Laserdisc Essentials - LD History 101

Laserdisc. To some, a legend - a beloved, nostalgia-drenched gateway to film appreciation and home theater addictions. To others, a punchline - a failed piece of video history synonymous with all that is foolish and out of fashion. To yet others, a mystery - an intriguing niche format that slipped by in the night while the unsuspecting masses remained steeped in the video cassette experience.
So why is this deceased home video format still being talked about today, when it gave up the shiny ghost over a decade ago? Culturedog Sam Hatch aims to answer that question, but as with any journey it is most wise to start at the beginning. Who knew that laserdisc (and by extension, CD, DVD, Blu-ray, etc.) was spawned from one man’s chance encounter with a seemingly unimportant microscopic experiment by a pair of German engineers? Or that Bing Crosby played a part in the whole sordid affair? Or that Leonard Nimoy had a magical talking rock?
So gather ‘round Spock’s magic rock, fire up your vintage Magnavision consoles, and prepare to embark on a guided journey through time and space as Sam reminisces about the unlikely origins of our favorite silvery oddity - the Laserdisc!
Listen to "Culture Dogs" Sunday nights at 8pm EST on WWUH, 91.3 FM in CT. Also streaming live (and then archived via StreamRewind) on:
www.wwuh.org
WNPR:
www.cpbn.org/profile/sam-hatch
96.5 TIC FM:
965tic.cbslocal.com/tag/sam-ha...
Intro music: "Anger Mgmt." by Sever the Drama.
www.severthedrama.com
This episode is brought to you by the word "ribald” and the phrase “Videodisk, or VD for short!”

[@bartsimpson83]

I like your style. You remind me of a college professor I took several classes with. He didn't use visual aids that much, but his lectures were always fascinating to listen to because he would do the same thing, saying "this person talked to this person who talked to this person and twenty years later it resulted in this". It's cool to find out all those connections.

[@Culturedog]

Thanks so much! Glad to hear the video was entertaining enough and didn't come across as a bland info dump. I'm itching to finally get the rest of this series rolling - I can't believe it's taken me so long already. More to come though!

[@1dbanner]

"Strange External Equipment" should be the name of a future LD podcast, my friend

[@torivar]

The LD-Encyclopedia!! Wow, this will be the complete history! Great video! Can't wait to hear the rest of the story!

[@Culturedog]

torivar Thanks! Will hopefully have the next one up in a few days!

[@StefanHomberger]

Awesome stuff! I love historical/informative videos like this.

[@Culturedog]

+Stefan Homberger Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it! I hope to have the 2nd part up and running soon.

[@X2FileWrightonite]

2x-file.blogspot.com/2015/05/did-laser-videodisc-matter.html

[@ericspalacio]

Another thing that does leave me to a misunderstanding is how much people are selling and buying VHS is in the past two years, I grew up with all that tech and I would never spend $80-$100 on a used VHS, if I had to have something nostalgic I really would go with the laser disc. I mean it’s basically the same transfer on the VHS. It’s just more true to the source and the analog components or a lot more advanced. I see it this way I used cassettes when I was a kid and heard records as well, if I had to choose to buy Guns N’ Roses appetite for destruction on cassette today, or the vinyl/record which is made out of vinyl, would buy the record, hands-down. It’s better sound higher quality and like laser disk, a complete analog wonder, the only difference between records and laser disks Was the transport of the media to the optical format. I mean laser disk had to be one of the most hybrid technologies of our time when it came to an entertainment piece in your home, it even started to include digital, mixed in with full analog.

[@Checker222]

This is GREAT! Somehow I missed it when you first posted it, but I've been re-watching a bunch of your videos, and found this one, GREAT info, thanks a bunch!

[@Culturedog]

+Checker222 Thanks!! Glad you found it! Still knee-deep in finishing Episode 2 - these things are a beast to put together! Thanks again for watching and dropping some great feedback!!

[@johnf198207]

Awesome video! Can't wait to see part 2! You have officially shed a bright light for those of us who are curious about optical storage technology. Thank you sir!

[@Culturedog]

John Froelich Thanks John! Keep sharing those collection updates!!

