That was largely down to how well used the VHS's were - tapes, and players - as well as your TV and it's hookups. As well as the transfer to the laserdisc. Also, the fact they actually had memory meant pausing didn't sit in mid-interlace. Also, you could select letterboxed or cropped on the fly, I think? Anyway, there's ways too rip them, now. Ways that are unwieldy as hell but you can do it. Tech Tangents has a couple of videos about the 'Domesday Duplicator' and the ups and downs of trying to rip an analog format like this for preservation purposes. Which is good, because there's a distressing amount of anime that's just, never gotten, and never going to get a digital release.

Also, as point of fact, there was a high definition of sorts on laserdisc in 1993, as shown by TechMoan.