How is the Pioneer CLD-2080?

[Omega]

I'm thinking of bidding on one of these on ebay and I was hoping you
guys could give me some more info on it. I know it doesn't have AC-3,
or S-Video. I know its got doubled sided play and stuff. What I want
to know, is it a good player in terms of video and audio, quality of
construction, ect.

Thanks for anything you guys can help me with!

[unclejr]

It's a low- to mid-level player. The CLD-3080 has more features and
is a better player.

I have a CLD-3070 with AC-3 mod that you can have for pretty cheap if
you are in the market for this level of a player. It was modded and
serviced by Kurtis 7 years ago, but has been boxed up for the past 6
years.

-Junior

[bil...@yahoo.com]

I would say that you should go for the Pioneer LD-V8000, and have the
AC3 mod installed in it.

Cheers,
Bill N. - Long Island, New York

[Kev Haw]

The 2080 is a mediocre player. Not as bad as an entry level Sony player
but the quality of the laserdisc picture is a little weak. You'll notice
chroma and luminence noise on older pan and scan titles, but the newer
remastered laserdiscs will be acceptable.
Unfortunately, in the world of laserdisc players, money equals
quality. The better quality players with legitimately good picture
quality and digital noise reduction were quite expensive when they were
new.
To give you a rough idea... an entry level unit, like the single sided
CLD-1080 cost approx $350 when it was new. At the same time, the top
Elite laserdisc player would have cost several thousand dollars. That
money was actually visible on the screen, in that the picture was
sharper, clearer and more noise-free.
Kevin

[Omega]

Well, my aunt accidentally put a bid on this one so I might end up
with it. But I currently don't have a player so any player, other then
a Sony, would be better then no player. It'll be my first anyway,
since I can't find the big one from 78' the my uncle had to play the
movies he gave me. Thanks for all the help.

[Omega]

Lost the bid anyhow, but how do the Pioneer laserdisc player model
numbers work? Is like a bigger number better, for instance, is a
CLD-2090 higher quality then a 2080?

[Kev Haw]

The older players have lower numbers. The original single side laserdisc
player that could also play cds, was the CLD-1010. That player actually
has a great picture. I had a couple of them.
Later years saw the introduction of double-side playing players. So,
you have the CLD-1080, single-side play, then the CLD-2080 which is
autoflip, and then the CLD-3080 which is higher end with more features.
There's a website that has almost all of the laserdisc players ever
built listed! It's quite extensive and is organized by manufacturer
model years.
http:www.laserdiscarchive.co.uk/

[Kev Haw]

Forgot to mention....the higher number, like a 2070 versus 2080 versus
2090 just refers to model years. Each new model year would see a higher
number.
Kevin

[bil...@yahoo.com]

On Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:44:48 -0500, Kev...@webtv.net (Kev Haw) wrote:

Hello Kevin,

In the Pioneer nubering system, where / what is the break between
consumer and commericial players? It seems to me that regardless of
number, everything that starts "LD-V"nnnn is a comericial machine and
*everything* else is for consumer use. Did I miss the boat on
something??

Thank you,
Bill N.
Dealer's Room Staff
I-Con Science Fiction, Inc.
Holbrook, NY

[Kev Haw]

Yeah, to the best of my knowledge, the LD-V is the designation for
industrial players.
The UK website really has a nice list of Pioneer players. It's amazing
how many models were released during the run of LD.
I've had a few industrial players. An LD-V2200, LDV-8000 and I still
have an LD-V4400, which was the second best of the industrial players.
Back in my ebay days I used to buy up collections, but often the
players came with them. I got to sample dozens of different models of
players.
The older players like the CLD-3080 were very nice quality units.
The consumer age seems to be divided between Pre-Digital Noise
Reduction and Post-Digital Noise Reduction.
What I mean by that is the older players, like the CLD-3080 and the
Elite 95 and the Elite LD S2, had to rely on good processing to put out
a nice, solid, stable noise-free or noise-reduced picture.
After digital noise reduction was developed fully and was in players
like the CLD D703, D704, Elite 79, Elite 99, the native picture the
players put out were terrible for chroma and luminence noise. You HAD to
rely on some mixture of both types(chroma and luminence) of noise
reduction to get a nice, smooth, noise-free picture.
I remember when I had a D704.... for older pan and scan titles like
Pretty Woman, I would have to put DNR on full blown max. On better
produced laserdiscs I could settle for a mid-point setting.
With my Elite 95, I can rely on the native output for a nice clean
stable picture.
Kevin