Laserdiscs (was: Video Clips)

[Chuck Guzis]

On 10 Nov 2007 at 15:04, Jay West wrote:

> Someone wrote....
> > Actually laserdiscs certainly are 
> That's a stretch... I'm not buying it :)

Jay, would you mind if I took the subject back OT?  Laserdiscs hold a 
special place in my brain.  I recall seeing a demo of the Pioneer 
Laserdisc player around 1980 or so in the local Macy's (that was when 
Macy's was the place to go to see the latest in consumer 
electronics).  I went home with a bunch of brochures and sat 
calculating the capacity of a Laserdisc in bytes--my numbers were 
very exciting.  I can remember saying to my wife that evening "Do you 
realize how this invention will transform information storage?".

I wasn't the only one thinking this way, apparently.  Here's a great 
story about rescuing the Beeb's 1986 Domesday Book project:

http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue36/tna/

Do any of the cclist-ers in the UK still have any LV-ROMs and 
hardware?  I'd be willing to wager that Tony does. :)

For what it's worth, I was amazed that RCA had the courage to market 
their Videodisc kludge a year later in 1981.  The technology seems to 
have died a mercifully early death.

Cheers,
Chuck