LaserDisc Blog Reviews and Movies

"Outrageous and sometimes humorous commentary"

Introducing LaserDisc Database, Store and Blog…

DaDon’s is a Rare LaserDisc Website with over 40,000 LaserDiscs in its Database and over 3,700 Discs in its Store. Designed for the Collector, the site also includes a Blog for LaserDisc Optimization, Reviews and Commentary. Further, you can switch from Database mode to Store mode with a single mouse click. After 6 months of intensive design work, DaDon’s emerges among the fastest sites on the Internet. While serving over 40,000 items with copious use of photographs and graphics, DaDon’s site tests for speed at the top 99 percentile of all sites on the Internet. Further, most pages are validated HTML and CSS, something ignored by many sites in spite of benefits such as greater browser compatibility, speed and security.

Website Technical Architecture
From a technical perspective, DaDon’s utilizes a dedicated Web Server with a highly optimized, Linux operating system, Apache server and MySQL database. The Web Server system consists of a Dedicated Server with 1 Gigabit of bandwidth for static content and a Worldwide network for DNS (Domain Name Servers) and CDN (Content Delivery Network) for dynamic content. These servers are monitored 24/7 and DaDon’s is able to change providers in a matter of minutes in case any Server fails, raising uptime to over 99.99 percent. In addition, DaDon’s utilizes multiple CDN’s in the event of failure. The combination of the above and other techniques has reduced the web page load time by a factor of 30 to 1. Further, due to the Worldwide server locations the page load times are consistently fast throughout the World. Typical load times vary from as little as four-tenths of a second to about 1.5 seconds with a high-speed connection.

Depth of Content
A key strength of DaDon’s website is its focus on LaserDiscs only. For LaserDisc Movies, DaDon’s includes both technical details and movie release details. For example, most movies include the catalog number, sound and video details plus the Cast, Crew and Storyline. In addition, the new Blog should deliver even more information on the optimization of home theaters, with a special focus on LaserDisc viewing.

Exclusive Membership
Due to the exhaustive information and supply of LaserDiscs, DaDon’s members include some of the largest collectors in the world. There you will find Directors, Actors, many successful people and LaserDisc enthusiasts. As a member of DaDon’s, there are a number of benefits such as:

1. Permanent Movie Cart
2. Permanent Wishlist
3. Best Offer
4. Priority Service
5. Free USA Shipping
6. Discounted International Shipping
7. Extended Warranty

For now, Membership is available free. However, membership availability is limited. For the month of July 2010, membership is limited to the first 100 applicants. If you are one of these applicants, you will receive a special bonus of $5 in your Movie Cart to spend as you wish (one per household). In addition, members enjoy exclusive sales and information. For example, there is a holiday sale of 33 percent off for all members during the July 4th weekend.

Coming Attraction – LaserDisc Reviews, Articles and Blog
Initially DaDon’s has posted 7 Articles with many more to come. There will be more detailed information on  the Care of LaserDisc Collections, Home Theater Tips and Tricks, Articles and Commentary.

Founded by an Avid LaserDisc Movie Collector
DaDon is one of the Largest LaserDisc Collectors in the World. Having personally viewed tens of thousands of Movies, DaDon’s was founded by a collector first and foremost with an eye to improving the LaserDisc community. In this, DaDon’s has had many firsts such as extended warranties, double-boxed shipments, insurance and high-performance LaserDisc Website and Blog. Several years ago it was hard to find a provider who even listed the catalog number ! Now it is hard to find one that does not. As a leader in the industry, DaDon’s will continue to improve on the standards and ethics of the LaserDisc community as a whole. It is hoped that by raising the standards of the Industry it will help fuel a revival of the Industry much as happened for vinyl records years ago. In fact, there is some rather striking similarities between the LP Record and the LaserDisc in that they both incorporate analog technology. While the Record had its replacement in the form of a digital 5-inch Disk the LaserDisc was also replaced by a 5-inch Disk.

The Future of the LaserDisc Industry
While production for LaserDiscs and Players has been halted, Collectors continue to upgrade their equipment and add to their collections. The rarest LaserDiscs continue to appreciate in value with the rarest fetching as much as $1500. Therefore, as collectors continue to hoard, while Players and Media become scarcer due to attrition, there will be a turning point where LaserDiscs and their Players become even more collectible. So in the long term, the future of LaserDisc Collecting looks bright !

