RickR

Ep 320: Rad Racer

Nice stuff BB!  Asteroids on 7800 is the BEST home version of Asteroids IMO. 

Nice rick! I have a few laserdiscs myself, but no player to watch them on. Ive always been fascinating by laserdiscs one day ill get my hands on player, but for now ill stick to the vhs tapes

Laserdiscs were the gateway media for me, as Criterion and MGM discs brought Special Features to their line-up.
And since they were too expensive for me to own, I could actually rent out a player for the weekend along with a half-dozen titles and rip through them, sleeplessly, until all commentary and all extras were covered.
It was like film school, with intensely-produced materials by film-lovers who never put together fodder like today's 'film-clip>talking-head>film-clip' marketing approach to extras.
 
Criterion's Magnificent Ambersons had never-before-seen and never-since-seen background info and stills from the original print of Welles unsung classic.
Scorcese breezed through Taxi Driver in a stream of insanely informative and entertaining commentary (I think that one got eventually re-released, not sure).
Midnight Cowboy had loving tributes to every aspect of this stunner.
 
MGM's Bond films had commentary so candid the studio quickly pulled them and recorded new tracks.
 
Laserdisc brought the idea of DVDs as a new staple and we lucked out, eventually.
But yeah, like atarifan mentions, these are a fragile format.
DVDs get scratched to uselessness too easily, and laserdiscs suffer from disc rot, eventually.
 
So far, Blu Rays are cool for this, having more wear-resistant coatings.
But I wonder what the future holds for us movie fans.
 
I'd say, if you're into laserdisc collecting, take the opportunity to get your fave titles with bonus features, if possible, cuz most of these extras have never been released in other formats.
 
Yeah laserdiscs are cool.
And the units are heavy, from what I remember bringing them back.

Well, what can I say....it was free and I love old stuff....
 
There is a pretty lively Laserdisc collector community here, and recently a really nice person in the group offered up a player for free.  I've always been curious about the format.  I've owned a few discs over the years just for the cool giant label art.  And the player was slightly broken...I think you all know my fondness for fixing stuff. 
 
So now I'm the owner of a gigantic top-loader Pioneer Laserdisc player.  It's been fixed, and seems to work great.  Here are some pics along with 3 movies I also received. 
 
I've got to be honest, I don't know what to make of the technology.  I surely do appreciate the evolutionary steps for home video...but this player is absolutely enormous!  It must weigh 30 pounds easily.  Takes up my entire workbench.  These movies come on two discs, which means 2 side flips and 1 disc swap for one movie!
 
Anyways, I'm very thankful for the generosity of the guy who gave this to me, and I'm going to keep and enjoy it. 
 
Anyone else have any opinions or memories of this technology?
 
 

I think Lance at V61 knows someone that use to deal with Commodore stuff.  He might be able to point you in the right direction.  I'll see what I can find.  I don't have a C64 myself so I can't help in that department.
 
So far I found a place that sells them...but they are in the UK.  I'll share the link should you be interested.  
 
http://store.retroleum.co.uk/c64-chips
 
They recommend placing a heatsink on the SID to keep it from overheating.  I"ll post more if I find them.

I tested the Neo Geo with a game, and it worked fine. Such a cool thing to find in a junk box! Wow!

The fuse is fine.

PIN 28 of the SID chip is 12V, and PIN 25 reads 5V, so the board is fine.  I think the SID chip itself is broken.
 
Does anyone here have a spare?  Or maybe a broken 64 I could use as a donor? 

I've tried RF and a composite cable. Both have the same issue. I also tried two different power adapters. But then ran out of time. Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming! When I get time, I'll open her up and probe with a voltmeter. My hope is that it's just a fuse on the 9V line.

Cool video!
 
Wet wipes to Greenween....STAT!

Nice stuff BB!  Asteroids on 7800 is the BEST home version of Asteroids IMO. 

I tested the Neo Geo with a game, and it worked fine. Such a cool thing to find in a junk box! Wow!

I tested the Neo Geo with a game, and it worked fine. Such a cool thing to find in a junk box! Wow!

Whoopsie.  Bad news.  No sound.  Could just be a blown fuse.  But that's a project for another day sadly. 

I've tried RF and a composite cable. Both have the same issue. I also tried two different power adapters. But then ran out of time. Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming! When I get time, I'll open her up and probe with a voltmeter. My hope is that it's just a fuse on the 9V line.

I tested the Neo Geo with a game, and it worked fine. Such a cool thing to find in a junk box! Wow!

Awesome find!  I agree with Max...it is in good hands now.  I would have to say that the discoloration is mostly going to be everything below the light-stripe on the top.  The inside of the machine should show you what color the plastic was originally.  
 
As for sound...if changing a fuse don't work you might try changing the audio IC.  How are you connecting it?  Can you use the monitor out to see if there is sound that way or, if you are using it, can you try the RF out?  Just trying to help with some suggestions and ideas.

Nice!   That Neo-Geo Pocket was a definitely a jaw dropper.    

Nice stuff BB!  Asteroids on 7800 is the BEST home version of Asteroids IMO. 

Nice stuff BB!  Asteroids on 7800 is the BEST home version of Asteroids IMO. 

Whoopsie.  Bad news.  No sound.  Could just be a blown fuse.  But that's a project for another day sadly. 

Here is the finished product.  Sparkly clean, and it smells good too.  You can see the discoloration that has a nice sharp line along the very top edge. Weird.  I don't know which is discolored...the top edge or the majority of the top.  I think the majority...it seems too dark and not quite the right shade of brown.  Makes you wonder how the heck that happened.
 
The other nice thing is that the keyboard works a lot better now.  It needed several direct pushes on some keys before.  But now, back to normal.  Good ol' toothbrush with soapy water did the trick. 
 
 

Found a C64 at Goodwill and it actually works!  It  needs a cleaning badly.  Very dirty and smells of smoke.  So here are some pics of the unit in its original condition.  Please note the cardboard RF shield -- Commodore was notorious for cutting costs everywhere they could, but this is ridiculous.  Take some pride, Commodore!  Sheesh. 
 
 

Here is the finished product.  Sparkly clean, and it smells good too.  You can see the discoloration that has a nice sharp line along the very top edge. Weird.  I don't know which is discolored...the top edge or the majority of the top.  I think the majority...it seems too dark and not quite the right shade of brown.  Makes you wonder how the heck that happened.
 
The other nice thing is that the keyboard works a lot better now.  It needed several direct pushes on some keys before.  But now, back to normal.  Good ol' toothbrush with soapy water did the trick. 
 
 

Whoopsie.  Bad news.  No sound.  Could just be a blown fuse.  But that's a project for another day sadly.