Re: Re: Floppy LPs
By: Alonzo to Roon on Mon May 19 2025 07:44 pm

One thing I never experienced, but always wanted to try, was loading
computer data from vinyl. It should theoretically be possible to

They did that a long time ago. They put movies onto large plastic disks called video discs. I understand they had amazing sound but for some reason they didn't last long. DVDs took over.

Was there actually a format for movies using vinyl (and is "video disc" an official standard)? I remember Laserdisc, and those were the size of vinyl records, but I don't think those were vinyl (and they used a laser rather than a stylus to read them)..

Nightfox
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On Mon, 19 May 2025 17:12:28 -0700
"Nightfox" (21:1/137) <Nightfox@f137.n1.z21.fidonet> wrote:

Re: Re: Floppy LPs
By: Alonzo to Roon on Mon May 19 2025 07:44 pm

One thing I never experienced, but always wanted to try,
was loading computer data from vinyl. It should
theoretically be possible to

They did that a long time ago. They put movies onto large
plastic disks called video discs. I understand they had amazing
sound but for some reason they didn't last long. DVDs took over.

Was there actually a format for movies using vinyl (and is "video
disc" an official standard)? I remember Laserdisc, and those were
the size of vinyl records, but I don't think those were vinyl (and
they used a laser rather than a stylus to read them)..

There was the capacitance electronic disc released by RCA in 1981 but
it didn't last. It had a stylus like thing and only had 60 minutes per
side. It was already old tech when it came out in 1981. The laserdisc
was much better quality and released a couple of years earlier.
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Was there actually a format for movies using vinyl (and is "video disc" an official standard)? I remember Laserdisc, and those were the size of vinyl records, but I don't think those were vinyl (and they used a laser rather than
a stylus to read them)..

IIRC, those Laserdiscs, or their players, were relatively easy to damage. A couple of my relatives had them. They didn't have them too long, like
before DVDs were even a thing they were gone.


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Re: Movie formats
By: Dumas Walker to NIGHTFOX on Tue May 20 2025 09:18:00

Hi, Dumas.

IIRC, those Laserdiscs, or their players, were relatively easy to damage. A couple of my relatives had them. They didn't have them too long, like before DVDs were even a thing they were gone.

A friend of mine bought a Laserdisc player in the 90s, it was pretty obscure by then and he was the only person I've ever known to own one. His still works and is in semi-regular use, though, so I'm not sure if it's inherently unreliable.

The video is analogue on Laserdisc, though, so I guess that would not cope well with scratches. OK for enthusiasts who put them back in their dust sleeves, not so great for people with kids :)

To be honest I think they were just a bit unwieldy compared to VHS and definitely DVD. Plus a lot of them were mastered in constant angular velocity, which only did 30 or 36 minutes per side, so you're into turning over and swapping discs multiple times to watch a film :\

BobW
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Re: Movie formats
By: Bob Worm to Dumas Walker on Tue May 20 2025 10:31 pm

A friend of mine bought a Laserdisc player in the 90s, it was pretty obscure by then and he was the only person I've ever known to own one. His still works and is in semi-regular use, though, so I'm not sure if it's inherently unreliable.

The video is analogue on Laserdisc, though, so I guess that would not cope well with scratches. OK for enthusiasts who put them back in their dust sleeves, not so great for people with kids :)

To be honest I think they were just a bit unwieldy compared to VHS and definitely DVD. Plus a lot of them were mastered in constant angular velocity, which only did 30 or 36 minutes per side, so you're into turning over and swapping discs multiple times to watch a film :\

Yeah, my high school had at least one Laserdisc player they used for one of my classes. We'd watched a couple movies with it (in the late 90s), and I remember them flipping it and switching discs.

I remember reading that the video was analog, but I've heard it was capable of storing digital audio (maybe encoded as analog tracks?).

Also, IMO it wasn't just unwieldy, but the discs were fairly expensive. I remember seeing Laserdiscs at a local store in the early 90s, and many of them were around $60 or $70 per disc, or more. I don't think many people were willing to pay that much for a movie. When DVDs came out, I remember their initial prices being around $20 to $25 for a movie, which was much more reasonable. Now DVD prices have come down.

I've heard DVDs still generally outsell newer formats such as blu-ray and 4K blu-ray. I'm a little surprised, but from what I've heard, blu-ray and 4K blu-ray haven't caught on as much as DVD and a lot of people still kept on buying DVDs as they got cheaper and cheaper.

Nightfox
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