Home Video Formats that died like HD-DVD.

[zoomtechtv]

1982: JVC's VHD VideoDisc System at the Consumer Electronics Show

http://www.cedmagic.com/history/vhd-1982-ces.html

While a year earlier the RCA VideoDisc system had been one of the most prominent introductions at the Las Vegas CES, at the January 1982 show the VHD VideoDisc held the spotlight with a large display space sporting the slogan "There's More to See on VHD." JVC had unveiled a prototype caddyless VHD player in 1979, but by 1982 the system used discs housed in caddies.

Despite the impressive display, VHD was still not ready for market introduction. It wasn't until April 1983 that a consumer version was marketed in Japan, and January 1984 that an industrial system appeared in Great Britain. Despite building a $12 million production facility in Irvine, California, the system was never marketed in the United States.

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Capacitance Electronic Discs also known as CED

http://www.cedmagic.com/selectavision.html

This web site pertains to Capacitance Electronic Discs or CED's, a consumer video format on grooved vinyl discs that was marketed by RCA in the 1980's. This is the home site for the RCA SelectaVision VideoDisc FAQ and the CED Title Database. Additional information on the RCA VideoDisc System will appear here as it is prepared.

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Sony 8 millimeter yes they had movies on this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8_mm_video_format

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Super VHS yes they had movies on this format.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-VHS

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Digital VHS Yes Yes they had movies on this format

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-VHS

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DIVX that came out in the later 90's. Not the DIVX we know and love now.

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MGM had a very weird Laser disc that still played in all Laser Disc players. But for some reason it was not called a Laser Disc. I think they used a different video format then what Pioneer used, but Pioneer still played them.

I have one I just have to look for it.

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ViewMaster still being made today.

http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?t=page&a=go&s=viewmaster&p=landing_flash&site=us

[ryudo]

Don't forget the HD version of VHS and everything Sony backed before blu ray(which is why I oroginally had doubts about blu ray)

[zoomtechtv]

Don't forget the HD version of VHS and everything Sony backed before blu ray(which is why I oroginally had doubts about blu ray)

I did post Digital VHS.

JVC just did not want VHS to die. They made mad money on VHS.

[eddielee]

Too early for a format change :(

Anyone else think DVD is perfectly fine?

[gonzooo]

Too early for a format change :(

Anyone else think DVD is perfectly fine?
I do. I can't remember which thread it was, but I went on a rant about how I think they should concentrate on better packing and generation (at least for games) instead of taking the bum's way out with unnecessarily big discs that cost more than they actually bring.

[dark_shroud]

If you think DVD (480i) is fine then you do not have a large screen HDTV. If you have an SDTV then yes you're fine. But I want video quality to match the TV I paid for.

[gonzooo]

If you think DVD (480i) is fine then you do not have a large screen HDTV. If you have an SDTV then yes you're fine. But I want video quality to match the TV I paid for.
Well, my point is mainly for games, so it doesn't really have a place here, but there I don't yet see the need.

[damnedeyez]

HD formats primarily come into play when you're viewing things on large screen HD TVs. If you're using SD or a smaller screen, it really won't make that much of a difference.

Mind you, by 'large screen' there's both the size and how close you sit...but in the end it's mainly about filling in the pixels so they look less blocky. It comes down to HD is so they look acceptable on the big TVs.

[kronos6948]

Wow...No mention of Betamax?

[heyseuss]

This list is pretty stupid. It's innaccurate, none of these formats were home formats first, more than half these formats are still used frequently, and they all lead to current formats. They don't die, they are just what has to happen to pave the way to what we need.

[zoomtechtv]

Wow...No mention of Betamax?

Betamax lasted from 1975 to 1988

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betamax

[zoomtechtv]

This list is pretty stupid. It's innaccurate, none of these formats were home formats first, more than half these formats are still used frequently, and they all lead to current formats. They don't die, they are just what has to happen to pave the way to what we need.

They all died from the (Home Video Market.)

[heyseuss]

Betamax lasted from 1975 to 1988

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betamax

All your TV are transferred to beta before it's aired.

[comhcinc]

Betamax lasted from 1975 to 1988

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betamax

funny, my betamax still wotks fine.

[ryudo]

Too early for a format change :(

Anyone else think DVD is perfectly fine?

DVD will be around for awhile longer few more years it's stillthe strongest format right now.

I am just fine with DVD.

[darthender]

funny, my betamax still wotks fine.Unlike your keyboard.

[iggystar]

Sorry, betamax should be listed. It was part of a format war and lost, then died for the common person who bought a machine, they could no longer rent or buy movies, so to me, it still applies.

[comhcinc]

i was buying new betamax movies up until 2002. much longer than vhs. in my mind betamax won. i still use my betamax player while i gave away the vhs years ago.
hddvd is a big difference. 3 years from now i doubt hddvd will still be produced

[iggystar]

That's cool, but certainly you're an exception to the rule. The average, "common" person they wouldn't be able to walk into their local store and buy or rent betamax tapes. Essentially, to most of the public that form of media is dead.

