EOTO #1 DVDs by Olivia Moran

LaserDisc technology was first invented by David Paul and James Russell in 1958. In 1978 LaserDisc was released in the United States of America. When compared to the DVD as we know it LaserDiscs were nearly three times the size. LaserDiscs were constantly compared and very similar to vinyl due to the fact that watchers would have to flip the disc in the middle of their movie in order to watch the second half.

    The DVD or Digital Videodisc was invented in 1995 and released to the public in 1996. It was amazing to see that all audio and video that a LaserDisc could hold would be as compact as a CD and much more. A notable fact is that the movies Twister and Mars Attack were the first two movies released by Hollywood available on DVD in 1997. The first DVD player was the Toshiba SD-3000. I was first released over in Japan in November 1996. Soon after the PlayStation 2 was released in 2000 and in addition to playing games, it could also play DVDs which was a huge selling factor at the height of the DVD’s reign. Then Yahoo, yes, the new and upcoming email service, manufactured and released their own DVD player in 2005.

For years VHS tapes were the household friend of the family, throughout the 70s, 80s, and up to 90s VHS tapes were all people knew. You could watch it, record over it, rewind, and fast forward but, by the year 2000 people were stocking their shelves with DVDs instead. Netflix co-founder Mark Randolph and High Point University’s Entrepreneur in residence gave Netflix its place in the world when he used DVDs in April of 1998. With less weight to ship compared to the VHS the company saved money, skyrocketed profits, reached a wider audience, and changed the way we watch movies for good. Oh! They also ran Blockbuster out of business except for one which resides in Bend, Oregon.

DVDs have changed the movie game for everyone, some benefits were as stated before they were lighter, more compact, and more portable. It would only take a little time to find DVD and Blu-Ray players in every household along with automobiles. It was merely the stepping stone that got the world to where it is now, with more information being stored on such a small item it became revolutionary. DVDs were everywhere and while Netflix was not the only video service it represented a revolution. I look back on the nights where my family would rent to newest movie from the video store that is still somehow in business to this day. Movie night we would pick up our favorite pizza and the family would come together to watch a DVD that hopefully wasn’t scratched.

With DVDs being now long gone we can still look fondly on when we would play The Land Before Time on VHS in the living room. Or your favorite movie in the back of your mom's car. Thank you DVDs for making us all introverts.

 

Work Cited

Wallace, Dillion. “THE HISTORY OF THE DVD.” South Tree, southtree.com/blogs/artifact/the-history-of-the-dvd. Accessed 13 Nov. 2021.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “DVD | Definition, Development, & Facts.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 Sept. 2021, www.britannica.com/technology/DVD.

“History of DVD.” Did You Know?, didyouknow.org/dvdhistory. Accessed 13 Nov. 2021.

According to new research… (“History of DVD”).

CLIR. “5. Conditions That Affect CDs and DVDs •.” CLIR, 26 Jan. 2017, www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub121/sec5.

“How DVDs Stole the Spotlight from VHS | Video 2 DVD Transfers.” Video 2 DVD Transfers News | Transfer Your Previous VHS Tapes to DV Format at Competitive Prices, 31 Mar. 2021, www.video2dvdtransfers.co.uk/blog/2019/06/21/how-dvds-stole-the-spotlight-from-vhs.