The death of Laserdisc

I have held out for a long time. I think I even liked the shock value when I would tell people, "Yeah, I still have one of those". But no more. Not after last night. I decided to watch Lost Highway with Daniel. It is one of the few movies that I own on Laser that has not come out in one form or another on DVD in the US (It has apparently come out in Pan and Scan in Canada - more on that in a bit). So I decided to open my box of laserdiscs and plop it into the player. I should have known something was up from the get-go. The image was fill of pixelations due to laser rot. I decided to keep watching the movie, thinking that I needed to go through my collection and see which discs were OK and which were kaput.

An hour into the movie, it's time to flip the disc. Thankfully, I own a model of player that flips the laser so that it can read the other side. Sadly, as I went to the other room for a sec, the player gave up and began to make this horrible rattling noise. After a half hour of trying, it was no use. Not only had my player died, but my precious Lost Highway laserdisc was stuck inside. Now I have to figure out what to do. The player is giving a diagnostic code, but I am thinking if I call Pioneer, will anyone still know the old codes?? Also, where would I find a place that someone can fix the player for a reasonable price? I think it's time to dump the discs on Ebay. I know I can at least get some good money for my Star Wars box set, and maybe a few bucks here and there for some others. I also might try Amoeba records in Hollywood. I know they buy lasers as well.

It is really sad. An end to an era for sure. But I am determined to finish watching Lost Highway, so I bid on a Canadian P&S DVD. I want widescreen, but there are no region 1 ones out there. I hope they release it in the US at some point in widescreen with extras and such. I figured the only other way to watch the movie would be to get rent a video which is Pan & Scan, so I might as well get a DVD for less than 10 bucks.

Another surprise was a quick visit from Matt. It was great to see him! I haven't seen him since last year, and before that it was almost three years. He was driving home from San Diego, and happen to pass Disneyland as I was getting off work. We were able to hang out for almost two hours before he got back on the road. It was cool to catch up, and I am hoping that we get to see more of each other soon. He ended up getting home at 3am - almost 9 hours after leaving my house due to an accident in Burbank on the I-5. Yeesh. I don't know how he made it!