romikgosai/squad_modified_2 huggingface dataset:
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]

Q1: What does the repair+skip feature on newer DVD players do?
A1: filling in unreadable areas of the picture with blank space or a frozen frame of the last readable image and sound
Q2: Which format, DVD or Laserdisc, can become unreadable with damage?
A2: DVD
Q3: Will the same size scratch cause more problems for a DVD or LaserDisc?
A3: DVD
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.

Q1: Which format is considered to look most realistic, LaserDisc or DVD?
A1: LaserDisc
Q2: Which format, LaserDisc or DVD, is said to appear sharper and clearer to most viewers?
A2: DVDs
Q3: What features do LaserDiscs lack in, causing DVDs to appear sharper and clearer?
A3: video signal-to-noise ratio and bandwidth
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.

Q1: What was the vertical blanking interval used for in LaserDiscs, preventing Macrovision signal to be implemented?
A1: internal timing
Q2: Why wasn't there a need to redesign the LaserDisc format to prevent piracy?
A2: relatively small market share
Q3: What protection could not be applied to LaserDiscs, making them prone to piracy?
A3: Macrovision's Copyguard protection
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.

Q1: LaserDisc was the first format to provide what type of releases to consumers?
A1: "Special Edition"
Q2: What was the first "Special Edition" film to be released to home video?
A2: the 1984 Criterion Collection edition of Citizen Kane
Q3: What bonus features were available on the first home video "Special Edition"?
A3: interviews, commentary tracks, documentaries, still photographs
Q4: What feature, unique to LaserDisc, made bonus content possible?
A4: support for multiple audio tracks
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.

Q1: What was required of a LaserDisc to continue playback after 60 minutes?
A1: a disc has to be flipped over in order to continue watching
Q2: Which LaserDisc player solves the disc switching dilemma?
A2: Pioneer LD-W1
Q3: What must be reduced in order to allow LaserDisc playback time to increase?
A3: line count
Q4: Which format allows for more playback tie per side, CLV or CAV?
A4: CLV
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.

Q1: What video problems on a LaserDisc can be caused by dust or scratches?
A1: glitches, streaks, bursts of static, or momentary picture interruptions
Q2: Which format used in DVDs has built-in error correction?
A2: digital MPEG-2
Q3: What type of encoding, analog or digital, causes LaserDiscs to be succeptable to damages?
A3: analog
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.

Q1: When does "crosstalk" occur?
A1: when the laser optical pickup assembly within the player is out of alignment or because the disc is damaged or excessively warped
Q2: What problem can be caused by a player becoming out of alignment?
A2: "crosstalk"
Q3: How does "crosstalk" appear to the viewer?
A3: swirling "barber poles" or rolling lines of static
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.

Q1: In which format does crosstalk generally not occur?
A1: CAV
Q2: Why does the CAV format prevent crosstalk?
A2: the rotational speed never varies
Q3: What happens during "laser lock"?
A3: the player reads the same two fields for a given frame over and over again, causing the picture to look frozen
Another significant issue unique to LaserDisc is one involving the inconsistency of playback quality between different makers and models of player. On most televisions, a given DVD player will produce a picture that is visually indistinguishable from other units. Differences in image quality between players only becomes easily apparent on large televisions and substantial leaps in image quality are generally only obtained with expensive, high-end players that allow for post-processing of the MPEG-2 stream during playback. In contrast, LaserDisc playback quality is highly dependent on hardware quality. Major variances in picture quality appear between different makers and models of LD players, even when tested on a low to mid-range television. The obvious benefits of using high quality equipment has helped keep demand for some players high, thus also keeping pricing for those units comparably high. In the 1990s, notable players sold for anywhere from US$200 to well over $1,000, while older and less desirable players could be purchased in working condition for as little as $25.

