Laser Disk

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Does anyone remember Laser Disks? Are the players - and indeed the movies - worth investing in? I hear conflicting things about the audio and visual quality that they output.

 

[BrianL]

Still looking at that LaserDisc player, eh? Honestly, I don't think they are worth it. They only store about 60 minutes per side of 425 lines of resolution video - not even double VHS quality (compared to DVD's 480). The discs are larege and unweildy and prone to damage and laser rot, where the discs layers start to seperate.

Personally, I'd be content with reasing about the fascinating but ill-fated medium.

 

[HerRoyalHighness]

A friend had one. This was mid 90s. Looked like a cd but the size of an old LP. I haven't seen one used since then but TV technology is light years better now. Don't know how it works with the newer ones but I'm curious.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Still looking at that LaserDisc player, eh? Honestly, I don't think they are worth it. They only store about 60 minutes per side of 425 lines of resolution video - not even double VHS quality (compared to DVD's 480). The discs are larege and unweildy and prone to damage and laser rot, where the discs layers start to seperate.

Personally, I'd be content with reasing about the fascinating but ill-fated medium.

Whoops, sorry, I forget I asked about this here before!

 

[bcla]

Still looking at that LaserDisc player, eh? Honestly, I don't think they are worth it. They only store about 60 minutes per side of 425 lines of resolution video - not even double VHS quality (compared to DVD's 480). The discs are larege and unweildy and prone to damage and laser rot, where the discs layers start to seperate.

Personally, I'd be content with reasing about the fascinating but ill-fated medium.

Saw that happen a few times. The worst was my very expensive copy of the Beauty and the Beast Work in Progress copy on 2 double-sided CAV discs. Granted I got it kind of wet, but there was a way to return it to the distributor (Image) and they replaced it including my damaged jacket cover. The main issue would have been the stability of the glue that held the layers together. But that one had a notorious case of laser rot.

And the big thing is that most people didn't really know what it was. It was really just a big RF carrier wave encoded as pits and lands. Then different parts of the frequency spectrum were divided into analog video, analog audio, and PCM digital audio. I remember the analog audio was often used for stuff like director comments on some versions. When Dolby AC3 (5.1 digital audio) came out for LaserDisc, it was encoded in the frequency spectrum for one of the audio channels. I tried listening to it on my machine that wasn't capable of AC3 and it sounded like white noise. And it required some really expensive machines to decode it.

The video was analog, but generally a lot clearer than even S-VHS or other higher quality analog video. Even then I saw some weird video noise artifacts depending on the manufacturing - especially with CLV discs that had 60 minute sides and that varied the revolutions.

But in the end, DVD just blew away LaserDisc. Still - LaserDisc had about a 20 year run.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Thanks guys, for all the help. My $200 seller just upped his price to $350, so I balked.

 

[BrianL]

Thanks guys, for all the help. My $200 seller just upped his price to $350, so I balked.

Oh yeah, definitely wouldn't go for that!

 

[BrightMorningStar]

back in the day they were the best. 4k has it beat.

 

[kanerf]

Still have one plus a library of discs. Some of the content I have never seen on DVDs or online. I have not used the player in more than 15 years so I don't know if it still works.

 

[StageTek]

I have a player (I have three) but only 16 movies. I kept discs that have content unavailable anywhere else.

That Beauty and the Beast Work in Progress LD is a must keep. As is The Definitive Collection Star Wars Trilogy. The best versions of the original films.

But no, I don't think it's worth investing in now.

 

[tvguy]

Somehow I missed that format. Went from VHS to DVD to DVR.
Just like somehow I missed out on 8-Tracks. Went from Reel to Reel to Cassettes.

 

[MillauFr]

Even DVDs are obsolete. I would invest in future technologies. Not the past.

 

[bcla]

Somehow I missed that format. Went from VHS to DVD to DVR.
Just like somehow I missed out on 8-Tracks. Went from Reel to Reel to Cassettes.

LaserDisc and VHS were actually around the same time.

There were other oddball ones too. RCA had SelectaVision discs. They were known as "capacitance electronic discs", and were physically made of a disc with a groove that was read with a stylus. The disc was supposed to stay inside a protective caddy that was completely inserted (including the label) into the machine and then the caddy was pulled out with the disc inside.

 

[BrianL]

Somehow I missed that format. Went from VHS to DVD to DVR.
Just like somehow I missed out on 8-Tracks. Went from Reel to Reel to Cassettes.

Yeah, LaserDisc was a niche format - more for the high-end home theater enthusiasts of the day. VHS was the definite front-runner from the era. DVD's brought a lot of advantages of LD to a more practical format, however the real thing that made DVD so big was the abolishment of "rental pricing." Most VHS tapes had an MSRP of around $100 when they came out - which enabled teh studios to make a ton of money off of video stores like Blockbuster who would buy many copies then rent them out to make the money.. Only most kids and family movies would debut at around $20. After several months or a year, the studio might release tapes at a lower pricepoint, though sometimes using the EP settings to use less tape. When DVD's came out, the Best Buy's and Walmarts of the world won out over the Blockbusters, and the new purchase price of all movies was in the $20 to $30 range - affordable for consumers to build home video collections. It really changed the game!

