Laser Disc

What is it?

• It was a form of technology used to playfilms. It was supposed to replace VHS andBetamax but was unsuccessful in mostplaces except for Japan as it managed tostay around up until 2001 but died offbecause not many people wanted to use thatformat anymore, they wanted to use a newerformat.

• It was first released to the public onDecember 15th 1978.

The inventor of laser disc

The inventor of laser disc was David PaulGregg and he invented this in 1958.

He originally patented it as the videodisk in1961 but in 1968 his patents werepurchased by the MCA which it the musiccorporation of America who furtherdeveloped his technology which helped tocreate DVD etc.

What films it played

The first movie to be released on laser discwas ‘Jaws’ in North America in 1978.

The last laser disc to be released in NorthAmerica were ‘Sleepy Hollow’ and ‘Bringingout the Dead’ which was in the 2000.

The last film to be released in Japan wereHong Kong film ‘Tokyo Raiders’ from goldenharvest which was in 2001.

By 1992 the average price of a laser discwas $30 which is equivalent to £20 where asVHS only cost between £5- £10.

Why it was not successful The laser disc was not successful because it was really

expensive and on top of that they players that was used to playit was really expensive also.

It was double sided which made it prone to damage. Each side only held 30-60 minutes of films on each side so

you’d have to turn it over half way through the film. Also depending on the film you would need several discs to

watch it. Laser disc did not take off so well because people were still

content to use VHS where as with DVD people were alreadyaccustomed because it looked like a CD.

This is the same case for blu-ray now, people are used to DVDand it’s too soon to move to the next thing.