1978 DiscoVision "US DEMO" laserdisc

This was the very first publicly-available demonstration laserdisc (there had been a few for prototype display uses only before this.) It shows a bit on how the system worked and how the first discs were made- it turned out that for optimal quality, much cleaner conditions than what's shown here were needed.
This disc ends with a clip from the TV show "Columbo" with English on the left channel and Japanese-dubbed on the right, but KZbin's content ID system automatically blocked that so I had to cut it off at that point.
The dead side of my copy has Chevrolet's "Just a Little Misunderstanding", which someone else has already uploaded here!

[@Watcher3223]

Looking at snippets of disc production, it's no wonder the discs produced by DiscoVision tended to be finicky. Creation of the glass master, electroforming of the molds, and plastic disc replication were all done without the use of clean rooms. No matter how hard they try to keep everything clean, they can't keep it clean enough. I also remember a story about when Pioneer began disc replication in Japan. There were DiscoVision engineers present during Pioneer's testing of their facilities. Basically, the DiscoVision people made fun of Pioneer for taking all those precautions ... then the DiscoVision people saw the result: Pioneer was producing superior yields.

[@JJRClassic88]

Indeed. The difference in production quality as shown in this 1988 Pioneer video is like night and day. kzbin.info/www/bejne/noimYnqvnpdphqM

[@Attmay]

I wish somebody would write a book about the history of laserdisc from its development to its initial sale to its relative 15 years as a sizable niche in home video, but one big enough to justify pushing the envelope for technical presentation, to its rapid end once DVD came along. The Internet has tried to call it a failure despite it holding on two decades, but it is easier to make that argument about CED when that spent more time in development than it did on store shelves.

[@1984AP]

My father worked for DiscoVision back then. My parents gave me a Laser Disc to play with in my sand-box when I was a toddler, and the disc would still play fine.

[@Ballowax]

Damn you people were stupid. It's no wonder discovision brand disc were so noisy

[@1984AP]

@@Ballowax Meh.

[@TheMediaHoarder]

Do you still have it? What disc was it?

[@1984AP]

@@TheMediaHoarder No. Not sure.

[@JohnSmith-zw8vp]

This was some really cutting edge stuff!

[@PascalGienger]

Hey you are lucky! Those DiscoVision Discs were not pressed in a dust-free environment in that time so many discs did not play at all, skipped or had ugly reading artifacts (like the speckles in your video, too). It took some time for them to realize that the pits are smaller than a typical dust particle and enclosed dust makes a disc rapidly unusable. AFAIK IBM gave them the hint and pressed usable discs after. That was one reason of the failure, despite the high cost and the low reliability of the HeNe laser tubes (the laser diode was not invented yet) - the amount of non playable discs was way too big and customers returned them.

[@Watcher3223]

_"Those DiscoVision Discs were not pressed in a dust-free environment in that time so many discs did not play at all, skipped or had ugly reading artifacts (like the speckles in your video, too)."_ All of that happened because MCA apparently tried to keep production costs down, equivalent to the cost of producing vinyl records, ignoring the engineering recommendations of producing discs in a clean room environment. It also didn't help that the building MCA used to make the discs in Carson, CA. was formerly a furniture factory. That meant converting any portion of the interior into a clean room environment would prove to be a futile attempt. This was because of the sawdust and other contaminants that were present which could make their way to the production line no matter what you tried to do to stop it. If I recall, when Pioneer took it over, the old building was razed and a new facility specifically designed for the production of optical discs was erected in its place.

[@favoritemustard3542]

"Drop outs - missing lines of video information - are usually caused by missing pits. This phenomenon can be caused by either a faulty or worn master, dirt, dust or other contaminants infiltrating the manufacturing process. Because of the somewhat elastic perimeters for clean room status at the DiscoVision plant, it is not uncommon to see finger prints, human hair, insect parts or other foreign objects actually imbedded below the surface of a disc. Freshly pressed sides that passed quality control were checked with a felt pen mark on the back of the disc before it was sent along to be bonded into a two sided disc. On many early pressings the ink in the pens used eventually ate through the plastic coating of the back of the disk, showing up as large black V's through the reflective coating." *V* for DiscoVision!

[@AlecPhibes]

Thanks for this! BTW, the v/o sounds like Joseph Campenella. Around this time he had a similar hosting & v/o gig doing the science and invention themed "What Will they think of Next?" tv program, so it makes sense for him to have done this.

[@Angie2343]

Sounds more like Alex Trebek.

[@databits]

What a cool disc, thanks for sharing the transfer!

[@Musicradio77Network]

Nice demonstration. Just to keep in mind that the first batch of Disney films were released on laserdiscs in 1978 and it was from MCA's Discovision before Walt Disney Home Video were established in 1980 beginning with "Pete's Dragon".

[@Angie2343]

You could literally put 35 Mickey Mouse cartoons on one side of a LaserDisc.

