praj-17/QA-MCQ-Open-ended huggingface dataset:
Title: LaserDisc
Context: In March 1984, Pioneer introduced the first consumer player with a solid-state laser, the LD-700. It was also the first LD player to load from the front and not the top. One year earlier Hitachi introduced an expensive industrial player with a laser diode, but the player, which had poor picture quality due to an inadequate dropout compensator, was made only in limited quantities. After Pioneer released the LD-700, gas lasers were no longer used in consumer players, despite their advantages, although Philips continued to use gas lasers in their industrial units until 1985.

question: What was the name of the first solid-state laser consumer LaserDisc player? 

answer: LD-700

question: Besides a solid-state laser, what else was unique about the LD-700? 

answer: first LD player to load from the front and not the top

question: When did Pioneer release the LD-700? 

answer: March 1984

question: Which company continued to use gas-lasers in industrial models of LD players although they were no longer used in consumer models? 

answer: Philips
Title: LaserDisc
Context: During its development, MCA, which co-owned the technology, referred to it as the Optical Videodisc System, "Reflective Optical Videodisc" or "Laser Optical Videodisc", depending on the document; changing the name once in 1969 to Disco-Vision and then again in 1978 to DiscoVision (without the hyphen), which became the official spelling. Technical documents and brochures produced by MCA Disco-Vision during the early and mid-'70s also used the term "Disco-Vision Records" to refer to the pressed discs. MCA owned the rights to the largest catalog of films in the world during this time, and they manufactured and distributed the DiscoVision releases of those films under the "MCA DiscoVision" software and manufacturing label; consumer sale of those titles began on December 15, 1978, with the aforementioned Jaws.

question: Which three names did MCA use for LaserDisc technology during its development? 

answer: Optical Videodisc System, "Reflective Optical Videodisc" or "Laser Optical Videodisc"

question: To what did MCA change the name to in 1969? 

answer: Disco-Vision

question: When did MCA remove the hyphen from the name Disco-Vision? 

answer: 1978

question: Which company owned the rights to the world's largest collection of films during the 1970s? 

answer: MCA

question: Consumer sales of MCA films began in 1978 with what movie? 

answer: Jaws
Title: LaserDisc
Context: Philips' preferred name for the format was "VLP", after the Dutch words Video Langspeel-Plaat ("Video long-play disc"), which in English-speaking countries stood for Video Long-Play. The first consumer player, the Magnavox VH-8000 even had the VLP logo on the player. For a while in the early and mid-1970s, Philips also discussed a compatible audio-only format they called "ALP", but that was soon dropped as the Compact Disc system became a non-compatible project in the Philips corporation. Until early 1980, the format had no "official" name. The LaserVision Association, made up of MCA, Universal-Pioneer, IBM, and Philips/Magnavox, was formed to standardize the technical specifications of the format (which had been causing problems for the consumer market) and finally named the system officially as "LaserVision".

question: What did VLP stand for in English-speaking countries? 

answer: Video Long-Play

question: What was the first consumer VLP player? 

answer: Magnavox VH-8000

question: Which group officially chose the name "Laservision"? 

answer: The LaserVision Association

question: The Laservision Association was comprised of which companies? 

answer: MCA, Universal-Pioneer, IBM, and Philips/Magnavox
Title: LaserDisc
Context: Pioneer Electronics also entered the optical disc market in 1977 as a 50/50 joint-venture with MCA called Universal-Pioneer and manufacturing MCA designed industrial players under the MCA DiscoVision name (the PR-7800 and PR-7820). For the 1980 launch of the first Universal-Pioneer player, the VP-1000 was noted as a "laser disc player", although the "LaserDisc" logo displayed clearly on the device. In 1981, "LaserDisc" was used exclusively for the medium itself, although the official name was "LaserVision" (as seen at the beginning of many LaserDisc releases just before the start of the film). However, as Pioneer reminded numerous video magazines and stores in 1984, LaserDisc was a trademarked word, standing only for LaserVision products manufactured for sale by Pioneer Video or Pioneer Electronics. A 1984 Ray Charles ad for the LD-700 player bore the term "Pioneer LaserDisc brand videodisc player". From 1981 until the early 1990s, all properly licensed discs carried the LaserVision name and logo, even Pioneer Artists titles.

