Are they for naught? All they need to do is have a handful of laserdisc players around; your average clever nerdy arduino-loving teenager could probably get one

Are they for naught? All they need to do is have a handful of laserdisc players around; your average clever nerdy arduino-loving teenager could probably get one working in the space of a day or two, likely by cleaning optics and maybe doing some re-capping and lubricating this or that. They are usually are controllable via RS-232 or IEEE-488 and output any of several video formats. All extremely common, well documented protocols. Due to them using analog(!) to store the video, they're remarkably tolerant of defects. As someone who grew up watching a lot of rental laserdiscs with family, it was impressive how much damage a beat up rental disc could have and still play fine. Man, the memories from that. A laserdisc machine spinning up was the most sci-fi thing EVER to a young kid.