2.6 Will DVD replace laserdisc?
Description
This article is from the DVD Formats FAQ, by jtfrog@usa.net (Jim Taylor) with numerous contributions by others.
2.6 Will DVD replace laserdisc?
When this question was first entered in the FAQ, before DVD was even
available, people wondered if DVD would replace laserdisc (and some argued
it never would -- that DVD would fail and it's adherents would come
groveling back to laserdisc). After DVD was released, it became clear that
it had doomed laserdisc to quick obscurity. Pioneer Entertainment, the
long-time champion of laserdisc, abandoned it 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).
Laserdisc still fills important niches in education and training, but is
fading very quickly as an entertainment format. Existing players and discs
will still be around for a very long time, and new discs are still being
produced, since laserdisc has become well established over 20 years as a
videophile format. There are over 9,000 laserdisc titles in the US and a
total of over 35,000 titles worldwide that can be played on over 7 million
laserdisc players. It will take DVD several years to reach this level, and
even then there's no reason for laserdisc player owners to stop buying or
playing laserdiscs, especially rare titles that may not appear on DVD for a
long while if ever. One bright point is that laserdiscs (especially used
discs) can now be had at bargain prices.
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