Philips VLP 700
(1978 - 1980)

The original and very first LaserDisc player
The VLP 700 was a Magnavox VH-8000 in the USA, VH-8005 later on - a
ll as unreliable as can be.
Using an Helium-Neon to power the laser, this, however, was THE FUTURE ! The leaflet from which these images come from, fittingly, speaks only in the future tense - case in point ;-) But it was the future indeed as it is now the present. Not with a He-Ne tube, though, and certainly not that big.
Although "Remote Control" is written on this model, the VLP 700 didn't sport that feature at first. Only after several revisions would the Philips have it indeed. The Magnavox VH-8000 is the equivalent of the original VLP 700 ; the VH-8005 is that of the RM-equipped VLP... 700.
Grundig planned to release a rebadge of its own, even made the pre-production unit, but finally didn't: given the problems all VLPs suffered from, the future seemed uncertain.