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What to look for when in the wild.

 
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ketonic_dude



Joined: 20 Jul 2012
Posts: 547
Location: Mankato, MN

PostPosted: Tue Aug 16, 2016 1:13 am    Post subject: What to look for when in the wild. Reply with quote

So on some of the Facebook pages, Laserdisc, VHS, and other obsolete media, someone had asked about interest in CED's since they come across them in the wild from time to time. (When I say "the wild" I am referring to thrift stores, flea markets, record stores, etc.) So I decided I would make a little guide of some of the best and most sought after discs that tend to fetch the highest prices so these "wild" discs can find new homes instead of ending up in the trash. So without further adieu, here you go.

Ok these two discs, A Story of O and Savage Streets, are titles that were pressed but then someone decided not to release them. The only known copies are ones that made it out of the factory in the hands of employees.


Another rare item to watch for is any discs with square corners. This was an early caddy this never made it to market. It was essentially 4 pieces that were glued together, but they soon found these would break easily and devised a 2 piece caddy instead. Some of the square caddies were saved from the trash bin and used to store library discs. When I say "library" I am referring to the Employees use library at the factory. RCA would pull a few copies of each title and stamp them with this property stamp. Employees could then rent the discs free of charge to watch all the latest and greatest films. When the program ended many of these discs were kept by the employees and can still be found today.


Next we have the Aloha Conference discs. These are discs given to the retail stores who had the best sales in their region. They were awarded a trip to Hawaii. Every store that won got the Blue Catch the Wave disc as a preview to their trip. Then when they returned home they got a Conference disc, there are actually two disc, a white caddy disc and a blue caddy disc, there were two trips and you got the one from the trip you were on. I still need the blue one.


These are training materials sent to retail stores. Very hard to find. I am actually still missing one.


These are demonstration discs sent to retail stores to play in their displays. Some are more rare than others. The 19.99 disc is the most common as it was given away with every player for a while. The blue CBS/FOX one is very rare, and the Gene Kelley disc is near impossible to find. I have only ever seen 2.


These are service discs given to repair shops. Usually they got thrown away when the program ended or the store stopped repairing players. So these are very hard to come buy. The white one is the most common, one just sold on ebay for $70. There is also a Zenith disc, but I don't own that one yet.


These are also demonstration discs used by retailers. More common but very hard to find in good shape. I just saw a 1984 Video Systems disc in rough shape sell for $45 on ebay. The Bring the Magic Home disc was actually the first demo sent to stores back in March of 1981 so most of them were used and thrown out by the time the program ended which makes them very hard to find.


Blank white, grey, and blue caddies that just have a sticker or handwritten title are usually discs from the RCA testing library. When a disc was pulled off the line and tested it would just be tossed in a blank caddy. Employees would grab these and bring them home sometimes.


Some titles can be found in both white and blue caddies. Typically blue indicated a stereo title. But towards the end of production they ran out of blue caddies and had to use white ones. So late releases 1985-1986 can often be found in both caddies. If you want a full list check here, http://cedmagic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2152&highlight=variations


Now for just some of the more rare or sought after titles. Most of these titles start at around $10 but can go up to $50, some even higher than that.


More sought after titles.


And More.


The Star Wars trilogy is always popular, the first two titles being very common and Return of the Jedi being slightly rare, it can be found in both blue and white caddies with the blue being more rare and more desirable since it matches the rest of the set. It's not uncommon to see the set sell for $50 with ROTJ being worth around $30 by itself.


The first Starwars disc, A New Hope, is actually sped up so it would all fit on the one disc, each side of the disc holds appx. 60 mins. When it was initially run, they produced 3 copies at regular speed to send to the studio for verification. The studio wanted it all on one disc so it was then sped up and that's the copy you can find today. I was lucky enough to get one of the 3 copies of the part 2 disc that was test pressed from John Stevens at CEDatum. If anyone ever comes across a part one of the test press I would take out a second mortgage for it. Wink


Of course the Playboy discs are always popular. These used to sell for $40-$50 each back when I first started collecting. But now you can average about $10-$20 each depending on condition. They always sell though.


Ok the first disc here is called A Walk Through the Universe. It was a visual guide of clips from a show on PBS. You could use the disc to take a class at the University of Southern California, along with the textbook. These were only distributed to Universities so they are extremely rare. The other disc is called Treasure of the Golden Horse. It could be purchased along with a book and clues where given to a treasure. Nobody ever found the treasure but the folks running the contest dug it up already. It's a fairly rare disc and it wasn't a movie so not many people bought it. In good condition it can run upwards of $50.


Some of the more sought after music titles.


