The Obituary
LaserDisc, launched in 1978 as DiscoVision, was the first commercial optical video disc and offered sharper picture and better sound than VHS for two decades. The discs were the size of an LP record, were read by a laser rather than a needle, and usually had to be flipped partway through a film. It stayed a niche enthusiast format, never topping about 2% of U.S. households, partly because it could not record and the discs were expensive. The DVD, smaller and cheaper with the same optical quality, ended it; the last titles appeared around 2001.
Worth remembering
- Discs were 30 cm across, like an LP, and most could hold only about 30-60 minutes per side.
- Audio commentary tracks and special-edition packaging started here, beloved by film collectors.
Sources
- LaserDisc launched commercially in 1978 as DiscoVision and offered superior video quality Wikipedia
- LaserDisc never exceeded ~2% of U.S. households and was superseded by DVD Britannica
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.