Thirty years ago a battle was under way between video playing/recording formats.

Who can remember Philips’ LaserDiscs, Sony’s Betamax, and VHS?

There was even another format by Sanyo named Betacord.

From the mid to late 1970s and early 1980s these revolutionary formats allowed the floodgates to be opened as viewers had the freedom to choose which TV programmes they wished to record and when – as long as they had mastered the timer self-record programme, of course.

An example of this was the Open University – it broadcast its lecture programmes from 6am, during the day and also at night long after other channels closed down.

As strange as it may now seem, there was no breakfast TV or anything else broadcast for most of the day except for the “Testcard” broadcast with soothing music during the day.

The testcard was used to show that the signal was being transmitted and when colour TVs became available carried the photo of a young girl writing on a board.

Laser discs – known as DiscoVision when launched in 1978 – was similar to a CD or DVD but much larger.

The playback quality of the discs – the LaserDisc brand itself was launched in 1983 – was far superior to the Beta and VHS tape recordings.

The problem was the machines could not record, unlike the tapes. They were mainly used in the video rental business, but soon fell into obscurity.

However, the technology transferred to DVDs. It is claimed that video discs were the mainstay of the video rental business in Japan and Asia into the 1990s. The laser disc – and recording on to disc by laser – was invented by Dr David Paul Gregg in 1958 and is still in use today.

It is claimed that the first film marketed and sold on a laser disc was Jaws in 1978.

In the 1980s the BBC used the format to record the BBC Doomsday Project, to celebrate the 900th anniversary of the Doomsday Book census carried out in the 11th century. The project was recorded by schoolchildren who wrote about what was happening in their area and lives.

One million people contributed to this project, which contained virtual walks, video diaries and maps along with other statistical information and tables.

The period covered by the project was 1984-85 and it was published in 1986. Almost immediately it entered technological obsolescence due to the format used.

Video tapes went on from strength to strength. However, the disc format has succeeded in the end, though not in the larger laser disc format.

Today there are few people who have VHS video recorders and, like its Betamax competitor, it is now part of our technological history.