Q1: Is LaserDisc quality consistent or inconsistent between player brands?
A1: inconsistency
Q2: What is LaserDisc playback quality dependent on?
A2: hardware quality
Q3: How cheaply could an older LaserDisc player be purchased in the 1990s?
A3: $25
Q4: What range of prices were high-end LaserDisc players in the 1990s?
A4: US$200 to well over $1,000
Many early LDs were not manufactured properly; sometimes a substandard adhesive was used to sandwich together the two sides of the disc.[citation needed] The adhesive contained impurities that were able to penetrate the lacquer seal layer and chemically attack the metalized reflective aluminium layer, causing it to oxidize and lose its reflective characteristics. This was a problem that was termed "laser rot" among LD enthusiasts, also called "color flash" internally by LaserDisc-pressing plants. Some forms of laser rot could appear as black spots that looked like mold or burned plastic which cause the disc to skip and the movie to exhibit excessive speckling noise. But, for the most part, rotted discs could actually appear perfectly fine to the naked eye.

Q1: What substandard product was used in LD manufacturing that caused "laser rot"?
A1: adhesive
Q2: What was the internal name for "laser rot" within LD processing plants?
A2: "color flash"
Q3: What problems could occur with laser rot?
A3: black spots that looked like mold or burned plastic which cause the disc to skip and the movie to exhibit excessive speckling noise
LaserDisc did not have high market penetration in North America due to the high cost of the players and discs, which were far more expensive than VHS players and tapes, and due to marketplace confusion with the technologically inferior CED, which also went by the name Videodisc. While the format was not widely adopted by North American consumers, it was well received among videophiles due to the superior audio and video quality compared to VHS and Betamax tapes, finding a place in nearly one million American homes by the end of 1990. The format was more popular in Japan than in North America because prices were kept low to ensure adoption, resulting in minimal price differences between VHS tapes and the higher quality LaserDiscs, helping ensure that it quickly became the dominant consumer video format in Japan. Anime collectors in every country the LD format was released, which includes both North America and Japan, also quickly became familiar with this format, and sought the higher video and sound quality of LaserDisc and the availability of numerous titles not available on VHS. LaserDiscs were also popular alternatives to videocassettes among movie enthusiasts in the more affluent regions of South East Asia, such as Singapore, due to their high integration with the Japanese export market and the disc-based media's superior longevity compared to videocassette, especially in the humid conditions endemic to that area of the world.

Q1: Why didn't LaserDiscs become popular in North America?
A1: high cost of the players and discs
Q2: By 1990, how many American homes were estimated to use LD?
A2: nearly one million
Q3: Why were LaserDiscs more popular in Japan?
A3: prices were kept low to ensure adoption
Q4: Which format was more popular in high humidity areas such as Singapore?
A4: LaserDiscs
The format also became quite popular in Hong Kong during the 1990s before the introduction of VCDs and DVD; although people rarely bought the discs (because each LD was priced around USD100), high rental activity helped the video rental business in the city grow larger than it had ever been previously. Due to integration with the Japanese export market, NTSC LaserDiscs were used in the Hong Kong market, in contrast to the PAL standard used for broadcast (This anomaly also exists for DVD). This created a market for multi-system TVs and multi-system VCRs which could display or play both PAL and NTSC materials in addition to SECAM materials (which were never popular in Hong Kong). Some LD players could convert NTSC signals to PAL so that most TVs used in Hong Kong could display the LD materials.

Q1: How much did a LD cost in Hong Kong in the 1990s?
A1: USD100
Q2: Broadcast in Hong Kong used which standard formatting?
A2: PAL standard
Q3: In contrast to broadcast, which format did consumers use in Hong Kong?
A3: NTSC
Although the LaserDisc format was supplanted by DVD by the late 1990s, many LD titles are still highly coveted by movie enthusiasts (for example, Disney's Song of the South which is unavailable in the US in any format, but was issued in Japan on LD). This is largely because there are many films that are still only available on LD and many other LD releases contain supplemental material not available on subsequent DVD versions of those films. Until the end of 2001, many titles were released on VHS, LD, and DVD in Japan.

