Laserdisc Is Still The Video Of The Future

LaserDisc fans have grown cynical about predictions that the system will soon catch on in a big way in the United States.

After all, 1979 was supposed to be ``the year of the laser.'' So was 1982, and so was 1984. When CDs finally captured the public's imagination and pocketbooks in the mid-1980s, it seemed obvious that LaserDiscs would be next. It didn't happen.

To date, fewer than 1 million LaserDisc players have been sold in this country. According to Billboard, the best-selling disc is ``E.T.,'' which shipped 60,000 copies. That compares with 65 million VCRs in American homes, and 15 million tapes of ``E.T.'' sold to VCR owners. (In Japan, laser is more popular, accounting for 69 percent of video software sales.)

Nevertheless, the beginning of the 1990s has brought new predictions of laser light at the end of the tunnel.

The Hollywood Reporter claims that ``smiles are beaming in the LaserDisc community . . . hardware sales are up 250 percent.'' Software sales have gone from $45 million in 1988 to $90 million in 1989.

In a recent Los Angeles Times piece, Jack Mathews confidently predicted that in the 1990s ``we will switch to larger, higher-definition screen TV sets and, most likely, to laser video-disc players.''

``Awareness of the format has taken a quantum leap,'' claims Mark Smith of Pioneer, which manufactures players and discs and takes out two-page promotional ads in national magazines. This month's laser ad, ``Bertolucci for LaserDisc,'' claims that the 1987 Oscar winner for best director watches movies on laser because ``the flawless sound quality and sharper visual images allow you to see and hear exactly what the director intended.''

No one who owns a laser player will argue with that. Delivering 425 lines of resolution and four channels of surround sound, the system offers picture and sound quality that can't be matched by videotape. The difference in quality is even greater than the difference between CDs and audiotape.

The new discs in particular, with their digital sound, supplementary material (interviews, preview trailers, excised scenes) and ``letterbox'' format for wide-screen films, are a class act that makes tape look primitive.

But price is still a barrier. It costs at least $500 to buy a player that will handle both CDs and LaserDiscs. That may be a bargain if you're new to both technologies, or if you're upgrading an old system, but many consumers who already have CD players and VCRs are resisting.

Mathews claims that ``the prices of discs are coming down,'' and The Hollywood Reporter's Paula Parisi says ``the discs typically retail for under $30,'' but they're obviously not shopping at the same stores as the rest of us.

While Warner Home Video has kept its prices low (a number of its top releases cost just $25), and Disney is charging just $30 for its gorgeous laser edition of ``Bambi,'' many discs cost more than they did a decade ago, and a few cost twice as much.

CBS/Fox Video is the chief gouger, asking $70 for wide-screen editions of ``The Sound of Music'' and ``The Robe.'' Paramount Home Video, which used to charge $30 for single discs, has gradually moved up to $35. Image Entertainment, which turns out an amazing number of discs, has increased the standard laser price to $40. Even Warners is upping its price for ``Batman'' to $40. Foreign films and special editions can run from $50 to $125 for a single movie.

(Laser rentals are still in an experimental stage. Blockbuster Video is trying out rentals in a few stores nationally, and Silver Platters rents discs locally, but sales have always been more successful. The percentage of LaserDisc enthusiasts who buy discs is far greater than the percentage of VCR owners who buy tapes.)

Collectors and film buffs may not mind paying these prices, especially for the undeniable quality and extra features on laser. The new $125 Criterion Collection laser transfer of ``West Side Story'' was overseen by the film's co-director, Robert Wise, who provides a fascinating commentary on the casting and the editing of one key sequence. To ``Gone With the Wind'' fans, the beautiful new restored edition is worth every penny of the $50 it costs on laser (it's also $40 cheaper than the inferior videotape version).

But the laser companies need to get together and standardize. There's no good reason why Warner's wide-screen disc of ``The Accidental Tourist'' should cost $25, while CBS/Fox's wide-screen version of ``Patton'' is priced at $70.

CDs took off when hardware and software prices started to come down, and the much-prophesied laser boom probably won't take place until that happens.

NEW VIDEOS

in stores this week:

Tuesday - Robert Mitchum in ``Home From the Hill,'' Spencer Tracy in ``Northwest Passage,'' Elliott Gould in ``The Night Visitor,'' Jan-Michael Vincent in ``Alienator,'' Henry Fonda in ``The Best Man,'' Ronald Colman in ``The Prisoner of Zenda,'' Mickey Rooney in ``Love Finds Andy Hardy,'' ``Life Begins for Andy Hardy,'' ``Andy Hardy Meets a Debutante,'' ``Andy Hardy's Private Secretary,'' ``Andy Hardy's Double Life'' and ``Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever.''

Wednesday - Woody Allen in ``New York Stories,'' Jeff Bridges in ``See You in the Morning,'' Tom Hanks in ``Turner and Hooch,'' Mark Hamill in ``Slipstream,'' Irene Cara in ``Caged in Paradiso,'' Linda Blair in ``Bedroom Eyes II,'' Ralph Macchio in ``Karate Kid III,'' ``Rabid Grannies,'' ``The L.A. Connection's Ferocious Female Freedom Fighters,'' Farrah Fawcett in ``Between Two Women.''

Thursday - John Candy in ``Uncle Buck,'' Jean-Claude Van Damme in ``Kickboxer,'' Weird Al Yankovic's ``UHF,'' Broderick Crawford in Fellini's ``Il Bidone,'' David Warner in ``Hostile Takeover,'' Jeremy Slate in ``Dead Pit,'' Ray Walston in ``Blood Relations,'' Robert Gavaldon's ``Macario,'' ``Billy Crystal: Midnight Train to Moscow.''