WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.140 --> 00:00:01.140 Laserdisc. 00:00:01.140 --> 00:00:05.319 A product with an unknown purpose that was both a few years too late and way too far 00:00:05.319 --> 00:00:06.589 ahead of its time. 00:00:06.589 --> 00:00:10.210 That’ll make more sense later on, but I want to begin this exploration of the format 00:00:10.210 --> 00:00:13.110 with my personal astonishment when learning of it. 00:00:13.110 --> 00:00:17.350 Being a child of the nineties, I fondly remember our first DVD player. 00:00:17.350 --> 00:00:21.550 It was amazing, you could freeze frame in perfect clarity, search by chapter, change 00:00:21.550 --> 00:00:25.080 the soundtrack, and enjoy vastly superior picture quality over VHS. 00:00:25.080 --> 00:00:27.519 Oh, and you didn’t have to rewind. 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:32.189 It really was the coolest thing, and I remember the entirety of my fourth grade class considering 00:00:32.189 --> 00:00:37.100 our teacher a hero for buying a DVD player so we could watch Schoolhouse Rock. 00:00:37.100 --> 00:00:40.510 Fourth grade was also when I learned what a Laserdisc was. 00:00:40.510 --> 00:00:44.260 Our class took a trip to the school library to watch a laserdisc teaching us about being 00:00:44.260 --> 00:00:46.289 safe around electricity. 00:00:46.289 --> 00:00:52.340 I fully expected “Laserdisc” to be a weird non-specific way to refer to a DVD, and was 00:00:52.340 --> 00:00:57.390 really surprised when the librarian grabbed this absolutely giant disc from a box and 00:00:57.390 --> 00:00:59.980 put it in this weird machine to play it. 00:00:59.980 --> 00:01:03.460 Somehow that memory stuck with me, and in seventh grade I researched what Laserdisc 00:01:03.460 --> 00:01:05.320 actually was. 00:01:05.320 --> 00:01:07.150 And boy was I surprised. 00:01:07.150 --> 00:01:11.299 Laserdisc was THE first optical disc format, providing high resolution analog video, with 00:01:11.299 --> 00:01:14.170 nearly all the features of my beloved DVD. 00:01:14.170 --> 00:01:17.860 You had chapter search, you had multiple audio tracks, you had the better picture, you had 00:01:17.860 --> 00:01:20.770 trick play features on some discs, and more. 00:01:20.770 --> 00:01:24.030 And you had this starting from 1978! 00:01:24.030 --> 00:01:25.939 Why hadn’t I heard about Laserdisc before? 00:01:25.939 --> 00:01:27.740 Why weren’t they more popular? 00:01:27.740 --> 00:01:31.520 To find out, we need to go back in time to when it was released. 00:01:31.520 --> 00:01:35.330 Laserdisc was the culmination of the work of many people and companies, with the earliest 00:01:35.330 --> 00:01:39.540 work being credited to David Paul Gregg in 1958. 00:01:39.580 --> 00:01:40.940 Maybe. 00:01:40.940 --> 00:01:44.460 I’m gonna go on a slight tangent here and address some apparent patent and date confusion 00:01:44.469 --> 00:01:48.299 on Wikipedia’s part that seems to have migrated elsewhere. 00:01:48.299 --> 00:01:52.409 Although 1958 is referenced as the year Gregg invented it pretty much on any site talking 00:01:52.409 --> 00:01:57.160 about Laserdisc, there are weird inconsistencies in many places. 00:01:57.160 --> 00:02:00.439 For example, The Wikipedia entry for Optical Recording 00:02:00.439 --> 00:02:05.630 again tells us Gregg invented a transparent video disc in 1958, and that it was patented 00:02:05.630 --> 00:02:09.509 in 1961 and 1990, bizarrely. 00:02:09.509 --> 00:02:14.840 Now when you scroll down to the actual patent citations, the years right there are 1969 00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:16.690 and 1970. 00:02:16.690 --> 00:02:17.690 Hmm. 00:02:17.690 --> 00:02:22.489 And the filing date of the videodisc patent was 1967, but that’s good six years off 00:02:22.489 --> 00:02:24.120 from 1961. 