Q1: By what year had DVD taken over the LaserDisc market?
A1: late 1990s
Q2: Which collector group highly values LaserDisc for their rareness?
A2: movie enthusiasts
Q3: Until the end of what year were movies released in VHS, LD, and DVD in Japan?
A3: 2001
Q4: What country was the only to receive a LD release of Disney's Song of the South?
A4: Japan
In the early 1980s, Philips produced a LaserDisc player model adapted for a computer interface, dubbed "professional". In 1985, Jasmine Multimedia created LaserDisc Juke Boxes featuring music videos from Michael Jackson, Duran Duran, and Cyndi Lauper. When connected to a PC this combination could be used to display images or information for educational or archival purposes, for example thousands of scanned medieval manuscripts. This strange device could be considered a very early equivalent of a CD-ROM.

Q1: In what decade did Philips produce a "professional" LD model for computer?
A1: early 1980s
Q2: In what year were LD jukeboxes created?
A2: 1985
Q3: Who created LD Jukeboxes in 1985?
A3: Jasmine Multimedia
Q4: Which musical artists were featured on LD Jukeboxes in 1985?
A4: Michael Jackson, Duran Duran, and Cyndi Lauper
In the mid-1980s Lucasfilm pioneered the EditDroid non-linear editing system for film and television based on computer-controlled LaserDisc players. Instead of printing dailies out on film, processed negatives from the day's shoot would be sent to a mastering plant to be assembled from their 10-minute camera elements into 20-minute film segments. These were then mastered onto single-sided blank LaserDiscs, just as a DVD would be burnt at home today, allowing for much easier selection and preparation of an Edit Decision List. In the days before video assist was available in cinematography, this was the only other way a film crew could see their work. The EDL went to the negative cutter who then cut the camera negative accordingly and assembled the finished film. Only 24 EditDroid systems were ever built, even though the ideas and technology are still in use today. Later EditDroid experiments borrowed from hard-drive technology of having multiple discs on the same spindle and added numerous playback heads and numerous electronics to the basic jukebox design so that any point on each of the discs would be accessible within seconds. This eliminated the need for racks and racks of industrial LaserDisc players since EditDroid discs were only single-sided.

Q1: How many EditDroid systems were ever built?
A1: 24
Q2: Were EditDroid discs single or multi-sided?
A2: single-sided
Q3: Which production company engineered the EditDroid machines in the 1980s?
A3: Lucasfilm
In 1986, a SCSI-equipped LaserDisc player attached to a BBC Master computer was used for the BBC Domesday Project. The player was referred as an LV-ROM (LaserVision Read Only Memory) as the discs contained the driving software as well as the video frames. The discs used the CAV format, and encoded data as a binary signal represented by the analog audio recording. These discs could contain in each CAV frame video/audio or video/binary data, but not both. "Data" frames would appear blank when played as video. It was typical for each disc to start with the disc catalog (a few blank frames) then the video introduction before the rest of the data. Because the format (based on the ADFS hard disc format) used a starting sector for each file, the data layout effectively skipped over any video frames. If all 54,000 frames are used for data storage an LV-ROM disc can contain 324 MB of data per side. The Domesday Project systems also included a genlock, allowing video frames, clips and audio to be mixed with graphics originated from the BBC Master; this was used to great effect for displaying high resolution photographs and maps, which could then be zoomed into.

Q1: In what year did the Doomsday project occur?
A1: 1986
Q2: Which equipment was used for the Doomsday Project?
A2: a SCSI-equipped LaserDisc player attached to a BBC Master computer
Q3: What does LV-ROM stand for?
A3: LaserVision Read Only Memory
Q4: The Doomsday Project discs used which formatting?
A4: CAV
Apple's HyperCard scripting language provided Macintosh computer users with a means to design databases of slides, animation, video and sounds from LaserDiscs and then to create interfaces for users to play specific content from the disc through software called LaserStacks. User-created "stacks" were shared and were especially popular in education where teacher-generated stacks were used to access discs ranging from art collections to basic biological processes. Commercially available stacks were also popular with the Voyager company being possibly the most successful distributor.

