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Just a bit of history first:

1972: Philips and MCA demonstrates an optical disc with analog sound and video.
1978: Philips launches the Video Disc Players(VDP), also known as LaserVision(LV) or LaserDisc(LD), a 30cm optical dual sided disc that contrary to popular belief is entirely analog. CLV versions can have about 60 minutes/side and CAV ones 30 minutes. The format has matured a lot since the launch and digital sound was added in the 80's. From 1995 more and more of the NTSC Laserdiscs have also featured a Dolby Digital(AC-3) soundtrack.
1979: Philips demonstrated a 11.5 cm optical disc for digital audio with 14bit/44kHz sampling(Or was it 44.05kHz?).
1980: After Philips and Sony joined forces they agreeded on the Compact Disc standard, a 12 cm optical disc for digital audio with 16bit/44.1kHz sampling.
1981: RCA introduced the CED(Capacitance Electronic Discs), also known as SelectaVision. It was a 30 cm disc with 60 minutes/side of analog video and sound. The information was encoded by grooves on the disc surface that gives a changing capacity to a tiny electrode held just over the rotating surface. Despite good results from surveys and field testings and 500,000 players sold over 3 years the format was dropped by RCA in 1984.
1982/83: Sony and Philips launched the Compact Disc. The format also known as CD-DA(Digital Audio) is specified in a Red Book.
1985: CD-ROM(Read Only Memory) was launched. It's for general data storage and has supplementary error correction so it can only store about 700MB compared to the 800MB of CD-DA. The format is specified in a Yellow Book.
1987: CD-V(Video) was launched. This could be called a hybrid disc since the inner part is like a CD-DA, but towards the outer part of the disc there is a video with the same analog format as on Laserdisc. CD-Video was made to include a music video on a CD. With a standard CD-player one could hear the music, but with a special player one could also see the video. Due to limited capacity 20 and 30cm versions were also made. The format is specified in a Blue Book. NB! The format was dropped and now another Blue Book is used to describe CD EXTRA or Enhanced Music CD that was launched in 1996. BTW that format has already flopped....
1988: CD-R(Recordable) was launched. The format is specified in an Orange Book.
1991: CD-I(Interactive) was launched. As the name indicates it was designed for games and multimedia presentations. It could also contain MPEG-1 digital video. The format is specified in a Green Book.
1993: Video-CD was launched. It can store 60 minutes of MPEG-1 digital video. The format is specified in a White Book.
1993: Nimbus demonstrated something called Double-Density CD. It was like a CD, but with smaller pits so that 2 times as much data could be stored on it. Because the optics had improved since the launch of the CD most players would read the disc without any problems. Nimbus proposed to store 2 hours of MPEG-1 digital video on it and connect the digital output from a standard player to a separate MPEG-decoder. This way an entire film could be stored on the disc and the consumer only needed to buy an inexpensive decoder. As a patent holder of the CD format Philips didn't allow the Double-Density CD format claiming it would lead to compatibility problems.

Then on with the story about DVD:

Philips and Sony propose High-Density Multimedia CD Specification(Dec 16, 1994) - removed.
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