00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:28.890 The rather sparse article on Gregg himself references a completely different patent. 00:02:28.890 --> 00:02:34.439 This article says Gregg was “inspired to” create the disc in 1958, so that’s different, 00:02:34.439 --> 00:02:38.489 and the referenced patent is the earliest one we’ve yet seen, being filed in 1962 00:02:38.489 --> 00:02:41.830 (though it’s referenced in the article as 1961). 00:02:41.830 --> 00:02:45.950 But further muddying the waters, that patent wasn’t too specific on what he intended 00:02:45.950 --> 00:02:48.150 his technology to be for. 00:02:48.150 --> 00:02:53.610 Though Wikipedia references US patent 3350503 as being for a “videodisk”, there’s 00:02:53.610 --> 00:02:59.370 nothing in that patent that exclusively defines it either as being for video or indeed a disc. 00:02:59.370 --> 00:03:03.660 That patent mainly describes his work using an electron beam and a medium which can modulate 00:03:03.660 --> 00:03:08.870 a signal by inhibiting secondary emission from that beam as a new means of media storage, 00:03:08.870 --> 00:03:13.299 different from the then conventional use of ferrous particles in magnetic tape. 00:03:13.299 --> 00:03:17.130 While video reproduction does seem to be the main goal of this system, the patent drawing 00:03:17.130 --> 00:03:20.980 and explanation of operation applies this encoding technique to a tape. 00:03:20.980 --> 00:03:26.099 However, the patent does discuss the possibility of a disc using this new recording technique, 00:03:26.099 --> 00:03:27.830 and perhaps that’s why it’s referenced. 00:03:27.830 --> 00:03:32.260 In any case, although this patent doesn’t really relate to Laserdisc that closely, the 00:03:32.260 --> 00:03:36.750 patent’s main point was that using an electron beam as a scanning method could store information 00:03:36.750 --> 00:03:39.020 more densely than magnetic tape. 00:03:39.020 --> 00:03:43.080 It seems likely this revelation led Gregg to his next patent, which is the one we really 00:03:43.080 --> 00:03:44.170 want to see. 00:03:44.170 --> 00:03:50.519 US Patent 3430966, filed just over 5 years later in April of 1967, is the one we really 00:03:50.519 --> 00:03:52.010 need to talk about. 00:03:52.010 --> 00:03:56.319 This patent describes a transparent disc which reproduces video or other signals by modulating 00:03:56.319 --> 00:03:58.620 the strength of a light beam shining through it. 00:03:58.620 --> 00:04:00.329 That’s more like it. 00:04:00.329 --> 00:04:04.060 Gregg’s concept from this patent is nearly exactly what Laserdisc does. 00:04:04.060 --> 00:04:08.599 I know patent dates can be confusing, particularly with the differences between priority date, 00:04:08.599 --> 00:04:12.950 filing date, and actual publication, but there seems to be some very questionable info floating 00:04:12.950 --> 00:04:15.010 around being regarded as fact. 00:04:15.010 --> 00:04:19.640 It seems the 1958 date comes from Gregg’s own words, and I did find a source courtesy 00:04:19.640 --> 00:04:23.330 of the source material from the Today I Found Out article accompanying their recent video 00:04:23.330 --> 00:04:28.020 on this subject that suggests as much--links are in description for a lot of this. 00:04:28.020 --> 00:04:32.320 In short, Gregg’s video disc used a light source shining through it to recreate a signal. 00:04:32.320 --> 00:04:33.660 To quote the patent, 00:05:01.950 --> 00:05:05.230 Now a funny little fact that I’d like to throw in here is that a somewhat similar system 00:05:05.230 --> 00:05:09.550 had been in place for audio signals on motion picture film for decades. 00:05:09.550 --> 00:05:14.170 Lee De Forest, that’s right, the radio guy, had developed a sound-on-film system that 00:05:14.170 --> 00:05:17.280 first came to commercial use in 1923. 