Laserdisc (381)

The laserdisc (LD) was the first commercial optical disc storage medium, and is used primarily for the presentation of movies. more...

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During its development, the format was referred to as the "Reflective Optical Videodisc System" before MCA, who owned the patent on the technology, renamed the format Disco-Vision in 1969. By the time the format was brought to market in 1978, the hyphen had been removed from the format name, and DiscoVision became the official name. Sales of DiscoVision players & discs began on December 15, 1978 starting in Atlanta, Georgia. MCA owned the rights to the largest catalog of films in the world during this time, and they directly manufactured and distributed the discs of their movies under the "MCA DiscoVision" label. Pioneer Electronics, who entered the market in 1978 at almost exactly the time DiscoVision titles were going on sale, began manufacturing players and printing discs under the name Laser Videodisc. By 1981, Laserdisc (first in CamelCase as LaserDisc, later without the intercap) had become the common name for the format, and the DiscoVision label disappeared, becoming simply MCA or (later) MCA-Universal Laserdisc.

MCA also manufactured discs for other companies, including Paramount, Disney and Warner Brothers. Some of them added their own names onto the disc jacket in order to signify the movie was not owned by MCA. When MCA folded into Universal several years later, Universal began re-issuing many of the early DiscoVision titles as Universal discs. The DiscoVision versions had largely been available only in pan and scan and had often utilized poor transfers. The format has also been known as LV (for LaserVision, actually a player brand by Philips). The players are also sometimes referred to as VDPs (Video Disc Players).

History

Laserdisc technology, using a transparent disc, was invented by David Paul Gregg in 1958 (and patented in 1961 and 1969). By 1969 Philips had developed a videodisc in reflective mode, which has great advantages over the transparent mode. MCA and Philips decided to join their efforts. They first publicly demonstrated the videodisc in 1972. LD was first available on the market, in Atlanta, on December 15, 1978, two years after the VHS VCR and five years before the CD, which is based on laserdisc technology. Philips produced the players and MCA the discs. The Philips/MCA cooperation was not successful, and discontinued after a few years. Several of the scientists responsible for the early research (Richard Wilkinson, Ray Deakin, and John Winslow) founded Optical Disc Corporation (now ODC Nimbus), and that company is still the world leader in optical disc mastering technology.

There are more than 1 million players in home use in the U.S. (compared to 85 million VCRs), and more than 4 million in Japan (or 10% of households). LD has been completely replaced by DVD in the North American retail marketplace, as neither players nor software are now produced there. Laserdisc has retained some popularity among American collectors and to a greater degree, in Japan, where the format was better supported and more prevalent during its life. In Europe, on the other hand, LD has always remained an extremely obscure format.

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