Also some of the more sought after music titles. A Music War is two discs. As was The Return of the Jedi above. Always make sure you get both parts of the two disc titles.


Some of the rare Vestron titles.


The Vestron Wizard Video titles are perhaps some of the more sought after discs. Zombie used to sell for over $100 on ebay all day long. Now if you wait you can pick up a decent copy for under $50 when they show up.


Xtro is probably one of the most sought after horror titles. It can run upwards of $50 in good shape.


The Friday set is also a hot seller. The first one is the most common and is usually only around $10. The rest all sell for $20 to $50 each. On rare occasions you can get a good deal.


Some more rare horror titles.


Unfortunately the first Halloween did not get a CED release, something to do with Media I suppose. But these are still very sought after.


Some more very sought after discs.


And some more popular discs.


And yet a few more sought after discs.


And the last bit of sought after discs, for the most part.


One more...


Here are some of the most sought after and rare children's titles. These are very hard to find especially in good shape since kids just ruined them all back in the day. The Star Brite and Mr. Rogers discs are near impossible to find period. I just bought the Mr. Rogers disc with the school bus on it, paid $60 plus shipping from Canada. Rare titles like that you have to jump on when you see them.


And some of the more rare cartoons.


Next we have the interactive discs. RCA made a SJT400 and SKT400 CED Player that had interactive capabilities. The discs were banded and you could jump from track to track. Most of their interactive discs came in boxes like this with paperwork. There were other interactive discs like A Walk Through the Universe that didn't have a box. Many of the music disc were banded as well so you could jump to certain tracks if you wanted. These box sets vary in price given the rarity of the disc and the condition of the box. They are all in a black caddy.


This is by far the most rare of all the box sets. I have only seen one other copy of this and it was in terrible shape and missing the poster and it still was worth $100. The discs inside are just regular RCA release of the first 3 Rocky movies and are very common but the box here is what is beyond rare.


Some more box sets to look out for. These were a way for RCA to sell a set of music discs. There are two pack, the A Pack in yellow, and the B Pack in red. I have heard there was a 3rd pack but I have never seen it. These are very rare and sell for $60 to $100 easy. Again, the discs inside are worth maybe $20 tops, its the box that is valuable.


Here are some examples of what some property stamps look like. If you find property stamps discs in a lot then you've hit the jackpot. Most likely the lot belonged to a former employee and it was well cared for. These are the best discs to find. Here are some examples.
















Some other items to look out for. Here are some advertising posters for a local retailer. These would slide into a store display to show new titles. Most are made from Styrofoam with cardboard on both sides, but some are only cardboard.


Flyers are always big sellers.


Video magazines from the early 80's usually discussed CED and Laserdisc. Fun to read.


Instruction books.


Binders, the red binders are usually service manuals. Worth their weight in gold.


What the end looks like.


Misc memorabilia. This is a program that only ran for about 5 years so any memorabilia out there is very rare. Selectavision was a line that RCA had for a long time but anything that says Videodisc on it is where the money is at.


And I saved the best for last. This is the Thanks for the Memories disc. It was the last disc ever pressed. I have heard there were only about 40 copies of this made. It was given to the last remaining employees of the program. Again, if you find this disc, you've hit a honey hole, as the rest of the discs in the lot probably belonged to a former employee and the disc are all going to have been well cared for. It's worth $100 on up.


That covers most of what you might encounter in the wild. When you find sealed discs, this is good because the caddy is in good shape, but this does not guarantee the disc is in good shape as it could have been stacked. Just like with records, if you stack CED discs too high for too long it will begin to crush the grooves and then the disc is toast. If you encounter stacked discs in the wild, ask how long they have had them because if they say a short time then chances are they were just recently stacked, but if they say they have had them for a long time then chances are they were stored stacked. If you flat out ask how long they have been stacked most sellers will suddenly realize that is bad and tell you "not long" or "just did that for the picture" etc.

Additionally there are some discs that even I am missing so I don't have pictures for you. One particular set is Avon discs. Back in the 80's when Avon was a big thing the regional distributors would get CED discs to show their sellers new products. There were not many of these made and they are super rare today. There were about 7 different discs according to RCA records but I have only ever seen 3 or 4 of them.

Another super rare set is 2 discs called, Rocky Mountain Ski Vacations, and Southern California Sun Vacations. These were sent to travel agencies to demo to potential clients. Most were trashed back when CED got canceled and the agencies upgraded. I have only ever seen the Rocky Mountain Ski Vacations disc.