00:05:17.280 --> 00:05:22.530 In this system the sound signal is photographically etched on the film, and a light source through 00:05:22.530 --> 00:05:26.940 it with a sensor on the other side, can reproduce honest-to-goodness sound. 00:05:26.940 --> 00:05:31.770 This very much is the sound waveform with a tiny sliver of light projected through it, 00:05:31.770 --> 00:05:36.470 and the light sensor on the other side will produce an output which can drive a loudspeaker. 00:05:36.470 --> 00:05:41.130 And in the ultimate gesture of backward compatibility, later digital sound formats would squeeze 00:05:41.130 --> 00:05:45.560 their soundtracks between the sprocket holes in the case of Dolby Digital sound and in 00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:50.180 the tiny space to the left of the sprocket holes for DTS Digital Audio, still leaving 00:05:50.180 --> 00:05:54.050 room for a stereo analog optical track where it always had been. 00:05:54.050 --> 00:05:58.100 Now this isn’t to say that Gregg’s work was a rip-off of sound-on-film technologies. 00:05:58.100 --> 00:05:59.950 Not even slightly. 00:05:59.950 --> 00:06:03.630 Sound-on-film generally used the width of the track to determine amplitude, and its 00:06:03.630 --> 00:06:06.200 information density was pretty poor. 00:06:06.200 --> 00:06:10.780 By confining a light beam to a single spot, a very fine spiral groove could be made, which 00:06:10.780 --> 00:06:12.560 is much more space efficient. 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:16.860 Gregg’s patent image is similar to the pits and lands system that would be incorporated 00:06:16.860 --> 00:06:18.350 into Laserdisc. 00:06:18.350 --> 00:06:21.360 The light was either completely blocked or completely unobscured. 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:26.210 There were no grey areas, so a half-strength signal would be recorded with a section repeatedly 00:06:26.210 --> 00:06:31.550 going high-low-high-low, almost like an analog application of pulse-width modulation. 00:06:31.550 --> 00:06:36.430 In fact, his patent states “optical recordings representative of video signals formed on 00:06:36.430 --> 00:06:41.630 at least one side of said record member in the form of an intermittent opaque deposit...said 00:06:41.630 --> 00:06:46.330 opaque deposit selectively interrupting the transparency of said transparent material 00:06:46.330 --> 00:06:48.380 along said track”. 00:06:48.380 --> 00:06:49.900 Patent language is fun. 00:06:49.900 --> 00:06:54.610 MCA, the Music Corporation of America, bought Gregg’s patents in 1968. 00:06:54.610 --> 00:06:59.350 MCA owned the largest collection of motion pictures at the time, and saw this system 00:06:59.350 --> 00:07:02.870 as a way to potentially sell movies for home use. 00:07:02.870 --> 00:07:07.380 The electronics company Philips was simultaneously developing their own system which used a reflective 00:07:07.380 --> 00:07:08.410 disc. 00:07:08.410 --> 00:07:12.220 Philips and MCA would team up to produce the first commercially produced system, which 00:07:12.220 --> 00:07:13.590 was called… 00:07:13.590 --> 00:07:14.590 Discovision. 00:07:14.590 --> 00:07:17.080 We’ll need a moment to process that. 00:07:17.080 --> 00:07:22.180 I..I mean it’s clever, Disc-o-vision, but they went all out on the Disco thing. 00:07:22.180 --> 00:07:27.140 The original disc jackets featured the movie poster behind a V-neck Disco suit. 00:07:27.140 --> 00:07:28.140 Ugh. 00:07:28.140 --> 00:07:31.760 Discovision was released in one test market, the metro area of Atlanta, Georgia, at the 00:07:31.760 --> 00:07:33.600 tail end of 1978. 