What was the appeal of Laser Disc?

[tron3]

This is one technology I could never figure out. Just as with DVD after it, you could not record with this unit. Sure, it was better quality than VHS, but exactly what was the appeal?

Here was a technology in which, for all intents and purposes, was little more than an LP size CD. Plus you had to flip the disc to finish the movie! That is like flipping a record to finish hearing your favorite song. I hear you had to be extremely careful with the darned things too.

I am not trying to beat a dead horse, I merely trying to understand who spent that kind of money on a player with such bothersome quirks? It was like having the best and worst of both worlds.

[stockstar1138]

DVD resolution in a decade before DVD.

LPCM 2.0 sound in a time of stereo sound.

It was strictly for the HT fans.

[Luis_A51]

another one of trons pointless threads

from my understanding (having never owned LD)

Improved PQ over VHS
Analog multi channel audio (higher bitrate than DVD, so some people preferred them over DVD)
Came out atleast a decade before DVD
I think it was higher resolution than VHS
and no vhs cassette wear/tear

[JoeKryten]

Most of those special features some people love on DVD...first done on LD:

Audio Commentaries
Behind the Scenes Features
Deleted Scenes
Isolated Scores


Plus the higher resolution already mentioned by others.

All available from the early '80s...a full 15 years before the release of DVD.

I believe Roger Ebert was pushing LD on his show for the audio commentaries alone.

[Paulness]

The big reason I went for laserdisc was to get films in thier original aspect ratio, that higher Pq and AQ was simply icing on the cake.

[Barnum]

The flipping of disks was really not that much of an issue. The laserdisk player that I have flipped the read head so there was no flipping needed. The quality was better than VHS and you didn't have to worry about analog quality rot of a tape. Tapes slowly lose picture quality as they sit on the shelf. Magnet field decay was, is a problem with vhs to this day. Look a vhs that you bought a long time ago (if you still have any) and you will see a picture that has degraded drastically. Laser did not have that issue. Pioneer really screwed themselves with not allowing others to make players until it was to late for the format. Really a shame I enjoy my laserdisk player to this day.

[tron3]

Originally Posted by Luis_A51

another one of trons pointless threads

..

Perhaps you haven't been around long enough to see some of my more meanful threads during the height of the format war. I have received a number of messages from both members and a couple of mods thanking me for my contributions here. Mods are careful not to make it obvious as not to stroke my ego and encourage my more controversial behavior of the past. But I know what they are saying.

I have probably deleted more such e-mail than you have received. Believe it or not, I have followers and fans here. They don't march in lock step with me and I don't expect them to do so. They enjoy my insights, even when they don't agree with them. With me, they know they can politely argue against me and expect a thoughtful response in return. Yes, I can admit when I am wrong! Can you?

The point is, the format war is over and short of movie releases nothing exciting is happening here. I have the right to post a question which is within forum rules.

[Moefiz]

You have to remember coming from the age of VHS to laserdisc was like stepping out of the shadows into the light(kinda like some of the lurkers we have here).
Better picture quality,better sound and most inportant no rewinding and fast forwarding.
It was the first time that you had a crystan clear picture with movie theater quality sound, it was every movie fan dream come thru.

The down side was the players was expensive and disc them selves was expensive and you had to flip the disc over to finish the movie.

I think I might still have my Pioneer player and discs somewhere around.

[Moefiz]

Originally Posted by tron3

Perhaps you haven't been around long enough to see some of my more meanful threads during the height of the format war. I have received a number of messages from both members and a couple of mods thanking me for my contributions here. Mods are careful not to make it obvious as not to stroke my ego and encourage my more controversial behavior of the past. But I know what they are saying.

I have probably deleted more such e-mail than you have received. Believe it or not, I have followers and fans here. They don't march in lock step with me and I don't them to do so. They enjoy my insights, even when they don't agree with them. With me, they know they can politely argue against me and expect a thoughtful response in return. Yes, I can admit when I am wrong! Can you?

The point is, the format war is over and short of movie releases nothing exciting is happening here. I have the right to post a question which is within forum rules.

Amen to that Tron.

[arush5268d]

Originally Posted by tron3

Perhaps you haven't been around long enough to see some of my more meanful threads during the height of the format war. I have received a number of messages from both members and a couple of mods thanking me for my contributions here. Mods are careful not to make it obvious as not to stroke my ego and encourage my more controversial behavior of the past. But I know what they are saying.

