Long before DVDs and even CDs there were "laser discs" for video playback. Like all 70s electronics they were huge, a little larger than a PC computer box set on its side. There were two competing standards, one from RCA and one that I thought was created by Pioneer but appears to actually have been created by Phillips. A friend of mine in High School had the RCA version and while it was neat, you couldn't rent a damned thing for it at the video store.

The Phillips version, eventually championed by Pioneer, lasted a lot longer, really until the advent of DVD players in the mid 90s. I bought one for a place I used to work for in 1996.

Of course now they're all long gone, but, thanks to this web site, we can all take a moment to reflect on just how far couch-potato tech has come in thirty years.