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:37.570 It would slowly creep out to the rest of the country, but it had a troubled history from 00:07:37.570 --> 00:07:38.940 the very beginning. 00:07:38.940 --> 00:07:42.741 The MCA-Philips partnership didn’t last, in part due to production issues that we’ll 00:07:42.741 --> 00:07:47.840 look at later, and Pioneer of Japan bought the rights to the format, mercifully renaming 00:07:47.840 --> 00:07:49.040 it Laservision. 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:50.040 Not Laserdisc? 00:07:50.040 --> 00:07:51.040 You ask? 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:54.790 Well, Laservision referred to the format’s standard, with all discs and players bearing 00:07:54.790 --> 00:07:58.390 this mark (similar to the Compact Disc logo). 00:07:58.390 --> 00:08:02.610 LaserDisc was technically Pioneer’s brand name, with any discs or players featuring 00:08:02.610 --> 00:08:06.480 the LaserDisc logo being manufactured exclusively by Pioneer. 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:10.860 However, the LaserDisc name quickly became a catch-all term for the format, and so it 00:08:10.860 --> 00:08:13.630 was nearly universally referred to as Laserdisc. 00:08:13.630 --> 00:08:18.770 But you wouldn’t find Pioneer’s classic beam-split logo anywhere but on their machines. 00:08:18.770 --> 00:08:21.250 Laserdisc improved upon Gregg’s work in two ways. 00:08:21.250 --> 00:08:23.290 First was the reflective nature of the discs. 00:08:23.290 --> 00:08:27.370 The most impactful thing this allowed was a double sided disc, although Greg’s patent 00:08:27.370 --> 00:08:31.470 did suggest a double sided transparent disc would be possible via changing the the focal 00:08:31.470 --> 00:08:35.330 point of the projected light beam, sorta like Dual-Layer DVDs. 00:08:35.330 --> 00:08:39.570 But Gregg hadn’t yet come upon the laser concept, probably because lasers were brand 00:08:39.570 --> 00:08:43.740 new experimental technology at the time he filed his patent, and this new approach dramatically 00:08:43.740 --> 00:08:48.230 increased the density of the recording because a laser can be focused down to a tiny tiny 00:08:48.230 --> 00:08:49.230 spot. 00:08:49.230 --> 00:08:52.820 Also a minor change that would remain in place for all optical formats going forward was 00:08:52.820 --> 00:08:57.080 the decision to read the disc from the inside out, unlike conventional records of the time. 00:08:57.080 --> 00:09:00.560 A Laserdisc is read just like CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Ray discs. 00:09:00.560 --> 00:09:04.500 A laser focuses a beam of light on a tiny spot, and this beam gets reflected back to 00:09:04.500 --> 00:09:07.310 an optical pickup, basically a light sensor. 00:09:07.310 --> 00:09:11.300 The surface of the disc is covered in pits that move the beam’s reflected path away 00:09:11.300 --> 00:09:13.010 from the light sensor. 00:09:13.010 --> 00:09:17.090 And these pits create a signal in the optical pickup by continually varying the amount of 00:09:17.090 --> 00:09:18.520 light it receives. 00:09:18.520 --> 00:09:22.550 The odd thing about Laserdisc, though, is that the pits produce an analog signal mixed 00:09:22.550 --> 00:09:24.900 with a whole bunch of other stuff. 00:09:24.900 --> 00:09:29.830 Digital formats use the pits and lands, lands being flat spots, to encode either zeros or 00:09:29.830 --> 00:09:30.830 ones. 00:09:30.830 --> 00:09:34.900 That means there’s only two different results--either the beam is reflected into the sensor, or 00:09:34.900 --> 00:09:35.900 it isn’t. 00:09:35.900 --> 00:09:38.690 But the pits of a Laserdisc aren’t encoding zeroes and ones. 00:09:38.690 --> 00:09:43.240 This is one of those things that’s really mysterious about Laserdisc, particularly when 00:09:43.240 --> 00:09:48.130 you keep in mind that this stream of pits and lands somehow encoded analog video, two 00:09:48.130 --> 00:09:52.370 discrete stereo audio tracks with 4 tracks total, indexing information to tell the player 00:09:52.370 --> 00:09:57.710 where it is along the disc, and later digital sound and even 5.1 channel surround sound. 