Laserdisc: Features, Follies, & Evolution

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While Laserdisc certainly wasn’t the most successful format, it was among the most interesting. This video explores the evolution and features of the format, with a wide variety of sample clips.

Here's a link to the entire playlist on Laserdisc:

All clips used in this video are copyrighted by their respective owners. Their usage in this video falls under Fair Use, as they are used for critical and educational purposes in regards to Laserdisc, the format.

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And thank you to the following patrons!

[LGR]

This LD series has been the best explanation I've seen of the format's successes and shortcomings. Excellent work!

[RobertLink]

I love those old computer animation demos. I think the newness of the medium, combined with the fact that many of the people working in it didn't have a background in traditional animation led them to imagine a lot of weird, fantastical scenes that you don't see anywhere else, before or since. The limitations of the technology probably played a role too; you got characters made of cylinders, spheres, and cones because those shapes were easier to render. Watching them today, they have a kind of funky retro-future vibe that instantly transports me back to my childhood.

[MattMcIrvin]

At some point in the early 1980s, I remember Sears experimenting with interactive electronic catalogs on laserdisc. They had one at their store at Fair Oaks Mall in northern Virginia; I remember playing with it. It was in a back area of the store, the desk where you could make and pick up catalog orders for items not available on the floor. They had some sort of console built around a videodisc player, and you could page through the whole catalog on a TV screen and I think even queue up orders somehow.

At that point, there wasn't a huge advantage over using a paper catalog. But I think about that sometimes when I ponder how completely Sears missed the train on online sales. They *were* the Amazon of the 20th century, really, and they could have conquered the Web if they were on the ball--they even had people who were thinking about that kind of thing all the way back in the 80s, but somehow they didn't.

[michelle_pgh]

The commentary isn't mastered poorly. You're hearing the effects of laser rot, which usually takes out the audio tracks first.
Most of the stuff on those Disney box sets did end up getting ported to their dvd counterparts. Criterion laserdiscs on the other hand, are a treasure trove of content that didn't see the light of day elsewhere as in a lot of cases they weren't able to later license the films for dvd or blu-ray.

[compu]

General Motors used laserdiscs for dealership training in the late 80s. I have several discs from 1979 / 1980 on my channel. Sadly many of them suffer from LaserRot.
Looking forward to the next segment! I can tell there's a lot of research that went into this!

[bernhardwagner]

I must congratulate you on your scope of knowledge about the history of video development. I have learned a lot from your presentations. Our school district bought a LaserDisc player integrated with a Macintosh computer. They bought a program about American Political history. I had access because I was the Mac and Video guy. It was fun to use but I backed off because I saw myself in a new role teaching teachers. I bought a couple of discs, one Jurassic Park that could not freeze frame. I felt this was not going anywhere with DVDs in the wings. Oddly, after I retired, I spent 5 years teaching teachers about computer software and hardware to use with computers. Keep presenting your knowledge

[BaggyMcPiper]

The Laserdisc sounds like a freaking jet engine when it's starting up. Terrifying!

[ncities]

The "Dragon's Lair" arcade game was my first introduction to Laserdisc based games. Dropped many a quarter learning the different scenes in the game until I was able to complete the game on one quarter with no deaths involved.

[ClokworkGremlin]

This series really brings back memories, and reminds me that my dad was a low-key audiophile back in the 80s. We had a laserdisc player and a 32-inch CRT TV since the earliest memories I have (I may actually have a memory of when the TV arrived, I remember my dad and uncle shuffling it across the floor), and we got a dual-side laserdisc player when I was about 8. I always enjoyed going to the laserdisc store, partly because it was just such a cool place, partly because it almost always meant a new movie to watch when we got home.

My parents actually had 2 or 3 copies of the original Star Wars trilogy on Laserdisc. 4:3 and letterboxed. They have a copy of Mary Poppins on Laserdisc which includes a gallery mode of production images similar to the Pocohontas one shown in this video, and it BLEW MY MIND trying to figure out how it worked.

[Nataloff]

Wonderfully informative, literate, and even funny! Something I didn't hear mentioned is that laserdiscs were not copy-protected which made it possible to dub them onto videocassette with results that were as good as pro tapes.

[itsgeegra]

This video is class but it's striking how much your content has grown in such a short time - class stuff

[brantisonfire]

"We're almost done with the saga of Laserdisc." This must go on for an infinite number of episodes.

[thedevincrutcher]

Back in the 90s, teachers at my school had a laserdisc player that had an external barcode reader. You could use the reader to scan codes from a textbook and the player would immediately play that part of the disc. Pretty amazing in a time before mainstream computers and apps.

[OwlSong]

In 2012, my middle school physics teacher used a laserdisc in class, so it was cool to hear about how it was preferred for education. It made the appearance of LD in class even that recently make some sense!
This LD series, like all the others on the channel, has been great! Thanks for making them.

[altrogeruvah]

Two episodes in one day! I am so happy ~

[ShawnTewes]

Great episode. Say, have you ever heard of LaserDisc recorders? Yes, they existed in the pro video realm back in the early 90s, mainly used to capture a sequence of computer rendered 3D images for animation frame by frame. Todd Rundgren used one to capture images from NewTek Lightwave running on Commodore Amigas with Video Toasters for one of his music videos. I believe it was a Sony LVR6000. The discs held 24 minutes per side, which was pretty good for the time. It would be fantastic if you were to touch on this subject briefly in a future video.

[pauleckert]

You and techmoan need to do a video together. The two best tech YouTube channels out there. Keep up all the great work.

[jonathansprings]

I love watching these videos and learning cool stuff.

[azdgariarada]

Good lord. I have no idea how I stumbled onto this channel, but somehow I ended up watching an hour on laserdisc history. Something about your presentation style is just mesmerizing!

[camille]

I can't get over how amazing his explanations are. When I saw the string wrapped around the disk I instantly understood what he was talking about and the rest of the concept was easily grasped. I have an informations systems degree but have always struggled a little with the hardware side, I love watching him explain how things work.