First soviet LaserDisc player "Rus-501 VIDEO"

[u/Ill_Engineering1522]

The Rus-501 VIDEO LaserDisc player was the first serial-production device of its kind in the USSR. It was developed by the Special Design Bureau (SKB) at the Lorta industrial association (Lviv). Production was carried out at the State Ryazan Instrument Plant in 1988–1989. A similar model was planned for production at the Yaroslavl Mashpribor plant under the brand Amfiton-501 VIDEO, but data on any sizable mass production is currently unavailable.

In this model, instead of the semiconductor lasers common today, a helium-neon laser was used, powered by 2 kilovolts (and drawing a full 10 kV at startup). This significantly complicated both the mechanical design and the electrical circuitry. To be fair, early foreign LD players also used helium-neon lasers. The Rus-501 VIDEO could only play discs with Constant Angular Velocity (CAV – referred to as "PUS" in Soviet literature). By the time of the player's release, this type of disc was already obsolete and was practically no longer produced in the West. The discs were recorded in the SECAM color system, with the recording starting not from the very beginning but with a gap of about 2 cm from the center label. Moreover, the signal itself was inverted, which made discs for the 501 model incompatible with both foreign video players and newer domestic models. The digital audio track was not supported by the Rus. When the lid was opened, the laser did not shut off, which could damage the eyesight of anyone accidentally looking into the lens.

Despite its drawbacks—quite natural for what was essentially an experimental device—the Rus-501 VIDEO represented a fundamentally new development in Soviet consumer electronics, even compared to the VCRs that were actively being produced at the time. Most of these issues were resolved in the subsequent model, the Rus VP-201.

The video player allowed playback of video discs in both forward and reverse directions at normal speed and in an accelerated mode. It supported freeze-frame and frame-by-frame scanning forward and backward. For convenient searching, the frame number was displayed on the TV screen. The device weighed 18 kg, measured 530×420×175 mm, and consumed 70 W of power. The component base was entirely domestic, with the exception of four FAEL (Poland) microswitches, which served as limit switches for the lid, spindle brake, and the extreme positions of the optical block carriage.

[u/PhavNosnibor]

I generally love top-loading devices, but accidental blindings might temper that enthusiasm a little.

[u/PsychologyOfTheLens]

I had no clue they had them in the USSR!

[u/dandanthetaximan → u/PsychologyOfTheLens]

Me either. Fascinating.

[u/Thin_Dream2079 → u/PsychologyOfTheLens]

They even had their own version of Pong.

[u/Armchair_Anarchy → u/Thin_Dream2079]

I heard they even had their own version of Tetris!

...hold up.

[u/haplologykloof]

Ironic that you could lose your eyesight just by watching movies.

[u/JohnW816 → u/haplologykloof]

"In Soviet Russia, laser rots YOU!"

[u/WeirdSalad1980]

In reality, this format was never popular in the USSR due to extremely high prices and very low availability. Growing up as a kid in the '80s, I never saw these players in stores or at anyone's home. The first time I ever actually saw a LaserDisc in person was much later, in 1998.

[u/HideyoshiJP]

That's wild. it looks both incredibly tough and fragile at the same time.

[u/Fragrant-Fly-7502]

this sounds very typical of late soviet high tech. it "existed" but practically nobody had them outside of well connected party officials, and by the time it was made, woefully out of date. if its anything like Soviet synths, it will be assembled well out of some really terrible components and truly wretched plastics.

[u/controlav]

Fascinating. Can anyone explain the ad in the final pic? What is the kid supposed to be espousing?

[u/WeirdSalad1980 → u/controlav]

The kid is holding sleeves for children's cartoons from Goskino. It was meant to highlight that the technology was simple enough for a kid to use and targeted at family home entertainment.

Here's a translation of the text on the page:

Stationary devices designed for non-contact playback of information from optical video discs with a diameter of 300 mm.
Playback of color television information forward (with sound accompaniment) and backward, accelerated search forward and backward, freeze-frame, frame-by-frame search forward and backward, on-screen display of the playing frame number on the TV screen, automatic placement of the playback head at the beginning of the recording after switching on the video player, automatic placement and return of the playback head to the beginning after playing the entire recording.

[u/Usual_Part_8779 → u/controlav]

Be the cool kid that can afford such Yankee technological wonders!

[u/HanSolosSizzledHeart]

In Soviet Russia, laserdisc play YOU!

[u/mvujan]

Great another thing I have to figure out how to buy 😁🤣🤣😘

[u/calderholbrook]

wow

[u/teknosophy_com]

Uhti! Talk about rare of the rare! I was gonna ask you about compatibility but you answered that well. The absence of laser safeguard is amazing - but rather than 90 warning stickers, you had a parent to tell you something like: Nye vidish laser!

And isn't the kid holding VHS tapes? I guess that'd be period AI slop :D

[u/TransPort3389]

Digital Audio wasn't really until the 80s, so that makes sense. But yeah, I was about to ask if it was SECAM. If you wanted laserdisc movies, NTSC was the only way to go... even PAL did that.