Video Disc: Optical Recording

The most sophisticated approach used for video discs is optical, storing the signal as variations in some optical property of the disc. Although one French company did develop a plain-light system, optical recording really needs a laser to be practical, and although lasers are common today the technology was state-of-the-art in the seventies, with all the risks and delays which that implies.

Optical discs - including CDs - store their information on a silver disc as pits in the reflective surface, so that a laser reflected off this surface will be affected as it passes over the pits. Since nothing actually touches the disc surface, optical discs should be completely free of wear.

DiscoVision

In 1968, the American MCA company formed a new division, DiscoVision, to research into optical videodisc technology. In June 1973 they gave a press demonstration, using cardboard mock-ups, and claimed a 1974 release for the new system. After the demo, representatives from the North American division of Philips contacted MCA, and showed them their plans for a very similar system. The two companies agreed to combine their efforts, and the project was put on hold while they formulated a new specification combining the best features of both. By 1975 this standard was agreed, and a demonstration system was put together. Although the discs for this prototype system were single-sided and flexible (unlike modern laserdiscs), and only played for 25 minutes, remarkably they will still play on a modern machine.

On the 12th of December 1978, a trial launch of the new system was made in Atlanta. 50 of the Magnavox MagnaVision VH-8000 players were made available, though about half of them seem to have been bought up by staff before the shops even opened! The machines were on sale for $749 each, and people came from all over the USA - and overseas - to try to get one. Representatives of Japanese companies were offering the lucky few up to $5000 per machine, but there were no takers. The machines sold out in under an hour, in near-riot conditions, and many of the customers who couldn't get a machine bought up the remaining discs so that they would have something to play when they eventually did get hold of one.

Another successful trial was made in Seattle a few months later, and the system went on general release in early 1980. Curiously, Philips used a different name for the system: VLP for Video Long Player, or occasionally Video Laser Player. The term DiscoVision is itself somewhat confusing, as it refers to three different things: the company, the label on which discs were released, and the format.

When the format finally reached the UK in 1982, after yet more launch delays, it had undergone yet another name change, now being called LaserVision.

Note: more information on DiscoVision can be found at another site. Ask at the enquiry desk.

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