KARAOKE DISCS
RESOURCES
KARAOKE - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE:
How has the Karaoke format and the technology evolved?
In our look back at the formats and the landmarks that have shaped the world of Karaoke, we have also incorporated a chronological guide to the evolution of the technology which was to become associated with Karaoke. We hope you find it interesting!
1947 - Rangertone Inc., of New Jersey introduces a professional tape recorder based on the Magnetophone.
1948-49 - Sony Corporation begins its efforts to design a tape recorder.
1950 - The first catalogue of recorded music on tape appears in the United States. It is offered by the Recording Associates Company .
1956 - Ampex Corporation demonstrates its first video recorder, the VR1000. The machine, which recorded only monochrome signals, takes the industry by storm and quickly becomes the standard. On November 30, the first videotaped material on a TV show airs. It is "Douglas Edwards and the News" on CBS.
1957 - Price of first commercial blank video tape offered by the 3M Corp. listed as $307 per reel.
1958 – What came to be known as “Laser disc” technology was invented in this year by David Paul Gregg. It was patented and developed throughout the 1960s, but not made public until many years later. Unlike audio records or film reels where the playback head was in physical contact with the source, the Laser Disc would be touched only by a gentle beam of light. This would potentially avoid the wear and tear and resultant performance loss of these sources. The history of Video on Optical Discs, which shapes Karaoke today, can be traced to this very point.
1962-64 - The Philips company of the Netherlands introduces the Compact Cassette, beginning with a portable tape recorder using the small cartridge that we will all later recognise as the “C90”.
1969 - During its development in the 1960s, the developing Laser Disc format was referred to as the "Optical Videodisc System" before MCA, who owned the patent on the technology, re-named the format Discovision in this year.
1969 - The Compact Disc, the latest in a long line of data storage and delivery devices, was first conceived in 1969 by Klass Compaan. A physicist with Philips Research, he learned that scientists at rival company RCA had developed a method to mass produce photo slides. RCA was using a master copy to stamp other copies, which was naturally a much cheaper and easier way to produce images, as opposed to copying each individually. Compaan believed that a similar technique could be employed to mass produce a type of disc that would hold photographic or video images. He teamed up with colleague Piet Kramer in 1970, and they spent the next few years researching the viability of such a system.
1969-70 - DuPont and BASF begin offering chromium dioxide recording tapes, vastly improving the audio quality of this format.
1970 - Sony introduces the U-Matic Video Tape recorder. Still, the Video Tape format does not succeed as a consumer product, but achieves great success in schools and television stations.
1971 to 1972 - The first commercial references to Karaoke
are rooted in Japan around this period. At this time, singer Daisuke Inoue (Inoue Daisuke) was asked by frequent guests in Utagoe Kissa where he performed, to provide a recording of his perfomance so that they could sing along on a company sponsored vacation. Realising the potential for the market, Inoue had his own audio tape recorder made that played his songs, “jukebox style” for a 100-yen coin per song. This was, essentially, the first “karaoke machine”. You can read more about this in the feature How did it all get started?
1972 - Philips developers took the Klass Compaan photographic compact disc invention and expanded on it. Soon it was conceived that audio could be encoded using similar means. Only a few months after the videodisc prototype, Philips scientists developed the first audio compact disc. It had a sampling frequency of 44,000 Hz and was played using a 14-bit digital-to-analogue converter (the largest difference between Video discs and Audio Compact Discs were that Video Discs stored information using an analogue signal, while audio discs store information digitally). But the disc played poorly because the method of encoding data on the disc was unsatisfactory. It would be fully six years later before this project would make any valid progress.
