What was the appeal of Laser Disc?

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by tron3

You still have that A20?! <Gives you a purple nurple.>

Ha, ha. Thanks Steve. I know I have that standing invite to come by your store and get jumped. Just remember, it's not paranoia if they are really out to get you.

Glad you are loving the S350. I'm still waiting for 4.x firmware for the S300. Just having 3.95 is like getting your zipper up but not able to "snap" the button.

LOL........W/HD-DVDs going for $9.00 on deepdiscount.com I'm not getting rid of that anytime soon + it's a great upconverting player.

I'm waiting for you to drop by...we have the Marantz BD8002 on display hooked up to a 50" Hitachi P50V702 and it's an awesome BD player w/a hefty $2000 price tag. It's huge and it weighs a ton. Come by anytime......we'll be waiting.

[fsavoie]

What was the capacity of a LD ? same as a CD or like a DVD?

[richieb1971]

I believe laserdisc was released in the 70's before VHS but flopped. The flame was re-ignited by Pioneer in the 90's when Dolby Digital surround sound took off.

The technology was used in Dragons Lair arcade machines in 1984 and some training videos were put on LD. But it wasn't until the HT era boomed that Pioneer relaunched the format with movies in mind.

Obviously price was the most deterring factor of the format.

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by fsavoie

What was the capacity of a LD ? same as a CD or like a DVD?

Are you talking about playing time??..........If so, 60 mins/side or 30 mins/side depending on the type of disc. CAV(30 min discs) had the capacity to freeze a frame perfectly therefore they took up more space hence the 30 min playing time. I had a friend who had his player hooked up to an expensive photo printer and would freeze frames of the disc, print them, picture frame them and hang them in his A/V room. If you tried to freeze a CLV(60 min disc) all you'd get was a blue screen.

Capacity:
60 minutes per side CLV
30 minutes per side CAV ---from Wikipedia

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by richieb1971

I believe laserdisc was released in the 70's before VHS but flopped. The flame was re-ignited by Pioneer in the 90's when Dolby Digital surround sound took off.

The technology was used in Dragons Lair arcade machines in 1984 and some training videos were put on LD. But it wasn't until the HT era boomed that Pioneer relaunched the format with movies in mind.

Obviously price was the most deterring factor of the format.

You're absolutely correct on all points......it did pre-date VCR and came back strong in the late '80s once they started w/digital PCM audio and OAR. Many original P&S video/analog audio discs were re-released w/OAR and digital audio........Dolby Digital discs started appearing in 1995. The LaserDisc version of Clear and Present Danger featured the first Home theater Dolby Digital mix in 1995.

This article is about DTS discs:
http://www.blamld.com/LaserDisc/dts.htm

[fsavoie]

Originally Posted by SNAP

Are you talking about playing time??..........If so, 60 mins/side or 30 mins/side depending on the type of disc. CAV(30 min discs) had the capacity to freeze a frame perfectly therefore they took up more space hence the 30 min playing time. I had a friend who had his player hooked up to an expensive photo printer and would freeze frames of the disc, print them, picture frame them and hang them in his A/V room. If you tried to freeze a CLV(60 min disc) all you'd get was a blue screen.

I was wondering about the size in bite... like 700mg?

[Lucy Diamond]

Originally Posted by SNAP

The didnt have previews........didnt have copyguard which is great for me. I have 550 LDs and if I want to copy them to DVD they will work.
The had uncpmpressed digital audio..same quality as CDs. They introduced DD(AC-3 w/ Clear & Present Danger) and DTS(Jurassic Park) to us. DTS LDs bit rate is 2x that of DVDs. They do sound better than DVDs(Standard). They were the first to have "extras" and secondary audio tracks.
And their cover art is better than any DVD could ever hope to match. They are more resistant to scratches and are more durable.

PLUS...They just LOOK so much cooler!!!

I frame the ones I have on DvD in those 12 x 12 LP frames.

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by fsavoie

I was wondering about the size in bite... like 700mg?

