Laserfilm was a videodisc format developed by

McDonnell-Douglas McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it pr ...

in 1984 that was a transmissive

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The ...

-based playback medium (unlike its competitor,

LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diameter typical ...

, which was a

reflective Reflection is the change in direction of a wavefront at an interface between two different media so that the wavefront returns into the medium from which it originated. Common examples include the reflection of light, sound and water waves. The ' ...

system).

Description

It worked by having the laser shine through one side of the disc to a receiving sensor on the other side, where the beam of the laser would be interrupted by a spiral of small dots on the disc. This would in turn modulate the laser beam to represent the video and audio information, which was then interpreted by the receiving sensor receiving the beam on the other side. The disc was made out of ordinary

photographic film Photographic film is a strip or sheet of transparent film base coated on one side with a gelatin emulsion containing microscopically small light-sensitive silver halide crystals. The sizes and other characteristics of the crystals determine ...

(hence the format's name), which was mounted in a caddy for playback, much like the RCA

Selectavision SelectaVision was a trademark name used on four classes of device by RCA: * The Holotape, a prototype video medium * Magnetic tape * VHS videocassette recorders, and * Capacitance Electronic Disc videodisc players and the discs themselves. Cap ...

CED and VHD videodisc systems. Laserfilm players were chiefly manufactured in Japan by Sansui on an OEM basis to McDonnell-Douglas' specifications and branded with their

logotype A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordm ...

, and weren't marketed successfully outside the company. However, the format was employed for use in their

flight simulator A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they re ...

s, by linking several players together. The Laserfilm format was originally based on an earlier videodisc format called ARDEV, developed by a company of the same name which was originally a subsidiary of

Atlantic Richfield ARCO ( ) is a brand of gasoline stations currently owned by Marathon Petroleum after BP sold its rights. BP commercializes the brand in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, while Marathon has rights for the rest of the United States and ...

until 1981. At that time, ARDEV and all of its videodisc technologies were acquired by McDonnell-Douglas.

External links

The Dead Media Project's note about Laserfilm

Video storage Products introduced in 1984 {{video-tech-stub