[@thomass8791]

Nice videos, LD was a very interesting format. Good to see that Devo-lux box set in the intro

[@EgonSpengler1977]

Great video dude was like watching a TV doc ...amazing watch looking forward to the next video already 😀

[@Culturedog]

Egon Spengler Thanks Egon! Took a little more work than my usual vids but it was a lot of fun. Will drop some more shortly!

[@UltraDTA]

Been too long Culturedog, glad to see ya back!

[@Culturedog]

UltraDTA Thanks! Was hoping to have this out way sooner, but I had to wage some deadly battle with one of my editing programs! :-D

[@Edubarca46]

Count me and my daughter as strong lovers and addicts to Laserdisc. I purchased mine on April 15, 1979 on McDonald's Magnavox Home Entertainment Center in Atlanta with just 13 albums. I still have those and now I have a collection of about 400 titles. Some old DiscoVison ones were really not very good but some were excellent and after more than 35 years,. they are still playable. Long live Laserdisc!!!

[@Culturedog]

That's super cool that you were in on the format from the beginning - much respect! Great to hear that you still have your discs as well!

[@Edubarca46]

@@Culturedog Yes, and now that I have discovered that the format has never really died, I will increase my collection since there are plenty of titles on Ebay some at dirt cheap prices. Something that surprises me is that the players available, almost all used, are extremely expensive. This I don't understand. Greetings from Colombia!!!

[@Culturedog]

Yeah, there was a sweet spot a few years ago when player prices had really settled down on ebay, but they're really shooting up now - even the less desirable models! Still, I hear of people finding players in person for next to nothing, but that's becoming rarer. It seems that the format's attracting a lot of new enthusiasts lately, so that partially explains the shift.

[@pyrosapian]

Great Video! I really enjoy watching you talk about the history and operations of laserdisc. I was in a "Classroom of the Future" in the early 90's where the teacher used laserdiscs, and an accompanying book with barcodes to teach lessons with interactive quizzes. I was thinking about this one day and looked up laserdisc technology. I found your channel through a simple youtube search and have since watched all of your videos. What you are doing is fascinating, and I can't wait for your next installment. Keep up the great work!

[@Culturedog]

Ben Braden That's awesome! I often wondered who got to use those educational discs. I hear about them a lot, but rarely encounter anyone who actually got to experience them firsthand. Thanks for the feedback and for watching the vids! Cheers!

[@pvtawol]

Excellent video, and very well researched and presented. You've done a great job of keeping the audience hooked, and I look forward to seeing more of your videos.

[@Culturedog]

pvtawol Thank you very much!

[@pvtawol]

Culturedog No problem my man. Credit due, where it's deserved. And you deserve it. I feel that we are from similar backgrounds regarding Laserdisc. I have been a fan since the 80's, but unfortunately my family was too poor to afford the format. Still, I remember going to the mall and sitting in the furniture store and watching T2 on Laserdisc in their little "home theater." I've been collecting since the early to mid 90's and haven't looked back since. My friends all think I'm crazy. LOL. They just don't get it. :-)

[@StephenGarnett]

Great video! For some reason, Laserdisc seems to have become a truly beloved media format. Audio tapes, VHS/Betamax, CED (ugh!), all now condemned to the proverbial scrap heap. But Laserdisc just seems to have this fanatical cult following. Was it the exclusivity? The use of OAR? The lavish extras, put into equally lavish (and expensive!) box sets!? The care put into the releases? All I know is, whilst most folks were watching movies, typically pan and scanned on terrible quality VHS tape, Laserdisc was the Rolls Royce of home video formats. Thank you for this video, and thank you Pioneer for keeping the format going, pretty much singlehandedly!

[@Edubarca46]

Although LaserDisc will unfortunately never come back as vinyl LPs have. There are several followers, me included, out there who love the format and will continue to appreciate its extraordinary advantages.

[@pungisotu]

Honestly, both VHS and especially Betamax do have a cult following.

[@pshack78]

Really great videos. I'm lucky enough to own a Pioneer HLD X9 and a CLD 925. Both still running really well. I have to say your videos are a great informative way in for new collector's. Keep up the good work.

[@Culturedog]

Paul Shackleton Thanks Paul! Wow, an X9 - congrats on procuring one of those units! Thanks again for the positive feedback and enjoy those players!!

[@leeroygreene85]

Wow! Well versed and informative video! Looking forward to more....

