WORLD'S FIRST: Laser Video Disc Player made in 1982

[timinlex]

Have you seen a laserdisc recorder? A recorder that could record laserdiscs onto 12" or 8" analog laserdisc blanks. I actually saw one, perhaps the only one in existence in the southeast of the U.S. I have several 12" LD-R blanks in fact.

[devilman1962]

I remember when this player came out. I was 19 and was working for Hecht Company. They had a big display trying to sell this machine. I admit it was one of the coolest thing we had seen at the time, but the price was way too high for something that did not record.. They use to run a demo disk with paramount movie trailers and the Olivia newton-john TV special from 1978. I use to run down there every chance I got just to play with this player. Brings back memories.

[Psylliumhead]

Wrong date on it's release. The player came out in 1978 not 1982.

[Daffodil31LE]

The problem with these VLP machines is that about 99% of them will never play a movie again, sadly. The mirrors and prism that guide the laser beam are all out of focus due to inferiour glue. Without these mirrors and prism you can't make the laser beam focus on the disc. Of course the laser tube may also have died. Result: The machine spins the disc, but can't focus and shuts down. Too bad, because it is a beautiful piece of equipment.

[dandanthetaximan]

You never play it; what a disappointment. I have a model nearly identical to this that kind of works. It won't advance the laser, so it plays the same few few frames over and over.

[jaworskij]

Beam me up Scotty! In 2007/08 I found a Magnavox VH8000 on eBay for $150 and $150 shipping. I don't know how well it works because the discs I have are the later varietyu with CX sound. All I hear is the motor spinning inside. Weeks later a friend of mine gave me a SONY industrial grade Laserdisc player. I wouldn't have bought the Magnavox if the friend had given me the LD player earlier.

[mkkiani]

@jaworskij So what are you saying??? Would you rather have the new Sony LD instead of the Super Extra Large sized box of tricks?

[pimpingmrli]

so will these players play the early Discovision discs and the later ones from the 90's? Also what does CAV disc and CLV disc stand for? Isn't one the early type and the other the later type that played much longer on each side?

kinda like VHS's - SP, LP, & SLP (or EP)???

[noisedownloader]

where they were made? philips brand, In Japan? Holand? or the States?

[cengeb]

Philips owned MCA at the time, so they had movies to go. MCA owner of Spencer Gifts!! Yup.

[RetroPCDOS]

I remember reading a book on a prototype laserdisc player as a kid and explain in detail how it worked. Laser was huge and require a HV powersupply and separate "pick-up head assy". There was a earlier laserdisc player in 1978 and a revision before that.

[TheGamerFru]

phillips were with nintendo, they qui because nintendo did not want to have cd yet..... that's when playstation 1 existed.... interesting to see that they are the first

[lovemylogics]

As Watcher said, that was not a 1978 Prototype - that was the MCA DiscoVision PR-7820 Industrial model and 13,000 were sold to GM for use in dealerships. Later it was sold under the Pioneer name as the Model 3. It was the only player designed 100% by MCA technicians and used all their preferred technology, such as reading the disc from the top and moving the turntable and not the laser for tracking. It also use a CCD time base corrector instead of a movable mirror.

[lovemylogics]

4- LaserDisc's were cheap when first sold in America - from $5.95 to $15.95. Even later, in the late-80's and 90's, LD was usually still cheaper than tape releases unless it was a special edition release LD. LD failed in the UK and Europe, but not Japan or the USA. Discovision Associates still collects royalties on DVD's and even Blu-ray due to their large patent holdings.

[lovemylogics]

3- Philips videodisc used a color-under format with limited chroma/luma bandwidth. It was MCA DiscoVision who brought the format to the high specs and their joint company Universal Pioneer that produced the first industrial players. MCA had to send Philips a player in 1973 (the smoke top version) because they hadn't yet been able to produce one. To the poster of this video, your information is seriously wrong.

[lovemylogics]

2- Kent Broadbent didn't share any of Gregg's information with MCA Disco-Vision technicians. MCA got into the business in 1969 as a low cost way to sell their films. The prototype Philips/Magnavox player can be seen in Airport 77 - the entire top opens and it has a clear area in the lid to see the disc. Philips controbution was the rigid disc - MCA wanted flexible. MCA invented the dual side disc as well as full bandwidth (continued)

[lovemylogics]

The final LaserDisc format is about 80% MCA/Universal Studios technology - Philips provided some technology in a sharing agreement and Zenith was a silent partner. The Magnavox 8000 was first sold in 1978 and was hand built from parts kits Philips sent from the Netherlands. David Paul Gregg's technology was unworkable and neither MCA nor Philips used any part of it. Gregg's 'luck' was patenting a flat disc that could play something. Kent Broadbent didn't share any of (continued)

[tmmss]

Phillips was actually one of the companies he went to with his videodisk idea for financial backing, but they weren't interested and decided to stick with their product, the "cassette".

