CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[Sauerkraut]

Hey all, new user here. I was expanding my Alien collection when I discovered it was also released on a little known format called videodisc. This intrigued the heck out of me once I looked up what it was, and picked up my first player last weekend. The player was owned by a sweet old woman who apparently kept the thing in good condition as it looks new inside and out. Came with box, instructions, etc.

But sadly there's trouble in paradise. After replacing the drive belt and testing it out, I don't have playback. Here's what's happening:

When turning on my player, the tv screen goes solid black, so it's receiving something.
Disc inserts just fine, player spins up, and the stylus arm moves over the disc.
I can see the stylus on the disc, but receive no playback. Just "--" on the display.
The stylus arm seems to be indexing correctly, and does indeed slowly move over the record.
Turning the unit off, manually moving the pickup arm, and powering the unit back up yields nothing as well.


At this point, I'm thinking either bad stylus or bad 15v regulator(less likely). I'm starting to hunt for a new stylus, but am wondering if there's anything else I can try out? I feel it's odd that I'm not getting any image whatsoever, which i understand a bad stylus can deliver.

Looking for any input/suggestions.

Thanks all in advance
Justin

[johngreve]

I would say with a fair amount of certainty that your stylus is bad....probably why the previous owner stopped using it. Those a classic symptoms of a bad stylus.
_________________
SJT400. SGT 200
SKT400. SJT 100
SJT 300. Sears 94....150
SGT250 Zenith VP2000
SJT200. 800+ discs

[Sauerkraut]

Well, got a cleaned and fully functional stylus back from ced magic, and she still isn't reading. My understanding is a lot can go wrong with the electronics in the stylus arm, so I guess that's where I should be looking. Any ideas on easy things to rule out?

[jsdspif]

get the service manual for it if you don't have it already. (it's free just search for it) There is a troubleshooting guide in it and it does show the two lines you have and then you go from there. This type of thing is why I like to have a spare working cartridge,just to double check the cartridge you're using. Yes it is very unlikely just getting the cartridge back it would be bad but I suppose stranger things have happened.
The flowcharts for the troubleshooting along with the info in the service manual are great but if you're not really into electronic repair and even more so not into ced repair it's a slow process. I haven't experienced that exact problem,I did have a problem with similar. Mine would show the 2 lines but if I fast forwarded (actually don't remember if I fast forward or fast searched?) just briefly then it would play normally. My cartridge had something wrong with it,don't remember what it was now but cedatum fixed it, I'm kind of thinking out of alignment or something??Seems like it was a $5 charge,got it back and it worked fine.
There is probably someone who has a pretty good idea of the fix or at least what to look for but I don't know who it would be and/or how often they check the board.