question: Which company joined a 50/50 partnership with MCA in 1977? 

answer: Pioneer Electronics

question: In what year was the first Universal-Pioneer player released? 

answer: 1980

question: What was the name of the first Universal-Pioneer player? 

answer: the VP-1000

question: Which singer did an ad for the LD-700 player in 1984? 

answer: Ray Charles
Title: LaserDisc
Context: During the early years, MCA also manufactured discs for other companies including Paramount, Disney and Warner Bros. Some of them added their own names to the disc jacket to signify that the movie was not owned by MCA. After Discovision Associates shut down in early 1982, Universal Studio's videodisc software label, called MCA Videodisc until 1984, began reissuing many DiscoVision titles. Unfortunately, quite a few, such as Battlestar Galactica and Jaws, were time-compressed versions of their CAV or CLV Disco Vision originals. The time-compressed CLV re-issue of Jaws no longer had the original soundtrack, having had incidental background music replaced for the video disc version due to licensing cost (the music would not be available until the THX LaserDisc box set was released in 1995). One Universal/Columbia co-production issued by MCA Disco Vision in both CAV and CLV versions, The Electric Horseman, is still not available in any other home video format with its original score intact; even the most recent DVD release has had substantial music replacements of both instrumental score and Willie Nelson's songs. An MCA release of Universal's Howard the Duck, sees only the start credits shown in widescreen before changing to 4:3 for the rest of the film. For many years this was the only disc-based release of the film, until widescreen DVD formats were released with extras. Also, the LaserDisc release of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is the only format to include the cut scene of Harrison Ford playing the part of the school headmaster telling off Elliott for letting the frogs free in the biology class.

question: What other companies did MCA manufacture discs for? 

answer: Paramount, Disney and Warner Bros

question: What quirk is present in MCA's release of Howard the Duck? 

answer: only the start credits shown in widescreen before changing to 4:3 for the rest of the film

question: What is unique about the LaserDisc release of E.T.? 

answer: only format to include the cut scene of Harrison Ford playing the part of the school headmaster

question: Which film is only available with its original score in LD format , even today? 

answer: The Electric Horseman
Title: LaserDisc
Context: LaserDisc had a number of advantages over VHS. It featured a far sharper picture with a horizontal resolution of 425 TVL lines for NTSC and 440 TVL lines for PAL discs, while VHS featured only 240 TVL lines with NTSC. It could handle analog and digital audio where VHS was mostly analog only (VHS can have PCM audio in professional applications but is uncommon), and the NTSC discs could store multiple audio tracks. This allowed for extras like director's commentary tracks and other features to be added onto a film, creating "Special Edition" releases that would not have been possible with VHS. Disc access was random and chapter based, like the DVD format, meaning that one could jump to any point on a given disc very quickly. By comparison, VHS would require tedious rewinding and fast-forwarding to get to specific points.

question: How many horizontal TVL lines did LaserDisc have in comparison to VHS's 240? 

answer: 425

question: Which medium was chapter based like DVD format, Laserdisc or VHS? 

answer: LaserDisc

question: Which medium allowed for multiple audio tracks, Laserdisc or VHS? 

answer: LaserDisc
Title: LaserDisc
Context: LaserDiscs were initially cheaper than videocassettes to manufacture, because they lacked the moving parts and plastic outer shell that are necessary for VHS tapes to work, and the duplication process was much simpler. A VHS cassette has at least 14 parts including the actual tape while LaserDisc has one part with five or six layers. A disc can be stamped out in a matter of seconds whereas duplicating videotape required a complex bulk tape duplication mechanism and was a time-consuming process. However, by the end of the 1980s, average disc-pressing prices were over $5.00 per two-sided disc, due to the large amount of plastic material and the costly glass-mastering process needed to make the metal stamper mechanisms. Due to the larger volume of demand, videocassettes quickly became much cheaper to duplicate, costing as little as $1.00 by the beginning of the 1990s.