Q1: Which of Apple's programming languages allowed users to ceatively manipulate LaserDiscs?
A1: HyperCard
Q2: What did LaserStacks software enable Mac users to do?
A2: play specific content from the disc
Q3: Where were "stacks" created with the LaserStack software used?
A3: in education
Q4: Which commercial company was LaserStack's most successful distributor?
A4: Voyager
Under contract from the U.S. Military, Matrox produced a combination computer/LaserDisc player for instructional purposes. The computer was a 286, the LaserDisc player only capable of reading the analog audio tracks. Together they weighed 43 lb (20 kg) and sturdy handles were provided in case two people were required to lift the unit. The computer controlled the player via a 25-pin serial port at the back of the player and a ribbon cable connected to a proprietary port on the motherboard. Many of these were sold as surplus by the military during the 1990s, often without the controller software. Nevertheless, it is possible to control the unit by removing the ribbon cable and connecting a serial cable directly from the computer's serial port to the port on the LaserDisc player.

Q1: A combination computer/LD player was comissioned by what government entity?
A1: the U.S. Military
Q2: How much did Matrox's computer/LD combo weigh?
A2: 43 lb (20 kg)
Q3: How could Matrox's computer unconventionally be controlled?
A3: removing the ribbon cable and connecting a serial cable directly from the computer's serial port to the port on the LaserDisc player
The format's instant-access capability made it possible for a new breed of LaserDisc-based video arcade games and several companies saw potential in using LaserDiscs for video games in the 1980s and 1990s, beginning in 1983 with Sega's Astron Belt. American Laser Games and Cinematronics produced elaborate arcade consoles that used the random-access features to create interactive movies such as Dragon's Lair and Space Ace. Similarly, the Pioneer Laseractive and Halcyon were introduced as home video game consoles that used LaserDisc media for their software.

Q1: What quality made LDs a consideration for videogames in the 1980s and 1990s?
A1: instant-access capability
Q2: What was the first game to use LaserDiscs?
A2: Sega's Astron Belt
Q3: In what year was Sega's AStron Belt released?
A3: 1983
In 1991, several manufacturers announced specifications for what would become known as MUSE LaserDisc, representing a span of almost 15 years until the feats of this HD analog optical disc system would finally be duplicated digitally by HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Encoded using NHK's MUSE "Hi-Vision" analogue TV system, MUSE discs would operate like standard LaserDiscs but would contain high-definition 1,125-line (1,035 visible lines) (Sony HDVS) video with a 5:3 aspect ratio. The MUSE players were also capable of playing standard NTSC format discs and are superior in performance to non-MUSE players even with these NTSC discs. The MUSE-capable players had several noteworthy advantages over standard LaserDisc players, including a red laser with a much narrower wavelength than the lasers found in standard players. The red laser was capable of reading through disc defects such as scratches and even mild disc rot that would cause most other players to stop, stutter or drop-out. Crosstalk was not an issue with MUSE discs, and the narrow wavelength of the laser allowed for the virtual elimination of crosstalk with normal discs.

Q1: With what operating ratio would MUSE Discs operate?
A1: 5:3
Q2: What benefits did the MUSE narrow wavelength red laser have?
A2: capable of reading through disc defects such as scratches and even mild disc rot that would cause most other players to stop, stutter or drop-out
Q3: In addition to scratches and rot, what other common LaserDisc issue was to be eliminated by MUSE discs?
A3: Crosstalk
Q4: How many years did it take Blu-ray and HD-DVD players to duplicate MUSE technology?
A4: almost 15 years