I have probably deleted more such e-mail than you have received. Believe it or not, I have followers and fans here. They don't march in lock step with me and I don't expect them to do so. They enjoy my insights, even when they don't agree with them. With me, they know they can politely argue against me and expect a thoughtful response in return. Yes, I can admit when I am wrong! Can you?

The point is, the format war is over and short of movie releases nothing exciting is happening here. I have the right to post a question which is within forum rules.

I fully supported your right to post this thread, and I have learned things about Laser Disk in this thread.

But go easy on stroking your ego. Don't explode your own head.

[YoodinVranks]

That's like asking "why did they invent the airplane before they invented the space shuttle?" New technologies have to start somewhere.

I don't regret owning a Laserdisc Player. Seeing how I ran my player until it completely died, I feel I got my moneys worth out of it. Plus I got a ton of slightly used laserdiscs from a local video rental place that tried stocking them.

I was watching the Star Wars Trilogy on a digital format while all my friends were watching it on VHS.

[SS316SRV]

Originally Posted by Luis_A51

another one of trons pointless threads

Oh Luis...so misguided...

Tron, make your threads. I am not a fan of all the threads, The "Fudformers" or whatever it was, not my favorite. But I am happy you're here, If only to make me feel better.

[tron3]

Originally Posted by arush5268d

I fully supported your right to post this thread, and I have learned things about Laser Disk in this thread.

But go easy on stroking your ego. Don't explode your own head.

Not stroking my own ego. Just sternly putting it in perspective for Luis. Being a "star" of the blu-ray forum isn't scoring me any points for the afterlife. Just enjoying my ride here.

Originally Posted by SS316SRV

Oh Luis...so misguided...

Tron, make your threads. I am not a fan of all the threads, The "Fudformers" or whatever it was, not my favorite. But I am happy you're here, If only to make me feel better.

Trans-fud-ers was the name. But thank you everyone for your support.

[SS316SRV]

I for one am happy this thread is here because I was not old enough to even understand what Laserdisc was, so this is helpful information.

[arush5268d]

Originally Posted by YoodinVranks

That's like asking "why did they invent the airplane before they invented the space shuttle?" New technologies have to start somewhere.

I don't regret owning a Laserdisc Player. Seeing how I ran my player until it completely died, I feel I got my moneys worth out of it. Plus I got a ton of slightly used laserdiscs from a local video rental place that tried stocking them.

I was watching the Star Wars Trilogy on a digital format while all my friends were watching it on VHS.

I don't think he was attacking Laserdiscs. Just trying to understand about them.

Personally I don't really know anything about Laserdisc...aside from the fact that they were big and like CDs.

[Marine Mike]

All I knew about Laserdisc was that an old friend of mine's dad just had pron on that format. I didn't know about mainstream movies on the format til this website, lol.

[YoodinVranks]

In re-reading this I agree that I don't think Tron was attacking LD users... However; I did get that impression initially. I guess I'm used to defending my past Laserdisc choises.

My player also automatically flipped the head, to read both sides. I don't think anyone has commented that movies longer than two hours had to fit on multiple discs... I admit that sucked.

I think this tread needs a big group hug.

[Driver_King]

I couldn't help myself.

Anyways, I don't care if people make "pointless" threads. That's your opinion, not necessarily mine. People who post how pointless and dumb they think the threads are, shouldn't be posting at all. They should simply walk away. If they have a problem with it, they can report the posts or thread in general to a mod. That's not necessary either. It just craps up mod duties. I personally think that's trolling if you ask me.

[YoodinVranks]

I used my old LD's to reshingle my roof.

[TheGrillMaster]

In addition to improved PQ and sound over VHS, I really liked the fact that I could buy most movies a month or two before you could even rent them at a video store.

But the real reason I adopted LD's was their life expectancy vs. VHS. I had been using VHS tapes for a very long time and knew they broke, tape quality decreased over time etc. Although you could not record onto them, the movies you purchased were going to last a lot longer then those VHS tapes.

I believe that those of us who adopted LD's early on, really paved the way for DVD's and ultimately BD's. We showed there are peopole out there where PQ and sound mattered. We would spend the money to buy the equipment and pay the premium price for those movies.

I also have many imported LD's from Japan (especially Disney) that are in their original uncensored state, that simply could not be purchased any other way.

On a different note, I also really liked the cover art, much like traditionalists like the cover art of their LP's and dislike CD's because they are so small.