Since it's an analog video system I dont think they used bites but rather time. This might help:

Since digital encoding and compression schemes were either unavailable or impractical in 1978, two encoding formats based on the rotation speed were used:

CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) or Standard Play discs supported several unique features such as freeze frame, variable slow motion and reverse. CAV discs were spun at a constant rotational speed during playback, with one video frame read per revolution and in this mode, 54,000 individual frames or 30 minutes of audio/video could be stored on a single side of a CAV disc. Another unique attribute to CAV was to reduce the visibility of crosstalk from adjacent tracks, since on CAV discs any crosstalk at a specific point in a frame is simply from the same point in the next or previous frame. CAV was used less frequently than CLV, reserved for special editions of feature films to highlight bonus material and special effects. One of the most intriguing advantages of this format was the ability to reference every frame of a film directly by number—a feature of particular interest to film buffs, students and others intrigued by the study of errors in staging, continuity etc.

CLV (Constant Linear Velocity) or Extended Play discs do not have the "trick play" features of CAV, offering only simple playback on all but the high-end laserdisc players incorporating a digital frame store. These high-end laserdisc players could add features not normally available to CLV discs such as variable forward and reverse, and a VCR-like "pause". CLV encoded discs could store 60 minutes of audio/video per side, or 2 hours per disc. For films with a run–time less than 120 minutes, this meant they could fit on a single disc, lowering the cost of the title and eliminating the distracting exercise of "getting up to change the disc"—at least for those who owned a dual-sided player. The vast majority of titles were only available in CLV. (A few titles were released partly CLV, partly CAV. For example, a 140-minute movie could fit on two CLV sides, and one CAV side, thus allowing for the CAV-only features during the climax of the film.)

Also this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laserdisc

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by 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 intensive 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.

Laserdisc had recordable player but they were so expensive that they were used only in profession/commercial applications.
Another type of video media, CRVdisc, or "Component Recordable Video Disc" were available for a short time, mostly to professionals. Developed by Sony, CRVdiscs resemble early PC CD-ROM caddies with a disc inside resembling a full sized LD. CRVdiscs were blank, write-once, read-many media that could be recorded once on each side. CRVdiscs were used largely for backup storage in professional/commercial applications.[citation needed]

Another form of recordable Laserdisc that is completely playback-compatible with the Laserdisc format (unlike CRVdisc with its caddy enclosure) is the RLV, or Recordable LaserVision disc. It was developed and first marketed by the Optical Disc Corporation (ODC, now ODC Nimbus) in 1984. RLV discs, like CRVdisc, are also a WORM technology, and function exactly like a CD-R disc. RLV discs look almost exactly like standard Laserdiscs, and can play in any standard Laserdisc player after they've been recorded. The only difference an RLV disc has over regular factory-pressed Laserdiscs is their reflective purple-violet (or blue with some RLV discs) color resulting from the dye embedded in the reflective layer of the disc to make it recordable, as opposed to the silver mirror appearance of regular LDs. The purplish color of RLVs is very similar to some DVD-R and DVD+R discs. RLVs were popular for making short-run quantities of Laserdiscs for specialized applications such as interactive kiosks and flight simulators.

In spite of nonrecordability being commonly regarded as the primary weakness of the Laserdisc format, these recordable LD systems were never marketed toward the general public, and are so poorly known as to create the misconception that a home recording system for Laserdiscs is impossible.

[tron3]

Originally Posted by radagast

What is the appeal of Blu-ray, Tron? You can't record on that either. And maybe some movies will be so long that, like DVD, will take more than one disc to store the entire movie. So why buy Blu-ray? Wait until there is a format that you can record on, and has so much storage you can get any movie on one disc.

Oh, please. The mind-set was different back then because recording was important. Recording was the "killer app" which changed how people watched TV. Pre-recorded content was just the icing on the cake. Today the icing IS the cake. Times have changed. DVD helped people accept a "player only" mentality. And that's one to grow on. <shooting star with rainbow.>

Originally Posted by SNAP

I'm waiting for you to drop by... It's huge and it weighs a ton. Come by anytime......we'll be waiting.

<reads between the lines>

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by tron3

Oh, please. The mind-set was different back then because recording was important. Recording was the "killer app" which changed how people watched TV. Pre-recorded content was just the icing on the cake. Today the icing IS the cake. Times have changed. DVD helped people accept a "player only" mentality. And that's one to grow on. <shooting star with rainbow.>




<reads between the lines>

LMAO........You know I was just kidding.

