I am often asked where one might look for DiscoVision discs. There are also those who ask about the players as well, but since the current crop of Combination DVD/LD players are very adept at playing DiscoVision titles, that question comes up less often.

What are DiscoVision discs worth? The answer depends on whom you ask, and what title you are trying to obtain. Further complicating the matter is the overall quality of DiscoVision. At its best, it was excellent. At its worst, it was disastrously bad. Even good copies usually have been assembled from several sets. The fact that a majority of the feature films are on 5 sides doesn't help. Some collectors have managed to obtain "pristine" copies of some titles, by having a different disc for each side.

Be prepared to pay some amount of money for some titles. For example, you may very well get a good copy of "Jaws" for $5-$10 but for an excellent copy of "Fellini's Casanova", be prepared to pay upwards of $200. How much is too much? This is best left up to you as the buyer. What is a title worth to you? Is the title available on LaserDisc as a re-issue? Has the title been re-issued on DVD? Blu-ray? Keep in mind that the seller may have invested in literally dozens of copies to come up with one "acceptable" copy of a single film.

Now, where to find the discs themselves. That is a very interesting issue. One might think that thrift stores and pawn shops would be flooded with titles that have been abandoned in favor of the latest Dolby Digital Widescreen Director's Cut edition available on Blu-ray. While this is true to some small degree, the 35+ years that have passed since the death of DiscoVision have taken their toll on the ability to find copies with any quality.

Several places to look for discs include used record stores, pawn shops, estate sales and online auctions or listings. When scouring used record stores or other shops, it is very helpful to carry a disc with you. Since the packaging is basically the same for all titles, it helps the 15 year old clerk (who doesn't even know what a LaserDisc is, let alone what DiscoVision discs look like) identify the DiscoVision version of "Saturday Night Fever" from the Paramount reissue. Pawn shops used to be a good source for DiscoVision titles, but most shops will no longer buy the discs, although on occasion they still turn up. DiscoVision can also turn up at yard and estate sales, but it isn't terribly common. You might also think that stores dealing in used LaserDiscs would have stacks of DiscoVision lying about. This, alas, is also not the case. Most used disc dealers stopped accepting DiscoVision titles. Since the overall quality is not typically on par with what is available today, most stores cannot turn-over (sell to someone) a DiscoVision title. It simply isn't worth the expense to try and move something that may be (and typically is to some degree) defective.

Auction categories for each item are decided by the seller at the time the auction is listed. They will typically appear in a "LaserDisc" section, but don't limit your search to a specific area.


At the left are some typical places to visit in the quest for DiscoVision. The entries at the left include the main auction sites and newsgroup engines on the web. Each link will preload a typical search criteria and execute it in this main window - or in a new browser tab/window (based on website options).


Updated: November 22, 2015
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