00:09:57.710 --> 00:10:00.240 All in a single stream of pits and lands. 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:04.060 To roughly equate to analog terms, bright portions of the image will reflect the beam 00:10:04.060 --> 00:10:08.470 back to the sensor more often, and dark areas won’t reflect much of it at all. 00:10:08.470 --> 00:10:12.380 Don’t worry too much about what all is tucked into that signal besides the video, because 00:10:12.380 --> 00:10:14.190 your brain will start to hurt. 00:10:14.190 --> 00:10:17.272 But one of the coolest side-effects of this analog encoding scheme 00:10:17.272 --> 00:10:19.420 is that CAV discs, which are the standard play 00:10:19.420 --> 00:10:24.510 length of 30 minutes per side, allow you to see the structure of an analog video signal. 00:10:24.510 --> 00:10:28.360 Each of these blocks is an individual scan line, with the gap between them being the 00:10:28.360 --> 00:10:30.000 horizontal blanking interval. 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:35.210 Twice along the disc you see this chunky portion, and this is part of the vertical blanking interval. 00:10:35.210 --> 00:10:39.031 The scan lines in the vertical blanking interval are all at the blacker than black pulse intensity, 00:10:39.031 --> 00:10:43.190 and that’s why it stands out so clearly from the rest of the disc. 00:10:43.190 --> 00:10:47.180 CAV laserdiscs complete one revolution per frame of video, which is why this pattern 00:10:47.180 --> 00:10:48.560 appears so nicely. 00:10:48.560 --> 00:10:51.770 You can learn more about analog video through my playlist on Television. 00:10:51.770 --> 00:10:55.210 Now that you know the basics and early history of the format, it’s time to take a look 00:10:55.210 --> 00:10:57.850 at one of the earliest Laserdisc players. 00:10:57.850 --> 00:11:02.430 Ever since I found out about the format, I’ve been transfixed by this particular machine. 00:11:02.430 --> 00:11:06.740 The Wikipedia article shows a Magnavox player which just looks so radically different than 00:11:06.740 --> 00:11:11.030 any piece of A/V equipment out there, and I’ll link to a very strangely thought out 00:11:11.030 --> 00:11:15.020 promo video featuring Leonard Nimoy promoting this new product. 00:11:15.020 --> 00:11:17.880 Someday I would have to own one of these players. And now, 00:11:17.920 --> 00:11:19.200 I do! 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:20.660 And, uh, it doesn’t work. 00:11:20.660 --> 00:11:21.660 Which really sucks. 00:11:21.660 --> 00:11:27.710 But these Magnavox players are notorious for being incredibly unreliable, and I never expected it to. 00:11:27.710 --> 00:11:31.470 It shows some signs of life, it will spin a disc and its laser works, and it can produce 00:11:31.470 --> 00:11:35.160 an very unstable black and white image, but that’s it. 00:11:35.160 --> 00:11:37.060 It’s trying so hard! 00:11:37.060 --> 00:11:40.890 That’s OK, though, because what I really wanted it for was a display piece, and to 00:11:40.890 --> 00:11:42.760 make this series of videos. 00:11:42.760 --> 00:11:45.750 Perhaps I’m the only one with this opinion, but I think this machine is the one of the 00:11:45.750 --> 00:11:48.760 most beautiful pieces of A/V equipment ever produced. 00:11:48.760 --> 00:11:52.590 I love how they styled the lid to make it obvious that this plays a disc. 00:11:52.590 --> 00:11:56.530 It’s simultaneously simple, elegant, industrial, and Starship-Enterprisey. 