[@Culturedog]

***** Thanks man! Been slacking on getting Part 2 finalized, but it should be up and running soon!

[@thereallantesh]

Wow great video. You clearly did your research. Thanks for sharing.

[@Culturedog]

Thanks man! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@haggy38]

Amazing video, great LD information, I'm new to this format and love it!! Keep formation and tips coming please el how to clean or polish ld........ regards, from Bogota Colombia!

[@Culturedog]

Cheers! Glad you enjoyed the video! I'll do some cleaning information in an upcoming video for sure.

[@lovatscout1]

Nice work bud much appreciated. Looking forward to the brass tacks of the setups Cheers Paul

[@Culturedog]

lovatscout1 Thanks man!!

[@playerpage2]

Great stuff about the patents! Now I have something to look up and hang on my wall!

[@Culturedog]

+LaserVault Good idea! That would spruce up any LD library room or home theater!

[@davidjgregg1]

Great video, this one hits close for me as David Pual Gregg is my grandfather. So thank you for doing this so well.

[@Culturedog]

Thanks for watching and dropping by the channel! I was just talking to Kelly earlier today - it's so cool to hear from his family members. Feel free to correct anything I got wrong!!

[@pattyjohnson6114]

Thank you for doing this, David Paul Gregg was my father in law and as you have seen, my son, his first grandson, was named after him. DP was certainly ahead of his time. I have copies of his specs for the laser disc and remember the journey of building presses, lawsuits, patents and many of the names you mentioned. Thank you again for the visual that his grandchildren could see.

[@Culturedog]

My pleasure! I've always been fascinated by the tales of Mr. Gregg's work and thought it would make for an interesting video. It's super cool that you were able to find it - thanks so much for reaching out and saying hello! It's amazing that you still have all of the specs and everything!

[@laxg9343]

You remind me of David Harbour. 😀 Great video dude!

[@Culturedog]

Been getting that a lot lately haha! Guess I have to dress as Hopper for Halloween or something. Cheers!

[@valentinoesposito3614]

Great video, love the history of tech

[@Culturedog]

Drue-Michael Buono Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed it. Cheers!

[@factsabouttruelove]

Lol came here from the radio. Didn't think I would have more subs than you.

[@KokoRicky]

Excellent and professional presentation and very well researched.

[@Culturedog]

Thanks, Cody! I need to get the rest of this series up and running finally.

[@colbymck]

Please do. Would love to know more about differences between players, necessary setups, etc.

[@georgeherrera9896]

Thanks for the lesson. I will be back for the next round. Since my last message I've picked up my third LD player, LD-V4400 Industrial with LB version 2. It plays my discs good. Can't spend too much money on a higher end Elite player saddens me a little but honestly I'm fine with the ones I got so far. Also picked up a few more movies, Signature Collection CAV Jaws, and Criterion CAV Ghosebusters. Thanks for the vids again!

[@Culturedog]

George Herrera Nice score on Jaws and Ghostbusters! Speaking of Elite players, just saw somebody selling a CLD-79 for a few hundred on ebay last night. Wish I had the scratch to make that happen. Cheers on your newest acquisition! Thanks for watching!

[@darthbriboy]

Cool video man very informative.

[@Culturedog]

***** Thanks brother!!

[@darthbriboy]

Culturedog You are very welcome ,brother. :D

[@00AOD]

Thank you for posting this video. I'm getting back into LaserDisc and it was very informative. I just picked up a Yamaha CDV-W901 and it's a great player. Is there a way to do a video about the "other" players as a contrast to the Pioneer ones? I can't find any real info or reviews on mine, almost zero. The ones I have found say it's great tho. Anyways, keep up the great videos. They are great!

[@Culturedog]

Sega_Retro_Revival Thanks for watching - glad you enjoyed it! I plan on doing a special episode on the players, so I'll definitely add some info about non-Pioneer models. I'm always fascinated by the alternate brands just because you don't see them that often. I started with a Sony, and even though most people hate their LD players, I totally got my money's worth out of it. I'm really starting to like the Panasonic units too. Cheers!

[@X2FileWrightonite]

The INTRO is Great ! Good - solid info. "VD" ! LOL ! And yes- I have one of those Pioneer Industrial Players w/ the Bar Code scanner- The LD-V8000.

