Laserdisc capture - general thread

[Colek]

I actually own the described LD-V4300D, but I am not sure where to go from after I am done mounting the RF output.

https://www.domesday86.com/?page_id=1265

Do I need the whole unit? If so, where can I get it? Or would regular RF capture card work too?

[zoidberg]

This is the ongoing thread over at lddb:

(WIP) Laserdisc software image decoder from raw signal

[poita]

I actually own the described LD-V4300D, but I am not sure where to go from after I am done mounting the RF output.

https://www.domesday86.com/?page_id=1265

Do I need the whole unit? If so, where can I get it? Or would regular RF capture card work too?

At the moment you need to build your own, and run a Linux PC with very fast storage and good USB3 support.

Otherwise you can use a capture card, see the discussions on LDDB.

Instructions are here:
https://www.domesday86.com/?page_id=1312
https://www.domesday86.com/?page_id=2233
https://www.domesday86.com/?page_id=1070

[BronzeTitan]

If you want to capture LD at the best possible quality, then capture the RF directly and then decode it in software.
...
If you want to capture LDs, then get something else, and capture from the RF pickup, it doesn't need to be a fantastic player, it just needs to track well.

This is awesome!

Would having one of those "red laser" models be the best to use (supposedly they track the best and just ignore things like light scratches and laser-rot)?

Also, would you post comparative caps to show the degree of difference between a composit-capture-card and the RF-capture-software-decodie?

[spoRv]

@BT: a comparison is on the doomsday project - can't find the link right now, though, sorry!

[zoidberg]

Just to clarify, no laser lens can retrieve info from a rotted section of a disc, it's gone. However some of the older players can handle the rot better, 'steaming through' so to speak. So the playback will continue albeit with speckles/dropout etc. whereas other players will freeze up or laser lock. The red lasers also tend to have less crosstalk due to the narrower beam size.

[BronzeTitan]

So red-laser is a definite plus. (Thanks.) Are the most recommended players also red-laser? Or are they so good without red-laser that they overshadow lesser players with red-laser?

@ spoRv - Thanks for the heads-up! I was hoping for something a little more sexy (a bronze babe would've been nice -- maybe poita has something ... with color). But, in the meantime, their B&W caps (with my split-screen and zoom) show . .

[captainsolo]

Gosh this looks amazing. I wonder what the cost would be and if a complete newb like myself could build one.

[spoRv]

Indeed, it will be great to find out a "readymade" card - buy it, install the software, connect, record!

Actually, all MUSE players have red laser, along with oldest gas tube ones - that lacks a lot of functions and usually are broken after 40 years, but if one could be found in good shape (with a regenerated gas tube), it should cost a lot less than a MUSE player, and will be perfect for this kind of capture.

[BronzeTitan]

Before we heap too much praise on this limited B&W capture, I thought to normalize the RGB capture (as we might normally do) and remove the tint from the RF capture (the eye-dropper knows all) . .




RGB not looking quite so bad and RF's apparent "detail" looks like it might need to be de-noised. Of course, color pictures wouldn't be de-saturated as done on these B&W ones. So if anyone has any color comparisons, those would be good testing.

[added: the all-eyeing zoom]



Of course, my quick adjustments needed zoom (too) for finer tuning, but you get the idea. RF resolves better horizontally (asee "B"), but still needs clean-up (see "ation"). BTW, these pictures were .JPG (lossy), meaning everything here is really rough. We could use better .PNG (lossless) screenshots to compare.