CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[justcurious1941]

Some years ago I acquired this player from a car dealer along with the Pontiac sales discs that went with it. I played one disc on it and it quit. I was told that it needed a new laser power source. Does that make sense? Are they available? Where can I get one? I'm near New Orleans.

Dave K

[RT9342]

I think I know what you're talking about. I have 2 working PR-7820's, plus 2 junk ones that I used for parts. One of the junk units had a laser that would flicker on and off, like an old neon sign (which I guess makes sense, because the PR-7820 uses a neon gas laser tube). You can get them from Pioneer, but they're quite pricey. I have at least one that I could probably sell to you if you're interested. But keep in mind that, first of all, it's powered by thousands of volts, so if you replace it, make sure it's been turned off for a good amount of time. Also, the angle at which it's installed is critical. But you may have other issues as well. Actually, if you attempt to play a disc, you should be able to peek through the window and see if the laser is flickering on and off or glowing steadily. If it's glowing steadily, you may have to adjust the tracking and focus, rather than replace the laser (these controls are on 2 small vertical boards in the back right corner of the player). And, I'm assuming you already know this, but just in case you don't: it won't play CEDs (I mention this only because I've heard of people buying CEDs thinking they would play on laserdisc players). To be honest, the PR-7820 is kind of a pain in the rear to get in good playing condition...but it's a cool looking vintage machine too. Here's another trick you may find handy: there's a hidden button on the back, near the power plug, I think (it's partly covered by the beige rear panel). If you hold this button while turning on the unit, it goes into service mode. YOu can use the search buttons to move the disc in & out, and the Play & Stop buttons to drop & raise the focus lens. The remote LED will tell you if it achieves focus. Some other buttons (I can't remember which ones) will start & stop the spindle motor in the test mode. Or...there's a guy in Washington state who works on these - I don't know what he charges, but last time I e-mailed him, he quoted about $200 or so, if it just needs adjustments.

[justcurious1941]

I really don't have a need for the old 7820. Do you know anyone that might wand to buy it?

dave k

[RT9342]

Well, I probably shouldn't buy another one, as I have 4 (2 somewhat working and 2 that are pure junk)...but I might be intersted in it, depending on the version and when it was made, and the cosmetic condition. If you can tell me the manufacture date on the back dataplate, and whether the nameplates on the front and top say "MCA DiscoVision" or just "Discovision" (or perhaps something else, like "LaserDisc Model 1"). Is it yellowed pretty badly? And do you have a remote? Keep in mind though, I may not be able to buy it, but I'm sure there's others who may be interested. There's a guy in Washington that repairs them, but I don't know if he buys them for parts or not. But just about everyone I've ever seen on eBay has sold, so you could try that too. If you happen to have the 2-sided version of the instruction disc, I can guarantee that you can get a good amount of money if you list the disc and player together on eBay. They're pretty cool machines though - I used to think that the CED players were the most interesting video format, but the PR-7820 is quite unusual too.

[justcurious1941]

It was manufactured 5/79. s/n ZE3600687. It is an MCS Discovision. I don't know if it's yellowed or just tan I have the remote with its cradle and even the key for the cradle lock. Also have the instructional disc, but its label says there is info on one side only. I could send you a pic of it. I'm at: Fierolit@bellsouth.net Send an email to me and will return some pics.

Dave K

[RT9342]

Hmmm...if I had known he was going to throw it away, I would have tried to work out some kind of deal...anyway, I'm curious - do any other CED collectors have one of these PR-7820 players? I still think this is a really cool player - in fact it's the main reason I sort of steered from CED collecting to laserdisc collecting.

[justcurious1941]

I haven't made it to the dump with it yet, so if someone wants to save this thing they better holler quick.

dk

[Reinhart]

Where is the player located?

As for what it could be doing, it may require repair to the laser power supply, namely replacement of dried electrolytic capacitors.

The player is almost 30 years old so it may definitely require service to replace parts that likely may have gone bad from age.

[Rixrex]

Perhaps you have some sort of local museum/historical group hall near where you live that you could donate it to? I did that with one of my LD players that was a pre-1980 model. We actually ended up making a display of antique and vintage photo, film and audio/video equipment for which I got to write commentary for several items.

Included in our local museum along with the LD player are vintage projectors and film cameras, U-matic machine, Betamax VCR, early period VHS, and of course CED player and discs. In fact the display has one disc removed from caddy (behind a glass case) so folks can see the whole deal. Most are quite amazed at the CED technology.

[RT9342]

Well, the PR-7820 in question ended up in my hands. I thank the gentleman I bought it from for going through the trouble of getting it for me.

So, there are really museums that have this sort of stuff (DiscoVision, CED, etc.) on display? Interesting...every museum I ever went to just had dinosaurs and things of that nature (except for a World War II museum that I went to in Fredericksburg, TX - now that was a really cool museum - especially when they have their demonstrations in a little jungle behind the place, where they show off the old uniforms, weapons, Jeeps, tanks, half-tracks, flamethrowers, etc., and then do a re-enactment of an ambush on a Japanese bunker).

Maybe I should start up a video museum someday. That would be a great way to get all of that video junk out of my house.

[Jesse Skeen]

If you have the disc on how to operate the player, I would LOVE a DVD copy of it, or at least be able to see it online (preferably on Google Video or Dailymotion, not YouTube since that's in mono.)
_________________
Videodisc and stereo sound- there's no better value around!

[RT9342]

I'd be glad to help you with that, but I'll need a little time...I'm working on getting the necessary equipment to capture video on my computer and burn it to DVD, but I haven't gotten all of that yet. I'm very computer illiterate when it comes to doing videos on the internet, so I probably won't be able to take that route, but when I get my stuff (hopefully within the next month or two), I'll let you know. I could probably mail a DVD to you when that time comes.

Please keep in mind, though, that the disc I have is the single sided version, which seems to be the most common version. Supposedly there was a double sided version, which was the same video with a supplement that covered more features of the player. I bought a player a few years ago that was supposed to have that disc, and I got several requests from people (including the guy who made the DiscoVision website) to sell the disc, but FedEx lost (or stole) the box that had that disc and a whole bunch of others, and then they tried to cover it up and pretend that they didn't lose it! I had insurance on the packages, but it took a LOT of work by me and the seller to get them to cough up the insurance money.