CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[cedmagic]

Wired published an article on CED marking the 31st anniversary of its introduction:

http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2012/03/march-22-1981-rca-selectavision-spins-briefly-into-stores/

Check out the embedded links to vintage CED articles in Google Books, including the press photo of Herb Schlosser in the "Wall of CEDs" room with this VaporWare cover art on display:



--Tom Howe

[Rixrex]

Interesting article, yet again as usual too brief to be of real value in understanding the system and it's development, and also too quick in dismissing the format. It's typical of these types of filler blurbs that need to say something because the space has to be used. It's also wearing the mantle of smugness and self-importance that comes with hindsight.

Anyone can state, after the fact, "Good riddance, SelectaVision Videodisc!", and seem superbly cognizant of reality. But who among these snobs would have been able to make any prediction in 1975 regarding the home video market with any certainty? I think none, and in fact I think they would have predicted the victory of Betamax over all others.

Let's see what an article of truly informative dimensions might have considered:

Perhaps some research uncovering the actual total shared development costs of the videotape and laserdisc systems. I daresay they would not be unsimilar to what RCA spent on the CED system.

Maybe a look further at this quote, “It’s the simplest, most reliable, easy-to-service disc system there is,” Herb Schlosser, RCA’s executive vice president in charge of SelectaVision software, told New York (magazine)". In the context of the times, this was true enough. A technical and operational comparison of the other competing formats might have been useful.

Such an insightful comparison would show that this statement is actually good reason to believe the system could succeed:

"Videodiscs also had one big advantage over popular videotapes and cable: better picture quality. But that came with a hefty price tag. RCA’s 20-pound contraption, the cheapest on the market, cost just under $500. The discs ranged in price from $14.98 to $27.95 for a two-disc set, though more than half of the initial 100 titles cost less that $20."

The oxymoronic comment, "But that came with a hefty price tag", fails to consider the "hefty" CED price tag in all ways was less than any other format, and the discs were less costly than the ubiquitous VHS prerecorded tapes by about half. The other consideration left out is the fact that the players came down in price quickly and were consistently cheaper than all videotape and laserdisc models of the same period.

These simple-minded articles regularly fault RCA for not judging the market properly. This is the same RCA that absolutely correctly considered VHS superior to Betamax in marketability, and was responsible for it's introduction to the USA.

I would say the only faults RCA had in CED development were to be too sluggish to bring it to market 5 years earlier, wrong in not making the prices of players low to start with and in not offering the titles at about half the initial cost. What a difference that would have been.

[SelectaVision420]

ouch that article is a bit harsh, i think its genius that a record can produce images and sound at the same time is crazy!
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