For those unfamiliar with LASERFiLm, go ahead and read up on all the information available about it on the Internet. It should take all of about 5 minutes.
This video shows the unit a bit but not much else. There is some information from a previous employee of McDonnell Douglas in the comments of the video.


There is a little blurb about it here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laserfilm

And here:

http://www.deadmedia.org/notes/15/155.html

If you are wondering why I type it "LASERFiLm" please look at this logo and tell me I'm wrong.


Since the chances of finding a disc to play on this are slim, I have taken it apart for never before seen pictures and trying to trick it to play.
You are going to have to excuse the poor quality of the pictures as I invest my money in useless A/V equipment and not in fancy cameras.

Here is the front panel:


The back:



If the transport screw is set then this message is displayed on the screen:

Silly LASERFiLm, I already have screws loose.

Inside:
Video Processing:

Laser sleigh, Spindle Motor, and motor driver boards:

Power supply:

Audio processing:

Behind that little metal plate is a 15v battery and fuses for the computer processing board:

Computer Processing Board:

Intel Inside:


Laser Assembly:
The White plastic hook on the left tells the unit a disc is inserted. The black plastic in the middle rides under the disc and has an optical reader which picks up the laser through the disc. I think anyways.

The sleigh unit straddles the disc. The big circle is the laser:


The component to the left of the screw is what I mentioned earlier as the optical reader. The best way to get replies on this thread is by saying something wrong so I'll just stick with it being an optical reader regardless of if it is or not.


The spindle hub is about the size of a cd. I tried to play several things in this player to trick it including: CD, VHD, CED, piece of cardboard, and a piece of film negative. The CD was too small as you can see in this video and the VHD/CED center hole was too large for the spindle hub to grip.


Here is a top view of the system seeing if there is a disc:


Here is what is showed on the TV screen during the process above:


And finally this is what the laser does during the process above:


In case you were wondering about the model number (LFS-4400)and power specifications:


So there is the write-up on LASERFiLm you never wanted.

There was one of these a few years ago at a thrift shop in Ventura, but I didn't bite because I knew I'd probably never find a disk for it

Made in Japan is surprising. You'd think McDD would be all American.

Really interesting, thanks for posting makmak16 .

.

Should we add it to the Hardware Database or, given there are no contents to play outside of internal flight simulation videos, it's kind of pointless?

All 700 units were sold as surplus for $39, but there is no known steadily available disc able to play.

http://web.archive.org/web/19970428210714/http://www.i1.net/~mega/viddsk.html

Julien

It’s possible that all the discs were destroyed for reasons, ITAR restrictions, whatever. If this was military and not civilian you can pretty much count on it. If this is a flight sim that showed footage of a carrier or a base during takeoff or landing…for sure they’d scrap it. If it described anything remotely even kinda classified they’d junk it.

I once ran a test for a military contractor that was only very slightly ITAR restricted. It was an engine and transmission running on a dynamometer. Nothing being tested was classified in the slightest. What was? The virtual route a vehicle would take around a specific base. Not the visuals, not even steering directions, just the speed and load settings for the engine to run. That test was ITAR restricted still though. We had to build office partitioning around the hole thing and only let US citizens and ITAR exempt engineers see it.

Thank you for sharing and taking it apart. I love learning about new formats. 18 minutes per disk? I suppose music video distribution would’ve been a consumer use for this?

There is was no consumer use for this. It was for flight simulators.

I'm looking for an empty disc caddy for this unit.
If you have one (and/or a whole machine) that you're willing to sell, please PM me...

With it, I'll be able to recover the first pictures from this format for all to see on YouTube (and show how it really works).

Thanks!

I shouldn’t be surprised that you’re the one doing this. Your YT uploads are truly unique and of the highest quality. Of course we want to know what disc you managed to find but I suppose we can wait until you’ve recorded it.

Thanks for the kind words!

Finding a disc was definitely a bucket list item for me.

I'm going to keep the disc identity a secret for now (appears a bit more interesting than flight sim footage), but in case you ever wanted to see what the discs look like, here you go!



Floppy & has similar strength to a transparency from an overhead projector!