The rarest of the rare would have to be the Blackhawk film series. These were sample discs made for the studio Blackhawk films. As far as I know only one set still exists but if someone stumbled upon a set in the wild you'd better clear out some room in the house for the stacks of money. lol
You can view them here,
http://cedatum.com/17601.html

I think that about sums it up. I know it can be a lot to take in. Just save the pics to your phone and if you ever find CED's just look through the pics and see if they have any. Have fun out there!

If I missed anything important just post it below guys/gals. Thanks.
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ketonic_dude



Joined: 20 Jul 2012
Posts: 547
Location: Mankato, MN

PostPosted: Tue Aug 16, 2016 1:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I should have made a note in here about players too. Depending what players you find they can be worth some good money too. Even the lowest level most common players in broken non working condition fetch around $40. The top of the line models the J/K 400 players can run upwards of $300-$400, depending on condition. There are some very rare players too that can bring even more money than that, the Zenith VP4000, or the JC Penny player are good examples. The most common reason for a player to stop working is the belt is worn out. Different players have different belts. Feel free to post here or email me at videodiscjunkie@gmail.com if you need help or have any questions about players or discs. Thanks.

Stylus' can be rebuilt by CEDatum.com.
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SelectaVision420



Joined: 25 Mar 2012
Posts: 1424
Location: Hartford

PostPosted: Tue Aug 16, 2016 4:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

nice lineup! you dont have a white property stamped disc? Laughing
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cedwaechter



Joined: 10 Dec 2012
Posts: 68

PostPosted: Tue Aug 16, 2016 5:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice presentation Josh. You have a great collection. You were the first person I met 5 years ago when I started collecting. Thank you for helping keep our hobby running!
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jsdspif



Joined: 16 Jan 2016
Posts: 276

PostPosted: Tue Aug 16, 2016 7:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very nice and very informative post. Thanks!
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dumbchemist



Joined: 27 Oct 2011
Posts: 546
Location: Central New York

PostPosted: Tue Aug 16, 2016 12:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A very nice and helpful post. I have one of the Bring the Magic Home disc that is in as good a shape as the one you posted. I cannot seem to find it in the CED titles database however.

I have 5 copies of the RCA Preview Album with one of them still in cellophane. I have 2 copies of the Entertainment Game with both of their cardboard boxes in fair shape.

Keep up the good work.
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Husker Du



Joined: 14 Aug 2011
Posts: 40

PostPosted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 11:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great list & collection Josh. It was interesting that the 3 that you got from me (white case Gremlins, stereo/ mono service, & RCA Video Monitors) were all shown. That trade was about 4 years ago. But stereo/ mono service was the only one you haven’t upgraded from the copy you got from me. It was funny when I found that disc, the person that I bought the lot from kept telling how rare Gone With The Wind was. I would have to say that next to Star Wars, it was the most common disc for me.
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SelectaVision420



Joined: 25 Mar 2012
Posts: 1424
Location: Hartford

PostPosted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 3:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

you cant find it on the list? thats weird... it might be labeled as something different on the list..
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Trex



Joined: 07 Sep 2016
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 11:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Husker Duf wrote:
Great Semenax review list & collection Josh. It was interesting that the 3 that you got from me (white case Gremlins, stereo/ mono service, & RCA Video Monitors) were all shown. That trade was about 4 years ago. But stereo/ mono service was the only one you haven’t upgraded from the copy you got from me. It was funny when I found that disc, the person that I bought the lot from kept telling how rare Gone With The Wind was. I would have to say that next to Star Wars, it was the most common disc for me.


I love your collection by the way ketonic dude.


Last edited by Trex on Fri Apr 15, 2022 2:30 am; edited 7 times in total
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Oreozapie



Joined: 10 Oct 2016
Posts: 6
Location: Wisconsin

PostPosted: Mon Oct 10, 2016 7:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Do you know of any other box sets that CEDs were sold in. I have only ever seen Jesus Of Nazareth and Swan Lake in boxes, but neither of those were shown.
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johngreve



Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 39
Location: Eagle,Wi

PostPosted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 1:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Holocaust was a boxed set too.
This was a very informative posting...thanks for taking the time to put this together. I am so jealous of your collection.....nice job putting the collection together.

Does anyone know if the Rocky ll that was in the boxed Championship set was the stereo version or the very common mono version?
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dmbjunky



Joined: 23 Jan 2017
Posts: 88
Location: Odon, IN

PostPosted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 6:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the info. I had been wanting to see the box sets because those are very intriguing to me. I have two copies of Jesus of Nazareth in the box but had never seen any others.

Is the Gene Kelly disc that rare? I thought I remembered one on ebay for 20 bucks and then I got one in my near 1000 free discs a couple of months back.