I worked at Blockbuster and I do recall that wne the movie Pulp Fiction came out, we took one copy (we had about 100), and didn't prep it for rental. We put a price tage of $99.99 on it and set it at the counter. It was sold at the midnight release by someone no doubt trying to impress their girlfriend! Video stores would also sell their uesed rental copies after a while, so if that giu had waited two months, we would have cut that 100 copies in half, and sold a bunch for $15 bucks or so.

 

[Kennywood]

Some people collect just the laser discs for the artwork/pictures on the covers. The large size lends itself well to framing and displaying them. And if you can get the cover autographed, all the better.

 

[bcla]

Yeah, LaserDisc was a niche format - more for the high-end home theater enthusiasts of the day. VHS was the definite front-runner from the era. DVD's brought a lot of advantages of LD to a more practical format, however the real thing that made DVD so big was the abolishment of "rental pricing." Most VHS tapes had an MSRP of around $100 when they came out - which enabled teh studios to make a ton of money off of video stores like Blockbuster who would buy many copies then rent them out to make the money.. Only most kids and family movies would debut at around $20. After several months or a year, the studio might release tapes at a lower pricepoint, though sometimes using the EP settings to use less tape. When DVD's came out, the Best Buy's and Walmarts of the world won out over the Blockbusters, and the new purchase price of all movies was in the $20 to $30 range - affordable for consumers to build home video collections. It really changed the game!

I worked at Blockbuster and I do recall that wne the movie Pulp Fiction came out, we took one copy (we had about 100), and didn't prep it for rental. We put a price tage of $99.99 on it and set it at the counter. It was sold at the midnight release by someone no doubt trying to impress their girlfriend! Video stores would also sell their uesed rental copies after a while, so if that giu had waited two months, we would have cut that 100 copies in half, and sold a bunch for $15 bucks or so.

I do remember that even with rental or consumer purchase pricing, even a VHS rental that was less than ridiculous was typically at the same rental price. One possible difference was the penalty for failure to return, which could be the full price.

Walt Disney Home Video had this practice of releasing titles (on VHS or LaserDisc) and then pulling them from the market. For years one couldn't buy a copy of The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast. Then they'd market the heck out of a "release from the vault" where they'd make it available for maybe a few months. I think they gave up on that concept, but the big deal is that home video may not be as key as Disney+.

The one thing that was annoying about all these physical formats was the noise level. LaserDisc players could be quite loud, even in an enclosure. Especially advancing chapters. VHS obviously made a lot of noise. Even my satellite receiver/DVR with a hard drive could be pretty noisy. But streaming straight from the internet is quiet.

 

[BrianL]

I do remember that even with rental or consumer purchase pricing, even a VHS rental that was less than ridiculous was typically at the same rental price. One possible difference was the penalty for failure to return, which could be the full price.

This is correct. The Blockbuster bought the movies at the full price - well, discounted due to bulk purchase price - and priced all rentals the same. We could make back the money on a $20 Disney movie with fewer rentals than a $100 action flick, but more people did choose to buy Disney movies so they didn't rent quite as strongly. Late fees were the same regardless, though if you were deemed a non-returner, then the current retail price of the movie was assessed to your account (in addition to late fees). Usually though if it got to that point we were never going to recoup the money and it was written off and sold to a collection agency. A few people would suddenly "find" the movie when it is mentioned that the MSRP is $99.99!

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

LaserDisc and VHS were actually around the same time.

There were other oddball ones too. RCA had SelectaVision discs. They were known as "capacitance electronic discs", and were physically made of a disc with a groove that was read with a stylus. The disc was supposed to stay inside a protective caddy that was completely inserted (including the label) into the machine and then the caddy was pulled out with the disc inside.

I remember "back in the day" a friend of mine had one of those Selectavision things. That's how I got to see Animal House

 

[bcla]

There were oddball LaserDisc formats, including 8 inch and 5 inch. The 5 inch version basically only had a max of about 5 minutes, and would typically be enough time for music videos.

I rather regret not buying a single copy of The Cure's Hot, Hot, Hot! It was maybe $7.

There were also creative uses of the format. Dragon's Lair used video recorded on LaserDisc, and the game was programmed to do quick skips. It wasn't necessarily that smooth because of that. But when it went to another scene, the time it took to advance would take longer, especially since it was programmed to do random sequences. Then they had a sequel and a similar game (Space Ace I think). There were similar LaserDisc based games from other manufacturers. By looking at it, this is clearly a CAV (constant angular velocity) disc which were much smoother when pausing (CLV or constant linear velocity mode usually couldn't do it) and fast forwarding. It ran at a constant rotational speed and could freeze frame. Probably made it easier to program the game.

The technology was developed by MCA (i.e. Universal Studios) and Philips, but they eventually sold the ownership to Pioneer, which was the biggest proponent. But it was more or less a licensed standard like CDs and the Compact Cassette. However, the original name used was DiscoVision. I've seen some older titles that used the LaserVision name that was used before Pioneer trademarked LaserDisc.