Molly Olsen
05/27/97 04:31 PM
 
Mike Frank wrote:
 
>>laserdiscs and laserdisc players will likely
>> go the way of the turntable as DVD penetration increases . . .
>
>which seems to imply that turntables for what we used to call records are
no longer available . . . >and this is simply not true . . . in fact
tunrtables are now better than ever[...]
 
I didn't mean to imply that turntables are not available at all -- what I
meant was that laserdiscs would become less popular and harder to find,
like records and turntables are now.  That said, I don't thing people are
going to have the same sentimental attachment to laserdiscs (or the
laserdisc format) as they do to records (or the record format) which is a
large part of what keeps that medium going among collectors.  The original
question from Don Larsson was "How will all of our current standard
electronic image technologies be affected by the switch to digital?" and
went on to ask which equipment we'll use and keep.
 
Leo Enticknap responded:
 
>My guess would be that a turntable-like scenario will exist for about a
decade after any new >format gains market acceptance.  [...] With
laserdiscs the situation will be slightly different in that >they were
intended primarily as a long-term library format, not a short-term
timeshifting device.
 
With DVD, anyone who buys movies to watch at home (think of all those homes
with THE LION KING tape in the den) *will* be a film librarian, without the
expense of laserdiscs and the fragility of VHS.  If by the 10-year rule,
you mean that movie companies will continue to release movies in the older
medium, I don't think that will be true for laserdiscs, because the
laserdisc market is already so small, it's a blip compared to the
mass-market format (now VHS).  Why manufacture a movie on laserdisc for a
few people *and* DVD for the masses when the quality is at least as good on
DVD?  As a cinemaphile, why collect laserdiscs and not DVDs, when the DVD
has more information (multiple aspect ratios, guided tours from the
director, subtitling or dubbing, etc.) and as-good-or-better image quality?
 
> So, no need to panic just yet, basically, but when things do start
happening, anyone charged >with maintaining significant collections of
recordings should start to make plans.
 
As a cinemaphile myself I won't invest in laserdiscs now that DVDs are
available in stores.  Things are happening already!
 
Molly Olsen
Producer
Discovery Channel Multimedia
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