7 Obscure Optical Disc Formats That Never Reached the Popularity of DVD

Everyone knows optical disc formats similar CD and DVD, but past is littered with different attempts to marque shiny circular discs that clasp immoderate benignant of recording. With precise mixed results!

I similar to poke astir tech past each present and then, and determination are immoderate obscure and semi-obscure disc formats that had a chance, but ne'er got precise acold retired the gate.

7 LaserDisc

I conscionable cognize that I'm going to get immoderate vigor for saying that LaserDisc is "obscure", but adjacent erstwhile LDs were contemporary, precise fewer radical really owned a player. Personally, got to ticker precisely 2 LaserDisc movies backmost successful the 90s: Judge Dredd and The Hunt for Red October. Compared to the VHS tapes we were renting astatine the time, it was a revelation!

LDs are absorbing due to the fact that they're an analog format. So, though it's a disc, and it uses a laser, the accusation connected the disc is stored successful an analog format. This leads to beauteous debased information density, which results successful a record-sized disc that has to beryllium flipped implicit halfway done the movie. Unless you were genuinely affluent and could spend a instrumentality that did that spot for you.

Japan was the lone state wherever LDs were genuinely a success, but contiguous the discs and players are highly collectible successful the USA, and determination are immoderate movie cuts that are only available arsenic LDs, specified arsenic the archetypal theatrical cuts of Star Wars.

6 Video CD

Before I ever had a DVD player, I watched movies digitally connected the VCD format, which was rather fashionable successful my country. In particular, it was a fashionable mode to administer bootleg movies, since these are conscionable mean CDs that immoderate CD-ROM thrust could work and the discs outgo cents, portion VHS tapes were really costly arsenic a medium.

VCDs ne'er truly took disconnected successful North America, but they were highly fashionable successful Asia, which is wherever each those bootlegs came from I mentioned earlier. The prime of VCDs were comparable to VHS, it's conscionable that the artifacts looked different. The bitrate is beauteous poor, truthful there's tons of macro-blocking and banding. CDs basal up amended than VHS tapes erstwhile it comes to deterioration and tear, and the video prime doesn't deteriorate with time. The players are besides mechanically little analyzable than VHS decks, and it was beauteous mean for DVD players to besides beryllium backward compatible with VCDs.

So, VCDs aren't each that obscure to maine oregon to Asian countries, but I deliberation astir folks successful North America aren't alert of their existence, and made the hop from VHS straight to DVD instead.

5 Super VCD

If VCDs were obscure, past Super VCDs are super-obscure successful comparison. This was meant to beryllium the successor to VCDs, but that would enactment them into nonstop contention with DVDs, and honestly, Super VCDs were ne'er going to beryllium competitory successful that battle.

These discs lone boast astir 100-150MB much retention than emblematic CDs with a full capableness of 800MB. That's lone capable to store 35 minutes of "full quality" SVCD, which astatine 480x480 oregon 480x576 depending connected your region, is doubly the representation prime of VCDs, but astatine a monolithic alteration successful moving time. I don't cognize astir you, but needing to swap discs each 30 minutes would marque watching The Lord of the Rings incredibly tedious. While galore players that enactment VCD and DVD would play SVCD titles, determination were often playback issues related to the unusual video ratio and formatting of SVCD. At slightest that's what I hear, since I've ne'er personally had my hands connected 1 of these discs.

4 EVD

Now we're getting into decently obscure formats! In the aboriginal 2000s, a disc format called EVD oregon Enhanced Versatile Disc was announced, backed by the Chinese authorities and respective Chinese companies, forming a standards committee.

Physically, EVDs are DVDs. Any DVD thrust tin technically work them. However, the EVD modular neatly and deliberately employs alternatives to each the technologies successful DVDs that pb to licensing fees. These fees had to beryllium paid erstwhile making DVD players, and substantially accrued manufacturing costs, truthful EVDs truly lone existed for economical and independency reasons.

While EVDs worked conscionable fine, precise fewer movies were ever released successful the format. In fact, Wikipedia lone lists four:

• Big Momma's House (2002)
• Black Mask 2: City of Masks (2002)
• Hero (Director's Cut) (2002)
• House of Flying Daggers (2004)

I don't cognize if that database is exhaustive, but successful either lawsuit the format was abandoned successful the precocious 2000s, and I stake you've ne'er adjacent heard of it. I definite didn't until I did the probe for this piece.

3 UMD

The Sony UMD (Universal Media Disc) is besides debatably obscure, but it's circumstantial to the Sony PlayStation Portable. Although the PSP sold well, it's not similar determination were arsenic galore UMD players retired determination arsenic DVD players by respective orders of magnitude.

When I got my archetypal PSP, it came with a transcript of Spider-Man 2 successful the container connected UMD. These small 1.8GB discs were a wonderment astatine the time. Keep successful caput that portable media players the size of a telephone beauteous overmuch didn't exist. I had conscionable bought my archetypal camera phone, and that could lone instrumentality grainy photos, not videos!

I deliberation Sony had large plans for UMD arsenic a format, but it ne'er truly took off. For 1 thing, the video prime looked large connected the PSP's screen, but not blown up connected a TV. Besides, it wasn't agelong earlier solid-state retention costs and net speeds had some improved capable to marque optical discs for portable devices redundant. The PlayStation Vita, the PSP's successor, ditched the mechanically analyzable and costly optical drive, and the remainder is history.

2 MiniDisc

In Japan, Sony's MiniDisc format isn't obscure astatine all, but successful the remainder of the satellite it ne'er rather took disconnected successful a mode that would endanger CDs. The first-generation of MDs utilized integer compression, to connection up to 80 minutes of audio. MDs were aimed astatine replacing casette tapes, not CDs, truthful the information that the dependable prime was overmuch amended than tapes, but not rather arsenic bully arsenic CDs wasn't an contented per se.

However, it wasn't agelong earlier portable CD players were a thing, which made it hard to warrant buying the aforesaid medium (remember those?) twice, erstwhile you could bargain 1 CD and play it astatine location oregon connected the go. There would beryllium a aboriginal format called Hi-MD that matched the prime of CDs, but kept the compact size of MDs, but it was excessively little, excessively late.

That said, MiniDisc inactive has its hardcore fans today, and portion it's obscurity arsenic blistery a hobby arsenic vinyl audio, it's besides lone been conscionable implicit a decennary since MDs were discontinued, truthful springiness it time.

1 GD-ROM

The GD-ROM was the proprietary disc format for the Sega Dreamcast. The past console made by Sega which yet lone sold 9.13 cardinal units. There were astir 600 games made utilizing this 1.2GB disc format, and it's full beingness is beauteous interesting. Having a disc that was astir doubly arsenic capacious arsenic a CD meant less discs for games, and it besides meant piracy was a non-issue due to the fact that nary 1 had disc burners that could marque GD-ROMs.

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So wherefore not conscionable usage DVDs? Well, astatine the time, it would person been excessively costly enactment owed to licensing costs, truthful from the position of the clip and place, GD-ROMs made sense, but they faded into obscurity on with the Dreamcast itself.