[2.6] Will DVD replace laserdisc?
When this question was first entered in the FAQ in 1996, before DVD was available, many people wondered if DVD would replace laserdisc, the 12-inch optical disc format that had been around since 1978. Some argued that DVD would fail and its adherents would come groveling back to laserdisc. After DVD was released, it soon became clear that it had doomed laserdisc to quick obscurity. Pioneer Entertainment, the long-time champion of laserdisc, abandoned laserdisc production in the U.S. in June of 1999. This was sooner than even Pioneer thought possible (in September 1998, Pioneer's president Kaneo Ito said the company expected laserdisc products to be in the market for another one-and-a-half to two years), although Pioneer did continue to release small runs in Japan until 2001.
Laserdisc still fills niches in education, training, and video installations, but it's fading even there. Existing laserdisc players and discs will be around for a while, though essentially no new discs are being produced. There were about 18,000 laserdisc titles in the US and a total of over 35,000 titles worldwide that could be played on over 7 million laserdisc players. (See Julien Wilk's Laserdisc Database for the most extensive list of titles.) It took DVD several years to reach this level, and there are still rare titles available on laserdisc but not on DVD. One bright point is that laserdiscs can now be had at bargain prices.
|
