'80s video disk players

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support :

LD players in arcade games

Also in the early 1980's-up there were laserdisc players used in arcade games such as Dragon's Lair,M.A.C.H. 3,Cliff Hanger,Space Ace,etc. Mostly Sony,Pioneer & Philips but one arcade game titled NFL Football used an RCA videodisc player.
Most of these players despite being subjected to arcade enviroments still work. There is a laserdisc arcade emulator called Daphne after the Princess Daphne character in the Dragon's Lair titles

 
Early mid 90s I rebuilt a fleet of Sony LD machines for a company that operated commercial flight simulators in San Antonio. They all needed new laser pickups and sled motors. So while the discs don't wear the machines definitely do.

In fact, all 3 of my CD players and a DVD player quit with very light use, within a few years of buying them. They started skipping, then not playing some discs, then not playing at all. That's the laser 'going blind'.
 
Ld players were still available a few years back.  I had a stack of audio and video equipment in my basement and a copper drain line rotted out above it and ruined most of it.  Insurance cut me a very big check to cover it, including replacing the LD player that was going for $500+ at the time.

 

If I recall correctly toward the end of the line for LD players they incorporated AC3 sound, and outboard decoders were an option.
 
RCA SGT 250

watched a few discs on the selectavision today(it's an sgt 250,aug.'82 mfg)it
worked nicely today-only a couple minor playback hiccups from the 4 discs played
(herbie the love bug,star wars,alien,picture music)picture was sharp,colors acurate
Some RCA discs play a short little melody when the RCA logo is seen at the start of
the disk.I ran the machine with the cover off to veiw the spinning video"record"
and the playback frame slowly inching along.Also cool that this was developed and
made in the USA with a very large percent of U.S. parts-big contrast from today...
 
When I was growing up, there used to be a RCA Videodisc store behind where I lived. It was there rather briefly, for about 3 years back in the early to mid 80's.

I recall he'd always have a movie playing on an RCA TV and occasionally it would skip. I asked my father why he didn't consider buying one and he mentioned that it was waste of money. (He later bought a Betamax VCR, go figure...)

Back in 1990, we had purchased a laserdisc player because the sales droid at the electronics shop mentioned that VHS sucked hardcore. (It did) .. What an amazing format. I especially liked the CAV mode where you could do freeze frames perfectly and watch the movie frame by frame to see how the special effects were done.

Yeah, when DVD came out it pretty did much ruin Laserdisc.. Hard to believe though that a Laserdisc only held about 2 Gigabytes of information!
 
A CAV version of Titanic would require 7 sides/4 discs.

At least you didn't have to rewind them. Wait! I just got a terrific idea for one of those $19.95 'as seen on TV' things...... a laserdisc rewinder.
 
I keep mine on a shelf away from the player-I haven't played it in many years.I have many other Laserdiscs.sometimes you could find them at yard sales.I almost got an RCA CED disc type machine.Was at a freind apartment-he had one of those machines and just threw it out by putting it in the trash room-so I ran down and tried to look for it-guess someone else grabbed it before I could.Had a Laserdisc machine at that time-but would have grabbed the CED one anyway-since it would have been free along with several movies.Luckly laser disc machines don't cause damage to the discs during play-but----Laserdiscs sometimes suffer from something called "Laser Rot"since Laserdiscs are made something like CD's-The actual aluminum layer that has the pits recorded on it sandwitched between the plastic layers-for CD's they last indefinily for the most part since it easier to seal the layers-for the larger Laserdiscs-the seal sometimes doesn't work out-and the aluminum layer corrodes--"rots"then the disc is unplayable.Later made discs didn't have this issue-early Laserdiscs did.So-if you have a disc that doesn't play-this is probably the problem-and look at the disc-should be irredescent like a CD-if it dull looking or "splotchy" than it probably has LaserRot.Storing the discs under "Human Conditions" can help prevent the Laser Rot-so don't store your Laserdiscs in an attic or unheated or un airconditioned space.
 
The movies

During the years I repaired CED videodisc, the test disc on the bench was "Singin' in the rain".
I saw that movie.. a billion times. Memorized every skip.
At any rate, I never stopped enjoying that film. I can watch it over and over to this day.
Conversely, I later went to work for a company famous for "BETAMAX" recorders.
Our test Beta was "Footloose". I saw it ... a billion times.
... and never want to see it again. Sorry Kevin.
It did actually blow my mind that a Beta tape, played on machines of various states of repair, could last so incredibly long.
Then again... BETA is better than VHS... and everyone knows that but will never admit to it... :)
 

Latest posts

Back
Top