[tmmss]

The REAL inventor of the optical disk was my dad David Paul Gregg. His company Gauss Electrophysics was bought out by MCA and his patents went with it. He got totally screwed.

[cessnaace]

Actually, both Philips and MCA (then parent company to Universal Studios) were developing optical disc formats in the 60s. In 1972 the joined forces to develop a compatible system we know today as LaserDisc.

The first LaserDisc was released in North America by MCA DiscoVision in 1978. One year later CLV (max. duration 60 minutes per side) was introduced. Then in 1982 Pioneer replaced CLVs with CAAs (although they continued to call them CLVs). The CAA70 could old 70 minutes per side.

[rmx77]

i used to have one of pioneers first models. the one i had was a model that was manufactured both as a home unit and an arcade unit. i have since gotten 3 tray loading models but they are all manual flip. i wish i had the auto flip models

[mkkiani]

@rmx77 I'm afraid that all manufacturer's saw tray loading as a way to add sophistication cheaply & simply and boost sales to those want this look as opposed to the rough and rugged. Front loading and tray loading machines were made for longer so more exist, be it 4 or 8 track cartridge players, VCR's, Laserdisc Players or CD Players. Thanks for the comment.

[Shicky256]

Actually, the first LaserDisc players were

made in 1978 under the MCA DiscoVision brand. The Phillips one you have isn't the first.

[henkman00]

look up the video where Leonard Nimoy talks (to his glowing bag) about this player. fun is also the sellers talking about it after him :P

[mkkiani]

But they thought it impractical. Thankfully the size was greatly reduced using new IC's & power transistors in the late 1970s. Sony indeed invested in the movie business before it actually bought Columbia Pictures. And investors have a big say. The prototype was indeed the Philips original 1978 prototype. Pioneer bought the license giving them the right to use the complete design to mass manufacture it. Philips changed their player's design for mass manufacturing.

[mkkiani]

The details are known to me but Youtube time limits are a constraint. The facts stated are correct and got from documentation of the time. D Gregg indeed proved the principle of lazer recording on disc in 1951, but Philips invented & demonstrated the first practical recorder. Valves continuously went faulty halting use. Powerful transistors created in late 1960s proved a better replacement but the machine took up half a room. So this machine would only be useful for tv broadcasters.

[Watcher3223]

8:14

The player pictured was not a Philips prototype. It was an actual production model engineered by MCA and manufactured by Pioneer and intended for commercial and industrial applications.

The model number is the PR-7820.

[Watcher3223]

DVD-Video was a collaboration between many companies, notably Philips, Sony, Toshiba and Time Warner.

Originally, there were two different formats, the Multimedia Compact Disc from Philips and Sony and the Super Density Disc from Toshiba and Panasonic. IBM helped to negotiate merging the two formats to create the DVD standard in order to avert a format war.

[Watcher3223]

For recordable LDs, Sony and Pioneer developed competing systems, both intended for the professional/commercial market.

The Pioneer system did have compatibility with conventional LD players.

Both systems were prohibitively expensive for consumer use.

[Watcher3223]

For the Compact Disc, this was a Philips invention. Sony's involvement was with helping Philips to create a practical means to make the format work. Sony's contributions were revised digitization specs and error correction while Philips contributed Eight-Fourteen Modulation.

However, amusingly enough, Pioneer currently holds the patents to reflective optical disc technology through their acquisition of DiscoVision Associates; they sued Sony and Philips for patent infringement.

[Watcher3223]

Sony was never an obstacle to LDs and their foray into the movie business began in 1989 with their acquisition of Columbia Pictures Industries, only one major studio and almost one decade since LDs hit the market.

On top of that, Sony also manufactured players and discs from the 1980s to the late 1990s.

[Watcher3223]

MCA originally referred to the format as DiscoVision. Philips referred to the format as VLP. Pioneer referred to the format as LaserDisc, with the LaserDisc name being a Pioneer trademark for some time.

Officially, the format's name ended up being LaserVision (later, it became known simply as Laser Disc).

[Watcher3223]

In North America, Philips made the players while MCA made the discs.

The laser videodisc was introduced to North American test markets in 1978 with the first player being the Magnavox VH-8000 (identical to the Philips VLP-600 shown in this video).

Pioneer would become involved in LaserDisc with MCA partnering with Pioneer to market laser videodisc in Japan.

In short, Philips had unreliable players, MCA had bad discs and Pioneer learned all the lessons the former two had to learn the hard way.

[Watcher3223]

I beg your pardon, but your history of the format isn't very good.

LaserDisc was originally patented by David Paul Gregg in the 1950s as a playback only medium. Separate developments of the format was started by Philips and MCA (Universal Studios).

In 1972, MCA demonstrated their system with prototype plastic discs whereas Philips was testing with glass masters. During that time, Philips and MCA decided to partner in a collaboration to create a standardized playback format.