# I didn't know there were writable Laser Discs. It looks like a huge floppy! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 17, 2013, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-there-were-writable-laser-discs-it-looks-like-a-huge-floppy/671484 "2013-10-17T14:35:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-there-were-writable-laser-discs-it-looks-like-a-huge-floppy/671484/1 "2013-10-17T14:35:56Z")
3.5" floppy that is. [Picture](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CRVDisc.jpg) next to video cassette. [Small article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaserDisc#Recordable_formats) ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-there-were-writable-laser-discs-it-looks-like-a-huge-floppy/671484/2 "2013-10-17T14:38:58Z")
There was a time when these were used for editing. I seem to remember the very earliest Simpson episodes may have been done that way? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-there-were-writable-laser-discs-it-looks-like-a-huge-floppy/671484/3 "2013-10-17T14:46:27Z")
> [@campp](#): > > There was a time when these were used for editing. > > I seem to remember the very earliest Simpson episodes may have been done that way? As opposed to the very newest South Park episodes which are done on, what, reel to reel…what a long way we’ve come. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-there-were-writable-laser-discs-it-looks-like-a-huge-floppy/671484/4 "2013-10-17T17:19:08Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > 3.5" floppy that is. > > [Picture](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CRVDisc.jpg) next to video cassette. > [Small article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaserDisc#Recordable_formats) As you might expect, there were actually two incompatible formats - as usual, one from Sony and a different one from Panasonic. This was actually a professional enough format. There was [an editing company in LA called Laser Edit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaserPacific) that would transfer all their raw footage to this format, using it as an early form of non-linear editing. I think it was also the base video for the Lucasfilm EditDroid. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-there-were-writable-laser-discs-it-looks-like-a-huge-floppy/671484/5 "2013-10-17T19:58:08Z")
> [@campp](#): > > There was a time when these were used for editing. > > I seem to remember the very earliest Simpson episodes may have been done that way? I can’t imagine that these would be a better or cheaper solution than simple 3/4-inch tape decks, which were the standard tool for non-fancy SD editing for decades. ---
**Author:** ![jrsone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jrsone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jrsone)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-there-were-writable-laser-discs-it-looks-like-a-huge-floppy/671484/6 "2013-10-17T20:15:20Z")
That’s what she said? ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-there-were-writable-laser-discs-it-looks-like-a-huge-floppy/671484/7 "2013-10-17T21:59:17Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > I can’t imagine that these would be a better or cheaper solution than simple 3/4-inch tape decks, which were the standard tool for non-fancy SD editing for decades. Friedo, I’m probably mis-remembering 😃 I used to be a huge laserdisc wank, and I thought I read about this someplace. Would have loved to play with one of these though! ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-there-were-writable-laser-discs-it-looks-like-a-huge-floppy/671484/8 "2013-10-17T23:54:14Z")
It looks like the disc caddies that many early PC CD-ROM drives required before they used tray or slot loading. Boy, I’m glad caddies didn’t stick around long. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-there-were-writable-laser-discs-it-looks-like-a-huge-floppy/671484/9 "2013-10-18T04:42:39Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > I can’t imagine that these would be a better or cheaper solution than simple 3/4-inch tape decks, which were the standard tool for non-fancy SD editing for decades. Definitely not cheaper, but much, much faster. I’ve edited hundreds of hours on linear tape systems and thousands more on non-linear hard drive ones - and a few dozen hours on a laser based system, it was a lot closer to the latter than the former. Most of the time, these were used with CMX style editing controllers, and they were treated as a 1" machine that could seek really fast. The decks we had actually had the same 9-pin RS-422 serial interface. Have we geeked out enough yet?