Was LaserDisc any good in its' time?

[thebourne_id]

A couple of my friends' homes had LD players but none of us really watched them much since movies were either rare or very spendy. I heard you had to flip them at some point unless you had a super primo model that cost way more than a usual player. That and those discs were as big as a record, and you know how tough it can be to keep any disc in playable shape.