I have a memory from when I was a kid - I think I was at a car dealership with my parents when I saw this machine - of a large record sized golden disk that played video. This was long before VCRs and videotape became ubiquitous. My question is, what was this technology called and are DVDs a direct descendant? Why did it take so long?
they used to be called laser-disks, and are the same as dvd’s, kind of. Technology has allowed layering to bring the size down, as well as increase audio quality.
I’m pretty sure you’re talking about LaserDiscs. I’m not sure if DVD is a direct descendant.
Long before VCRs?
LaserDisc was expensive and marginally common in the late 80s - at about the same level VCR was circa 1979-80.
Not really. It was an analog format.
Laserdisc competed with Videodisc for a few years; LD was first sold to the public in December '78, VD in March '81. The technology was called CED for Capacitance Electronic Discs; a PVC disc with very fine grooves coated in silicone oil and stored in a caddy. Quality was slightly better than VHS.
Well, that’s a pretty big “kind of.”
Laserdiscs contain pulse-frequency modulated analog video, while DVDs use MPEG-2 compressed digital video.
The audio specs are closer. At first, laserdisc audio was only analog, but later technological advances allowed LPCM (CD audio), Dolby Digital (AC-3), and DTS. The audio portion of a DVD video can use LPCM, Dolby Digital, MPEG-2 audio, and DTS.
Laserdiscs can only hold 60 minutes of video per side. To watch a feature length movie, the disc has to be flipped over. The amount of video that can fit on a DVD is greatly variable, depending on the bitrate used in video compression, and the quantity and quality of the audio channels. Whatever the case, the 5-inch DVD holds far more video at better quality than the 12-inch laserdisc.
Manufacturing costs are another big issue that sets the formats apart. Laserdisc manufacture is a complex and expensive process. I don’t have any hard cites, but I once read that it costs $5-10 to manufacture a laserdisc. A VHS tape costs about a dollar to manufacture, so movies on laserdisc were more expensive for consumers than their VHS counterparts. DVD pressing is the cheapest of all, by far.
And, last but not least, we have quality control. Due to the complex manufacturing process, laserdiscs have a higher defect rate than DVD or VHS. The defects generally show up in the form of picture dropout or laser rot.
Laserdisc was originally called “LaserVision” and was first demonstrated in 1972. Consumer models were not available until 1978. The first VHS and Betamax recorders hit the market in 1976.
For more information, check outThe Laserdisc FAQ.
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Laserdisc was originally called “LaserVision” and was first demonstrated in 1972. Consumer models were not available until 1978. The first VHS and Betamax recorders hit the market in 1976.
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Yes, I remember seeing a demo model before VCR recorders were common and it was in the mid 70’s. I was never aware of Laserdisc becoming a consumer item. It certainly wasn’t marketed like VCRs were.
Thanks!
I knew saying “kind of” was setting myself here, though I did forget to mention the analog part of it.
I was saying the basic idea is the same, as laserdisc begat the dvd format. Also that the quality is arguably better than vhs (though still analog) makes the format a close cousin to dvd.
You might also have been looking at an old RCA SelectaVision disc player which was a video disc that stored info in grooves like a record. There was a needle that physically rode the grooves, just like a record player. Laserdisc (I still have my player and some cool movies that will probably not become available on DVD any time soon) used a laser for reading data, just like a CD or DVD player.
At its peak there were a staggering number of LD titles available - on the same order as VHS, something like 15,000 as I recall. Superior picture and sound than tape as well.
There’s no argument about it. Laserdisc provides more lines of horizontal resolution than VHS and a better signal-to-noise ratio.
Interestingly, the concept of a videodisc is much, much older than 1972. In 1926, Scottish inventor John Logie Baird became the first person to publicly demonstrate television. Just a year later, he also became the first person to record it. He recorded a 30-line television signal onto a 250mm, 78 RPM record and dubbed it the Phonodisc.
Unfortunately, Baird was never able to develop a device to actually play back the video, but modern researchers have done so and confirmed that his recordings were successful. Only six Baird discs are known to exist today.
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- There was two different kind of the disk formats sold for large laser-read disks, because I have often seen old players in surplus listings–but they almost always state that the players are for the second “industrial-grade” format like what was used in Doctors’ ofices–and that the players cannot play the large consumer disks.
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How doctors ended up having second-standard disk players in their offices (hey, I remember mine used to) I do not know…
???
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- There was two different kind of the disk formats sold for large laser-read disks, because I have often seen old players in surplus listings–but they almost always state that the players are for the second “industrial-grade” format like what was used in Doctors’ ofices–and that the players cannot play the large consumer disks.
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