Nostalgia

[blueonblack]

I was at one of our local flea markets the other day and I came across something I had completely forgotten about. Video discs!

Aren't they awesome?! (Note the DVD for size comparison.) We were never rich enough to have one but one friend of mine down the street did (the rich kid who also had the Atari 5200), and they fascinated me. I remember him sliding the disc into the machine and *taking it immediately back out* and putting it back on the shelf and we'd watch a movie. I was young but I always wondered how in the hell it could read all that data in the second it was in there.

Turns out the disc was in there all the time, and I didn't learn how it worked until just last week. One childhood mystery solved. Now if I could just sort out *women*...

[Fuganater]

Isn't that the same as LaserDisc?

[slaveofconvention]

Now if I could just sort out *women*...

Don't waste your time - didn't anyone tell you that if and when we ever get close to figuring 'em out - they change the rules again....

[blueonblack]

Isn't that the same as LaserDisc?

I thought so until I took this one apart. The LaserDiscs I remember seeing were just discs, no plastic case, and they were gold in color.

I could be wrong, it's been a long time.

Anyone out there have a LaserDisc on hand?

[OvRiDe]

I do.. let me dig one out and see if I can get a pic of it.

[OvRiDe]

Well I was able to find one buried way back in the entertainment cabinet.. so here we go.

They came in regular LP covers like a record album

Inside the jacket on this one is full color.

The Laser discs usually had a dust cover as well. This particular movie spanned 2 discs, and they are double sided.

The laser disc itself. Its a 12" disc so basically its the same size as a LP record album. Its a bit thicker then an LP and quite a bit heavier as well.

Here is a list of the disc contents and chapter stops.

One of the big differences I remember between Laser Discs and DVD is the laser disc is uncompressed. So for a while the "videophiles" (snobs) said the video quality was superior to DVD. I dunno.. I don't think at the time you could tell a whole lot of difference on a regular TV. Yes I am referring to CRT technology. Maybe on the big high dollar projectors you could tell, I dunno.

I also vaguely remember reading the reason they dropped the "Video Disc" packaging was because it was possible to accidentally load 2 discs into the player. For those of you that don't know how they worked. You would take that "cartridge" and insert it into your player. Then you would flip a mechanical type lever/switch and then pull the cartridge out. This would leave the disc in the player. You could then watch your movie. When the movie was finished, you would reinsert the cartridge, flip the switch back and remove the cartridge and video disc. So really the cartridge is just a dust cover to protect the video disc. Well apparently sometimes people would not realize a disc was already in the player and try to insert an new movie in and jam the whole thing up. Most players were designed so this wouldn't happen, but you know how that goes. I also believe the production costs probably played a part in it as well. On another note I believe I read somewhere that you could remove the video disc from the jacket and play them in a laser disc player, but I never tried.

Another benefit of moving from the Video Disc player to the Laser Disc player was that the Laser Disc player had a tray.. so you could also play regular audio CD's in it as well.

[Cale_Hagan]

Now if I could just sort out *women*...

Don't waste your time - didn't anyone tell you that if and when we ever get close to figuring 'em out - they change the rules again....

^what he said^

[blueonblack]

Thanks, Curtis!

[Luke122]

I have a copy of Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park on laser disc! I picked them up at a yard sale, and have never been able to play them.