Laserdisc - History

History

Laser disc technology, using a transparent disc, was invented by David Paul Gregg and James Russell in 1958 (and patented in 1961 and 1990). By 1969, Philips had developed a videodisc in reflective mode, which has advantages over the transparent mode. MCA and Philips decided to combine their efforts: they first publicly demonstrated the video disc in 1972. Laserdisc was first available on the market, in Atlanta, on December 15, 1978, two years after the introduction of the VHS VCR, and four years before the introduction of the CD (which is based on Laser disc technology). Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision (also known as simply "DiscoVision") in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to internally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical Videodisc, and Disco-Vision (with a dash), with the first players referring to the format as "Video Long Play". Later, Pioneer Electronics purchased the majority stake in the format and marketed it as both LaserVision (format name) and LaserDisc (brand name) in 1980, with some releases unofficially referring to the medium as "Laser Videodisc". Philips produced the players while MCA produced 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 Dakin and John Winslow) founded Optical Disc Corporation (now ODC Nimbus).

In 1979, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago opened their "Newspaper" exhibit which used interactive Laserdiscs to allow visitors to search for the front page of any Chicago Tribune newspaper. This was a very early example of public access to electronically stored information in a museum.

The first Laser disc title marketed in North America was the MCA DiscoVision release of Jaws in 1978. The last title released in North America was Paramount's Bringing Out the Dead in 2000. The last Japanese released movie was the Hong Kong film Tokyo Raiders from Golden Harvest. A dozen or so more titles continued to be released in Japan, until the end of 2001. Production of Laserdisc players continued until January 14, 2009, when Pioneer stopped making them.

It was estimated that in 1998, Laser disc players were in approximately 2% of U.S. households (roughly two million). By comparison, in 1999, players were in 10% of Japanese households. Laser disc was released on June 10, 1981, and a total of 3.6 million Laser disc players were sold in Japan. A total of 16.8 million Laser disc players were sold worldwide, of which 9.5 million of them were sold by Pioneer.

By the early 2000s, Laser disc was completely replaced by DVD in the North American retail marketplace, as neither players nor software were now produced. Players were still exported to North America from Japan until the end of 2001. The format 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, Laser disc always remained an obscure format. However it was chosen by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for the BBC Domesday Project in the mid-1980s, a school-based project to commemorate 900 years since the original Domesday Book in England. From 1991 up until the early 2000s, the BBC also used Laser disc technology to play out the channel idents.