science · 22 March 1981 · 43 years ago
In 1981, RCA first put on sale the SelectaVision VideoDisc, exactly 10 years after RCA applied for the first patents. Based on electronic capacitance technology, RCA VideoDiscs contained a groove of varying depth which was played with a stylus sensitive to the depth of the groove immediately underneath it. The system emerged as a marvel of mass-production research and development, able to play a two-hour movie on a twelve-inch, fifteen-dollar record on a $500 player. However, SelectaVision failed in the marketplace, since VCR's had dropped in price during its development phase, and the VideoDisc arrived on the market too late to compete. Manufacturing was abandoned in April 1984.
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