You have seen my previous posts mentioning Laserdiscs time to time. It was a fantastic format for home video. Many of the current standard home video features such as anamorphic widescreen video, commentary tracks, special features, Dolby Surround AC-3*, DTS, THX and many others were first implemented on Laserdiscs.
Linus made a video about this format. I think he covers it pretty well except they picked a pretty mediocre Laserdisc player. Laserdiscs are analog in video. The quality of the Laserdisc player greatly affects the final results. Nevertheless, the video covers most of the basics for those who have never heard of Laserdiscs or seen one.
We Bought a Giant Movie CD Player and it’s Amazing
First time I watched a movie on Kaleidescape, it reminded me of Laserdiscs actually. Laserdisc was the format of premium home theaters in the 90s. Once you pop the disc in the player and hit play, the film would begin immediately. No previous, no coming soon announcements, no FBI warnings, the film would begin immediately, just like how it does on Kaleidescape.
*Later re-named to be Dolby Digital. Batman Returns (1992) was the first movie in Dolby Surround AC-3 in cinemas. Clear and Present Danger (1994) was the first movie with Dolby Surround AC-3 on Laserdisc released on January 1995 (More than 2 years earlier than the first DVD).
Trivia: Jurassic Park (1993) was the first movie with DTS in cinemas and the first movie on Laserdisc with DTS released on January 1997 (a couple months earlier than the first ever DVD release), it was later released on DVD with DTS on November 1998.
More Trivia: Jurassic Park (1993) was also released on Hi-Vision Laserdiscs on February 1996 only in Japan. Hi-Vision Laserdiscs had 1080i (1035 visible scan lines) and a proprietary audio format called Dance (Digital Audio Near-instantaneous Compression and Expansion) with 3 discreet front channels and single mono rear channel (no LFE).
Linus made a video about this format. I think he covers it pretty well except they picked a pretty mediocre Laserdisc player. Laserdiscs are analog in video. The quality of the Laserdisc player greatly affects the final results. Nevertheless, the video covers most of the basics for those who have never heard of Laserdiscs or seen one.
We Bought a Giant Movie CD Player and it’s Amazing
First time I watched a movie on Kaleidescape, it reminded me of Laserdiscs actually. Laserdisc was the format of premium home theaters in the 90s. Once you pop the disc in the player and hit play, the film would begin immediately. No previous, no coming soon announcements, no FBI warnings, the film would begin immediately, just like how it does on Kaleidescape.
*Later re-named to be Dolby Digital. Batman Returns (1992) was the first movie in Dolby Surround AC-3 in cinemas. Clear and Present Danger (1994) was the first movie with Dolby Surround AC-3 on Laserdisc released on January 1995 (More than 2 years earlier than the first DVD).
Trivia: Jurassic Park (1993) was the first movie with DTS in cinemas and the first movie on Laserdisc with DTS released on January 1997 (a couple months earlier than the first ever DVD release), it was later released on DVD with DTS on November 1998.
More Trivia: Jurassic Park (1993) was also released on Hi-Vision Laserdiscs on February 1996 only in Japan. Hi-Vision Laserdiscs had 1080i (1035 visible scan lines) and a proprietary audio format called Dance (Digital Audio Near-instantaneous Compression and Expansion) with 3 discreet front channels and single mono rear channel (no LFE).