LaserDisc have exultant quality, however LaserDisc are 480i, you might say, “That’s less than DVD!” However DVDs and even Blu-rays suffer from something called compression. Compression is used when a movie cannot be on one single disc, so they compress it by making the audio and video quality lower and it creates artifacts. These artifacts are visual and audible and can take away from the movie experience. However LaserDisc being an analog format it cannot be compressed. But you may say, “But because you can’t compress, movies are on multiple disc.” That is a slight disadvantage however the better video and audio make the movie experience the fullest it can! They also had better masters, original film that gets printed or recorded onto a piece of media, because in the early days of the DVD they were still trying to get a good master so at this time, and it’s some-what still true today, LaserDisc often looked the same or even BETTER than the DVD copy. They also have outstanding build quality, the sleeves never cheaped out and they had beautiful artwork, the disc were printed carefully and they were never abused and were taken care of. LaserDisc were often viewed as the professional format, because of this they often had more or better special features.
LaserDisc have outstanding special and exclusive features, and depending on the disc type, had features that no ever format could ever rival. There are three main types of LaserDisc, Constant Linear Velocity (CLV), Constant Angular Velocity (CAV), and Constant Angular Acceleration (CAA). CAV disc have the most features however CLV/CAA are more common. The CAV type has many tricks up its sleeve. It can do perfect freeze frames, and can do frame by frame or “slow motion” so you can reverse and slow down your favorite scenes in your movie, you can’t do that with DVDs, Blu-rays or even streaming! Because LaserDisc are 12 inches in diameter, the cover has beautiful artwork which many moviegoers enjoy. Many special features originate on the LaserDisc, many of these features were shortened or outright removed from the DVD release. One example is the original Star Wars Trilogy, the movie was edited and changed from the original on the DVD release, however these edits never made it to the LaserDisc release. Many people enjoy the original version of this film. They also have exclusive special features that never made it to DVD, and depending on the master, the film was in 16:9 or widescreen. Another example is Forrest Gump, even though the main film is the same on LaserDisc and DVD, it has a special feature called, “Through the eyes of Forrest Gump.” This special feature was shortened during a TV broadcast, this was the version that made it on the DVD release, however the LaserDisc version is the unaltered and longer version. Many people, me included, love a longer and more in death version of their favorite films and bonus content that might be included. A lot of these special features helped LaserDisc get its place in history.
LaserDisc have a special place in history because they were the first optical disc format to ever reach the market. LaserDisc laid the foundation of Compact Disc, (CD), Compact Disc Video, (CDV), Video Compact Disc, (VCD), Digital Versatile Disc, (DVD), Blu-ray and many others! Some of these “offspring” eventually would come back and help LaserDisc. One of these is the Compact Disc Video, not to be confused with Video Compact Disc, which is a digital video disc format before the DVD. The CDV was born because LaserDisc was failing in Europe and Philips, which was in charge of LaserDisc in Europe at the time, had to do something fast. So they came up with the brilliant idea of renaming the format to Compact Disc Video, so they could capture the popularity of the CD. To cut a long story short, it failed, however one thing that CDV had was Digital Audio. When the CDV failed the technology to add digital audio was added to LaserDisc.
LaserDisc have many reasons why they are still great even in the modern era. They have great quality, exclusive features, and a fascinating history. LaserDisc are and were truly the best format and way to enjoy your favorite films!
(C) SnackTank
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