- From the late 1970s until approximately 1995, there was a battle for the home video market among the major players, Betamax (backed by Sony), VHS (backed by Philips and JVC) and LaserDisc. Consumers had a choice of all three formats but suffered with exclusive releases of some movies in only one or two formats. Because of numerous critical drawbacks, the LaserDisc was the first casualty in the war.
- LaserDisc had a lot of great things working for it, but unfortunately it had just as many things crippling its adoption. The LaserDisc only played data, it was unable to record new data. The average disc had a radius of over 12 inches, making it unwieldy and difficult to store. The LaserDisc also only stored approximately one hour of video per side compared to six or more hours on a VHS or Betamax.
- While not popular in the United States or Europe, LaserDisc was a huge smash in Japan and the rest of Asia due to its higher definition for local anime shows. Many small anime studios had exclusive releases of their television series and cartoons on LaserDisc. After the format wars, these shows would be released on VHS and DVD. The success overseas allowed the LaserDisc to continue printing discs long after it was apparent VHS would become the dominant format.
- LaserDisc found a niche market for some video game consoles as well as military and educational purposes. The U.S. Army created several instructional videos using the LaserDisc format. In Japan, several gaming console prototypes were created, including one for schools that would have interactive learning programs.
- Compact Discs and DVD would eventually replace the VHS for dominance in the home video market. These products rely on several key patents originally intended for the LaserDisc that were claimed in the early 1960s. For example, they are completely digital products so that the manufacturing and data storage process are similar.
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