Disney movies on Laserdisc?

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Compare the $35 pricetags for a new Blu-Ray Disc to the $100+ pricetags for a new laserdisc where the major bonus was original aspect ratio, a trailer, and alternate audio tracks.

LDs weren't exactly cheap, but, in all fairness, for $100+ we were in most cases talking about box sets with at least three discs and a lot of extras.

[blackcauldron85]

I'll consider getting it, but it's at the bottom of my DVDs-To-Get-List. I wonder if the DMC will sell Blu-Rays...

Thanks for the advice, Escapay!

[Lars Vermundsberget]

And, thanks sooo much Lars! I now know that, when and if the time comes, I won't be getting the "Mulan" LD (I only speak English!, and I won't get any PAL LDs.

I wouldn't expect you to, and I wouldn't really recommend it, either.

On the other hand, I don't know that much French myself, but in certain cases that still won't stop a slightly crazy collector.

[Lars Vermundsberget]

A few other instances I can think of is the Aladdin LD which contains the 1992 TV Special, the Lion King LD which has its 1994 TV Special and the theatrical trailer, and a Pocahontas LD which has a different audio commentary and complete pencil animation for "If I Never Knew You".

I suppose the Aladdin LD you're referring to would be the Japanese box set, one that I never got my hands on. On the one that, to my knowledge, is the nicest American release, the only supplemental piece, beside letterbox format, CAV, THX and a nice cover, was a trailer (or at least I think there was a trailer).

Also, I'm not sure, but I think a Fantasia LD has a different documentary/featurette than the 47-minute one on the DVD.

Yes, it's different, although I guess the running time is more or less the same. This was my very first piece of Disney animation "extra" material, therefore highly treasured - and I'm sure it's also one of the first such pieces released. I got a VHS box set of Fantasia in 1993. I remember that I eagerly sucked up every piece of information I could - and every little snippet of then-unseen (or unheard-of) animation.

[UncleEd]

What does the Aladdin Japanese set look like so I'd know it when I saw it?


Was the Little Mermaid ever given a packaged treatment? I"ve been doing what BlackCaludron85 is doing for almost a year too. I have a handfull of the box sets but no player yet.


As for disc rot, do we know that it can or can't happen to DVDs and can it happen at any time? If I have an LD that hasn't caught disc rot does that mean I"m safe forever?



Thanks

[UncleEd]

One more thing. Does anyone know if there is an uncensored LD of Fantasia with the black centaurs? I wondered if that is where the online stills come from.

[Escapay]

What does the Aladdin Japanese set look like so I'd know it when I saw it?

Here's a cap of the cover from LDDB:



And here is the link to the LDDB page. Hope that helps!

Was the Little Mermaid ever given a packaged treatment?

Don't know if it qualifies, but a 1998 release contained the short documentary "Under the Sea: The Making of The Little Mermaid" (19 minutes according to imdb), concept art, and the trailer.

Does anyone know if there is an uncensored LD of Fantasia with the black centaurs? I wondered if that is where the online stills come from.

As far as I know, the only *known* version of uncensored Fantasia out there came from a German broadcast of the movie (I think on RTL), which is where widescreen.org got their clips from.

For some time, a couple years ago at least, Lizard King (a UD'er who should post more often) was working on "restoring/enhancing" those clips to make them DVD quality and editing it into the DVD version of Pastoral Symphony in an attempt to create the original version. Don't know the progress of that project, though I'd love to see it come to fruition.

Also, I'm not sure, but I think a Fantasia LD has a different documentary/featurette than the 47-minute one on the DVD.

Yes, it's different, although I guess the running time is more or less the same. This was my very first piece of Disney animation "extra" material, therefore highly treasured - and I'm sure it's also one of the first such pieces released. I got a VHS box set of Fantasia in 1993. I remember that I eagerly sucked up every piece of information I could - and every little snippet of then-unseen (or unheard-of) animation.

Thanks, Lars! How different was it from the 2000 documentary? Was the format the same (a few sections about Fantasia's origins, then a short section for each segment), or entirely different?

Wish I could get ahold of that documentary, as the one on the DVD is great, but I would still like to see the earlier one, for comparison reasons and of course a general interest in how they covered the movie in 1990.

Thanks for the advice, Escapay!

No problem!

Escapay

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Ah, most of those Japanese covers were really beautiful!

Thanks, Lars! How different was it from the 2000 documentary? Was the format the same (a few sections about Fantasia's origins, then a short section for each segment), or entirely different?

Wish I could get ahold of that documentary, as the one on the DVD is great, but I would still like to see the earlier one, for comparison reasons and of course a general interest in how they covered the movie in 1990.

