Anyone know what a "Video Disc" is?

[GustySoul]

I was browsing at a local 2nd hand music / movie shop a while back and ran into a bunch of movies on a format called "video disc." I've never heard of the format and was wondering if someone could shed some light. From what I saw, they were about the same size as laser discs or old 33 1/3 rpm records, but they looked like they were encased in a big plastic square, much like a large 3.5 inch floppy disc.

Any ideas on how old the format is? Do they still make them? Are they digital or analog?

obispo21

 

[MrCoyote]

I believe this was a format started by RCA in the '80's. When I was growing up, I remember a RCA player, that used Album-sized discs. The discs themselves were in a protective plastic like you described. These were analog. What you did was, insert it into the player, and the player would grab ahold of the disc inside and mount it. Then you pulled the cover back out, leaving the "disc" inside the player! These players were analog, and used a phonograph needle to play. The discs would skip if scratched, just like records. To take the disc out, you just insert it's cover back into the player. This format didn't take off to well at all.

I wonder if these could be considered collector's items and worth something in the future?

UPDATE: I just found RCA's site for the past history of these discs. They are Capacitance Electronic Discs that were made out of vinyl and used a needle, just like I said above.

 

[Workin']

Technically they only used the "needle" (aka mechanical tracking device) to keep the capacitance reading heads on track. The actual data was electrically encoded. But you could still make the disc skip by scratching it.

 

[MrCoyote]

This site is interesting! I'm glad I found it. They have a link to info on "Phonovision" which was the first Video Disc ever made, way back in 1927!!!! It only had 30 lines of resolution! It can be considered the first "VCR" because people could record!

 

[GustySoul]

Hey Thanks for the info all,

The sites answered all of my questions and then some. For some reason I find these old formats pretty intriguing - maybe I'll try to start some sort of collection in the future.