[@Culturedog]

William Wright Thanks! Very cool that you have an LD-V8000. I'd love to eventually see a small LD museum someday, even if it's run out of a shed in someone's backyard or something. I know a guy in CT who collects vintage "muscle" bicycles and wound up opening his own museum out a spare storage garage at the company he works for. A laserdisc version of that would be fantastic, since there are so many interesting players out there.

[@X2FileWrightonite]

Culturedog I take it you have seen this? www.laserdiscarchive.co.uk/

[@Culturedog]

William Wright Indeed - I stop by there on a regular basis. Great site!

[@mik3y80]

bought a Pioneer CLD 760, And a CLD A-100! Loving the LD players.

[@Culturedog]

Mikey G Sweet! Never seen a LaserActive unit in person before. Enjoy!

[@monsieurmike2072]

Excellent!✌

[@Culturedog]

Thanks!!

[@monsieurmike2072]

@@Culturedog ✌

[@yakovcs]

Great video , when you'll do the next part (the basics you talked about) please explain how do i get cc to work .. is it a LD player function or a tv function ... i cannot get the cc to work :( and please talk about CAV vs CLV REALLY WAITING for the next part :)

[@Culturedog]

yakovcs Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, I'm hoping to get the 2nd video up very soon - sorry for the delay! I can help with some of the cc issues though - it's in the signal of the video, so it's a TV function. I don't think any PAL discs had cc info, but most US NTSC discs have the captions. Not sure about Japanese discs, I'll have to try some. But yeah, the TV has to create the captions. Unfortunately a lot of video devices that don't have built-in tuners (like my projector) don't have a cc decoder, but apparently you can find external cc decoders on ebay etc. I think the standard was that the captions are encoded on the CC1 channel. Hope you get them to work!

[@detailologycarcare7541]

betamax was not really a failure totally. Industrial wise it wasnt, general public rental and recording it was but not too bad. LD and Beta are my personal favourites. great video mate

[@Culturedog]

+Indepth Mobile Car Detailing Adelaide/Detailology Color FX Studio Thanks! Yeah, kinda like how DAT became an audio industry standard for quite a while even though it wasn't a major hit on the consumer front. Never had a Beta player myself, but all I ever heard from those who did was that it smoked VHS' quality. Cheers!

[@detailologycarcare7541]

it didnt smoke it but It was definately superior. sharper and clearer but where it was best was in the way the tape was loaded and how gentle the machines were on the tapes. you will never see a beta tape get tight and snap whereas VHS tape does

[@Tomanista]

Great video. It's really sad sometimes how certain tech just pops up at the wrong time. Just imagine if TV's had been bigger and used flat CRT screens earlier. And what if they had gone with all digital information on the Laserdisc from the beginning. One thing irks me with the audio on this video though. When you're silent for like 0.5 seconds the audio compression just mutes which makes gaps in the audio where even the background sound is muted. Personally, when watching with headphones it's strains my ears with all those muted gaps. Not a biggie, but I't would be great if you could look in to it for future videos. Or maybe it's just KZbins audio compression that kicks in when the video is uploaded.

[@Culturedog]

Tomanista It's probably a combo - I edit audio on headphones and get annoyed easily by all my "giant panicked breaths" as Tyler Durden would call them, so I'm pretty aggressive with their removal. I'm guessing the KZbin compression exacerbates the symptoms. I'll see if I can get a louder ambient bed layered into the next video to combat the effect.

[@Tomanista]

Cool. I'm just getting bad flashbacks to the early days of audio compression on the Internet from Realplayer videos and 64kbits mp3's ;-)

[@strictlysega]

request: can you do a top 20 laser disc players please?

[@Culturedog]

strictlysega Awesome idea! I'll work that into the "Hardware" episode!

[@haydenholmes9301]

So I have a question for you Mr. Hatch, is your intro segment open matte, or pan & scanned? :p

[@Culturedog]

***** Open matte* for sure! *denotes that Culturedog forgot to set his editing software to 16:9 when putting together his intro video. :-D

[@vicior55]

Excelente vídeo cara, bem informativo e cheio de conteúdo. Pena que aqui no Brasil o Laser Disc, assim como o Betamax foram bem restrito.

