It's basically the very first test/alignment disk. The "Philips Code" bit means that it has the VBI data used with all LD players other than the PR-7820 (which used MCA Code) - most disks through the 80's had both codes, and only early industrial titles (like 79/80 model year GM disks) had just the MCA code.
Also, any other interesting finds?
(Snide note: GM apparently was so used to poorly made disks that they switched to Technidisc soon after Pioneer US got it's act together.)
IIRC the GGV's have some subtle differences, but I don't know what they are - the best way to spot the ones that count are comparing service manuals for players from appropriate eras.
The later batches of GM disks (and therefore dead sides) have Philips codes and can play on regular players. Amusingly model-year 1984 GM disks still had Discovision labels, quite a while after the plant was taken over by Pioneer and remodeled.
With the later players, there are ones with digital TBC and pure composite: the S104, D406, and V860+ Karaoke players at least. Note that for best performance you'll probably want to clip out the low pass filter LPF after the TBC, it causes ringing you can even notice in the OSD.
Maybe LD's are really going into the 'vintage' part of the cycle of life of old tat. In a couple of decades good condition jackets with nice art will probably be expensive antiques - but hardly anything will be left to play or capture the disks.
My initial opinion is that the recent increase in prices and decreases in availability (at least in HD-DVD prices) had something to do with the April Fool's joke of releasing Zack Snyder's Justice League on HD-DVD.
At least it'll be easy to mock up a WB release in a few years, for a real one would've rotted by then anyway.
I can't find it so the account's probably long gone, but someone did post TED captures onto Youtube, and some of the disks were in half-decent shape. (I think that was the original source for the second video)
It would make sense that these would play directly on later players, eventually the LD spec supported polycarbonate (CD-like) disks which were usually 8" (LD Singles), but a few 12"s were made by one of the European factories.
The quality of everything before the RF tap matters. So pickup wear/lens damage and player calibration is very important, but if you don't already have a calibration disk they've gotten a lot more expensive lately (Donberg still has a few, for $1xx.) since Pioneer Japan (which is where PacParts' were coming from) no longer has any.
The stuff that makes PAL/NTSC combo players bad isn't an issue, but the availbilty definitely is. If you need a PAL-capable player you'll know it.
Given the late 1978 release date of Discovision and the atrocious yields, they probably made some in 1978 but it's most likely 1979 if it's a boxed copy.
The V2200 is mechanically based on the CLD-3030... it is a very sturdy-feeling design though. The only truly unique Pioneer industrial players are the V8000 and V4400.
I find the late CLD's to be pretty good at tracking Discovision, but I don't have a second gen Pioneer gas tube player to compare it to (let alone a calibrated one!)
I still don't get why they switched from Pioneer to Technidisc in the mid-80's. Were they getting complaints from dealers that the disks started to actually play well?
The PR7820's always been a bear to fix I hear - I think there are some (awesomely) crazy people in Europe who have gotten something out of the Philips VLP600/700's (a very differently all-but-unfixable player), so it's not unthinkable that there's someone in the US who can still fix a 7820, but I have no idea who these days.
As for forum regulars, krbahr and grasshopper never worked on them, Duncan did but his brain flaked on him a decade+ ago, sadly.
I think I've got a potential NTSC/CLV winner... 62:54!
edit: Now up at https://archive.org/details/TopHitsEnglishSongs24LD
I searched on this to see if it was covered in Oddity Archive yet (the B side has Never Gonna Give You Up) and I found this Top Hits English Songs 24 (1991) [JLD-126] from laserking:
Upon acquiring this disc, I was certain that the jacket wrongly listed the running time as 123 minutes. I thought this length would be impossible on a single CLV disc. However, when I checked the running time, I found it to be correct. Side one pushes the limit, clocking in at nearly 63 minutes! This is the longest running time I have ever seen on a single side.
I've confirmed this with an ld-decode capture - there are 133112 frames, and here's the last one in ld-analyse. It's pressed by mitsubishi and from the SNR is likely true-CLV.
Thanks list
Of course basically *nobody* intended these players to last this long.