LaserDisc player production to end.

[techs]

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2...laserdisc_termination/

Pioneer calls a halt to LaserDisc hardware production
Still making players, 18 years on

Pioneer is to stop making LaserDisc players. Yes - amazingly, perhaps - it's still punching them out, and will produce 3000 more before calling it quits.

Despite the rise of DVD in the late 1990s, the emergence more recently of Blu-ray Disc and the fact that no new LaserDisc titles have been released in the US since 2000 and Japan since 2001, Pioneer still has machines supporting the format in its line-up.



wtf? Is Dell still making x286's that I'm not aware of?

 

[eldorado99]

I think Intel only recently ceased 486 production because they were more robust in spacecrafts or something.

 

[chuckywang]

Does anybody have a link to what their current Laserdisk player looks like?

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: eldorado99
I think Intel only recently ceased 486 production because they were more robust in spacecrafts or something.

Yeah, the older platforms are more robust to the conditions in space. Something about transistor sizes and how they are affected by radiation (I think).

I'm kind of surprised they were still making laser discs though. Who still uses them?

 

[Colt45]

Originally posted by: eldorado99
I think Intel only recently ceased 486 production because they were more robust in spacecrafts or something.

i think they still make 8088, 80188, etc... for embedded stuffs, but they're still antique.

 

[Colt45]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: eldorado99
I think Intel only recently ceased 486 production because they were more robust in spacecrafts or something.

Yeah, the older platforms are more robust to the conditions in space. Something about transistor sizes and how they are affected by radiation (I think).

I'm kind of surprised they were still making laser discs though. Who still uses them?

karaoke clubs? That's the only thing i can think of.

 

[theflyingpig]

I use laser disks for everything. I'm crushed by this news.

 

[slpaulson]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: eldorado99
I think Intel only recently ceased 486 production because they were more robust in spacecrafts or something.

Yeah, the older platforms are more robust to the conditions in space. Something about transistor sizes and how they are affected by radiation (I think).

I'm kind of surprised they were still making laser discs though. Who still uses them?

Newer processors have a smaller feature size, which makes it easier for radiation to flip bits and cause errors.

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: Colt45

Originally posted by: eldorado99
I think Intel only recently ceased 486 production because they were more robust in spacecrafts or something.

i think they still make 8088, 80188, etc... for embedded stuffs, but they're still antique.

Yes, but if you don't need the processing power why pay for it?

 

[MotF Bane]

I've never even heard of laser discs. 😱

 

[EGGO]

I didn't even know they still made them. I still have all of my old ones taking up a lot of space.

 

[tranceport]

Originally posted by: MotF Bane
I've never even heard of laser discs. 😱

wow

 

[bobdole369]

http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=302

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: MotF Bane
I've never even heard of laser discs. 😱

WTF? How old are you?

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: Colt45

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: eldorado99
I think Intel only recently ceased 486 production because they were more robust in spacecrafts or something.

Yeah, the older platforms are more robust to the conditions in space. Something about transistor sizes and how they are affected by radiation (I think).

I'm kind of surprised they were still making laser discs though. Who still uses them?

karaoke clubs? That's the only thing i can think of.

Funny enough, they one near me recently had to (well, chose to) re-buy most of their collection, because their laserdisc player finally quit.

 

[olds]

When we moved four months ago, I didn't hook my player back up. I do have it handy in case I decide to.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

I think the sole reason they are still made is for all the people that bought the entire Star Trek:TNG series on laser disk. I bet they were hesitant to rebuy all of that show on DVD when it was $150 season. At that point it would be cheaper to buy a new laser disk player than to re-buy the show on DVD.

 

[dman]

There were probably some niche markets, like education, healthcare, research, or broadcasting where they had some materials in that older format and still needed the player capabilities. I doubt there was much consumer demand, and I'm guessing that the players that are/were still available were probably very expensive. Just a hunch.

 

[Fatdog]

Dman is right it, it was mostly a niche market while VHS was king. It was a higher quailty picture for the videophiles. There's still a number of movies not available on DVD that are on the big disks. I still use mine a couple times a month.

 

[bobdole369]

Quite possibly a similar reason why they still manufacture dot matrix printers (to make instant double and triple carbons on continuous feed paper - you see this a lot in shipping warehouses - laser and inkjets don't do this). Apparently the last BETA tape machine was built a couple years back. At the call center where I worked the IBM account (as well as the entire IBM enterprise and all their centers) still used OS/2 Warp on a 4/16 Token Ring up until 2002ish. Kodak still makes film cameras and film, but they are slowly dismantling and destroying their giant industrial park in Rochester. Pro's still use film as it is still superior to most digital cameras. Oh and if you got money out of an ATM up till about 2004 you likely used OS/2 Warp as that was the OS of choice for a bit. Although I don't think they still make 8-tracks, Vinyl is definitely alive and well. Debit card machines sometimes use 1200 or 2400 baud modems. Oh and NASA kept the 486 in production for a VERY long time.

Someone somewhere somehow still used and paid for laserdiscs.

 

[nonameo]

Originally posted by: dman
There were probably some niche markets, like education, healthcare, research, or broadcasting where they had some materials in that older format and still needed the player capabilities. I doubt there was much consumer demand, and I'm guessing that the players that are/were still available were probably very expensive. Just a hunch.

I was about to say, we used it in highschool all the time.

 

[Oceandevi]

The only laserdisc I have ever seen was in science class is junior high. Some awful space thing. The teacher paused it every 4 seconds to point things out and I promptly fell asleep.

 

[xanis]

The first, last, and only time I saw a LaserDisc player in action was in middle school. I don't even remember what the video was. That thing was ridiculous... might as well have just kept using VHS tapes.

 

[geno]

There are still a lot of foreign countries which use LD. I've seen Asian karaoke videos that are still produced in this format until this day. Why? Who knows.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: Xanis
The first, last, and only time I saw a LaserDisc player in action was in middle school. I don't even remember what the video was. That thing was ridiculous... might as well have just kept using VHS tapes.

? LD was composite, has allowance for DD/DTS soundtrack and s-video out. It was great for what it was, remember, it was the same time frame as VHS and BetaMax. Too bad it didn't catch on in NA. Just being able to skip chapters was great 🙂

Not to mention the home Karaoke angle 😀