question: Were Laserdiscs initially cheaper or more costly to produce than their VHS counterparts? 

answer: cheaper

question: How many parts does a VHS tape have that must be manufactured? 

answer: at least 14

question: How much did LaserDiscs cost to produce by the end of the 1980s? 

answer: $5.00 per two-sided disc

question: How much did VHS cost to produce by the 1990s? 

answer: as little as $1.00
Title: LaserDisc
Context: LaserDiscs potentially had a much longer lifespan than videocassettes. Because the discs were read optically instead of magnetically, no physical contact needs to be made between the player and the disc, except for the player's clamp that holds the disc at its center as it is spun and read. As a result, playback would not wear the information-bearing part of the discs, and properly manufactured LDs would theoretically last beyond one's lifetime. By contrast, a VHS tape held all of its picture and sound information on the tape in a magnetic coating which is in contact with the spinning heads on the head drum, causing progressive wear with each use (though later in VHS's lifespan, engineering improvements allowed tapes to be made and played back without contact). Also, the tape was thin and delicate, and it was easy for a player mechanism, especially on a low quality or malfunctioning model, to mishandle the tape and damage it by creasing it, frilling (stretching) its edges, or even breaking it.

question: Were Laserdiscs or VHS more durable in the long run? 

answer: LaserDiscs

question: Why is physical contact with a VHS tape less desirable than an optical reading? 

answer: progressive wear with each use

question: Where do VHS tapes store their information? 

answer: magnetic coating
Title: LaserDisc
Context: LaserDisc was a composite video format: the luminance (black and white) and chrominance (color) information were transmitted in one signal, separated by the receiver. While good comb filters can do so adequately, these two signals cannot be completely separated. On DVDs, data is stored in the form of digital blocks which make up each independent frame. The signal produced is dependent on the equipment used to master the disc. Signals range from composite and split, to YUV and RGB. Depending upon which format is used, this can result in far higher fidelity, particularly at strong color borders or regions of high detail (especially if there is moderate movement in the picture) and low-contrast details like skin tones, where comb filters almost inevitably smudge some detail.

question: How is data stored on DVDs? 

answer: digital blocks which make up each independent frame

question: What device seperated the black and white and color signals in LaserDiscs? 

answer: the receiver

question: In what areas are comb filters most likely to lose detail? 

answer: low-contrast details like skin tones

question: Are comb filters exact, or is some data smudged? 

answer: comb filters almost inevitably smudge some detail
Title: LaserDisc
Context: In contrast to the entirely digital DVD, LaserDiscs use only analog video. As the LaserDisc format is not digitally encoded and does not make use of compression techniques, it is immune to video macroblocking (most visible as blockiness during high motion sequences) or contrast banding (subtle visible lines in gradient areas, such as out-of-focus backgrounds, skies, or light casts from spotlights) that can be caused by the MPEG-2 encoding process as video is prepared for DVD. Early DVD releases held the potential to surpass their LaserDisc counterparts, but often managed only to match them for image quality, and in some cases, the LaserDisc version was preferred. However, proprietary human-assisted encoders manually operated by specialists can vastly reduce the incidence of artifacts, depending on playing time and image complexity. By the end of LaserDisc's run, DVDs were living up to their potential as a superior format.

question: Do LaserDiscs or DVD use analog video? 

answer: LaserDiscs

question: Are DVDs partially or entirely digital? 

answer: entirely

question: What is contrast banding? 

answer: subtle visible lines in gradient areas

question: What step of the DVD production process causes contrast banding? 

answer: MPEG-2 encoding process
Title: LaserDisc
Context: LaserDisc players can provide a great degree of control over the playback process. Unlike many DVD players, the transport mechanism always obeys commands from the user: pause, fast-forward, and fast-reverse commands are always accepted (barring, of course, malfunctions). There were no "User Prohibited Options" where content protection code instructs the player to refuse commands to skip a specific part (such as fast forwarding through copyright warnings). (Some DVD players, particularly higher-end units, do have the ability to ignore the blocking code and play the video without restrictions, but this feature is not common in the usual consumer market.)