1972 - The Laser Disc is first demonstrated by Philips and MCA. The disc is to be a double sided, and 12 inches in diameter. This is when we first get to realize what the format has to offer. Laser Disc has a video resolution of 400 lines, far superior to the 240 lines later offered by the typical Video Tape player. This resulted in a sharp picture which could never get beaten for quality of reproduction by the soon to be released home user Video Tapes. Like the Video Tape there were two speeds available, Constant Linear Velocity (CLV) and Constant Angular Velocity (CAV). The amount of data and therefore the length of the program was very limited, CLV could hold about 60 minutes while CAV is restricted to about 30 minutes. Because of this, the average movie required several discs. The number of discs would be somewhat reduced by using both sides, but the viewer would still need to get up and flip the disc on most players. CLS discs also did not support many of the special features common to Video Tape such as freeze frame. In the next few years there were a very select few around the world who had prototype movies and players with this new format. It would be quite a few years later until systems were truly available commercially.
1975 - Sony introduces the Betamax home video system. By using a convenient cartridge and offering the product at a low cost, Beta quickly takes off.
1976 - Panasonic and JVC introduce a competitor to Betamax, the Video Home System (VHS) system.
1976 - The first home Video Recorder playback machines emerge, with VHS and Betamax being the two big format contenders. These provide machines and tapes at prices which were much more realistic for the mass home market.
1977 - The Laser Disc people announce a real breakthrough – a massive improvement in the audio reproduction courtesy of AC-3, the original name for the format now known as Dolby 5.1. This format featured true surround sound with discreet audio tracks for two front channels, a centre channel, two rear channels and a sub woofer. At the time, the high end, special effects blockbusters would record in this new multi-track format and these discs would be snapped up by the serious film buffs. The Laser Disc also pioneered the concept of long lasting media. Unlike the Video Tape where the playback (and recording) head was in physical contact with the tape, the Laser Disc was touched only by a gentle beam of light. This avoided the wear and tear typical of the magnetic tape. While the format is fading away and never really achieved the popularity currently enjoyed by the DVD, this was where digital home theatre began, and we should all be grateful to those that made this technology available to the world.
1978 - The first Laser Disc players become commercially available on the market. This provided high end home system users a level of audio and video quality that Video Tape users could only dream about. For those that could afford the player and sound equipment, this was the way to go for the home theatre enthusiast.
At this time there were many names for the format - MCA owned the rights to the largest catalogue of films in the world during this time, and they directly manufactured and distributed the discs as the "MCA DiscoVision" disc. Pioneer Electronics had also entered the market by 1978, manufacturing both players and discs under the name LaserDisc, which led to Laserdisc (without intercaps) becoming the universally accepted name for the format by 1981.
The format has also been known as LV (for "LaserVision", actually a player brand by Philips). The players were also sometimes referred to as VDPs (Video Disc Players).
The acceptance of the Laser Disc was a lot slower than its “future to come brother” the DVD. At first there were not that many titles available, the studios were very cautious about releasing new titles on this format. Eventually, a sizable number of films were released. For those interested in the original version of the first three Star Wars flicks this is the only digital format that may ever show Hans Solo shooting first. By the early 1980s there were millions of players sold in the United States and most especially in Japan. Although now mostly replaced by the DVD, there are still many people that hold on to, and indeed treasure, their collections of laser discs.
1978 - It soon became obvious to Philips that a corporate collaboration was the only way that the problems with compact disc development could be solved. In 1978 Sony teamed up with Philips to develop a standard, universal compact disc to hold audio.
1978 to 1979 - In the Kansai area of Japan, there are now many venues who start to use especially recorded no-vocals Audio Cassette Tapes with cassette players. Karaoke singers would sing along with hand held printed lyrics sheets in these days.
1980 - A Philips/Sony Compact Disc Digital Audio standard disc is officially announced. The disc will be 120 millimetres, will play a maximum of 74 minutes worth of audio, and played at a sampling frequency of 44,100 Hz, made from a polycarbonate substrate, and moulded with a groove that provides timing and tracking information for the compact disc player.
1981 - Some early reports mention the production of both Karaoke Betamax and VHS Video Tapes in Japan, which utililised the same audio tracks that were produced for the audio cassettes, with the added advantage of words changing on the TV Screen at the same time. This development also made possible the enhancement of video scenes to create an atmosphere suitable to each song, displayed on a TV monitor along with the words.