[@Attmay]

That movie didn't reach laserdisc until 1982 when they set it at its current running time of 128 minutes. Meanwhile, a lot of the titles Disney announced from the DiscoVision deal never actually got released by DiscoVision. *The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band* was one of them, and that made it to an in-house Disney laserdisc around the same time. Goldie Hawn's presence in the film probably helped get it released when it was since her movie career that this movie started was on an upswing thanks to her movies with Chevy Chase.

[@Attmay]

@@Angie2343 no, you can't. Even when Warner Bros. released single-disc CLV laser discs of post-1948 Looney Tunes, there were about 7 or 8 to a side.

[@Angie2343]

@@Attmay Ah, forgive me.

[@Angie2343]

The LaserDisc was created in the same way DVDs and CDs are made today.

[@patgogan7324]

And to think this was nearly 4 decades ago

[@HIDLad001]

You can even see artifacts of DiscoVision rot on this disc showing how shoddily they were made!

[@JimmyMichaelsMusic]

Anyone know what the beautiful tune that plays for brief bit at 2:17 is? Sounds very familiar! Another great post...liked the how a video disc is made part.

[@CrowTRobot-ni7zu]

I love the section from 2:17-2:47. Such beautiful scenery and gorgeous music. Wish I knew the name of the piece. Siri was no help.

[@favoritemustard3542]

*Ro-Bot-Roll-Call!*

[@hoagie1978]

The narrator is actor Joseph Campanella.

[@Angie2343]

He has a similar voice to Alex Trebek. It's his inflections.

[@85prp]

CAn you imagine how crazy futuristic this would have been in 1978?

[@Kit_Bear]

This was even futuristic throughout my childhood and teen years and I was born in 81. This would have been light years ahead of any consumers comprehension in 78. It would have seemed like something out of star trek hence the Nimoy promotion they used to sell it. Think of it. Back then to capture videos we used chemical film. For music or home video we used ferric tapes. Now you can get both of those on a plastic disc using lasers? Sorcery.

[@aaronganga2207]

thanks for todays tech

[@10p6]

I just did the math, and by my calculations each disc can hold about 1.6 GigaBytes of data on each side. Not bad for 1978 tech. It would be interesting to watch this video without the digital compression artifacts.

[@Clay3613]

Why the hell didn't it catch on as a storage medium?

[@KylesDigitalLab]

@@Clay3613 CD-ROM cough cough

[@Watcher3223]

@@Clay3613 Likely because it would have a very high cost per MB for a read-only medium, especially compared to CD-ROM when it debuted.

[@Ballowax]

LDs look amazing when you watch them for reals on an HDTV or CRT TV directally from a player.

[@und4287]

Well, they did make a couple of combined video and data releases in the UK, but the data portion was only about 200 MB in size.

[@RyanSchweitzer77]

At 5:12, it looks like they're using an IVC 9000 2" helical VTR for master tape playback--this surprises me, for I thought DiscoVision used 1" Type C for their mastering source for discs at the time. Then again, the 9000 had the best video quality of any videotape format then, so I assume they wanted the best video quality possible. The 9000 was legendary for its time for its quality--many a network TV series in the era like "Barney Miller" were produced on 9000s.

[@happycube]

Yup, they used the IVC 9000 in the first couple of years, until they had to interoperate with other houses - and IVC itself went out of business, so it became impossible to even reuse the 2" tapes for later CAV disks and the CLV remasterings, unfortunately.

[@RyanSchweitzer77]

Chad Page Yes, and I heard IVC's demise was partly due to leftover R&D costs for their development of the 9000 (I guess they didn't sell as many machines as they anticipated)--is this true?

[@KylesDigitalLab]

Nowdays they press them like vinyl with CDs/DVDs?

[@One-Day-After-Another]

I can't remember his real name... but I immediately noticed the narrator played Harper Deveraux on days of our lives in the late 1980s... I've seen him on other stuff too...

[@videomaster8580]

5:33 Blu Ray, before Blu Ray lol.

[@Angie2343]

Mr. Trebek knew.

[@jesuszamora6949]

Funny thing is, people call it a failure, but even though it didn't establish a spot in the mainstream market, it was a fairly successful boutique format for hardcore videophiles until the DVD came out. Goes to show you that there will always be market for quality for those who want it.

[@MadameSomnambule]

I know you're referring to the blue laser used in disc mastering in this vid, but in terms of quality at the time, yeah. LaserDisc was kind of the bluray of its time with a larger resolutions than vhs and betamax. Of course, in its early years, the manufacturing was pretty faulty and early laserdiscs suffers from laser rot making the picture grainy, like in this vid for instance. See the horizontal specs flashing on the screen? Those likely wouldn't have been there when the demo disc was first shown to the public.

[@KylesDigitalLab]

Why are they using film? Or is that laser rot?

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

It was filmed than transferred to video, that was pretty standard back then.

