CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[Cubey]

I purhased this with several discs for $10 from a yard sale. The loading belt was gone and so I placed a short, wide rubber band onto it and it's working perfectly loading/unloading now. Only other problem with it was the turntable adjustment which has also been corrected.

It's now playing relatively well. On certain discs it tends to mess up randomly in certain places on the disc, speeing up, skipping ahead, etc. But it gives a clear picture (probably about as clear as CED's get) and good audio when it's not messing up, so I suspect it may be the discs and not the player. On the one I have playing at the moment ("Sudden Impact" starring Clint Eastwood) it's playing fine thus far, a few minutes into it with no skipping.

I would post a photo, but the player is rather dirty externally still from being poorly cared for by it's previous owner.

Correction: It is skipping now, so it probably could stand a new stylus....

[Cubey]

Here are some pictures:

http://ben.illiop.com/pics/thumbnails.php?album=22

[Cubey]

Picked up the following titles that have been at a local antique store for a long while, for $1 each disc. They have a few other titles but some are rather poor condition on the case like water damage to the label, so I avoided buying those since the discs may be bad as well.

- Airplane!
- Annie Hall
- Chinatown (2 discs)
- Play it Again, Sam
- Raging Bull (2 discs)
- Shaft

I played Airplane! all the way though and it only had about 10-15 bad spots and they weren't too bad. Some fast forwarding and a few total video fuzz out spots but only a few seconds at a time.

A vendor at the flea market here as a bunch as well. I may take a run out there this next weekend and see what titles he has and how much he wants for them.

[mnallard]

One thing that I've learned about the CED technology...if you don't play the disks often...they do tend to want to "mess" up. playing it a couple of times through usually does the trick. If not...then the disc itself may have a few "dirt" spots that need some help being removed. I'm a brave one, I removed some kind of mud spot on my STRIPES CED when I noticed it. This was on the actual disc. I did take the disc out of its caddy and I did wash it with warm water and a cleaning agent called TOTALLY AWESOME. Using my kitchen sink's sprayer, I was able to remove the spot without harming the disc. I used a 100% cotton towel to dry the disc on both sides completely so I could return it to its caddy without it setting out trying to dry and likely catch more dirt. The disc plays fine and is actually the only one I have that doesn't have errors!

Keep this in mind should you need it. If you can't find TOTALLY AWESOME, any dish detergent OTHER than Dawn will work. Don't use rubbing alchohol, it soaks into the vinyl material of the disc and will weaken it. Happy CED Hunting!

[Sceptre]

mnallard-what do you mean by 'messes up'? Is it that the discs ONLY show 'multicolours'? Or do you mean 'skipping'?

[mnallard]

By "messing" up, I mean any number of playing problems, but most commonly the skipping. In rare occassions, the skipping can lead to premature stylus wear. Also, if your player acts like it looses the signal during playback or can't start a disc (by showing "--" on the display constantly), immediately turn the disc off! When this happens, I've usually found that the stylus has picked up something and has stuck to the end of the diamond tip. Remove the cartridge and inspect it for any type of dust or debri that might have got stuck on the tip. Clean with a q-tip (carefully). This usually does the trick for me.

I've also noticed that alot of players I've found at yard sales and secondd hand stores couldn't play a disc because the stylus had collected so much dirt that a "hairball" had formed around the tip of the stylus preventing it from any contact with the disc. It wouldn't hurt to clean the tip.

Hope this helps. I only pass along what I've found by trial and error and what I know helps keep exsisting parts working as best as they can.

Good Luck!

[Sceptre]

mnallard-THANK YOU!!!

My SGT250-is doing exactly as you've said-never goes beyond the" -- "display part.

It loads okay, BUT shows a multicolour rainbow effect on the t.v. screen. (Colours jumbling all around-although I caught a glimpse of 'cbs fox' logo in the background from one disk.)

I wish I'd looked here sooner-as I tried letting it run for a while-hoping it would 'time in'...didn't work.

