What was the last laserdisc to be released?
Brian W
to recall getting the DTS 'Blade' disc back in 1999, I think this was near
the end of LD's time. I think many scheduled released got cancelled after
this (unless I'm wrong!)
pmjones
For the US, I thought it was that cheesy Ahnuld movie "End of
Days" . . . . but I could be mistaken.
On Jul 25, 6:52 am, "Brian W" <brian.wescombeSOD...@ntlSPAMworld.com>
wrote:
pmjones
lddb.com shows Sleepy Hollow came out in October of 2000. That would
make it the last release, I believe. Good question, tho . . . .
(was that really 7 years ago, already? goodness.)
> > this (unless I'm wrong!)- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
LunarJetman1970
BRINGING OUT THE DEAD (LV335643-WS) and SLEEPY HOLLOW (LV329623-WS)
were both released in October 2000 in the US, and I'm sure these were
the last ones for the USA.
For Japan, It was TOKYO RAIDERS (PILF-2870) in September 2001 I think,
and the last 'US' film was THE CELL (PILF-2868) sometime in July.
All the Best
LJ
LunarJetman1970
seems END OF DAYS was the last AC3 LD in the US - Released in April
2000. Kind of an ironic name dont you think ;o)
mark foster
I find it hard to believe that any laserdiscs were still being
released that late. My god, the DVD era was in full swing by then.
"Sleepy Hollow" and "End of Days" were surely available at a much
cheaper price on DVD at that point, weren't they??
Plus, I'm sure Ken Crane's was fully converted to DVD by that time.
They had already changed their name by then to DVD Planet.
TB
> I find it hard to believe that any laserdiscs were still being
> released that late. My god, the DVD era was in full swing by then.
> "Sleepy Hollow" and "End of Days" were surely available at a much
> cheaper price on DVD at that point, weren't they??
>
> Plus, I'm sure Ken Crane's was fully converted to DVD by that time.
> They had already changed their name by then to DVD Planet.
I live a few miles from Ken Cranes/DVD Planet and bought my first laserdisc
(Criterion King Kong box set) back around '83 I think when they were a small
store in the Westminster Mall.
I think Sleepy Hollow as well as End of Days and especially The Matrix were
pressed in very small numbers and pretty much sold out at list price within
a week or so of their release, well before KC started cutting their prices
and selling off their LD inventory. The only other significant LD release I
recall coming out in the last few months of the format was 3 Hallmark Hammer
Horror titles (Vampire Circus, Countess Dracula and Twins of Evil) that I
had heard only about 500 copies were pressed.
During this timeframe, the Pioneer warehouse in Long Beach or Torrance also
had several huge sales. Now that was something. You had hundreds of
people, some with shopping carts lined up early in the morning outside the
warehouse and when they opened the doors, they had pallets of once-prime box
sets like Amadeus, Platoon, ET for with 75% or more markdowns and people
were literally filling shopping carts in minutes with these titles.
T.B.
mark foster
wrote:
I'm very curious about what Ken Crane's store was like when laser
discs first started in 1984. Did they carry pre-recorded videotapes
back then too? How did they survive on the meager number of laserdisc
titles available back then?
And what was it like inside that store by, say, 1993 or 1994 when
laserdiscs were at their peak? Was it sort of like walking into a
huge candy store...not quite knowing where to start or how to narrow
down your list of desired titles?
I'd be curious to know your thoughts about the place and how it
changed over the years? Was it usually crowded with customers? Was
it laid out like Tower Records...or was it all in one big room?
Torsten
wrote:
> Just checked good old LDDB to be sure - always an interesting site. It
> seems END OF DAYS was the last AC3 LD in the US - Released in April
> 2000. Kind of an ironic name dont you think ;o)
:-) Nice coincidence, the name.
Regarding the last US pressed laserdisc: there was a small lot (400)
of an Arcade LD pressed in 2001 (at least this is what I've *heard*).
It was the Dragon's Lair Special Collectors Edition, made by an Arcade
fan group in cooperation with Don Bluth (famous Disney animator, and
creator of Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, and other games). The lot was
ordered already in 2000 or earlier, but then the work got delayed
because the enthusiasts wanted to get all special scenes onto the LD
which did not make it onto the original LDs in 1983. I was told that
those 400 discs were pressed in 2001 as the last run of the ?Imation?
north america plant, literally a few hours before they closed their
doors. I'm glad they managed to produce this run, because Dragon's
Lair LDs become more and more rare. A whole lot of them (which means
millions of copies pressed by Philips in 1983) have long been rotted
to hell, and the Special Edition can be operated in real Arcade
machines (using an appropriate ROM code). I own one copy (mine is #58
of 400), so this is evidence that the disc exists, but for the facts
and dates I'm not completely sure.
rgds, Torsten
Torsten
precious disc from the shelf. What should I say, the mentioned Special
Edition was done in 2002 !!! What a surprise, I did not remember that
it was done *that* late in the game. I made some photos for you:
http://www.h-plus-t.com/misc/DLSE_Cover.jpg
http://www.h-plus-t.com/misc/DLSE_SideA.jpg
http://www.h-plus-t.com/misc/DLSE_SideB.jpg
Enjoy!
TB
(snip)
> I'm very curious about what Ken Crane's store was like when laser
> discs first started in 1984. Did they carry pre-recorded videotapes
> back then too? How did they survive on the meager number of laserdisc
> titles available back then?
