FORMAT: LaserVision     DATE: 1982 PRICE: £? [2005: £?] 52x38x14cm 13.5kg

In the long term, Pioneer went on to be the major manufacturer of LaserDisc players. Despite being so crucial to the development of the format, Philips players were not particularly common (Sony seem to be the second most popular brand); Pioneer made all the best and most popular machines.

But you'd never have guessed that if you'd compared this machine, which was Pioneer's first player, with the Philips VLP-700 from the same year! The Philips machine is a triump of design, sleek and sexy, oozing style and sophistication; in comparison, the LD-1100 is, frankly, duller than the third runner up in a mogadon-eating contest. It's just a square grey box, with no shape or detailing, with two panels of lights on the front and a group of controls between them. I reckon it was designed on a Friday afternoon, when the designer was in a hurry to get home; either that or it was a functional prototype which was accidentally put into production...

Like the Philips it's a top-loader; the modern (and universal) "tray loading" style came in later -- in fact the first CD players were also top-loaders. The 30cm discs require a large lid, which means that you need at least 30cm free space above the machine -- so this top-loading style is inconvenient, even more than it was for toploading VCRs.

It's a full-function machine, with all the trick-play features available (for CAV / active play discs): variable-speed slow motion, still frame, chapter and frame search, and even reverse play. It came with a remote as standard -- another bland grey box, huge by modern standards and with all the ergonomics of a house-brick. Internally it's much simpler than the Philips machine, with just one main board containing all the electronics -- none of the plug-in modules which are so characteristic of Philips designs.

The laser is a Helium-Neon gas tube, as you'd expect for this era, and the optical platform can be clearly seen in this picture: the laser beam emerges from the tube (top left), and is reflected by two 90-degree mirrors before entering the focusing and tracking module (bottom). The whole optical platform moves as the disc is played, which makes it simpler to keep everything in precise alignment; the white rack and drive motor can be seen at the bottom left. The fan is mounted on the disc-drive motor.

The optical path with a simulated laser beam - the real one would be invisible infra-red