www.makemkv.com

Is there such a thing as a Laser Disc Drive for a PC (external, of course)?

And would MakeMKV be able to work with the file structure of a Laser Disc if there is?

Otherwise, how do we go about backing-up or ripping content from a Laser Disc?

Laserdiscs don’t have a file structure, they’re much closer to a VHS tape than a DVD. Your best bet would to hook a Laserdisc player to a video capture card.

Sunoo wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 13, 2023 3:48 am

Laserdiscs don’t have a file structure, they’re much closer to a VHS tape than a DVD. Your best bet would to hook a Laserdisc player to a video capture card.

Agreed. LaserDisc is analog, not digital. A video capture card is the way to go.

You need a "Domesday Duplicator" and a lot of time on your hands.
Tech Tangents on Youtube recently explored LD ripping on his channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDlbwl3f39Q for part 1
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RduEpIiG0O0&t=0s for part 2

Wow! That "Domesday Duplicator" project is incredible, and right at the end of the second video, he answered a question that popped into my head as soon as I started watching the first video...

Being that, a similar method can be used to rip the raw data from magnetic tape as well!

I'm not sure I want to go through all that for LD, especially as I don't even own a single disc! (I was inquiring because a particular title that I already have on DVD and Blu-ray has an Open Matte version available only on LD.)

However... I have done and do (do?) a lot of VHS transfers, but the quality is just abysmal from most tapes. So it might be worth looking at the "Domesday Duplicator" for use on VHS.

Especially if copies from multiple VHS tapes can also be "stacked" as they're doing with multiple copies of LDs.