When they had their small store in the 2nd level of the Westminster mall, it
was a pretty small store that was basically an offshoot of their
electronics/stereo chain that was growing at the time. Basically, they has
a few racks of laserdisc titles against one wall and stereo and video
equipment which was their main focus. I do not recall them having any
pre-recorded vhs tapes although I think they carried blank tapes. I remember
when I bought my first LD player, which was a Sylvania 7200 top-loading LD
player (which incidently kept working through 1999 when I sold it on eBay) I
went out and blew something like $500 on my first batch of LDs including the
Criterion King Kong at Ken Cranes.
> And what was it like inside that store by, say, 1993 or 1994 when
> laserdiscs were at their peak? Was it sort of like walking into a
> huge candy store...not quite knowing where to start or how to narrow
> down your list of desired titles?
When they moved to their stand-alone store on Beach Blvd in the late
80's/early 90's, yeah that store was fairly big and completely focused on
selling laserdiscs. It was the *only* store in Orange County (with the
exception of a home theater store who rented and sold LDs in Anaheim or
Placentia) that carried Japanese LD imports. I bought almost all my import
LDs including about 90% of the Godzilla Toho monster flicks there and many
music LDs and rare titles like "Song of the South.". They did have a pretty
huge selection of most currently available titles and they had some really
dedicated, knowledgeable guys working there who were very responsible for
making that store the premier place in Southern CA to buy laserdiscs.
> I'd be curious to know your thoughts about the place and how it
> changed over the years? Was it usually crowded with customers? Was
> it laid out like Tower Records...or was it all in one big room?
It was one big room although they kept the adult LDs in a small separate
room. They really prospered during the mid 90's and the store was by far
the best place to not only find a title, but they always at least had 20%
off list price while anyone else who carried LDs like Tower Records, always
sold *at* list price. They had a pretty loyal customer base and even on the
slowest of days, there would be a couple dozen people browsing at any given
time. Weekends or days where they had bi-annual sales could be a madhouse.
As dvds began to take hold, one side of the store first had one row of dvds,
then that expanded to two, then three and more until the room was half dvds,
half LDs and anyone could see the LD format's days were numbered. In the
late 90's, I believe "Ken Crane" sold his stake in the store (to Image
Entertainment perhaps?) right as the internet mail order boom began and
their customer service really dropped in quality. Once they changed their
name to "DVD Planet" and sold off their LD inventory, the business bore
little resemblance to what it was. Staff turnover seemed really high and
they wound up moving the store to another location a couple miles away in a
similar sized store.
Today, DVD Planet is still a good place to buy dvds, however they seem to
exclude some key titles when they are first released (that one could finds
at any Best Buy or other B&M store) and don't get them in for weeks after
their street date, notably many new music dvds for unknown reasons. Their
prices are fairly competitive, especially on Criterion releases which they
heavily support.
T.B.
mark foster
wrote:
Thanks for taking the time to respond to my questions. Interesting.
What caught my attention was the business about walk-in customers
getting 20% off. I bought hundreds of LD's from Ken Crane's over the
years, but strictly through mail order....all at 10% off list price
with free shipping, but $1.50 handling charge per order regardless of
quantity purchased. Actually, that wasn't too bad considering I never
had to pay sales tax....plus, I was on their mailing list so I was
able to buy a lot of titles that were on sale or closed out at very
low prices.
I do remember their sales staff never gave me any hassle about
returning and exchanging defective discs.
I would have loved to have browsed through the store back in the
mid-90's.
Thanks again.
Blaine Young
their facility in California in 1999 and it was converted to strictly
DVD. The last handful of titles issued in the US, including "End of
Days", "Bringing Out the Dead" and "Sleepy Hollow", were all pressed
in Japan.
An important note on this Dragon's Lair disc - it is frame equivelent
to the original 1983 US discs, so it will play in any DL cabinet
running any version of ROM. The one exception is that it DOES NOT
work on the original PR-7820 players. That player requires a pilot
signal be encoded, which Imation/3M could do - but since the producers
didn't request it be included, Imation left it off by default. The
disc will work in any other player.
Blaine
On Thu, 26 Jul 2007 06:01:55 -0700, Torsten <dont_...@h-plus-t.com>
wrote:
Torsten
> This was indeed the last disc produced in the US. Pioneer had sold
> their facility in California in 1999 and it was converted to strictly
> DVD. The last handful of titles issued in the US, including "End of
> Days", "Bringing Out the Dead" and "Sleepy Hollow", were all pressed
> in Japan.
>
> An important note on this Dragon's Lair disc - it is frame equivelent
> to the original 1983 US discs, so it will play in any DL cabinet
> running any version of ROM. The one exception is that it DOES NOT
> work on the original PR-7820 players. That player requires a pilot
> signal be encoded, which Imation/3M could do - but since the producers
> didn't request it be included, Imation left it off by default. The
> disc will work in any other player.
>
> Blaine
Blaine,
I'm so glad to hear you can confirm the story which I know only from
hearsay. Though, I simply could have asked Jeff, Warren, or David
Foster (CEO of Digital Leisure, the company which is releasing
Dragon's Lair and other Bluth Games on HD-DVD and BD), who I know from
occasionally chats and talks. So that means Disc 400/400 would be the
VERY last LD produced in the US (by the sequential number printed on
the disc label).
I haven't actually played my disc so I forgot the fact that the frame
numbers match the ones of the original LD from 1983. Worth to note
(for an Arcade collector) is the fact that the special edition LD
contains additional footage, which was appended at the end of the
disc. Using special ROM chips, those scenes can be played in a real DL
arcade machine. The same additional scenes have been added to the
recently released DVD and HD-DVD versions of Dragon's Lair, which can
be played on a standard DVD or HD-DVD player, simply using the remote.
rgds, Torsten