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Capt. Nemo
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
630 Posts |
 Posted - 03/13/2008 : 09:56:49 AM
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With the Blue Ray and HD-DVD contest settling out now, I wanted to know if any of the members here ever used other formats.
Format wars have been around for a long time. Starting with the Edison’s recorder, people wondered if recording cylinders or disk records would be the way in to the future. With the advent of television, recording and playback were not far behind. The ones I want to discuss intrigue me.
The first of these is Capacitance Electronic Disc. Quite literally a movie on a vinyl record.
[img]http://www.rhunt.f9.co.uk/Museum/CED_Player/CED_01.jpg[/img]
The idea was this. A company would record its movie on a vinyl record and encase it in a mechanical sleeve. The whole thing looked like a big floppy disk. Then you would stick the disk in to your player:
[img]http://epage.com/web/AC/00/01/76/68/25/picture.jpg[/img]
The player was good for 70 minutes. At which point, to watch the rest you either got another disk or flipped the disk over.
During my research, I found that there is a whole community that collects these things. They get theme from thrift shops and old record stores.
[url="http://www.cedmagic.com/museum/ced-player-guide/ced-player-guide.html"]CED Catalog[/url]
[url="http://www.cedmagic.com/selectavision.html"]CED club website[/url]
[url="http://www.rhunt.f9.co.uk/Museum/CED_Player/Museum_CED_Page1.htm"]U.K. website[/url]
[url="http://www.links.net/dox/flix/ced/"]A fan recollects[/url]
The second one was Laserdisc.
It was a fore-runner to DVD’s in many ways. It featured multiple audio tracks and a scene menu. And, of course, used lasers to read the disc.
[img]http://cubeowner.com/albums/Unix-Gods-Pics/laserdisc2.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.videointerchange.com/images/Laserdisc.jpg[/img]
Has anyone used these formats? And what would you say about them?
________________________________________________________________________
"Ward, the Beaver blew up the 7-11 again."
"I'll have a talk with him Dear" |
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dconner
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
USA
104 Posts |
Posted - 03/13/2008 : 10:49:08 AM
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Heck, I can do better than that! My family had a U-Matic VCR circa 1975:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-matic
My dad and my uncle were great "early adopters" when it came to weird video formats. Both of them had U-matics, and my uncle thought the RCA Selectavision (i.e., CED) discs were the wave of the future, while my dad bet on VHS.... |
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Bobby-G
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
904 Posts |
Posted - 03/13/2008 : 11:09:36 AM
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I still use Laserdiscs! Not that long ago, if you wanted a movie in the letterboxed format, you pretty much had to get it on laserdisc (occassionally there would be a "special collector's edition" letterboxed VHS of certain movies, but that was rare).
DVD is better than LD, but for a lot of the movies I've got on LD, I'm not in that big of a hurry to upgrade.
I think it may have been here at Jabootu (I could be wrong)that someone posted a link to an old ad for CED video discs that pictured some nerdy guy with pretty women crawling all over him -- Yes, is seems owning RCA video discs attracted women...
Rob |
Edited by - Bobby-G on 03/13/2008 11:19:06 AM |
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dconner
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
USA
104 Posts |
Posted - 03/13/2008 : 11:15:07 AM
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During the waning days of the VHS era, letterboxed videocassettes started becoming more commonplace (even with a separate section at Best Buy for them, for instance.)
If not for that, I might've gone into Laserdiscs around then, but they were WAY too expensive, and DVDs were right around the corner. |
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BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 03/13/2008 : 11:37:33 AM
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| I bought a used laserdisc player and have four disc of movies that have never come out on DVD. I may get a few more. Truth be told, if they were available on DVD or Blu-Ray, I would go with that., but ya gets what ya can. |
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Nlneff
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
USA
84 Posts |
Posted - 03/13/2008 : 11:58:35 AM
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Honestly, in terms of quality I think DVD only recently surpassed Laserdisk (By recently I mean about ~8 years ago), compression on those early DVD's really varied a lot. One nice thing about Laserdisk is that since rentals were almost non existant, you could often get a lower sale price intially. (For example, back when Braveheart came out on VHS, it was about $70-$100 for a VHS copy, which is why you only saw it for rental at first. You could get a Laserdisk of Braveheart for just $40 at the same time.)
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Edited by - Nlneff on 03/13/2008 12:41:29 PM |
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Fox Cutter
Minister of the Sacraments of Jabootu
28 Posts |
Posted - 03/13/2008 : 2:35:06 PM
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| Does BETA count? My family had a BETA player back in the day when it was still newish and about two hour of recording time. I think at that point VHS had already won the format war, so the players were on sale. I remember driving to the north side of town (about 45 mins) just to find a place to rent the tapes from. |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 03/13/2008 : 5:45:08 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by BradH812
I bought a used laserdisc player and have four disc of movies that have never come out on DVD.
May I ask what they are? |
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 03/13/2008 : 6:57:24 PM
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Whew- Selectavision!! Those were the days. I was young back then but my older brother had a friend who had a player. Video on a disk- that was the coolest thing you could imagine, at least until the LD came around. I had no idea until years later that the CED disks were actually vinyl.
