Pioneer Stops Making Laserdisc Players After 27 Years

Pioneer Stops Making Laserdisc Players After 27 Years
posted on 2009-01-14 23:57 EST


The electronics company Pioneer has announced on Wednesday that it is
ending production of its laserdisc players after 27 years. Laserdiscs
were the spiritual 30-centimeter (12-inch) wide ancestors to today's
CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs. The assembly lines will shut down after
the final 3,000 players in four models (the DVD-compatible DVL-919,
the CD-compatible CLD-R5, and the karaoke-capable DVK-900 and DVL-
K88).

Pioneer and laserdiscs have a long intertwined history with anime. In
an effort to create titles for the format, Pioneer financed the
establishment of the Laserdisc Corporation in March 1981, and it
shipped its first players in October of that same year. The Laserdisc
Corporation was renamed Pioneer LDC in 1989, and it shipped its first
original video anime, Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki, in 1992. PIONEER LDC
eventually became Pioneer Entertainment before being acquired by the
Japanese advertising firm Dentsu under the new name Geneon
Entertainment in 2003. Dentsu announced last November that is
transferring its majority ownership in Geneon Entertainment to NBC
Universal's Universal Pictures International Entertainmnent.

At the time, laserdiscs offered anime titles two main advantages that
the competing VHS videotape format did not offer: soundtracks in
multiple languages and higher resolution. Until the advent of DVDs in
the late 1990s, many distributors on Japan and North America shipped
anime on both laserdisc and VHS formats. Pioneer sold 3.6 million
laserdisc players in Japan alone.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...after-27-years

"NV55" wrote in message
...
Pioneer Stops Making Laserdisc Players After 27 Years
posted on 2009-01-14 23:57 EST


The electronics company Pioneer has announced on Wednesday that it is
ending production of its laserdisc players after 27 years. Laserdiscs
were the spiritual 30-centimeter (12-inch) wide ancestors to today's
CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs. The assembly lines will shut down after
the final 3,000 players in four models (the DVD-compatible DVL-919,
the CD-compatible CLD-R5, and the karaoke-capable DVK-900 and DVL-
K88).





you have to wonder how great the picture quality would be from a laserdisc
sized blu ray - lossless video compression maybe ?




--
Gareth.

that fly...... is your magic wand....

On Jan 17, 6:22*pm, "The dog from that film you saw"
wrote:
"NV55" wrote in message

...

Pioneer Stops Making Laserdisc Players After 27 Years
posted on 2009-01-14 23:57 EST

The electronics company Pioneer has announced on Wednesday that it is
ending production of its laserdisc players after 27 years. Laserdiscs
were the spiritual 30-centimeter (12-inch) wide ancestors to today's
CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs. The assembly lines will shut down after
the final 3,000 players in four models (the DVD-compatible DVL-919,
the CD-compatible CLD-R5, and the karaoke-capable DVK-900 and DVL-
K88).

you have to wonder how great the picture quality would be from a laserdisc
sized blu ray - lossless video compression maybe ?

--
Gareth.

that fly...... is your magic wand....

I had no idea they were still being made! Is it possible to buy them
online?

I heard on G4 TV that you can purchase them on Amazon.com. G4 said that you
can buy them until their supply is exaughsted. --(SP?)

I think I heard it three weeks ago.

Regards,
Bill N.
Long Island - New York

wrote in message
...
On Jan 17, 6:22 pm, "The dog from that film you saw"
wrote:
"NV55" wrote in message

...

Pioneer Stops Making Laserdisc Players After 27 Years
posted on 2009-01-14 23:57 EST

The electronics company Pioneer has announced on Wednesday that it is
ending production of its laserdisc players after 27 years. Laserdiscs
were the spiritual 30-centimeter (12-inch) wide ancestors to today's
CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs. The assembly lines will shut down after
the final 3,000 players in four models (the DVD-compatible DVL-919,
the CD-compatible CLD-R5, and the karaoke-capable DVK-900 and DVL-
K88).

you have to wonder how great the picture quality would be from a laserdisc
sized blu ray - lossless video compression maybe ?

--
Gareth.

that fly...... is your magic wand....

I had no idea they were still being made! Is it possible to buy them
online?