Found this article in an old issue of Video Magazine of a tour of the Pioneer LDCA Pressing Plant in Carson, California. Scanned it in so you all can read too.





Article confirms what Publius stated in another thread when I asked about what was format was used for the master which they pressed LDs from. At this point it was D-2 Digital Composite tape.

Thanks so much for posting this, really interesting read.

So the elephant condoms were referred to as "onion skin sleeves".

Some of the figures quoted were really interesting - "Total capacity is now 1.5 million discs per month, and the facility typically runs at 50 to 60 percent of capacity." & "pumping out around 1000 different laser titles each month" makes a hell of a lot of discs.

Great read & the pictures were also interesting, the amount of acrylic held in the silos was quite something.

Thanks again

I didn't read above but looked at the pictures
That makes sense the "onion skin" sleeves, there was something else in another collecting realm I was in once and remember thinner stuff being called onion skin.

I love stuff like this. Thanks for posting. I didn't know the discs were inserted into the sleeves by hand!

Thanks for posting this. I went to college in Carson, CA so this is pretty cool to me!

Oh, that's really cool !

Yeah, I remember someone told me when I bought the Galaxy Express movie box that the US had stacks of LDs and would get scratched when put into sleeves and Japanese LDs were superior since they didn't get scratches by the workers.

Don't know how true this is but that's what I was told.

Well considering %60 of all US EC’s come pre-crumpled in the sleeve I sort of always assumed they were hand done.

Pretty much correct.

There is a video (pretty easy to find if memory serves me) showing how PIONEER produced their discs with the final bit showing the machine packing process - again if memory serves me the title shown being packed is Top Gun but not to sure on that.

Most (but not all) Japanese pressed LDs commissioned for the US market were sent from Japan packed in boxes (apparently in the "onion skin" sleeves) which were then opened at wherever the packing was done in the US & popped by hand into the outer cover which would have been printed & made in the US then shrink-wrapped.

It was a tax cost thing apparently as if the cover was "Made in the USA" & "Packed in the USA" it was then classed as part of the manufacturing process so incurred a lesser tax rate compared to bringing them in fully finished - ie: the disc & cover made in Japan, packed & ready for sale would incur a much higher tax cost.

On the cover of many LD US titles you will find "Disc made in Japan. Cover printed (or Cover made) in USA."

Would perhaps explain the previously mentioned chewed inner sleeves on many "new/sealed" US LD titles.



Hi rein-o, the feature is worth a read - some interesting information within it.

Cheers

So very cool to see this. Thanks for posting. I am sure DVD and BD are made in a similar manner today - but it's pretty incredible to see what went into mass producing LDs back in the day and how much of an investment Pioneer really had in it. Amazing stuff.

Randy

Now I'm picturing a tour of the Sony plant in Illinois looking like Beavis & Butt-head working at Burgerworld.

This made me burst out laughing