Video on Optical Discs

The history of Video on Optical Discs started with Laser Discs; followed by CD-i and Video-CD without universal success. DVD appeared as a real breakthrough and became successful all over the world except China, which turned to SVCD:

1. Laser Discs
2. CD-i and Video-CD
3. DVD and SVCD
4. And now ?
5. DVD-R

1. Laser Discs

The real breakthrough for the use of discs using the optical storage principle in came in the late 1970´s, early 1980´s when the Dutch electronics company Philips developed and launched the compact disc (CD) to store music in digital format that made use of an optical storage principle. But actually, a couple of years earlier another system using the optical principle had already been brought to the market: the LaserDisc. It was designed to contain both audio and video. These discs had a larger size than their music counterparts and the success of the market was very disappointing. Prices were high and the system never really reached an international standard, so the number of available movies released on Laser Disc remained low. Interesting abot these LaserDiscs is that the video on the LaserDisc is not digital, like in all other systems discussed below, but analog.

2. CD-i and Video-CD

Very soon after the introduction of the CD, Philips also developed a device called a CD-Interactive player (CD-i). Connected to a TV-set, these devices could play discs containing sound, pictures and programs to handle interactivity. The system was aimed at the games and education markets . Very shortly after the introduction of the CD-i, Philips also started to promote the system as a platform to play movies on TV, like a VCR but without recording possibilities. The CD-i players were equipped with an extra video card and discs containing movies were brought onto the market. These discs are called Video Compact Discs (VCD) and make use of a format, the VCD-standard, especially designed for these discs.

Commercially, the CD-i player turned out to be a loser. Interactivity remained the domain of PC´s and the CD-i was soon overtaken by the CD-ROM. As with the CD-i, the video format VCD seemed destined to die.