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
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BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 03/13/2008 : 8:09:58 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by zombiewhacker
quote:
Originally posted by BradH812
I bought a used laserdisc player and have four disc of movies that have never come out on DVD.
May I ask what they are?
The Dead, King of the Hill, The Public Eye, and Iceman. Iceman is available on DVD, but pan-and-scan only, and it may be the worst DVD I've ever seen released by a big studio. Dummies. |
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Capt. Nemo
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
630 Posts |
Posted - 03/13/2008 : 9:38:56 PM
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dConner: Good gravy, man. That thing is huge. My family’s first recording device was a top loader VHS. That thing was bulky too.
Regarding your other point; during the waning days of VHS, I remember that VHS tried to compete with DVD by including documentaries and “extras” at the end of the movie. It was a nice try but it was doomed to failure.
Before I forget, I had a few thoughts on CED’s.
The idea of movie put on a vinyl record is a head trip in and of itself. Who’d of thunk it? It also makes me want to play around with one. What would happen if I ran the stylus over my fingerprint? Would I see the image of a sinister man with a pitchfork? And what would happen if the “Steam Punk Workshop” got a hold of one? Would he turn it in to a funky version of a phonograph record unit? With a television in place of the speaker? I’ll bet he’s thought of it.
Also what would happen if you got a movie and accidentally scratched it? Better yet, what would have happened if you had scratched on the “back and to the left” scene in the movie JFK? Or during the scene Steven Seagal gets shot with a shotgun in Hard to Kill? Now that’s a scene I’d like to see over and over and over again.
As for Laserdiscs...
I was soooo close to getting a Laserdisc player myself. The reason why is because I had found an independent video store that had record bins full of laserdiscs. My family had resisted the idea of getting a Laserdisc player because we didn’t buy videos directly. We rented them. So this new video store I found would make a laserdisc viable for entertainment. So my father and I went a Circuit City store and asked to see some Laserdisc equipment. The clerk said they had gotten rid of them because they were making way for a new format that was coming out: DVD’s. I had never heard of it. The clerk just smiled and said wait.
Within 8 months, the Laserdiscs were gone from the video rental store and marketing had just begun on DVD players. Talk about providence.
What would you say are the differences between DVD and Videodisc? Where discs really that cheap?
________________________________________________________________________
"Ward, the Beaver blew up the 7-11 again."
"I'll have a talk with him Dear" |
Edited by - Capt. Nemo on 03/13/2008 9:48:25 PM |
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dconner
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
USA
104 Posts |
Posted - 03/14/2008 : 08:54:22 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Capt. Nemo
dConner: Good gravy, man. That thing is huge. My family’s first recording device was a top loader VHS. That thing was bulky too.
I couldn't find a handy image of the U-Matic model we had, but it wasn't QUITE as big as the one on the Wikipedia page. It wasn't this one, but it was built along similar lines:
http://www.tvhistory.tv/Panasonic_NV-9300_UMATIC_VTR.JPG
We had one of those big VHS machines, too... An RCA Selectavision (I think RCA used that trademark for both VHS and VideoDisc items....) Aha, here it is! (Or we had a slightly newer model, as it did have EP - called SLP - speed.)
http://www.eldocountry.com/Tv/vcr.html
And this thing was a TANK. Really built "old-school," with heavy, mechanical, components, and built to last. I took it to college with me, circa 1987-1991, and it took very heavy use without complaint or failure. Still worked fine when I got rid of it for a newer, smaller, lighter VCR.
It also had an innovation - a (wired) remote control! With one switch - Pause/Play. So when recording, you could actually pause it during commercials... without getting up! Amazing! |
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dconner
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
USA
104 Posts |
Posted - 03/14/2008 : 09:00:04 AM
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Oh, incidentally, the 1998 movie *Free Enterprise* is a funny little time capsule of the dying days of Laserdisc.
The movie makers were huge fans of Laserdisc, as were the movie's characters. There's even a scene in LA's premier Laserdisc shop, and the release of *Logan's Run* on Laserdisc is a plot point. DVD had come out by then, but the movie makers *hated* the threatening new format, were sure it was just a passing fad...
...as they note on the commentary track included on the, er, DVD.... :)
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Fox Cutter
Minister of the Sacraments of Jabootu
28 Posts |
Posted - 03/14/2008 : 1:30:04 PM
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There is also the good old Video CD format. Not all that common over here but it was pretty big on the Asia markets. During the run up for Attack of the Clones I picked up the original Star Wars box set on VCD. It was an import and okay quality, but wasn't all that bad, and at the time was the best choice to get them for the computer.
The format wasn't all that fantastic, most movies were on two CDs and the quality was only so-so with no real chapters or navigation. Even so it was better then nothing for some movies and it worked okay. It was also region free. Some VCDs had more then one sound track by having things like English on the left channel and Korean on the right, which made stereo a bit of trip if you didn't know about it.
You could also play them on a computer, which was fun. I had a couple people asking me about them when they saw me watching the films at the coffee shop. |
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dconner
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
USA
104 Posts |
Posted - 03/14/2008 : 2:46:16 PM
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| I've read that if and when there's a revolution in North Korea, the VCD might deserve some of the credit. Apparently cheap smuggled-in VCDs of South Korean movies and TV had a big impact, showing people in the North visually how much their leaders have been lying to them about conditions in the South. |
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