Hollywood Sound Design and Moviesound Newsletter

Appendix 6Laser Discs as Transition and The Couch Potato’s Guide to Laser Sound

One theme of Hollywood Sound Design and Moviesound Newsletter is the analytical lens of transition from analog to digital techniques in making film sound. The laser disc was a bridge medium for the film consumer’s home viewing, between videotape (analog) and DVD (digital). Laser discs provided the affluent consumer with movies at home, and prompted many to improvise the first arrangements of what are marketed today as “home theaters.” The discs provided better video quality than existing VHS and Beta videocassettes, though it was still an analog video playback format. The new technology provided consumers with nearly instant random access to slow motion, and to scenes ...