I WILL try the "q tip idea"-hopefully I can get lucky....I've got about 60 disks to watch, including Harrison Ford's 'Bladerunner', which they say is an 'uncut version' of the movie.

I had looked on Tom's 'cedmagic' repair list-and found that the SGT250 is a machine one has to turn over on it's SIDE to get the bottom off-do I NEED to get the bottom off to use the 'q tip' on this one-or can it be done from the port on the top, as I imagine?

Thanks again!

Sceptre

[vollis]

Hey Cody, are you interested in getting a bigger collection? I have a lot of the CED Video discs and I am selling them because I don't have a player.
For the complete list read on.
Lone Wolf McQuade, Protocol, The Quiet Man, The Deer Hunter, The War of the Worlds, The Sting 2, The Kentuckian, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Star Trek 2 The Wrath of Khan, Shogun, Night Shift, Rich and Famous, Hang 'em High, The Enforcer, Magnum Force, Dirty Harry, To Be or Not To Be, On Golden Pond, CBS News Man on the Moon, The Right Stuff, Tora! Tora! Tora!, The Three Stooges, Sylvester, Ordinary People, Cold River, The Bad News Bears, Silver Streak, Apocalypse Now, Victor Victoria, Turk 182, Veritigo, The Kissing Field, Kiss Me Goodbye, The Turning Point, In the Heat of the Night, Airplane2 The Sequel, Close Encounters of the Third Kind; The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly; Emmanuelle, Octopussy.
I have a post on here and I will be happy to sell them to you for a good price. I am asking for $5.00 a piece.

[RT9342]

Sceptre, see if there's some kind of small cover (a little smaller than a CD case) on the top, back of the player. I'm not positive that the SGT-250 has this, but I know that the SGT-200 and all older models have some sort of removeable cover. If there's one present, it should just slide off, unless there's a little pushbutton on the back of the player (if so, you'll need to push that button really hard). This will allow you to access the tonearm without having to open the player (which would require flipping it on its side or upside down, as you've heard). Once you reveal the tonearm, there should be a latch that you can spring back, causing a door on the tonearm to pop up. Open the door, and there's the stylus - it has a little plastic handle that you can grab to pull it out. You'll see the tip on the bottom, and it'll probably be pretty dirty. BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO BREAK THAT COPPER WIRE COMING OFF THE TIP! I always thought that wire had little significance - turns out it's what carries the RF signal from the disc to the tonearm - without it, you get absolutely no signal whatsoever!

[Daxi Don]

Cleaning CED videodiscs with anything other than distilled water may remove the lubricating layer on the disc.

I will quote from technical magazine RCA Engineer Vol 27 No 1 ( Jan/Feb 1982) - an artical by Harry Weisburg on Manufacturing the VideoDiscs.

" - the discs are lubricated with a 250-angstrom film of specially developed silicone oil - this lubricant provides wear protection for both the DISC and the STYLUS."

Yes- a disc cleaned with detergent that has removed the lubricating layer may play better for a few times, but will grind away your expensive stylus. So take this into consideration.

[RT9342]

I always wondered if that "specially developed silicone oil" is anything similar to the silicone lube used in fishing reels. Anyone know more about these chemicals? It would be nice to find something to replace the lubricant on discs that lost it. I wonder too if it ever wears off the discs after extended use. This site's FAQ section states the shelf life of the lubricant and indicates it lasting longer than the disc itself based on shelf life. I don't trust shelf life as an accurate means of determining how long it will take before it's all gone from the disc. Afterall, a diamond stylus (both the videodisc kind and the LP kind) have an exceptionally long shelf life, and "a diamond is forever" and "only a diamond can cut a diamond", but you ever heard of a stylus that lasts forever?

[Cubey]

I am considering selling this player and all the discs I have. I've since gotten more discs since I last posted and have bought a new belt and rubber lift arm tip (from CED magic of course!) and will install them before I sell it.

Anyone care to make an offer on it?