1982 - The audio Compact Disc is formally released in Europe and Japan.1983 - Hot on the heels of the VHS Tape with words, comes a great Karaoke breakthrough - the first ever Karaoke Laser Disc, a 12” double sided disc with videos, audio tracks and, of course, words changing on the screen. Karaoke Laser Discs were incredibly expensive at this time, and were generally only produced for the Japanese “Karaoke Booth”.
1983 - The audio Compact Disc, CD, is formally released in the United States.
1984 - Compaan's idea of 1969 was even more greatly built upon throughout the 1980's. The concept of encoding data digitally onto discs was not only applicable for audio and video alone, but also multimedia because most discs could store incredible amounts of information and be produced for under $1.00 each, much cheaper than the amount of paper needed to display the same information. These ideas led Sony and Philips to produce the standard for Compact Disc Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) - computer discs that would use the same laser technology as the audio CD. Retrieval of information was slower than its sister discs, and its technology was still relatively experimental until the late 1980's.
1985 - Pocket Songs and Sound Choice, two of the worlds biggest producers of Karaoke discs today, are formed in the United States, both producing “audio sing-a-long” CDs and cassettes.
1985 - CD-I was introduced by Philips and Sony in another collaboration in 1985, but went unreleased to consumers until 1992 due to production and consumer introduction problems. These types of drives attach to television sets, displaying interactive CDs with graphic images, animation and video. They also display audio and photo images, including photo CDs released by Kodak. CD-I players are compatible with regular audio discs, but not CD-ROMs. Only a limited number of companies have produced these types of discs, and for that reason, combined with what many consumers see as merely a pricey novelty, CD-I discs have not gained popularity. Traditionally, consumer prices for new compact disc technology begin quite high but then gradually decline. When originally released, CD-R drives - for computers or stand alones - costed at least £2,000.00, and blank discs from name brand companies could be purchased for no less than £20.00. Now such drives can cost way less than £100.00 and the price of discs can be measured in pence!
1985 to 1988 - Pioneer latch on to the Japanese Karaoke phenomena and produce the first real Karaoke discs for the western markets. These 12” Laser Discs were very expensive, selling in those days at £100 or more, with around 24 to 28 tracks on each disc.
1988 - The introduction of the recordable CD - write-once CDs to become known as CD-R’s.
1989 - UK companies such as Essential (now known as Easy Karaoke) and Sunfly start to compile Laser Discs for the UK market. Although a little cheaper at £75 to £80, these discs were still way too expensive to be widely used by the public, but were successful commercially due to a new breed of enthusiastic Karaoke Roadshow operators, in turn encouraged by an audience eager to become a star just for one night!
1991 - The first ever CD + G (CD + Graphic) discs start to appear.Pocket Songs was one of the first company's in the field to adopt the new CD+G format, which provides a sub-strata lyric text on each compact disc. This is decoded and comes up on the home stereo system when using a special CD+G machine. Now, home users who could not afford Laser Disc machines could throw away those hand held lyrics cassette systems and replace them with a cheaper method – the CD+G would give lyrics on a screen that could be viewed by all the people in a room. The tavern entertainment had finally entered the home! The new CD+G solution brings the disc prices tumbling down overnight. £100 Laser Discs became £25 or £30 CDG discs at this time. It is the western markets of the United States and the UK who seem to embrace this as the best option. The new format means production times can be speeded up, getting the latest chart sounds into the Karaoke venues much quicker than was ever possible with the Laser Disc. With Karaoke at last evolving into the, now long established, Compact Disc form, track location is now instant, greatly improving the user-friendly nature and the working life of the Karaoke MC (or KJ, for Karaoke Jock, as they were to become known).
Although the CD+G discs mean that Videos are not displayed on screen (as they were with the Video Tape and Laser Disc), this does not seem to affect the popularity of the concept in the pubs and clubs up and down the country. There are some mutterings about losing the video as entertainment, but this grumble is soon disproved as sales of CDG discs naturally start to outgrow the Laser Disc already!
