Videodisc and Laserdisc, are they the same?

[Bob W]

I ran across an eBay auction for a videodisc so now I'm confused. Was the videodisc before the Laserdisc?

[vitualis]

It is hard to see without context, but the "videodisc" may be referring to VCD and the laserdisc is a laserdisc (which predates VCDs).

Regards.

[garryheather]

Laserdiscs also won't fit in your DVD player, either !!

Think of a vinyl LP and you're there. Although Laserdisc had their fair share of problems, the picture and sound quality was pretty good. In the picture stakes, they were better than VideoCD's - even the well encoded ones.

Just make sure if you go after one it is of good quality. They are fairly robust however some discs seemed "batch sensitive" and used to corrode (wrongly termed "laser rot"). Good examples still exist to this day (a friend of mine still has one and reckons Top Gun on it is exceptional).

[Bob W]

I'm still a bit confused. What is this disc http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3344580168&category=18848

Will that disc play on this player? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3043265669&category=3317

[Wolfmancatsup]

Laserdiscs and these discs aren't the same. Laserdiscs use a laser to "read" the disc, CED players (RCA Selectavision) use a stylus... The disc and player in the two eBay ads appear to be of the CED variety, so you'd be ok to purchase both, although you'd need to bear in mind that the players will in all likelihood not play laserdiscs.

More info here...

http://www.cedmagic.com/home/cedfaq.html

[wulf109]

The items in the ebay adds are indeed CED disk and player. Ced was RCA's attempt at a new video system. Sometimes called "needle-vision" because the disk was played by a needle(stylus) that contacted the disk. I had a CED player and it was a short lived rival of the laserdisk.
The players were prone to skipping and RCA pulled the plug and lost millions but at least they were made in the U.S.

[Bob W]

Anyone here know if the picture quality of the videodiscs or "CED" discs is as good as or better than VHS tapes?