Rewind to the late 70's.
The VCR was still in it's infancy, VHS and Beta were fighting in the format wars, and the movie theater was still THE hottest place in town.
By now you were able to go the the corner store and rent out a movie to watch but what if you were one of those folks who had the stunningly large (and expensive) projection television and watching tapes on that made you feel like you were missing out on the whole point you got such a big TV?
In modern terms, you buy a 1080p TV, but only watch DVD's on it.
Well you didn't have to look far.
In 1978 the first consumer available optical video medium and player was released to the public. Initially it was named DiscoVision but when Pioneer purchased the technology, a new common design technology was designed that today we call LaserDisc.
[img]http://www.laserdiscplanet.com/images/Popular_Science_FEB_1977.jpg[/img]
[b]What is it?[/b]
To further explain what it is, a Laserdisc is like a record in that it's standard size (it was also made in a smaller and less common 8" format) is similar to a record, material is recorded on the laserdisc through purely analog methods (there are no files, there is no formatting, the material is simply burned or pressed into the disc in a spiral fashion) but unlike the vinyl record, the Laserdisc can store both multi-channel audio AND video.
Initially, each side of the disc held 30 minutes of content but by the end of its life the capacity had doubled to 60 minutes per side.
[b]What does it play on?[/b]
The laserdisc is designed to be played in conjunction with an obviously named, Laserdisc player.
[img]http://www.videointerchange.com/images/Laserdisc.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.rewindmuseum.com/images3/laserdisc.gif[/img]
As seen above, the players came in two common configurations. Initially there were only top loading units which were very function limited (play, stop, and pause) but later on this style was replaced with more increasing advanced (play, pause, stop, fast forward, rewind, jog, indexing, and even external computer control) front tray loading units. These players were always very large and for the most part, VERY heavy. As technology advanced, these players also integrated other formats such as the ability to play audio CD's, Karaoke CD's, Video CD's, and at the very end you could even use them to play DVD's.
The contents of the disc was read back by a laser (the first players used real Neon lasers, later ones used conventional diode lasers) which returned it back into a digital format and from there the video was dropped back down to analog and outputted as RF, composite, S-video or even Component video, the audio was also dropped down to analog as well and mixed with video at the RF jack, or sent to the classic L R RCA jacks...OR in later units it was kept digital and outputted as an SPDIF optical audio signal.
Some players also added additional convenience to the operator by automatically switching the currently playing disc side, not by flipping the disc, but by reversing the rotation of the disc and moving the laser to the other side of the disc.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8qmJ2XkRIw[/media]
[b]Okay, so we know about the disc and the player...what about movies?[/b]
Hold on, I was getting to that.
Laserdiscs were not a technological flash and fizz. While it was not as popular, hundreds, if not [i]thousands[/i] of titles were released for laserdisc.
[img]http://www.troyreynolds.com/wp-content/uploads/Movie%20Laserdisc.jpg[/img][img]http://cdn3.iofferphoto.com/img/item/131/837/443/predator-a-schwarzenegger-j-ventura-1988-laserdisc-50f9a.jpg[/img]
[img]http://cdn2.iofferphoto.com/img/item/289/542/16/termlaz.jpg[/img][img]http://cdn3.iofferphoto.com/img/item/165/923/981/IWWb.jpg[/img]
That's just a few movies. In Asia, the market exploded. Almost EVERYTHING could be found on laserdiscs from karaoke to anime (Cowboy Bebop is one example) and even porn!
The discs were normally stored in a thin cardboard sleeve with a plastic insert to not scratch the disc (more on that later) and were the same packaging size as a record so you could steal a milk crate and fit them in there along with your Pink Floyd, Mozart, and Floyd Kramer records.
Today laserdiscs are still quite common to find. I myself own over 175 different movies.
[IMG]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Bedroom/P3123810.jpg[/IMG]
With my records included, that's five milk crates full of discs.
