ABSTRACT

The story of LaserDiscs is inextricably bound with the rise of cinephilia and a huge public interest in viewing movies, mostly at home. They can now be looked at as taking an important role as one of the steps in a longer process, the shift in media from analog to digital. In the case of LaserDiscs, we would probably want to start with the desire to have prerecorded content available when we wish. Technological obsolescence in the film-video arena happens at both of what we more commonly call the hardware and software levels. The idea that LaserDiscs could be the place where scenes could be restored and a film put into the form their directors originally wanted was an inviting possibility. The significant role of interactivity in modern digital technologies, especially video games, received a major boost from LaserDiscs, in a variety of forms.