question: How does LaserDisc operation vary from DVD? 

answer: the transport mechanism always obeys commands from the user

question: What are "User Protected Options" on DVDs? 

answer: where content protection code instructs the player to refuse commands to skip a specific part

question: Where are User Protected Options commonly found on DVDs? 

answer: copyright warnings

question: Which format, LaserDisc or DVD, gives the user the most control over playback? 

answer: LaserDisc
Title: LaserDisc
Context: Damaged spots on a LaserDisc can be played through or skipped over, while a DVD will often become unplayable past the damage. Some newer DVD players feature a repair+skip algorithm, which alleviates this problem by continuing to play the disc, filling in unreadable areas of the picture with blank space or a frozen frame of the last readable image and sound. The success of this feature depends upon the amount of damage. LaserDisc players, when working in full analog, recover from such errors faster than DVD players. Direct comparison here is almost impossible due to the sheer size differences between the two media. A 1 in (3 cm) scratch on a DVD will probably cause more problems than a 1 in (3 cm) scratch on a LaserDisc, but a fingerprint taking up 1% of the area of a DVD would almost certainly cause fewer problems than a similar mark covering 1% of the surface of a LaserDisc.[citation needed]

question: What does the repair+skip feature on newer DVD players do? 

answer: filling in unreadable areas of the picture with blank space or a frozen frame of the last readable image and sound

question: Which format, DVD or Laserdisc, can become unreadable with damage? 

answer: DVD

question: Will the same size scratch cause more problems for a DVD or LaserDisc? 

answer: DVD
Title: LaserDisc
Context: Similar to the CD versus LP sound quality debates common in the audiophile community, some videophiles argue that LaserDisc maintains a "smoother", more "film-like", natural image while DVD still looks slightly more artificial. Early DVD demo discs often had compression or encoding problems, lending additional support to such claims at the time. However, the video signal-to-noise ratio and bandwidth of LaserDisc are substantially less than that of DVDs, making DVDs appear sharper and clearer to most viewers.

question: Which format is considered to look most realistic, LaserDisc or DVD? 

answer: LaserDisc

question: Which format, LaserDisc or DVD, is said to appear sharper and clearer to most viewers? 

answer: DVDs

question: What features do LaserDiscs lack in, causing DVDs to appear sharper and clearer? 

answer: video signal-to-noise ratio and bandwidth
Title: LaserDisc
Context: Another advantage, at least to some consumers, was the lack of any sort of anti-piracy technology. It was claimed that Macrovision's Copyguard protection could not be applied to LaserDisc, due to the format's design. The vertical blanking interval, where the Macrovision signal would be implemented, was also used for the internal timing on LaserDisc players, so test discs with Macrovision would not play at all. There was never a push to redesign the format despite the obvious potential for piracy due to its relatively small market share. The industry simply decided to engineer it into the DVD specification.

question: What was the vertical blanking interval used for in LaserDiscs, preventing Macrovision signal to be implemented? 

answer: internal timing

question: Why wasn't there a need to redesign the LaserDisc format to prevent piracy? 

answer: relatively small market share

question: What protection could not be applied to LaserDiscs, making them prone to piracy? 

answer: Macrovision's Copyguard protection
Title: LaserDisc
Context: LaserDisc's support for multiple audio tracks allowed for vast supplemental materials to be included on-disc and made it the first available format for "Special Edition" releases; the 1984 Criterion Collection edition of Citizen Kane is generally credited as being the first "Special Edition" release to home video,[citation needed] and for setting the standard by which future SE discs were measured. The disc provided interviews, commentary tracks, documentaries, still photographs, and other features for historians and collectors.

question: LaserDisc was the first format to provide what type of releases to consumers? 

answer: "Special Edition"

question: What was the first "Special Edition" film to be released to home video? 

answer: the 1984 Criterion Collection edition of Citizen Kane

question: What bonus features were available on the first home video "Special Edition"? 

