Heh, heh. For me that is a BIGGIE.
I was a big proponent of Laser in the mid-to-late seventies. Seattle was a test market for the original Magnavox machine, and I was the only one in the stereo stores I worked in that sold any quantity. And I myself owned one the minute I had the cash at salesman discount.
But I am pragmatic about it. It's time came and went. There is little it has to offer over DVD. When the DVD was even talked about, I KNEW that laser was dead, dead, dead.
Anybody ever see the movie where pirates find booty and it contains a bunch of laserdisks and one of the pirates says something along the lines of "What good are these? You can't record on them."
That is what we usually got from customers back then. I would then ask them if they had a record player. 8^>
"There is little it has to offer over DVD."
You underestimate the masses out there who are purists who want titles like the OT of SW or Hamlet. Those are the collectors who are still investing in the format.
Only recently have people been able to record on DVDs.
It was a hollow argument.
The market was based around "home taping" off air and "renting" Hollywood movies.
With DVD the price point has pushed to "sell through" movies to the home consumer (with nothing except Criterion discs being priced more for rental).
DVDs don't handle so well (much easier to scratch) so maybe it is better that they push sell through over rental.
Still, I have cut down on my DVD buying by joining Netflix (and recently learned of Nicheflix for non-region1 DVD mailorder rental in the US).
"Anybody ever see the movie where pirates find booty and it contains a bunch of laserdisks and one of the pirates says something along the lines of 'What good are these? You can't record on them.'"
"Amazon Women on the Moon", IIRC.