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by Lucy Diamond

PLUS...They just LOOK so much cooler!!!

I frame the ones I have on DvD in those 12 x 12 LP frames.

Show us some pics.

[tron3]

Originally Posted by SNAP

LMAO........You know I was just kidding.

I know dude, just couldn't pass up that edit. I'm thinking about it.






...ooo(It's huge and it weighs a ton.)

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by tron3

I know dude, just couldn't pass up that edit. I'm thinking about it.

...ooo(It's huge and it weighs a ton.)

LOL

In answer to your earlier question about what was so alluring about laserdisc vs. vhs:

Laserdisc vs. VHS
LD had a number of advantages over VHS. It featured a far sharper picture with a horizontal resolution of 425 TVL lines for NTSC and 440 TVL lines for PAL discs, while VHS only featured 240 TVL lines. It could handle analog and digital audio where VHS was analog only, and the NTSC discs could store multiple audio tracks. This allowed for extras like director's commentary tracks and other features to be added on to a film, creating "Special Edition" releases that would not have been possible with VHS. Disc access was random and chapter based, like the DVD format, meaning that one could jump to any point on a given disc very quickly. By comparison, VHS would require tedious rewinding and fast-forwarding to get to specific points. Laserdiscs were cheaper than videocassettes to manufacture, because they lack the moving parts and plastic outer shell that are necessary for VHS tapes to work. A VHS cassette has at least 14 parts including the actual tape while laserdisc has one part with five or six layers.

Moreover, because the discs are read optically instead of magnetically, no physical contact needs to be made between the player and the disc, except for the player's clamp that holds the disc at its center as it is spun and read. As a result, playback does not wear the information-bearing part of the discs, and properly manufactured LDs will theoretically last beyond one's lifetime . By contrast, a VHS tape holds all of its picture and sound information on the tape in a magnetic coating which is in contact with the spinning heads on the head drum, causing progressive wear with each use. Also, the tape is thin and delicate, and it is easy for a player mechanism (especially on a low quality or malfunctioning model) to mishandle the tape and damage it by creasing it, frilling (stretching) its edges, or even breaking it.


Special editions
The format's support for multiple audio tracks allowed for vast supplemental materials to be included on-disc and made it the first available format for "Special Edition" releases; the 1984 Criterion Collection edition of Citizen Kane is generally credited as being the first "Special Edition" release to home video,and for setting the standard by which future SE discs were measured. In addition, the format's instant seeking capability made it possible for a new breed of Laserdisc-based video arcade games, beginning with Dragon's Lair, to be born.

[tron3]

Ya know, with all this info I am beginning to wonder why I never bought a laser disc myself! No copy protection? Dang, it would have been a cinch to convert over to DVD myself. Tried doing that with my brothers huge assortment of VHS with no luck.


<First visit with Snap> (_Y_)-Yah, mule, yah!

[Simplayer]

Originally Posted by tron3

for all intensive purposes[/B]

For all intents and purposes.

[tron3]

Originally Posted by Simplayer

For all intents and purposes.

Geeze, been saying it the wrong way for years. I feel like such a tool.
Now I have to relearn it.


Me speak bad english? Dat's unpossible.

[Marine Mike]

Originally Posted by tron3

Geeze, been saying it the wrong way for years. I feel like such a tool.
Now I have to relearn it.

+1 , same here!

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by tron3

Ya know, with all this info I am beginning to wonder why I never bought a laser disc myself! No copy protection? Dang, it would have been a cinch to convert over to DVD myself. Tried doing that with my brothers huge assortment of VHS with no luck.


<First visit with Snap> (_Y_)-Yah, mule, yah!

It's obvious you dont have to be crazy to be here on this forum.....but it sure helps.

[johnnymech]

The appeal of Laserdisc was that it was better than VHS tape. The image would never degrade, the movie was broken into chapters, and it supported multiple audio tracks, giving birth to the audio commentary track. Also, most movies on Laserdisc were letterboxed.