LaserDisc player
In the 1990s, Pioneer and others produced a small number of a high-definition video player models, which employed multiple sub-Nyquist sampling encoding (MUSE) technology.
The picture produced by the LD-700's laser could be instantly recognized at the time; it was slightly softer, and large expanses of color in the image, such as a blue sky, would show streaking artifacts.
LaserDisc players used either a simple U-shaped reversing mechanism, known as "Epsilon Turn", or technique known as "Gamma Turn", where the player physically rotated the laser reading head 180° as it moved from one side of the disc to the other, ensuring that the laser retained the same playback orientation on both sides of the disc.
LaserStack held up to 10 discs and could automatically load or remove them from the player or change sides in around 15 seconds.
A version for the Magnavox Magnavision and Pioneer VP-1000 was announced, as was a model for the front-loading players, but the company went out of business before the units were available.
In addition, high-frequency response in the FM video demodulator and A/D-D/A converters was extended and flattened, increasing resolution and reducing visible digital artifacts.
The 7820 was the only player ever sold to either the industrial or consumer market that was entirely designed and engineered by the technicians at MCA Disco-Vision and contained all of their preferred design approaches, such as playing the disc with the laser on top (instead of underneath) and moving the disc radially to provide tracking instead of moving the laser radially.
MCA engineers designed the player at the DiscoVision labs in Torrance, California and Universal-Pioneer mass-produced it in Japan.
Unfortunately, this caused problems because the 7820 could easily play discs that the poorly designed and quite primitive consumer player, the Magnavox VH-8000, simply could not cope with.
It was not until 1985/6 that the tangential mirror began to be replaced by electronic correction, first by Yamaha in their first consumer LD player, and eventually, by Pioneer themselves.
MCA DiscoVision had no suggested retail price for the PR-7820; depending on the number purchased, it varied from $3,500 to $2,200 per unit if more than 1000 were bought at once.
The last model DVD/LD player was the Japanese only DVL-H9, but the older DVL-919 is still sold in the U.S.[needs update] and appears on Pioneer's North American website.
A few Pioneer dealers offered North American specification DVL-919s, and a unit purchased in April 2004 had a manufacture date of December 2003.
The LD-S9 and HLD-X9 share a highly advanced comb filter, allowing them to offer a considerable advantage in picture quality over most other LD players when the S-Video connection is used.
The comb filter present in these players is unique and is purportedly the finest comb filter ever used in consumer A/V gear: it is still in use in Mitsubishi's top-spec CRT rear-projection television sets (the Diamond and now defunct Platinum series sets) and Pioneer's Elite line of rear-projection televisions[needs update].
The HLD-1000 was Pioneer's first high-definition video player; it was one of a small number of models to employ multiple sub-Nyquist sampling encoding (MUSE) technology.