It wasn't only movies that were available on laserdiscs. Laserdiscs also found a niche in commerce. Some companies ([url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFH9nqAcv-8&feature=related]Apple[/url] is one notable company) used them as a ROM medium for information kiosks, other discs were bundled with special software so that on certain laserdisc players you could use the software with the disc to work with interactive material like early encyclopedias with graphic or video elements.
There was also a WORM (Write Once, Read Many) format that was later released where you could either burn your own video or even data onto modified discs that fit inside an oversized Magneto-optical cartridge for archival purposes. I also own one of these cartridges and they are so large that the carrying case for one includes a handle.
These last two formats however were generally strictly for commercial use as the recorders were expensive.
The coined name for the Data
It's well known among Laserdisc fans that the first movie ever released on laserdisc was Jaws back in 1978.
[b]Okay, so this looks like the sexiest thing since sliced french bread. What's the downside?[/b]
For starters, forget the price of the player, the discs were VERY expensive. Some of the first discs cost $120+ in 1979. That was unheard of for a movie. At that price you were normally better off going to the director's house and sitting on the couch with him as you all watched the movie.
Secondly, the players were also expensive as well as they are heavy and large. The average price for a player in 1984 was around $600. They were however very reliable. Even some of the original neon laser players still work trouble free to this day.
Thirdly, because the discs were anlalog, the medium had to be kept clean and scratch-free at all costs. Any inperfections between the optical pickup and the material on the disc would show up as noise during playback.
Some discs also ahve a problem where over time they suffer from "disc rot" where moisture gets in between the sandwitch which makes up the disk and causes the recorded surface to degrade. The most infamous movie to have this is Contact as 70% of all the pressed discs made came from one factory where there was a flaw in the manufacturing process.
On top of all this, the Laserdisc was fighting for the same market that VHS and Beta were in. Through the 80's Beta lost and the nail in the coffin that sealed the fate of the Laserdisc was made with the DVD whose digital recording and palyback methods far surpassed everything that laserdisc was capable of.
Laserdiscs continued to get released right up until the very end. The last movie ever released on laserdisc in North Maerica was Sleepy Hollow however a few more titles were released in Japan right up until 2001 when Pioneer ceased production fo the discs.
The 1998-99 statistics showed that 2% of american homes owned a laserdisc palyer while 10% of japanese homes owned a laserdisc player. Approximately 16.8 million laserdisc palyers were sold worldwide.
In Back to the Future II, it was briefly shown and assumed that laserdiscs would be so common and cheap by the year 2015 that you would find them bundled in huge bails in alleyways. Today the laserdisc is all but forgotten. Now banished to the same span of history as the VHS tape which beat it out in the end. More modern technologies like the DVD and more recently Blu-Ray discs have stepped up to carry on the tradition of delivering media to us on a circular piece of shiny plastic.
[b]So you know a fair bit. Do you recommend any movies on laserdisc?[/b]
-Tron
-The Towering Inferno
-The Wizard of Speed and time
Speaking of the last one (actually, all of them), there were a lot of movies that were released on VHS that also had a Laserdisc release. A lot of the movies I recommend for laserdisc I only recommend because for some of the movies, the laserdisc version is the highest quality version that was ever released and to date, no DVD or Blu-ray versions have shown up (save for Tron but it's more epic to wave around a giant disc with the movie on it than a wimpy little disc).
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laserdisc]Additional information on the Laserdisc can be found here on the Wikipedia page.[/url]
It's funny, I grew up in the early '80s and I never heard of or saw laserdiscs until the late '90s. I think my response was "Whaaaa?" I'm actually suprised this is an invention of the '70s and that it took so long to get something smaller, cheaper and better.
[quote]They were however very reliable. Even some of the original neon laser players still work trouble free to this day.[/quote]
Unlike the XBox 360. Gonna be on my third console soon, if I decide to buy another. Fucking ripoff.
[QUOTE=GodKing;27687455]It's funny, I grew up in the early '80s and I never heard of or saw laserdiscs until the late '90s. I think my response was "Whaaaa?" I'm actually suprised this is an invention of the '70s and that it took so long to get something smaller, cheaper and better.
Unlike the XBox 360. Gonna be on my third console soon, if I decide to buy another. Fucking ripoff.[/QUOTE]
Then you fail, i'm still on my first.
