March 22, 1981 - RCA debuted the SelectaVision videodisc

Danny Tse

Ahhhh, memories....

Wired.com article on the debut of the RCA SelectaVision videodisc

mrbigbluelight

Never had one, but the early 80's were pretty interesting for the developing technologies. VHS players went for about $800 or so, if I remember correctly.

Reading some of the comments in the linked article, thought this was interesting:

"I bought one after they were discontinued for two reasons. The first is that they were dirt cheap, and the second was that at the time the media was the only video/audio source for "Pink Floyd at Pompeii" (also heavily discounted).

The picture had good resolution but always wobbled a bit. The audio was an embarrassingly bad 55 Db S/N ratio. I don't remember the frequency response, but it wasn't good."


Further proof that over the years, Floyd has changed the universe.:loneranger:

cnh

Seriously? RCA developed a video disc that used a stylus that tracked picture and sound info off a piece of vinyl like an LP?

Talk about backward looking in the age of the LASER; is right! What genius came up with this in the '80s?

I wonder how many of today's youngsters will ever remember the Toshiba HD-DVD?

cnh

bmbguy

cnh wrote: »

I wonder how many of today's youngsters will ever remember the Toshiba HD-DVD?

About the same number of us that remember the Betamax?

ken brydson

bmbguy wrote: »

About the same number of us that remember the Betamax?

Or vinyl...

disneyjoe7

cnh wrote: »

Seriously? RCA developed a video disc that used a stylus that tracked picture and sound info off a piece of vinyl like an LP?

Talk about backward looking in the age of the LASER; is right! What genius came up with this in the '80s?

I wonder how many of today's youngsters will ever remember the Toshiba HD-DVD?

cnh

I agree in the light of laser reading disk the stylus reading a disk seemed backwards. But remember it took 15 years to bring this product / idea to market. Timing sucked for RCA.

gudnoyez

Bought my first VCR while Stationed in Germany paid around $700 it was a Panasonic the door opened from the top it was as big as a microwave had a channel selector in the front and the wire that was connected to the remote was about 8 feet long, I tell you it came in handy when pulling CQ duty. I do remember the selectavision. I also remember the Pink Floyd Live at Pompei first VHS I bought along with some Duran Duran VHS the Wife just had to have Hungry like the Wolf UGH!

billbillw

OHHH YYEAAAH! I remember those. Before VCRs were affordable, there was a store in town that would rent the RCA disc player, along with 3-4 movies for the weekend for like $20. I was about 13-14, and some memorable movies that I watched on the RCA video disc were: Porkys, Last American Virgin, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Flashdance, Risky Business, Stripes, Revenge of the Nerds, Caddyshack and many other early 80s classics. All viewed for the first time on RCA Videodisc! We didn't get a VCR until a few years later...1984 maybe? Fond memories. Lousy technology though. Discs would get scratches and they would skip around or get stuck much like vinyl records.

billbillw

cnh wrote: »

I wonder how many of today's youngsters will ever remember the Toshiba HD-DVD?

cnh

My kids will know them. I still have a large collection of those wonderful Red discs along with two dual format players.

headrott

mrbigbluelight wrote: »

Never had one, but the early 80's were pretty interesting for the developing technologies. VHS players went for about $800 or so, if I remember correctly.

Reading some of the comments in the linked article, thought this was interesting:

"I bought one after they were discontinued for two reasons. The first is that they were dirt cheap, and the second was that at the time the media was the only video/audio source for "Pink Floyd at Pompeii" (also heavily discounted).

The picture had good resolution but always wobbled a bit. The audio was an embarrassingly bad 55 Db S/N ratio. I don't remember the frequency response, but it wasn't good."


Further proof that over the years, Floyd has changed the universe.:loneranger:

Of an important note is that the Videodisc and first pressing Laserdisc of Pink Floyd "Live At Pompeii" is still to this day the only correct speed for the audio and video of this concert. Even the damn "director approved and remastered" DVD is not the correct speed. It's too fast.

My dad bought a Videodisc player in 1981. It was nice watching Star Trek and The Time Machine on Videodisc.

Greg