Word: videodiscs
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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When RCA brought out its SelectaVision VideoDisc Player in 1981, it had visions of a huge new market. Dubbed the Manhattan Project during 15 years of development, SelectaVision works much like a phonograph. A diamond needle picks up video and audio signals from the tiny grooves of a silvery plastic disc whirling at 450 r.p.m. To operate the machine, which is connected to a TV set, the user simply inserts a disc and flips a lever...
Even though SelectaVision is dead, videodisc technology will probably continue to grow. Such firms as Pioneer and Magnavox, which sell disc machines that use a more advanced system based on lasers, are expected to continue making machines. These devices, which assign a number to each image, allow the user to call up an individual frame almost instantly. Priced at about $700, the laser players are often used in education and industry. Several firms are developing ways to use video discs as data-storage devices for computers...
...Dirk will have rivals in the arcades. Data East USA has begun shipping a laser videodisc game called Bega's Battle, in which a superhero must save the world from destruction by fending off fireballs and dragons. Also expected to reach the arcades soon is Mylstar Electronics' M.A.C.H. 3, which stands for Military Air Command Hunter. The game puts the player in the cockpit of a fighter or bomber, and the laser disc projects film footage of terrain passing below, while the computer generates graphics representing enemy tanks, bridges and factories, which the pilot tries to destroy...
Coleco has bought the rights to produce a home version of Dragon's Lair and hopes to have it ready some time next year. Some companies, however, think the technology of bringing laser videodisc games into the home may be tricky. Says Parker Bros.' Stearns: "We very much want to participate in the laser videodisc market, and we're exploring it. But to rush headlong into this area when the hardware hasn't been perfected would be foolish...
Despite the caution of other publishers, Grolier remains optimistic about computerized reference sources. Says Frank Farrell, president of the electronic-publishing division: "We intend to break the constrictions of the printed page and make reading more dynamic." The firm is already planning a videodisc encyclopedia that may use laser technology. This would allow a student with a divided terminal screen to hear a Beethoven symphony while reading an article about the composer...