Analogue laserdiscs - for those who wanted the very best compared to fuzzy VHS! Olivia was very successful at the time Laserdiscs were being introduced to the market, and here they are. Laserdisc performed much better in the Japanese and US market than in the European market.

Unfortunately although the non-contact laserdisc should last longer in theory, the discs degraded and many are unserviceable new, whereas little played VHS tapes from that era are still playable. That first video special, Olivia, in particular suffered from laser rot and it would be surprising if you could find a copy of that in playable condition, even if you had a player in good working order

Laserdisc never caught on in Europe but was big in the US and Japan until DVD replaced it around the millennium. As a play-only medium the format is now totally dead because new discs have not been made since 2000, and the players are becoming elderly.

US laserdiscs (NTSC format)

1978 Olivia

1978 Grease

1980 Xanadu

1981 Physical

1982 Live in concert

1983 Twist Of Fate

1983 Two of a Kind

1985 Soul Kiss Videosingles

1988 Down Under

ldimpartyf.gif (4147 bytes) 1995 It's My Party movie

PAL laserdiscs

It should be noted that the early European laserdiscs in the PAL format are not all compatible with later PAL LD players, and those without digital soundtracks may play vision-only on later PAL disc players.

pldgreasef.gif (4277 bytes) 1978 Grease

pldxanaduf.gif (4044 bytes) 1980 Xanadu

pldphysicalf.gif (2681 bytes) 1981 Physical

1982 Live in concert

pldtwistf.gif (2670 bytes) 1983 Twist Of Fate

1988 Down Under - CD Video (digital snd)

in the giant stream of time, the survival rate for any video format is zero

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