Anybody here remember first-hand when they were touted to be the next big thing in home video?

Yeah, I had a buddy that blew every spare cent he had on those monstrous things, LOL!

And you had to flip em over half way thru.

That is true, but not all titles had you flip them over to the other side. There were at least two different formats for LDs, CAV and CLV. CAV could be paused and played one frame at a time in the settings, ut could hold only 30 minutes per side, while CLV did not have that feature, they had a capacity of 60 minutes per side. later players allowed for DOLBY sound and self-turning.