LD to DVD hardware conversions

[MIPS]

Today I discovered the Pioneer DVD-V7400. It's an Industrial DVD player that answers my question of "what did people do when interactive systems running laserdiscs needed to be upgraded but not completely replaced?

It's about the size of a half-width rack product that works like a DVD player, go figure. The big thing about it however is that it supports the old LaserBarcode and BarcodeCD formats which in the laserdisc days you used to jump to certain parts of the disc. It also of course allows for direct frame access from the remote, just like a laserdisc player would. What makes it all come together though is it has Pioneer's old DB15 D-sub connector on the back that you could use to plug a laserdisc player into a computer or embedded controller. It's electrically, pin and protocol compatible with the old laserdisc system and responds to all the commands I have thrown at it so far. It pretty much solves the entire question about hardware but does not answer what you do about transferring the laserdisc to DVD. If the production who mastered the disc still has the tape to make the DVD, great but otherwise you have to make an exact clone of the disc on a DVD session with no shifting of the frames forwards or back or else things like titles can be missed.

I had a LD rip project I did a while back and threw that in to test. Hey cool, it's like I'm actually using the laserdisc but instead it's a modern digital format!



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