CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[Vatch]

Dear All,

I am seeing these small black streaks almost seeming at random in all of my CED's picture. It's not terrible but is noticeable. Is this a sign of stylus wear, some other problem, or just inherent to CED? I have the RCA SGT200.

Thanks and a good Memorial weekend to you,
Johnny

[Vatch]

I feel I didn't describe this too well and must clarify:

I only see these only on light areas (sky, etc.) and they are short, split-second, comet shaped, and about 1 inch long on a 30" TV. They seem to occur at random but are actually in the same place, or at least same height, generally. I have the player hooked up via good composite cable to a good JVC VCR with S-Video out to an old(er) SONY tube SDTV. Only CED shows this (Laserdiscs often produce their own anomaly largely due to disc rot and laser alignment issues). I'm relatively new to CED, but it is the most fun for me of all. How I wish it had really taken off and RCA had gotten the credit that they deserved. Sorry about the still-poor description.

A good Memorial Day to all,
Johnny

[jeff7624]

Sounds to me like some dirt or other wear on the disc. I would think that stylus being worn would cause a more consistent problem than what you are describing. Try playing the disc a couple times and see if that improves the picture, sometimes just playing it is enough to clean the crud out of the grooves and improve the picture.

[jeff7624]

Oh and I forgot to add that I notice some artifacting on the majority of my discs. I have a CEDatum rebuilt stylus and a restored player. I think that more than not this is just the nature of the beast.

[Vatch]

Dear Jeff and all,

Yep, I actually was just watching a Laserdisc, and now notice almost the same thing. On CED, it is actually better on some discs than others and is better after playing through once, usually. I may have discovered what video SNR means. I guess I'm just going to enjoy them the way they are.

A good day to you,
Johnny

[jeff7624]

It is sorta like when I run my Commodore 64 on a VGA monitor. You notice how lo res the picture is compared to a modern computer (even though Commodore bragged about hi-res graphics in 1983 ) Just the nature and character of the beast.

[kitchensynch]

I think the problem lies in an RF modulator or beyond and outside of the players. Look there to begin isolating the problem.