Well, I moved far away from home "for the duration" a while ago unable to bring everything with me, so I haven't got the old documentary ready at hand here and now. But I remember that it was hosted by Michael Tucker. I'd say its overall approach was to put Fantasia into its proper context, in terms of animation history and popular culture. It included a few seconds from Silly Symphonies, the "package features" and "Clair de Lune". All that really set the direction for much of what I'd be searching for over the next several years. I'm really not sure whether the older documentary had specific sections for each of the Fantasia segments, although I'm sure they were all dealt with somehow.

It shouldn't be hard to find - the LD set isn't exactly rare, as far as I understand. I don't know if there is an American (NTSC) VHS box set?

[UncleEd]

I have a laserdisc question that I hope isn’t out of line. All of this talk of disc rot had me wondering, is there a way to copy laserdiscs to DVD to preserve the material from being ruined? I still haven’t got a player yet but I have a few of the Disney box sets. When I was porting my VHS tapes to DVD a few months ago I found out that some obscure ones won’t copy. It’s a shame too because none of this stuff will ever be on DVD and I had no intention of selling it. I just wanted to put everything onto DVD that I have on VHS and the material I can’t buy on DVD I’ve been copying to DVD from VHS. So I wondered if you can do that with LD’s too or is it a no go? I hope it’s okay to ask. I’m not wanting to bootleg movies, I just want to make sure I have this stuff in any form if I get disc rot. Thanks.

[Lars Vermundsberget]

I'm pretty sure it can be done - at least in most cases. There's no particular copy protection on laserdiscs - not that I know of, anyway, even though I guess the Macrovision "quality protection" system could be used on LDs as well as VHS...?

[Hennie]

I have a laserdisc question that I hope isn’t out of line. All of this talk of disc rot had me wondering, is there a way to copy laserdiscs to DVD to preserve the material from being ruined? I

Yes, you can, I have all my laserdiscs copy to dvd

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Don't assume, though, that the material is safe forever on a "home-made" disc - have it checked and perhaps copied again within not too many years. I'd guess that a LD that has been good for ten years is at least as safe as if copied to DVD.

[UncleEd]

When I do this I plan on making a few copies at one time. I've had Cd's go bad on me so I"m sure burned DVDs can too. I thought I would try burning the audio elements such as radio shows to CD too when I do this.


Hennie, can you tell me how you did it? Send me a private message if you don't want to post it.


Now, when you get a laser disc player I read you need some extra equipment to hear the audio. CAn someone please tell me about that?

[Hennie]

I did it with a dvdrecorder, simple, about the sound I don't know, I think it is just stereo though.

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Now, when you get a laser disc player I read you need some extra equipment to hear the audio. CAn someone please tell me about that?

Hmmm, that was probably referring to AC-3/Dolby Digital or DTS tracks, that can be found on quite some laserdiscs, but far from all. Those require some sort of special equipment or connections as far as I understand. Never used them myself, so I can say no more. However, you can play the "ordinary" sound without anything special, so that shouldn't be a problem - unless you're going for the very best in home theater sound, according to some.

[UncleEd]

Can I get a good quality copy with just a DVD recorder or do I need to have one of those computer burners? Sorry for allthe questions but this is all new to me and when I do it I want to do it right. thanks.

[UncleEd]

Can someone who has that Japan Aladdin box set tell me how the Making of film is billed? I founf a guy selling several copies of a LD with that cover but his english is very bad. He said that it includes a trailer for Lionm King, Snow While and A Whole New World. I rememer that making of was called "A Whole New World: THe Making of Aladdin" So I wanted to make sure this is it before I bought it.


Thanmks!

[BambiFan87]

do dvd's go bad like LD's??

[Lars Vermundsberget]

do dvd's go bad like LD's??

Depends on what you're really asking about here...

Apparently, quite some badly manufactured LDs "went bad" after a while ("laser rot"). Not much of a problem so far in my experience. It has also occured that DVDs have "gone bad". But as far as I've heard they don't "go bad" in the same way. A LD will gradually deteriorate, while a DVD most likely becomes useless overnight.

However, I guess we shouldn't expect any of them to last forever...

[The Lizard King]

I have a laserdisc question that I hope isn’t out of line. All of this talk of disc rot had me wondering, is there a way to copy laserdiscs to DVD to preserve the material from being ruined?

I do this routinely. I also capture the DD 5.1 audio from AC-3 LDs and convert the lettterbox widescreen video of the LD to anamorphic widescreen video for DVD.

TLK