And, they were analog!
CDs, DVDs, and of course BluRays are digital, but laserdisc was analog.
Beat me to it lol
Bit of a late entry, but since you took the time: first LD I watched was “Raising Arizona”. Art teacher in high school was an enthusiast.
ITT: people who watch technology connections and techmoan
Wait until you learn about SelectaVision, the vinyl record that played videos and still used a stylus.
30 cm diameter
450 rpm for NTSC, 375 rpm for PAL
Oh so it’s a helicopter
LaserDisc ran at up to 1800 RPM also in a 30cm form factor
In the Tech Connections video on them, they sound like they’re taking off when they spool up.
A very good friend of mine had one of these when I was a kid. We called it laserdisc. I couldn’t tell you how that started.
So, when I got to high school and they were using actual laserdiscs I said, “Where’s the cool outer shell? Is this just like, a school laserdisc setup?” Some kids argued with me that I didn’t know what I was talking about.
I clearly remembered watching Star Wars on them and being mesmerized by that case.
Years later I got to thinking about it and googled “laserdisc with hard casing, mechanism removes disc when played”. Nothing. I chalked it up to it being some kind of false memory. Maybe I was just remembering the sleeve and my buddy was putting the movies in the player in a way that made me think it worked like that.
It wasn’t until years later that I seen a techmoan video in my feed and I was like, “THAT!! That’s what I’ve been talking about all these years!! It’s fucking vinyl! NO WAY!”
I was always tech obsessed so it nearly drove me crazy anytime I thought about it. He’d been dead for years so I couldn’t ask him. His dad and sister had no idea what I was talking about. “He traded a lot stuff around so there’s no telling what he had. There was mismatched technology all over this place.”
I sold a player on eBay last year, mfw the buyer also bought the aftermarket warranty.
Still have my laserdisc collection. It is just collecting dust. But I do not have the heart to part with them.
s/o to LaserDisc for being one of the many sources of de-specialized Star Wars
one of the many sources of de-specialized Star Wars
What are the others? I mean besides VHS? I was under the impression that the laserdisc rip was the only decent quality release of the original trilogy.
- 2011 Blu-Ray release with fan color correction
- 2006 DVD bonus content from 1993 Laser Disc, upscaled by fans
- 720p HDTV rip of 2004 DVD version
- Digital TV capture of 1997 Special Edition
- Various high-quality film scans and special effects elements
- Team Negative1’s 35mm film scan of Mos Eisley sequence
- 16mm film transfer of original 1977 theatrical release
The sheer amount of work…
When you have nineteen minutes, check this out! Really well-made overview of this whole Harmy business.
That’s frigging crazy as well as awesome. Last I went looking was probably like 15 or 20 years ago. And back then I didn’t learn about Harmy. Thanks for letting me know. I really believed that the laserdisc version was the only way to get rid of the crap Lucas added when he discovered Adderall and cgi in the late 90s.
As a stand up law abiding citizen I will of course refrain from seeking out these unlicensed materials ;)
