digital medium, it’s not possible to fit all of the information on an LD that can be fit onto a DVD. LDs aren’t really capable of “soft” encoded subtitles, so most LDs will either be subtitled, dubbed or dubbed with optional closed captioning. LDs also can’t offer multiple angles, and generally are only capable of two different audio tracks.

Because LD is a dying form, it is possible to find fantastic deals on LD if you know where to look. Many retailers that still carry American anime LDs sell them for less than the cost of VHS versions. And because LD was such a massive market in Japan, which has died off so quickly, if you can vacation in Japan, it’s possible to find incredible deals on used anime LDs in Japan. For example, when I was in Tokyo in the summer of 1999, I found used copies of the Final Fantasy OAV LDs on sale for 50 cents each, and it was possible to get the entire Evangelion TV series on laserdisc, complete with the extended home-video version episodes 21-24, for under $100. If you’re buying new LDs, expect to spend a lot of money though. Import LDs are expensive, but then so are import VHS and DVD. New Japanese LDs typically cost anywhere from $50 each to roughly $125 each for films like Jin-Roh.

In America, LD has always been the domain of the videophile and home video connoisseur. Although LD is virtually a dead industry in both America and Japan, the status of LD has not changed. If you’re strictly interested in domestic releases, LD is not for you. If you’re a serious, die-hard anime fan, interested in importing untranslated anime, or even visiting Japan, it’s hard to go wrong with owning an LD player. I, for one, love mine and wouldn’t give it up for anything.