Laser discs
Laserdiscs have been around since about at least conceptually since 1980, when they were marketed as MCA DiscoVision, they never became mainstream until 1996 and were the predecessor to Digital Video Disks.
By 1998 laserdisc penetration was estimated to be about 2% of US househodls, this equated to approximately 2 million laserdisc players. It is estimated that16.8 million laserdisc players were sold worldwide. The main manufacturer accounting for approximately 9.5 million of these sale was Pioneer.
By 2001 the short lived lifespan of the laserdisc was over, largely being replaced by DVD’s
This very short time period has made laserdisc collecting, a very enjoyable and profitable hobby.
These 12 inch platters had nearly double the resolution of VHS, they came in two key formats CLV and CAV, and many discs would have one format on one side and another of the reverse. It is estimated that the total output of movies produced on laserdisc equates to about 15,000 titles. These include some of the finest archives of movies, some of which you will never get reproduced in DVD format owing to rights disputes.
The collectors market for second hand laser disk is huge. Many people have thrown out whole laserdisc collections along with their laserdisc players. Other laserdisc films maybe lost forever due to laserdisc rot, a common problem with this format.
Some of the rarest laserdiscs include
- The Japanese Version of Transformers
- The complete Star Trek Collection
- Japan Berserk 13
- Beast Wars
- Twin peaks
As an example these box sets can command in excess of $1000 and have in-act reached prices higher than this in recent laserdisc auctions online.
In this website we have attempted to bring together a wide selection of rare laserdisc and laserdisc players, together with a large range of articles and video clips all centered around laserdiscs and collecting rare laserdiscs or collectible laserdiscs.
Please have a look around and join in our highly active debates.