Just like laserdiscs, there are people who still use their laserdisc machings, but is it alive and kickin', no.

[comhcinc]

yeah i love my laserdisc too. i am not trying to say that betamax isn't dead. i'm saying(or in this case typing) that played out sitcom jokes aside, betamax had a very long life. as long if not longer than vhs. hd dvd hasn't had that type of self life yet.

i'm interested in watching what happens to hd dvd. i hope some home modders come up with some neat ideas for these players.

who knows?

[zoomtechtv]

1972: Cartrivision - The First VCR with Prerecorded Tapes

http://www.cedmagic.com/history/cartrivision.html

The AVCO Cartrivision system (for CARTRIdige teleVISION) was the first videocassette recorder to have prerecorded tapes for sale and rental in June 1972, three years before Sony's Betamax system hit the market. Cartrivision used a skip field recording technique that permitted nearly two hours of color recording to be put on a cartridge, albeit at considerably lower image quality than Sony's U-Matic. The cartridges also stood out in being square with the two internal reels stacked on top of each other. The initial Cartrivision catalog had 111 black cassettes (for sale only) and 200 red cassettes (for rental only and mostly movies).

The red cassettes had the unusual feature of only being playable once. There was no way for the consumer to rewind them at home without visibly tampering with the cartridge. To watch a red cassette a second time, the consumer had to pay the dealer $3 to $7 for a second rental. The dealer rewound the tape on a special machine and maintained an audit count of how many tapes had been processed. This system was oddly similar to the DIVX debacle of some 25 years later, but was necessary to convince Hollywood studios to release their material for Cartrivision (Sony had failed in their attempt to do this with U-Matic). Rental was further complicated by not having the material instantly available. Consumers generally had to request a rental title from the catalog, which was shipped by UPS and arrived at the dealer a few days later.

Cartrivision was initially available as part of the 25" television console shown at the left above. The system cost $1600, and could be purchased at Sears and Wards, which was a problem because most of the consumers frequenting these chains had nowhere near $1600 to spend in 1972. Besides extremely low sales, Cartrivision was hit with other financial difficulties, including sharp stock devaluations and the need to dispose of an entire warehouse of defective tapes. RCA also contributed to the demise of Cartrivision by making press announcements stating their superior SelectaVision MagTape system would soon be on the market. Avco finally decided to abandon Cartrivision in July 1973, taking a $1 million write-off. The compact standalone deck shown at the right above never reached the market, so most of the surviving Cartrivision units today are homemade boxes with the electronics mounted inside. It's more common to see Cartrivision as two loose pieces of exposed electronics, one piece being the tape transport unit and the other being the fishtank signal processing unit.

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1970: Telefunken Teldec VideoDisc Player Prototype

http://www.cedmagic.com/history/teldec-1970.html

The Teldec or TED VideoDisc system was the first postwar consumer disc system to be given a public demonstration in Berlin, Germany in June 1970. The system had been under development for seven years by the German firms AEG Telefunken and Teldec (Teldec was a joint subsidiary of Telefunken and English Decca). Like the other prototype VideoDisc systems that followed, the player was similar in appearance to an audio turntable. The existence of the Teldec system legitimized RCA's VideoDisc research group (at the expense of Holotape), and at the same time energized disc research at RCA, as there was now a competitor.

The Teldec system used paper-thin PVC discs suspended in air only by the central hub. These thin grooved discs became rigid when rotating at the 1500 RPM playback speed. The 1970 prototype demonstration provided 5 minutes of B&W video from an 8" disc, and changers that could play a stack of discs were being developed. The pickup arm tracked the disc linearly (same as CED), with each groove corresponding to one television frame, making effective freeze frame possible. The diamond-tipped stylus used the piezoelectric effect, wherein a crystal produces voltage proportional to the mechanical stress applied. The crystal, located directly above the diamond stylus, received this variable stress from the hill-and-dale grooves of the disc. The Teldec system went on the market in 1975, thus also becoming the first postwar consumer VideoDisc system to be marketed.

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1975: Telefunken Teldec Production VideoDisc Player

http://www.cedmagic.com/history/teldec-1975.html

The consumer PAL version of the Teldec VideoDisc system was introduced in West Germany on March 17th, 1975, and unlike the 1970 prototype, the discs were enclosed in paper caddies to avoid finger contact. The discs were limited to only 10 minutes of playback time, a problem with the consumer model as twelve disc changes would have been necessary for a two hour movie. The player was initially priced at $650, and discs from $4 to $12. The stylus sled had an expected life of 100 to 200 hours, with replacements being about $8.

Teldec planned to market the system in the U.S. through its Japanese licensees Sanyo and Nippon, but the NTSC system would have been limited to just over 8 minutes of playback, as the discs needed to rotate at 1800 RPM rather than 1500 RPM. Teldec demonstrated a 12-disc changer, but withdrew the consumer version after about a year due to dismal sales. The system survived a few years longer in an industrial version. In 1980, a jukebox holding up to 50 Teldec discs was released, which appears to be the last product marketed for the system.