answer: interviews, commentary tracks, documentaries, still photographs

question: What feature, unique to LaserDisc, made bonus content possible? 

answer: support for multiple audio tracks
Title: LaserDisc
Context: The space-consuming analog video signal of a LaserDisc limited playback duration to 30 minutes (CAV) or 60 minutes (CLV) per side because of the hardware manufacturer's refusal to reduce line count for increased playtime. After one side was finished playing, a disc has to be flipped over in order to continue watching a movie, and some titles fill two or more discs. Many players, especially units built after the mid-1980s, can "flip" discs automatically by rotating the optical pickup to the other side of the disc, but this is accompanied by a pause in the movie during the side change. If the movie is longer than what could be stored on two sides of a single disc, manually swapping to a second disc is necessary at some point during the film. One exception to this rule is the Pioneer LD-W1, which features two disc platters. In addition, perfect still frames and random access to individual still frames is limited only to the more expensive CAV discs, which only had a playing time of approximately 30 minutes per side. In later years, Pioneer and other manufacturers overcame this limitation by incorporating a digital memory buffer, which "grabbed" a single frame from a CLV disc.

question: What was required of a LaserDisc to continue playback after 60 minutes? 

answer: a disc has to be flipped over in order to continue watching

question: Which LaserDisc player solves the disc switching dilemma? 

answer: Pioneer LD-W1

question: What must be reduced in order to allow LaserDisc playback time to increase? 

answer: line count

question: Which format allows for more playback tie per side, CLV or CAV? 

answer: CLV
Title: LaserDisc
Context: The analog information encoded on LaserDiscs does not include any form of built-in checksum or error correction. Because of this, slight dust and scratches on the disc surface can result in read-errors which cause various video quality problems: glitches, streaks, bursts of static, or momentary picture interruptions. In contrast, the digital MPEG-2 format information used on DVDs has built-in error correction which ensures that the signal from a damaged disc will remain identical to that from a perfect disc right up until the point at which damage to the disc surface is so substantial that it prevents the laser from being able to identify usable data.

question: What video problems on a LaserDisc can be caused by dust or scratches? 

answer: glitches, streaks, bursts of static, or momentary picture interruptions

question: Which format used in DVDs has built-in error correction? 

answer: digital MPEG-2

question: What type of encoding, analog or digital, causes LaserDiscs to be succeptable to damages? 

answer: analog
Title: LaserDisc
Context: In addition, LaserDisc videos sometimes exhibit a problem known as "crosstalk". The issue can arise when the laser optical pickup assembly within the player is out of alignment or because the disc is damaged or excessively warped, but it could also occur even with a properly functioning player and a factory-new disc, depending on electrical and mechanical alignment problems. In these instances, the issue arose due to the fact that CLV discs require subtle changes in rotating speed at various points during playback. During a change in speed, the optical pickup inside the player might read video information from a track adjacent to the intended one, causing data from the two tracks to "cross"; the extra video information picked up from that second track shows up as distortion in the picture which looks reminiscent of swirling "barber poles" or rolling lines of static.

question: When does "crosstalk" occur? 

answer: when the laser optical pickup assembly within the player is out of alignment or because the disc is damaged or excessively warped

question: What problem can be caused by a player becoming out of alignment? 

answer: "crosstalk"

question: How does "crosstalk" appear to the viewer? 

answer: swirling "barber poles" or rolling lines of static
Title: LaserDisc
Context: Assuming the player's optical pickup is in proper working order, crosstalk distortion normally does not occur during playback of CAV format LaserDiscs, as the rotational speed never varies. However, if the player calibration is out of order or if the CAV disc is faulty or damaged, other problems affecting tracking accuracy can occur. One such problem is "laser lock", where the player reads the same two fields for a given frame over and over again, causing the picture to look frozen as if the movie were paused.

question: In which format does crosstalk generally not occur? 

answer: CAV

question: Why does the CAV format prevent crosstalk? 

answer: the rotational speed never varies

question: What happens during "laser lock"? 

answer: the player reads the same two fields for a given frame over and over again, causing the picture to look frozen