MCA DiscoVision

MCA DiscoVision was the original distributor of home video using an optical media format. Primarily active through the late 1970s, DiscoVision was able to realize the establishment of the Laser videodisc as a viable medium for the fledgling home video market. However, a vast series of manufacturing failures combined with the rise of the VCR meant that the company was ultimately short-lived. The DiscoVision format was ultimately sold off to Pioneer Electric Corporation with the DiscoVision label being used for a holding company for various optical formats.

Pre-History
In the 1950s, David Paul Gregg made some early stabs at video playback using an optical disc. Alongside Keith Johnson, he would continue refining his "optical video disc" concept across the 50s and 60s. During this time, the duo established Gauss Electrophysics, a low-level manufacturer of high-end audio tape duplication equipment.

Sometime in 1967, Gregg's work caught the attention of Lewis Wasserman, president of Music Corporation of America (MCA). Having acquired Universal Pictures 5 years earlier, MCA found itself with over 11,000 films slowly deteriorating in a warehouse. Releasing that consumer video would become a viable market in the future, Wasserman and the MCA brass sought to get in early in the impending format wars and saw their opportunity in Gregg's videodisc prototype. In February 1968, MCA purchased a controlling interest in Gauss Electrophysics as well as the videodisc patents Gauss previously filed.

After a year of development under MCA Laboratories, Wasserman was able to convince the management to spin off the videodisc project into a separate entity under the banner of MCA Disco-Vision based out of the LA suburb of Torrance, CA. 1971 saw the newly minted entity establishing the baseline for the format with a test demo of the format ready to go on December 12, 1972.

Attending the demo were representatives from the Dutch Philips Group, who were developing a similar videodisc format in the Netherlands. As it happens, Philips had originally rejected an offer from Gauss Electrophysics to continue funding their project back in 1967. Realizing the two formats were virtually identical to one another, the Philips representatives contacted Disco-Vision immediately after the demo with the proposition of a deal. Realizing that putting two incompatible optical video formats to market would cannibalize each other and with RCA continuing to work on their SelectaVision standard, the two parties agreed to enter a "period of cooperation" in September 1974. After some brief infighting on how to delegate resources, it was decided that Disco-Vision would focus on master stamps and disc duplication while Philips would manufacture the playback consoles through their newly purchased Magnavox division.