The VHD was first demonstrated in 1978, and after many advertisements in National Geographic magazines, It was eventually released in Japan and in the USA in 1983. However, by this time both Laserdisc and CED were already not selling well compared to the VHS and Betamax VCR systems. As a result of this, JVC did not let the VHD be sold in North America, but made it available to the general public in Japan and commercially in the UK and the US.