AC3 RF Demodulator for Laserdisc players, and AC3 upgrades

[Andy_C]

My amp doesn't have an RF demodulator. So I'm thinking of getting one.

I'll also need to upgrade my player (CLD-2950) to output AC3 too!

I have found some circuits on the net, and am handy with a soldering iron, but I found <a href="http://www.bde.de/index-bde.htm">this German site - BDE</a> who are selling a kit that upgrades your player to AC3 and also does the RF demodulation. There is also a <a href="http://www.soundlabsgroup.com/BDE/BDE_RF_Demodulator.htm">reseller in oz</a> who sells their kits.

Has anyone heard of them?

Or have you a spare RF demodulator for sale?

Or have you upgraded a Laserdisc player for AC3 output?

[Ragnar]

Back in the day when LD's were all the rage, there was a firm based in or near Oxford called Videotech (I think), who were the guys to see if you wanted any type of modification to a LD player, especially AC-3 upgrades.

Don't know if they are still around, though I'm sure I saw them mentioned in these forums not that long ago.

As for the demodulator, I know Yamaha made a seperate one, & I think Denon did aswell, you could try some of the Hi-fi or Home Cinema shops who do trade ins, they may still have a second hand one laying around, or you could try & pick up an old first generation Dolby Digital AV amp, may of these had built in demodulaters as the only Dolby Digital software at the time was Laserdisc.

[Andy_C]

Yeah, I've found Videotec on the net, but they are pretty expensive for just the basic AC3 upgrade which I think I can do myself with a bit of veroboard and a soldering iron. The cost for the entire operation (upgrade + sending the player there and back) is £139 - almost the price I paid for the player.

:(

Plus on top of that there's the cost of the demodulator - £99.

I think I'll just go down the route of the DIY AC3 conversion and buying the demodulator from Videotec - but having a kit that did all the demodulating within the player would be nice too...

So it looks like this will cost me a pretty penny just to get DD 5.1 from my current player. Was there every any Laserdisc players released that had a built in demodulator (eg the LD/DVD combined players by Pioneer)? It might be more worthwhile me buying a second hand machine...