Anyway i always thought laserdisc was something to oppose dvd but i didn't know it came out 20 years earlier than that!
How do I fail? I didn't build it.
[QUOTE=MIPS;27685968][b]What does it play on?[/b]
The laserdisc player is designed to be played in conjunction with an obviously named, Laserdisc player.[/QUOTE]
Which is designed to be played on a laserdisc player, which requires a laserdisc player, which, also, operates on a laserdisc player.
Laserdisc player.
[editline]27th January 2011[/editline]
It's laserdisc players all the way down.
[img]http://www.searchenginepeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/laserdisc.jpg[/img]
Their size always gives me a good giggle.
We have a bunch of Laserdisc movies, too bad the player is broken.
(Star Wars/Jurassic Park/Top Gun)
When I was in Japan last summer, the Book-Off stores had an entire section devoted to laserdiscs.
Most of the content was anime, subtitled english discs and a little bit of porn on the top shelf (which is visible to the whole floor so if you wanted to see something, EVERYONE knew).
There were also a few local movies though. I saw at least two Kurosawa flicks on the shelf.
I never knew EVA was so old as to have a laserdisc release but I could find box sets of the series starting at 2500 yen.
There about 100 laser discs in my household.
Mega Media Xchange and CD-max franchises have hundreds of laserDiscs at any given time. Nobody wants them so they go for 59c a piece, or 5 for 2.50. Considering it would only cost under 50 dollars(after tax and all) to buy 100 of them, you could probably buy every disc they have there. But yet, they always seem to have the same amount and the same copies.
They are fun for nostalgic purposes, or to bring out the hipster in you, but in practicality, they are useless. Especially since the advent of smaller(physically) media discs which hold hundreds of times more data. There are no true benefits to them in comparison to say what you find in vinyl records for audio. With the records, you get "true" recording audio and that grainy hiss often associated with dust on the needle or perhaps just age. Whereas laserDisc gets you about VHS-quality video and CD-quality sound.
We watched some series on laserdisc in 5th grade, and that was in like 2004/2005 for me.
At least you can actually find Tron on laser disc, disney's an asshole and hasn't even released it on dvd.
[QUOTE=Niko Bellic;27694543]At least you can actually find Tron on laser disc, disney's an asshole and hasn't even released it on dvd.[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.amazon.com/Tron-20th-Anniversary-Collectors-Bridges/dp/B00005OCMR/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1296159949&sr=8-1[/url]
I have a laserdisc player with a cd player built into it. Fuck these things are massive.
[editline]27th January 2011[/editline]
rewinding stuff is fucking awesome on laserdisc since it's not digital.
that video of the laserdisc with side switching mechanism is awesome
I grew up in the 90's and we had laserdisks and actually used them. I remember we had the wizard of oz and a few others. Flipping the disk sucked though.
[QUOTE=Nikota;27699056]I have a laserdisc player with a cd player built into it. Fuck these things are massive.
[editline]27th January 2011[/editline]
rewinding stuff is fucking awesome on laserdisc since it's not digital.[/QUOTE]I remember the AVGN demonstrating fast-forward on these.
"None of that jerky digital pixelation or fuzzy lines, just a nice clean video fast-forwarding."
It had games too!
Don't forget about Dragon's Lair!
[img]http://spyhunter007.com/Images/dragons_lair_dirk_the_daring.jpg[/img]
The discs were ridiculously big. But fun as Frisbees
They should release Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World on Laserdisc just to appeal to hipsters.
I would so totally get it.
I want one! I love old electronic stuff.
[editline]27th January 2011[/editline]
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VCDHD[/url]
Check this out:
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/DVHD.JPG/800px-DVHD.JPG[/img]
Does anyone remember the educational series about a boy and some older people doing science related stuff, like climbing trees and carbon dating a pot and experiencing pressure beneath the surface of an ocean? I watched it in 6th grade and I don't know the name of it.
I want to start a collection of laserdiscs so bad. When I do I'm getting Jurassic Park first.