Learn more about LaserDiscs…

Search LaserDisc Database and Store…

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Building a video library is very rewarding. Many LaserDisc movies and features are not available on DVD. Furthermore, many have special features that are not available elsewhere. The 12 3/8 inch jackets have ample room for artwork and inserts that can not be duplicated in smaller formats. Add natural analog video and uncompressed sound for a more film-like experience and you will see and hear why many movie buffs continue to collect. Below are some suggested ways to collect.

Audio
The best sounding LaserDisc technology is Uncompressed DTS and Uncompressed Dolby Digital AC-3 audio.

DTS Sound
Digital Theater Systems introduced in 1993, its new 6 channel digital encoding system to Movie Theaters worldwide. Technically DTS offers up to 5.1 channels of 20-bit audio with five full-range channels including a subwoofer channel that are encoded on the digital tracks of a DTS LaserDisc. There are over 143 DTS encoded LaserDiscs with approximately 120 unique titles.

Movie Theater Like Sound
With a properly modified Home Theater System, DTS sounds way better than DVD’s! This is because most DVD’s only encode the DTS tracks at 1/2 the bit rate whereas LaserDiscs are full-bit rate encoded.

Dolby Digital AC-3 Audio
Introduced in 1992, Dolby Digital sound is available in Mono, Stereo, and 5.1. Commonly referred to as AC-3 (Audio Codec 3) in the industry. There are over 1,000 Dolby Digital AC-3 encoded LaserDiscs with over 600 unique titles.

Dolby Digital Surround EX
Introduced in 1998, Surround EX is available as 6.1, which added a single rear channel. There are only 8 Dolby Digital Surround EX LaserDiscs and 7 unique titles.

Movie Theater Like Sound
With a properly modified System, Dolby Digital sounds almost as good as DTS and way better than DVD’s! This is because most DVD’s only encode the Dolby Digital tracks at 1/2 the bit rate whereas LaserDiscs are full-bit rate encoded.
Video

The best picture for LaserDiscs is Anamorphic or Squeezed video which offers up to 30 percent more resolution. The history of anamorphically squeezed LaserDiscs is not well documented. It is estimated that the first US squeezed versions were produced in 1994. There were only 4 US titles pressed and these were not available at retail as they were only available with select widescreen televisions. There were 12 unique Japanese squeezed available at retail. Therefore, these squeezed titles are rare and very collectible.
Not on DVD

Would it surprise you to find out that there are over 4,000 titles on LaserDisc that are Not on DVD? This is because many times they are unable to get the rights to transfer the film to DVD because of contractual issues or when certain Actors have passed away!

DVD Transfers
Many DVD’s were transferred from LaserDiscs and not the original film! In addition, there are many DVD’s that are Full Screen when a Widescreen LaserDisc is available.

Some Examples of Not on DVD Movies
Atlantis The Lost Continent 1960 – Sci-Fi
Al Jolson Collection 8 Musicals from the 1930s – Musical
Destiny Turns on the Radio – Cult Sci-Fi
Hyper Sapien People From Another Star – Sci-Fi
The Invaders 1995 – Sci-Fi
It Came From Outer Space II – Sci-Fi
The Kid from Brooklyn 1946 – Drama
Man From U.N.C.L.E. TV Series 1960 – Spy
The Power 1967 – Sci-Fi
Wild, Wild Planet Cult – Sci-Fi

and 1000′s more…

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Welcome LaserDisc Collectors !

This is DaDon’s first Posting ! So, I am excited about the opportunity to comment on the LaserDisc Industry, Movies and Home Theater tips and tricks. Let me know if you have questions that can be answered in future installments. Otherwise, I will just ramble on…

Science Fiction | Sci-fi Movies – Time Travel What Not to say:

Due to my technological background I find myself in a constant state of “suspension of disbelief” when watching sci-fi LaserDiscs. However, there are a few that are just WWTM Way-Way-Too-Much ! For example: Time Travel Movies – when they do an action-time travel movie and the Time Traveler says: “I have got to hurry before it is too late” Say What ? You are a Time Traveler you fool ! You can just go back 10 minutes or 10 years. In fact, you can go back and put Adam and Eve on the pill and spare us the pain of civilization ! Better yet, go back and have a long talk with the future director of the film ! So Directors, please no more “I have got to hurry” Time Travelers !

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LazerDisc Movies, Features and Reviews. Information, Articles and Laser Disc Tips and Tricks.