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Technology

From the archives: How LaserDiscs (almost) took the world by storm

By Julia Brown

12 December 2018

laserdisc player

Frederic Lewis/Getty

In December 1978, LaserDiscs looked like the hot new thing in visual technology. So why did VHS eventually win out?

ANYONE remember LaserDiscs? On 14 December 1978, Âé¶¹´«Ã½ ran a long story about this new technology entitled ““. These early versions of compact discs were just about to hit the market and enter the battle for video supremacy.

VHS and Betamax video cassettes had launched a few years earlier, and Dutch electronics giant Philips was banking that its new technology, far superior in sound and visual quality, would blow video cassettes out of the water.

There…

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