boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN) (07/24/85)
> From: bu-cs!wtm (Tom Meier) > Is it true that the laser > disk market is going down the tubes, and the people like RCA have > sold out and discontinued there Laser Disk line? Whether the laser disk market is going down the tubes is anyone's guess. As for RCA, well, yes, they tossed in the towel on their videodisk line, but they weren't laser disks. RCA was the manufacturer of the infamous stylus videodisks. 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Acton-Nagog, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA
caf@omen.UUCP (Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX) (07/27/85)
The word I hear is that Laser videodisks (not the grungy RCA type) are doing quite well, with the player population expanding by something like 50 per cent per year. LaserDiscs are still something of a specialty market for those who demand broadcast quality video and source level quality in their home video. In the absence of a total change in broadcasting practices, even the new stereo-TV will not deliver satisfying sound. VHS and Beta Hi-Fi prerecorded tapes can attain a suitable sound quality, but their picture resolution (even Super-Beta) falls far short of LV's broadcast quality. Picture quality on 8mm is reportedly no better. The only threat to LV would be 1/2 inch VCR's using high band recording on a metal tape. Such tapes would be somewhat expensive, and unplayable on present 1/2 inch VCR's. -- Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX ...!tektronix!reed!omen!caf CIS:70715,131 Omen Technology Inc 17505-V NW Sauvie Island Road Portland OR 97231 Voice: 503-621-3406 Modem: 503-621-3746 (Hit CR's for speed detect) Home of Professional-YAM, the most powerful COMM program for the IBM PC
ron@wjvax.UUCP (Ron Christian) (07/30/85)
>> Is it true that the laser >> disk market is going down the tubes, and the people like RCA have >> sold out and discontinued there Laser Disk line? > >Whether the laser disk market is going down the tubes is anyone's guess. >As for RCA, well, yes, they tossed in the towel on their videodisk line, >but they weren't laser disks. RCA was the manufacturer of the infamous >stylus videodisks. >--- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Acton-Nagog, MA) *** Smile when you say that! :-) I have one of those 'infamous' machines and it works quite nicely for the $170 investment, thank you. We were watching disks in high quality video and *stereo* for $26 purchase, $2 rental, when the rest of you were scrabbling for $90 VHS tapes and rentals were nonexistant. And Star Trek came out on the RCA disk first! The 12 episodes of Trek on disk are still available, and are still less expensive than the corrisponding tapes. (The good ones, 'City on the Edge of Forever', 'Trouble with Tribbles', etc. are there.) Sure it's obsolete, but we didn't kick in much money, and it was a great way to find out whether we needed a home video system. We got a lot of use out of it. (Still do, although the beta gets more play these days.) Now, when RCA throws in the towel on VHS, that'll be something. -- __ Ron Christian (Watkins-Johnson Co. San Jose, Calif.) {pesnta,twg,ios,qubix,turtlevax,tymix,vecpyr,certes,isi}!wjvax!ron
caf@omen.UUCP (Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX) (08/02/85)
In article <531@wjvax.UUCP> ron@wjvax.UUCP (Ron Christian) writes: >watching disks in high quality video and *stereo* for $26 purchase, $2 The CED discs I've seen had a picture that was poorer than a LaserDisc dubbed on a VHS tape at the 2 hour speed. A typical comparision: the trailing credits on STTMP. They are easy to read on LV, rather hard to read on Beta, slightly worse yet on VHS, and much worse on CED. CED discs also tend to have gliches in vertical lines and some slight skipping in most of the demos I've seen. On a 15 inch set, CED was passable, on a projection set it was terrible. BTW, a great LV demo is Koyakanatasi (give or take a few letters) when played on a GOOD projector and high end stereo system. The cloud motion sequences are positively Mesermizing. -- Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX ...!tektronix!reed!omen!caf CIS:70715,131 Omen Technology Inc 17505-V NW Sauvie Island Road Portland OR 97231 Voice: 503-621-3406 Modem: 503-621-3746 (Hit CR's for speed detect) Home of Professional-YAM, the most powerful COMM program for the IBM PC