[@Ballowax]

Actually there are parts of the video program for this laserdisc that was shot on film stock, then developed, and then telecined onto video tape like Type C. It is then recorded back into this video disc.

[@bobskie321]

At 6:54 I'm sure it's a CAV laser disc because I can see those fine vertical lines which are horizontal sync and the two larger lines opposite to each other are vertical sync which are not visible on a CLV laser disc.

[@TheMediaHoarder]

It took at least a year or so for the first CLV discs to come onto the market- I think the first one was House Calls.

[@fattymcpoopytits]

This video was informative as fuck

[@princessdaisysvideoheap3710]

At 1:29 "The 1000th play will be just as clean, bright and sharp as the first play"? That's why Laser Video Discs and DVD's never wear out at all.

[@Kit_Bear]

Well, they generally don't if you look after them. The thing that fails is the reflective layer. If that remains intact they are usually quite durable outside of mishandling them ie: scratches and rapid temperature changes.

[@Angie2343]

LaserDiscs were made the same way!

[@guimbadriver]

they used a IVC9000 as video master i ve got one IVC9000 in use for me was the best analog video tape machine of century

[@jesselockhart1230]

7:54 "I just have a few questions about this disk. I''m having the foggiest time understanding how its made.."

[@channelI748]

Wonder if any masters exist still

[@MR.GECKO-i6h]

Discovision..... 🤩🤩↩🕺💿

[@kascnef]

Discovision was the Edsel of home media

[@TheMediaHoarder]

No, that honor belongs to the RCA SelectaVision Videodisc (CED).

[@RyanSchweitzer77]

Indeed. Laserdisc was more of the Cadillac/Lincoln/Stutz Bearcat of home media, a bit more upscale and costed more, but had higher quality and more to offer.

[@prfo5554]

Was losses from R&D and low sales from CEDs the main reason why RCA was bought out by GE?

[@Attmay]

@@prfo5554 that was a factor, certainly, but the biggest problem at RCA in the 70s is that they got into too many noncore businesses, and the core businesses suffered as a result because they were neglected. They bought a frozen food company, a greeting card company, a rental car company, and a carpet manufacturer. And as a result, CED missed the boat when it could have gotten there first. If times have been better economically, that also might've helped increase the number of people adopting home video sooner than they did. What RCA did then is just like what Disney is doing now, which makes it a coincidence that that was the last full decade of *Wonderful World of Disney* being on NBC on Sunday night. The studio asked the network to put them on another night, but they refused. They wanted Wednesday, but NBC put *Real People* there. *Disney's Wonderful World* as a lead-in to *Diff'rent Strokes, Hello, Larry,* and *SNL* reruns might have been interesting just to see whether more or fewer viewers tuned in than did with *Real People* as a lead-in. *Hello, Larry* turned out to be the weak link in the schedule they went with, hence *the Facts of Life* taking its place next season. How *Real People* would have done against *60 Minutes* is anybody's guess. If it flopped, then at least we would've spared the rest of the dumpster fires reality TV enabled. But nothing could beat CBS, not even from the same production company producing NBC's only sitcom hits until Nell Carter got a show (with more time slots than seasons). A few years later, under Brandon Tartikoff and Grant Tinker, *Silver Spoons* did better on Saturday than Sunday. Even after they moved it to the death slot, a special Saturday night broadcast between *The Facts of Life* and *The Golden Girls* about four days before Christmas 1985 saw its ratings go up four points. They didn't even want to try *Punky Brewster* on another night because if it was on too late for young children, they would be in bed before it was on. But under Fred Silverman, if Disney could have done better on Wednesday than Sunday, it might also have benefitted from having the two aforementioned youth-oriented sitcoms after it. And it wouldn't be at the mercy of football, so it wouldn't keep getting pre-empted on the East Coast.

[@henrypoole]

The knot tying lesson at 3:35 is played on a TV in another disc! See 7:56 in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/npW5foicg8l9o6s

[@wigwagstudios2474]

DISCOVISION IS THE NAME OF SEVERAL

[@rodgercozart5130]

Any Discovision collectors here?

[@Attmay]

I have a few of varying quality. I got the CAV disc of *Smokey and the Bandit* and it played back with very little BS. Enjoy them while you got them.

[@bradmcdill73]

What is the "r" word in 1:12?

[@TheMediaHoarder]

Reader, as in "optical reader head".

[@mackpines]

No bunny suits here! Seriously, they’re touching these discs with bare hands and not wearing any face masks. No wonder the early discs have such a reputation for being completely unreliable.

[@Angie2343]

RIP Alex Trebek.

[@vinniemorciglio4632]

Is that Alex Trebek? LOL

[@Angie2343]

Sounds like him.

[@Angie2343]

RIP to him. 😢

[@Fantom6400]

2:54 - Yep! Gone are the days when kids used to storm public parks like crazy and play it out. Nowadays kids are holding cellphones taking ‘selfies' or doing stupid TikToks.

[@Attmay]

I even see children staring at cell phones in restaurants.