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The photos aren't great at showing the scale. It was like a CD but it was as big as a vinyl record. like this: https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3833/9373539522
by Maximus9000 2y ago
The photos aren't great at showing the scale. It was like a CD but it was as big as a vinyl record. like this:
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3833/9373539522_a3065346b8.jpg https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3833/9373539522_a3065346b8.jp...
- PopAlongKid 2y ago>On the convenience front, the discs were a foot across, about half a pound, easily damaged, and had to be flipped half way through a film. there is one picture near the end of the article ("Domesday") that does show the scale relative to a standard keyboard/monitor.
- detourdog 2y agoI have never felt older than ready these comments. I started working with interactive media exhibits right in between laserdiscs and mpeg files. I loved the tension between the quality of analog devices and the convenience of digital.
- RetroTechie 2y agoSame. When I was born, optical storage did not exist in any form. It was vinyl, cassette tapes & floppy disks. Lasers were SoTA things that scientists worked with. Not in consumers' hands. Then (besides LD & VHS) came the CD, which has gone a bit out of fashion lately. Then the DVD. Which was popular in its heyday, but also over the hill. Then Blu-Ray. Not to mention a truckload of recordable & rewrite formats, DVD-RAM, MO discs & what have you. On the computer side, flash & TB hdd's for cheap. Disclaimer: and I'm not even that old yet! Neither retired or owner of a gray beard.
- MBCook 2y agoSame. We never had LD, though an elementary school I went to got one through a tech grant program. I remember watching some science class thing on it and the movie Hook. Though watching things on a 15 inch TV mounted up in the corner of the classroom by the ceiling from a desk somewhere in the middle doesn’t exactly let you see the full picture quality. Outside of that my only experience was seeing them at Blockbuster or in stores before everyone gave up. I don’t remember if I ever saw the teacher holding the laserdisc, but the racks of them in movie stores let you see how big they were.
- js2 2y agoBehold, the epsilon turn: https://youtu.be/t34dj8m1UGw?si=qh0JB48bmcpxY26B https://youtu.be/t34dj8m1UGw?si=qh0JB48bmcpxY26B The player stops spinning the disc, rotates the laser around to the other side, then starts spinning the disc in the opposite direction.
- jonhohle 2y agoLater high end players had lasers on both sides and would “auto-flip” for you.
- userbinator 2y agoAlso double-sided. AFAIK there weren't any single-sided LDs, which meant the unused side had to be filled with something else, like this memorable graphic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwTDdyZTX48 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwTDdyZTX48
- happycube 2y agoAside from very early prototypes, there were LD singles which were thinner and made more like CD's. Mostly 8" but there were a few 12"s made by Sonopress in Europe.
- itisit 2y agoThe dead side of A Video Standard [0] was white opaque plastic. Still a physical side, but not a readable one obviously. Closest I’ve seen to a single-sided disc. [0] https://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/10498/LD-101/Video-Standard-A-(1989) https://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/10498/LD-101/Video-Standard-A...
- crtasm 2y agoI wonder why they didn't stamp the same data on both sides?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- toast0 2y ago> It was like a CD but it was as big as a vinyl record Vinyl records are just black laserdiscs that are audio only :P Well, some records are jell-o colored, but you know.