Yes, it was called Finial, Peter Moncrieff raved about it, I think it was more than ten years ago, after that was silence. If I recall correctly, there was a mention in TAS recently on a similar product, which did not sound very encouraging either. Obviously the technical problems, don't recall what kind actually, haven't been licked yet.
ELP laser turntable
A turntable that uses optics instead of a needle to reproduce music from vinyl. Has anyone heard this