[@1dbanner]

Phenomenal

[@Culturedog]

Thanks man!!

[@AdamJohnPestridge]

Great vid....I should send over my video list that I was planning last year for when I was going to do these types of videos but sadly did not, for your consideration.

[@Culturedog]

Adam John Pestridge Thanks man! Sounds cool. How's the comic book project going?

[@AdamJohnPestridge]

Yeah it's coming in nicely....got a start on the art and I am just finishing the treatment for the dialogue, I've just updated the websites timeline diary. By the way, I love the font on your name there.....love it.

[@suppengroove]

2:10 7 years later. so... did someone already made and tested said replacements in action?

[@ericspalacio]

It very odd on how things can be perceived, everybody talks about the failure of laser disk, the failure of Wyatt should not have been. I think if you look at it as 1978 all the way up to the year 2000 in the US and 2001 in Japan, they were very successful. At the time the generation X and baby boom error was learning about new technology in those 20 years. From what it looks like VHS didn’t really last too much longer after laser disk was finished. They went out in 2000, VHS is followed four years later, with one of the last VHS releases was Spider-Man two at least here in the states. I got into DVD in between O2/03 I got to say whenever started my journey with that technology, I was very disappointed, seen VHS transformers that looked better than DVD half of the time, was so annoyingly disappointing. I still see DVD as a unfinished, poor technology, the only thing that they gave us that I understood was pretty much way more dynamic than the picture was on DVD, was sound. I think for me, laser disks were successful in their own right to be the best of the best in between the late 70s And mid 90s, not even Blu-ray can make that claim as DVD and UHD completely made standard rate irrelevant in less than 10 years. You had Blu-ray technology hit the shelves in 2006, 10 years later in 2016 UHD hit the shelves, and Blu-ray was not even selling more than DVDs. I guess for me, it’s the respect of how technologically intricate and detailed the laser disk tech was, just imagine if they decided to revamp the technology and encoded it with Blu-ray tech, probably could fit 2 TB on each side, given the size of the optical disc. 25:02

[@GoldSrc_]

Nice video, I'm planing to get me an LD players soon, I always wanted one since I was a kid xD.

[@Culturedog]

Gordon Freeman Thanks, man! Awesome, join the party - still lots of great players out there.

[@GoldSrc_]

Culturedog What do you think of those Pioneer LD players that also are 5CD players?

[@Culturedog]

Gordon Freeman Never had one of those, but it was a cool concept at least. If I remember correctly they had average picture quality. The only one I've heard to stay away from is the M-401, which supposedly breaks down easily.

[@GoldSrc_]

Culturedog Good to know, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks.

[@retire14pattaya9]

I watched space 1999 last night on my 1991 player.

[@gahlblah5649]

I absolutely love LD, my player died though, really wish I could watch my discs.

[@Culturedog]

+Gahl Blah That sucks! How did it die? Maybe there's hope for resurrection?

[@gahlblah5649]

I talked to a guy who repairs them but pretty much said it wasn't worth it. So I pitched it. :/

[@gahlblah5649]

Culturedog Still have my discs, but need another player. :/

[@Culturedog]

+Gahl Blah Any player you looking for in particular, or just something to get the job done?

[@gahlblah5649]

Nope nothing specific if it plays it would work for me.

[@soxnpats4lyfe]

is a Pioneer CLD-D505 a bad first player?

[@Culturedog]

Ryan4233 Not at all! That was my fourth player, so you're already way ahead of the curve! But yeah, even the so-called midgrade players from Pioneer's mid-90s lineup had very good video signal-to-noise stats. Some people will talk like the CLD-D704 is the only acceptable "entry level" option, but I've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of both my D504 and D505 players.

[@Laserdreamz]

Great video, did you ever do the follow up one I cant find it in your list. Probably me being a numbskull?

[@Culturedog]

Thanks! No, it's not you - it's me! I've got the whole series outlined, but it's a lot more task intensive than my usual stuff and it always seems to get pushed aside for other videos. Part 2 is filmed already - just need to finish up the editing and get it out there!

[@Laserdreamz]

Cool, look forward to it ! Been eyeing an MDP for the bedroom not sure how the mrs would react to 2 LD players.

[@erikmolnar6585]

Come over and we can look at my VD together LOL