Karaoke Forums

Lonny,

I picked up a Pioneer Laser Karaoke machine with CD+G Model CLD-V880.

Is this a good one?

Dennisgb,

I realize you asked for lonman, but figured I'd toss my in here anyway.

I personally have the Pioneer CLD-121G, V10, 860, & the 888. If you keep regular maintainance on them, they're all workhorses. I've bought them all, except for the V10, used,...took them to be caibrated and cleaned professionally, and just did the "dustin' and cleanin" myself since that initial investment. Also, a kj friend of mine has the 880 as you, and he absolutely loves it. He's had it, and still uses it, for years with no problems. He, like I or anyone else who owns those type of players, just "maintains" it, and sends it in (about once a year) for a professional calibration and cleaning. Something like a tune-up and lube job for your car. Just thought I'd share.

Donny "B"

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Wanna buy a stack of Lasers?

PLK001 to PLK057 can all be yours asking price is $2000.

Thanks for the responses.

$2000 seems a little high...could you get them appraised on Antiques Roadshow to verify value?

I have 3 of the 880s, an 860, a 760 & 121G, along with the V10 dual tray cdg only player. Keep them maintained & they won't die. These will usually read discs better than any of the other brands out there including burned discs. The only one I have problems with is the oldest 121 which had a weaker laser than the others, it doesn't read cdg's very well anymore.

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I also have the majority of the lasers... the original series PKL001-57, 201-211, the xmas one, and the children's one...

Too much, I won't pay more than $20 each for a laser anymore. Put them on e-bay though, you may get lucky.

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Lonny,

What I can't figure out is that I picked this up fairly cheap ($25). This has a nice single tray CD+G player as well as LD and VCD. No one ever suggests these to someone looking for a CD+G player. Sure it's a little bigger, but the price is right.

Because nobody wants the bulky laser players anymore is basically why. Even though they still play cdg & this model VCD as well, people don't normally associate the cdg capability with the old laser players which is why they get left out of the recommends!

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more than that, if you have problems with it, it's near impossible to find someone to WORK on it.

The advantage of new machines is... they're serviceable!

I picked up a couple of used laser karaoke players for my lasers... because if one goes out, I won't be able to get another, unless it's like that, cheap on ebay!

Thanks for the responses you guys.

It's sort of strange, that there are so many different formats, and some of the "good" stuff is on the old format, but we shun it because of the technology. I decided I wanted some of the Pioneer karaoke stuff in my collection, so that's why I went this way. I couldn't figure out if the Pioneer DVD's were the same songs as the Laser Disc's, and the Pioneer CD+G's are hard to find, but the Laser's are still out there. It's a bit spendy to get them all, but I figured it was worth it to have them in my collection.

BTW, Pioneer made a LD player with DVD too. So you have all of the formats on one machine.

Dennis gb,

Yes they did. It's the Pioneer DVL-888, the model after the 880. Excellent unit. I have one, and never brought it to "gig" with. I use my 121 ( actually have 3 ) and my V10 for that.
Like lonnie (and I) pointed out, just keep up on the "maintain"ence, and they'll last a VERY long time. Kinda like the old Chysler slant 6 engine...they just don't die. BTW, I got my entire collection of Pioneer Laser discs from various sellers on Ebay. If I remember correctly, I think I paid no more than $650 for the set from 1 - 57, including some of the 200 & 300 seies as well. $2000 is a little "outrageous" for them now-a-days, considering that sometimes you can get complete sets for around $700-$800, with the 30 or 50 disc "holders". You have to search...but they're out there. The videos aside, some of the versons on the lasers are still considered the best ever made, and there's a few not re-released on various other formats. So...it's nice to be able to offer those when no one else in the area has them. Good luck with the new "toy" and enjoy those "vintage" discs.

Donny "B"

BTW: I've seen the 888 go for under $400 in some instances on Ebay....that's a steal considering what they went for new. Especially if they've been well taken care of.

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the v555 is the dvd player, and the v888 is the laser disc combo player.

knightshow,

Correct. The v555 plays audio cd, cd+g, vcd, and dvd. The DVL-888 plays audio cd, cd+g, vcd, dvd, plus the laser discs, plus it has 2 mic inputs as opposed to the single on the v555.

Donny "B"

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It's a wonderful life!!

* Update *

I started converting disks with 880 last night.

I played around with it and found the Multiplex on the Pioneer is far superior to my old JVC single disk CD+G player.

Back in the day I would run some VCD multiplex disks in my shows, and never got the JVC to play on both speakers for karaoke.

This Pioneer machine does a fabulous job on giving a very clean 2 channel output. Particularly on the old "Original Footage Karaoke" disks, that I never could get to multiplex properly for karaoke.