Joseph DeMartino
Senior HTF Member
Geez, Jeff, can you "talk" a little louder?
Which concerns and inconveniences? How do I count the ways?
1. Laserdisc debuted around the same time as the VCR. VCRs didn't just enable to people to watch movies at home. (That was an ability added a couple of years after they were starting to show up in peoples' homes.) It also replaced the old 8mm movie camera and projector. A "two-fer". Laserdisc was a playback only system.
2. Laserdiscs, both players and software, were expensive.
3. Side breaks? Disk swaps? Do you remember any of this?
4. For most of LD's history big screen TV technology was in its infancy. Horrible front projection systems and dim RPTVs which could only be seen from directly in front of them dominated. Most folks were watching 19" to 25" TVs - and therefore got little benefit from the better picture and sound. The fact that many LDs were widescreen only made them even less attractive to folks with such a setup.
5. Few people had sound systems connected to their TVs, and therefore got no benefit from the superior sound. Digital sound? What the heck is that?
6. The discs were large, heavy and inconvenient to store (as compared to VHS tapes.)
7. Almost nobody rented LDs. Rental is what made VHS take off.
8. Were there any porn LDs? Porn (and rental) really helped VHS sell enough to make it interesting to the legitimate studios.
The fact is that even DVD would not be the success it has been if certain things were not already in place:
1. A large installed base of large screen TVs (mostly put there by sports, not home theater.)
2. A saturated VHS market. Now that most people already had a player/recorder in their homes, and had for years, they were more open to a better quality playback-only system. This wasn't the case when LD debuted. Few people could afford both. (This is why I never believed the early doom-sayers who said that DVD would not take off because it wasn't recordable. "So what?" I asked, "CDs aren't recordable, either. Most people already have video and audio recorders, and CDs show that they'll happily add a higher-quality playback-only system if its affordable.")
3. A public accustomed to watching movies at home, and even to enjoying stereo sound with them. (Thanks to price drops for all components involved, a robust rental market and a burgeoning collector's market in VHS.)
4. An existing, successful, format that people were comfortable with already in place. CDs also helped pave the way for DVDs. People were familiar with them. You could describe DVD as "like a CD only with a movie on it" and immediately get the idea across. People were also familiar with (and liked) the handy form-factor - common to audio CDs and the things they used in their computers. Psychologically, this was a big help.
If LD had never existed, and were introduced in 1997, it might have had a success somewhat like DVD has enjoyed - because the stars were all aligned and the timing was right. However, by the time the stars were all aligned DVD was already on the horizon. Few were interested in investing in LD when a probably superior format was on the way.
Timing, not marketing, kept LD a niche product.
Regards,
Joe
Which concerns and inconveniences? How do I count the ways?
1. Laserdisc debuted around the same time as the VCR. VCRs didn't just enable to people to watch movies at home. (That was an ability added a couple of years after they were starting to show up in peoples' homes.) It also replaced the old 8mm movie camera and projector. A "two-fer". Laserdisc was a playback only system.
2. Laserdiscs, both players and software, were expensive.
3. Side breaks? Disk swaps? Do you remember any of this?
4. For most of LD's history big screen TV technology was in its infancy. Horrible front projection systems and dim RPTVs which could only be seen from directly in front of them dominated. Most folks were watching 19" to 25" TVs - and therefore got little benefit from the better picture and sound. The fact that many LDs were widescreen only made them even less attractive to folks with such a setup.
5. Few people had sound systems connected to their TVs, and therefore got no benefit from the superior sound. Digital sound? What the heck is that?
6. The discs were large, heavy and inconvenient to store (as compared to VHS tapes.)
7. Almost nobody rented LDs. Rental is what made VHS take off.
8. Were there any porn LDs? Porn (and rental) really helped VHS sell enough to make it interesting to the legitimate studios.
The fact is that even DVD would not be the success it has been if certain things were not already in place:
1. A large installed base of large screen TVs (mostly put there by sports, not home theater.)
2. A saturated VHS market. Now that most people already had a player/recorder in their homes, and had for years, they were more open to a better quality playback-only system. This wasn't the case when LD debuted. Few people could afford both. (This is why I never believed the early doom-sayers who said that DVD would not take off because it wasn't recordable. "So what?" I asked, "CDs aren't recordable, either. Most people already have video and audio recorders, and CDs show that they'll happily add a higher-quality playback-only system if its affordable.")
3. A public accustomed to watching movies at home, and even to enjoying stereo sound with them. (Thanks to price drops for all components involved, a robust rental market and a burgeoning collector's market in VHS.)
4. An existing, successful, format that people were comfortable with already in place. CDs also helped pave the way for DVDs. People were familiar with them. You could describe DVD as "like a CD only with a movie on it" and immediately get the idea across. People were also familiar with (and liked) the handy form-factor - common to audio CDs and the things they used in their computers. Psychologically, this was a big help.
If LD had never existed, and were introduced in 1997, it might have had a success somewhat like DVD has enjoyed - because the stars were all aligned and the timing was right. However, by the time the stars were all aligned DVD was already on the horizon. Few were interested in investing in LD when a probably superior format was on the way.
Timing, not marketing, kept LD a niche product.
Regards,
Joe