The prices are interesting. I assume those are ebay prices. For new collectors it may be wise to be patient and buy big lots when they become available. You'll get them a ton cheaper and always get a few rares. I've been collecting since Jan. and have yet to make a single disc purchase. They've all been purchases with multiple discs with the highest cost per disc being a little more than $2.00 but most less than a dollar.

The trick is to be sure to tell people you collect them. Put an ad in classifieds or on the radio swap shop. Sooner or later someone will remember a relative with a ton of them. I have yet to see any in the wild and I'm constantly in flea markets and secondhand stores.

I have to have close to 1500 discs right now. I'm afraid my bulk buying days are behind me and I'll be making $50-100 single disc purchases from here on out.
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johngreve



Joined: 31 May 2004
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Location: Eagle,Wi

PostPosted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 1:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I believe that The Great Entertainers disc with Gene Kelly on the caddy is the rare one. The Preview disc with him on the cover isn't nearly as rare. Sometimes the two are confused with each other.
I was able to pick up The Great Entertainers disc from Scott Thorton aka Beetlescott earlier this spring when I bought a couple hundred discs off of him. If your reading this Scott thanks again.
It's interesting to note that Gene Kelly is only on the first eight minutes of that disc. The remainder of the disc is Baseball fun and games or something of the sort. You wouldn't know that unless you left the disc in and after a brief pause after the Gene Kelly bit the Baseball program starts up.

Yes....bulk buys are the way to go when you start out. sometimes you can also get a nice player in the deal if your buying out someone's private collection. That's how I picked up my SJT400 many years ago.
Once you get a boat load of discs bulk buys stopped making sense for me as getting rid of the dupes becomes a headache. Nobody wants the commons.
That turns into a trip to the Goodwill for me.
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SKT400. SJT 100
SJT 300. Sears 94....150
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gr555



Joined: 14 Nov 2017
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

don't know where to post so here goes, anybody here familiar with trampolines? i don't have the slightest idea about them but my eldest is dying to have one so i want to get him one. it's not only good exercise but it's also a great group activity for the family. i've looked at options in this site - the best trampolines. please let me know what you guys think. thanks!
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dumbchemist



Joined: 27 Oct 2011
Posts: 546
Location: Central New York

PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 8:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

johngreve wrote:
I believe that The Great Entertainers disc with Gene Kelly on the caddy is the rare one. The Preview disc with him on the cover isn't nearly as rare. Sometimes the two are confused with each other.
I was able to pick up The Great Entertainers disc from Scott Thorton aka Beetlescott earlier this spring when I bought a couple hundred discs off of him. If your reading this Scott thanks again.
It's interesting to note that Gene Kelly is only on the first eight minutes of that disc. The remainder of the disc is Baseball fun and games or something of the sort. You wouldn't know that unless you left the disc in and after a brief pause after the Gene Kelly bit the Baseball program starts up.

Yes....bulk buys are the way to go when you start out. sometimes you can also get a nice player in the deal if your buying out someone's private collection. That's how I picked up my SJT400 many years ago.
Once you get a boat load of discs bulk buys stopped making sense for me as getting rid of the dupes becomes a headache. Nobody wants the commons.
That turns into a trip to the Goodwill for me.


I agree that bulk buys are the way to go to get a good collection. A little over a year ago, a guy posted on this forum that he had a collection of discs and a player to give away. Since he is/was in Gilbertsville and I am in South Plymouth, I contacted him using this forum and we arranged a date and directions to him. His collection increased mine by about 300 CED's giving me a grand total of about 400 discs. The player is a SJT-400, the holy grail of CED owners.

I now have 4 used copies and one copy in shrinkwrap of The RCA Videodisc Preview Album. I also have 4 used copies and one copy in shrinkwrap of The Empire Strikes Back. I also have 3 used and one copy in shrinkrwrap of The $19.98 CED Preview Videodisc.

I also got several interactive CED's: Disney Disc of Mystery and Magic, The Entertainment Game, Many Roads to Murder, Murder, Anyone?, and A Week at the Races. I even got the Holocaust disc set.

His collection certainly enriched my collection and the price was right (free).
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kitchensynch



Joined: 24 Feb 2013
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 2:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you are using Firefox or Chrome and find the images Ketonic Dude or others have hosted on Photobucket and find that they are placed by a '3rd Party limit exceeded' notice then Firefox 57 'Quantum' broke that add-on when you were automatically updated, you can go back and reinstall that add-on and get the images back.

I see much the same add-ons listed so you should either have no trouble restoring the images or you can find one to replace the one you had.

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