1992 - The CD-I was introduced by Philips and Sony in another collaboration in 1985, but went unreleased to consumers due to production and consumer introduction problems. These problems were finally overcome and the worlds first commercially viable CD-I releases started to appear. There are quite a few CD-I Karaoke Discs that were produced in Asia from this time, but these never gained any popular support, and are now “collectors items” only!
1993 - Back over in Japan, there is a new breakthrough – the Video CD is created, set up by Philips and JVC and intended solely for Karaoke purposes (although Video CD movies soon started to appear shortly after.) The Video CD (or VCD) soon became an enormous success for the Asian markets due to the fact that people could play these discs at home on the cheaper and widely available Video CD players. Mass production always means lower costs and soon the VCD would take over from Laser Disc as the Karaoke format of choice for the Asians. Video-CD became very popular mainly in Asia, as some 40 million Video-CD compatible players were sold by the beginning of 2000. Outside of Asia, Video-CD was mainly used as a prototype tool or as a cheap way to produce DVD-Video compatible discs. Although Video-CD compatibility is not required for DVD-Video players, it is very likely that Video-CD playback functionality is included since every DVD-Video player must be able to decode MPEG-1 as well.
1994 - Sunfly are the only company who get behind the new VCD format, now offering customers a choice of CD + G or VCD Karaoke discs. The general lack of manufacturing support for VCDs in the west, sees CD + G disc sales grow from strength to strength, as they do this very day.
1995 - The newest Compact Disc breakthrough is the Digital Versatile Disc, or the DVD. Data is encoded on DVD using an entirely new system; an MPEG-2 data reduction format, which is the same method used by Digital Satellite Systems (DSS) television transmissions. This method allows for the use of more data, even than DSS, making display quality state of the art. Because DVD can hold so much information, it is not foreseen to replace audio discs in the near future, but will likely replace the VHS video cassette standard once a way for all buyers to record on DVD is developed. The biggest early issue that holds back the mass release of DVD is the inability to record. Analysts predict DVD will be a reality for everyone by the late 1990s.
1996 - DVD players started selling in Japan.
1997 - The first DVD players start to appear both in the United States and the UK. In December of this year, Pioneer lead the Karaoke way again in the West, recompiling all of their Laser Discs, spread across a new range of Karaoke DVDs.
1999 - Everyone seems to agree that DVD is a worthwhile format and slowly but surely many companies both in Asia, the States and Europe all start to tentatively produce Karaoke discs on this format. Although initially more expensive than CD + G, this format offers the best audio and video reproduction and has been gaining in popularity ever since, most especially in Europe.
2002 - Annual world production of DVD-Video discs surpassed VHS cassettes, according to IRMA industry statistics: DVD increased from 1.08 billion in 2001 to 1.74 billion in 2002; VHS declined from 1.533 billion in 2001 to 1.33 billion in 2002. Naturally, this is reflected in the ever increasing popularity of the Karaoke DVD.
2003 to 2005 - The new possibilities with the advances in the world of the internet mean that more and more people are connecting with a new form of song compilation – storing, manipulating and recording files on home PCs. This has led to the creation of many formats, often especially produced by manufacturers specifically for “their models only”, which is, we feel, rather consumer unfriendly. Formats such as Midi Karaoke, MP3G, Super CDG and Neo CDG are examples of the new breed. The new format to come out of this era which looks like it could be universally accepted is the div X format. divX files are created on computers, much alike MP3 files, and then transferred to CDs. Divx is an MPEG4 format. The file size is around 1/4 of DVD MPEG2 files, so it can essentially store more songs or movies than a standard DVD or CDR. Any DVD player capable of playing MPEG4 will play div X discs. Before this transfer process, the audio files are compressed with no perceivable loss in quality. This allows Karaoke discs to be produced which can have 5 to 50 times as many tracks as normal discs. The divX format is capable of reproducing video on screen as well as graphics, so whether there are video scenes or movies in the background completely depends on the compiler and the chosen source. You can read more about this format in the KARAOKE MUSIC section here.
