Rise and Fall of the LaserDisc

Certain technologies that have found their way into the past still resonate with younger generations. Things like cassette tapes, VHS tapes, rotary dial phones, and others are things that are pretty much gone but not forgotten. There is one technology that many younger people aren't familiar with, and that's the LaserDisc.

Pioneer VP-1000 LaserDisc Player

 The LaserDisc can trace is origins to the late 1950's. David Paul Gregg and James Russell invented "laser disc technology" which used a transparent disc. They patented their invention in 1961, which was bought by MCA in 1968. The following year, Phillips (a competitor) successfully developed a videodisc that played in reflective mode, which has more advantages than the transparent disc. MCA and Phillips then again agreed to collaborate on the technology, and first publicly demonstrated the technology in 1972.

On December 15, 1978, the LaserDisc was first put on the market in Atlanta, but it wasn't known as LaserDisc yet because it was first marketed as 'MCA DiscoVision'. The MCA-Phillips cooperation wasn't as successful as they'd hoped, even though Phillips made the players and MCA made the discs. By 1980, Pioneer purchased a majority stake in the technology and began releasing what they called "LaserDisc", or formally "Laser Videodisc".

The first North American release on LaserDisc was the MCA DiscoVision release of 'Jaws' in 1978.

There were positives and negatives to the technology. Negatives being that the players were expensive and so were the movies themselves. Although the video and audio quality were much better than VHS or Betamax, the price just couldn't come down enough. Some abilities of the DVD and BluRay come straight from the LaserDisc's huge advantage over the VHS: bonus features. The 1984 release of the Criterion Collection's release of 'Citizen Kane' was the first Special Edition movie released. By allowing for more than one audio channel on the disc, viewers could now listen to the audio of the movie or a commentary of the movie or even other languages of the movie. However, LaserDisc's were like vinyl records in that you have to turn them over since they held (at most) one hour of video per side. Those who had LaserDiscs in the US were deeply devoted to them and even claimed superiority of the technology when the DVD was released in the 90's. Even though for some early DVDs this might have been true, the way the technology is setup is different, and allows for better quality and ease of use for the DVD.

Comparison of disc sizes

By 1998, it was estimated that only about 2% of US households had a LaserDisc player, whereas in Japan, it was around 10%. The LaserDisc just never really caught on in the US, but was very popular in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and other Eastern Asian areas. The technology never blossomed in Europe or Australia and remains nearly an unknown there. Within a couple years, discs and players were no longer sold in American stores, and the importing of players from Japan ceased in 2001. The last movie distributed in the US on LaserDisc was 'Bringing Out the Dead' in 2000. Pioneer continued to make the players until 2009, when they ceased production.

Even though this technology has fallen into the sands of the past, it certainly isn't forgotten. Those that still have their LaserDisc players are extremely devoted, usually still refusing to accept DVD or BluRay. The LaserDisc is a very important technology in that without it, who knows what DVDs or BluRays would be like today.