††††On the Phonodisc a 30-line television signal was recorded. Despite its novelty, the Phonodisc was not a commercial success and was abandoned in 1936.
In the late 1970s, Philips and Sony brought video discs on to the market. In both cases, images and sound were digitally recorded as tiny pits on the surface of the disc. The largest and most ambitious video disc project ever to be undertaken was the Domesday Project in Britain. Launched in 1984, it aimed to record on video disc a comprehensive image of Britain in the 1980s, in celebration of the original Domesday Book of 1086. The two video discs that resulted were marketed jointly by Philips and the BBC.
Video discs were never really widely accepted. Discs could not be used to record and viewers were restricted to pre-recorded films. In addition, the hardware was expensive. Video discs have largely been superseded by video tapes and CD-ROMs.