00:11:56.530 --> 00:12:01.510 And in a time period filled with simulated wood grain cabinets, its silver and black 00:12:01.510 --> 00:12:05.970 color scheme set it apart and also in my opinion makes it easier to appreciate today. 00:12:05.970 --> 00:12:09.920 I’m going to cheat and pretend that this works so you can see how to use it. 00:12:09.920 --> 00:12:15.130 This machine is a top-loader, another plus in my book, and discs are placed inside like this. 00:12:15.130 --> 00:12:18.750 The discs, by the way, are 12 inches, or 30 centimeters, across. 00:12:18.750 --> 00:12:22.640 And MCA likely had a large part in that decision, as it meant the same packaging could be used 00:12:22.640 --> 00:12:26.690 for Laserdiscs that was already in circulation for 12 inch vinyl records. 00:12:26.690 --> 00:12:31.630 When the lid is closed this machine automatically beings, trying anyway, to play the disc, and 00:12:31.630 --> 00:12:36.710 being an early player, it takes a little while for the nearly half pound disc to get up to 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:42.680 the almost unsettlingly fast 1,800 RPM, or 30 revolutions per second. 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:53.960 (Slow building whirring sound with increasing intensity) 00:12:56.960 --> 00:13:00.480 The controls on the front all do what they say they do, and this machine enjoyed most 00:13:00.560 --> 00:13:05.160 of the high-end features Laserdisc had to offer, like video split into chapters, 00:13:05.160 --> 00:13:08.000 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:12.480 Freeze frame on CAV discs, which also allowed smooth slow motion and fast forward capability, 00:13:18.520 --> 00:13:22.560 and instant random access to any part on the disc. 00:13:26.280 --> 00:13:30.352 When you put this machine next to a VCR of similar vintage, 00:13:30.352 --> 00:13:32.960 the VCR seems almost laughably primitive. 00:13:35.400 --> 00:13:39.480 And yet, very few people ever purchased a Laserdisc player, well at least few people 00:13:39.500 --> 00:13:42.980 outside of Japan where the format did achieve modest success. 00:13:42.980 --> 00:13:44.150 But why? 00:13:44.150 --> 00:13:48.230 What would make a format with most of the features of DVD, which in case you forgot 00:13:48.230 --> 00:13:52.860 quickly killed VHS sales once players reached a competitive price-point, fail to capture 00:13:52.860 --> 00:13:55.610 the imagination of consumers of the time? 00:13:55.610 --> 00:13:58.470 The most often cited problem was cost. 00:13:58.470 --> 00:14:02.780 This was very true later on, but initially a laserdisc player was actually much cheaper 00:14:02.780 --> 00:14:06.089 to own than a VCR, either Beta or VHS. 00:14:06.089 --> 00:14:09.640 Stay tuned for the next video where I’ll do a deep dive into these two machines, and 00:14:09.640 --> 00:14:14.020 you’ll soon discover that they never really were competing with each other at all. 00:14:14.020 --> 00:14:16.180 Thanks for watching, I hope you enjoyed the video. 00:14:16.180 --> 00:14:19.990 If this is your first time watching Technology Connections, please subscribe so you won’t 00:14:19.990 --> 00:14:21.170 miss the next ones. 00:14:21.170 --> 00:14:24.470 This video has been brought to you by supporters on Patreon, and I’d like to give a special 00:14:24.470 --> 00:14:28.210 shout-out to these patrons who get their names in lights. 00:14:28.210 --> 00:14:31.540 Patrons of the channel have allowed me to spend more time bringing these videos to you. 00:14:31.540 --> 00:14:34.630 And if you’re interested in supporting the channel as well, please check out my Patreon 00:14:34.630 --> 00:14:37.850 page through the link on your screen or down below in the description. 00:14:37.850 --> 00:14:40.400 Thanks for your consideration, and I’ll see you next time!