From: (Neil Wagner) - CED Magic

Re: Pioneer Laseractive:
I never compared this to CED, but I have 2 of Pioneer's "Zoom"
laserdiscs, which are sent out periodically to retailers (got them from a
VideoConcepts store when they were closing them all) One is almost
entirely a demonstration of Laseractive and one can't help feeling sorry
for the guy talking about all the research and commitment Pioneer was
putting into it. I never saw it promoted to the public very well, but
they talk about it here like it might be "the next big thing." The only
Laseractive disc I have is "3-D Museum" which I also have LCD shutter
glasses that work with it. I'd like to get some game discs if they ever
show up cheap enough; that's what I think doomed this system as well as
the laserdisc-based arcade video games in 1983-84- since the main parts
are prerecorded, there's really only one way a game can go since you're
playing with the same footage every time, and that gets old really fast.
The system was a rip-off too, the player itself cost about as much as a
really good LD player only it didn't have auto-reverse, and you couldn't
play any games with it unless you paid another few hundred bucks for the
"packs" (which both could've been built into the machine making for a
really good unit- Turbographix and Genesis games!) To top it all off, the
game discs were around $200 each when they first came out!!
Where in history is CD-I (Interactive) going to fall? I recently got a
player at Fry's (formerly Incredible Universe) for $15 (no that's not a
typo!) I'd never expect to find one that cheap even at a thrift store!
The manual it comes with starts out with "You've just purchased one of
the best-supported, best-backed products available today, which will
provide you with many years of enjoyment." This was a great example of a
product in search of an identity- was it a game system, cheap home
computer, educational device, or what??? Looking forward to finding some
bootleg MPEG movie CD's though, I've heard they have some movies that are
still in theaters available on these things. The only legitimate stuff
I've been able to find is porno, the motion on the 3 discs I have is
strange looking and I can't tell if it's the source material, bad
mastering, or if that's how everything looks on MPEG-1 discs. And yes, I
was watching them for the plot and the acting ;) I also have the Space
Ace game that uses the MPEG card, and it looks pretty good but animated
stuff often holds up better under "digital" situations- noticed a bit of
"weave" and "jump" in the film though, which I thought would get lost in
a sea of blocks so that impressed me. I saw "Star Trek" playing in a
store a long time ago and it looked pretty bad, I don't have any of the
more 'major' films Philips put out that would probably better show how
good or bad the overall quality is.
With laserdisc having already been
out, and now DVD, this format has pretty much always been pointless, its
only advantage apparently being that they're incredibly cheap to make,
which accounts for the majority of discs to be either bootlegs and/or porn.
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Date: Mon, 13 Oct 1997 09:55:41 -0600