CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[krbsforty]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOPQjFmMLMg



Last night, I found this 10 minute You Tube video about the CED introduction. It looks like a home movie of a reporter interviewing an RCA representative about the CED format shortly before it went on sale. There is a scene at the end of a player with the top off, which I have never seen before.



Does any one know who the people in this video are?

[Rixrex]

What a great demonstration setup. I especially liked the top-off demo, and the way the gal showed the ease of use and replacing the stylus. Nice comparison to VCR heads by the reporter.

The jerks at the Laserdisc booths making fun of the videodisc, while they sold their players for triple the price with nearly the same quality (320 lines for LD in 1981) of picture and sound, and no noticable difference on any 19" or 25" TV. And then also selling LDs for 4-5 times as much.

The years of work that went into the so-called "toy" was incredible and more extensive than the LD, and it's still, in my opinion, the ultimate device in combining the mechanical reproduction of image and sound with modern electronics.

The problem to me was the price of $499, when it should have been less, and the same for discs. They should have been $10 to $20 at most, and made in a way that they could have had 15 mins more time per side so to reduce double disc sets to 10% of what they would be.

A 1/2" larger disc (12.5) would have done it, and a 1 inch larger disc of 13" would have allowed 30 mins more per side at least.

[Dude111]

[Rixrex]

The video on a laserdisc is always analog. The method of transfer from film to video was typically a telecine (aka flying spot scanner) transfer that was recorded in analog form on 1" high quality videotape masters. I seriously doubt that any laserdisc masters were done with a film chain device as that would have reduced the quality of the transfer significantly. A film chain setup is what was used at many TV stations where the film projector beamed the film image, with a 3-2 frame pulldown, directly into a video camera pickup.

After the videotape master was made, then the transfer to laserdisc was done using the analog composite signal, unlike CEDs and videotapes for home use (meaning not using the composite signal). The composite video is the best quality signal you can pull from the laserdisc if you have one of those players that does not filter the signal, usually the early industrial models and some others.

Many DVDs are produced used these HQ video masters for the DVD, but of course they went through analog to digital conversions to get on the DVD. The term "digitally remastered" is often a BS term used to fool the public into thinking something is better digitally than it was before. All they did was transfer the master to a digital format. Big Deal. Some outfits that care about quality may have done some cleaning up of things like visible edit splices or film scratches in the remastering process, but most don't. As with any other big corporate business, the Ad and PR people in home video products have learned certain catch-phrases that help put their product in a positive light, but that are essentially meaningless.

The audio is a different matter. NTSC laserdiscs often have both analog and digital sountracks, in those formats on the LD. These tracks may have come from analog or digital recorded sources since digital audio was way ahead of video in practice.

[SelectaVision420]

dang rix, i wish i knew 1/2 of what you know...
_________________
Sears 274 & 934(80150,10&11350),sft100,sgt250,sjt090,100,101,200,300,400,vp550, VP4000!
caddy.daddy.fleetwood@gmail.com

[Rixrex]

All you have to do is have a Dad who's an electronics wiz and worked at Columbia records and RCA, and had his own small electronics repair shop where you worked on the weekends. Join the high school A/V club and handle all their film and video equipment.

And then go to college and get your Bach of Science in Radio-TV technology, and get your Broadcast Operator's License from the FCC (let's talk about superheterodyne transformers). Then Grad school for an MFA in Film & Television production. and work in the business for the next 20 yrs.

But then you probably have chosen another career that I know nothing about and you're just on the wrong message board to share your knowledge of your field of expertise.

[SelectaVision420]

[Rixrex]

My dad was into that radio league and ham radio stuff, I was more involved with professional radio broadcasting. You are right about there being more theoretical studying in the older times before modular electronics came along.

Here's something you might like:


windows screenshot tool

Recognize it? Just to show that it's not only players that can be restored.

Box is almost like new again

[SelectaVision420]

nice! is that a sears, 934.54800250?
_________________
Sears 274 & 934(80150,10&11350),sft100,sgt250,sjt090,100,101,200,300,400,vp550, VP4000!
caddy.daddy.fleetwood@gmail.com

[Rixrex]

Yes, it is. The stereo model. A very nice player, best Hitachi style player I've had, smooth operation.

The box set was restored by using a 50/50 mix of elmers wood glue and water brushed onto the areas where cover was torn or missing, and box corners. Then after drying, a black tempura was used to cover the places where white paper showed. Reason is because tempura is water based, and that adhered to the glue treatment to make a bond similar in appearance to the original black paper, and durable too.

The original box corners were covered with paper strips glued on the corner for sturdiness, but of course they can eventually tear out. I took black upholstery tape cut to size to use as replacement corner binding.

[SelectaVision420]

thats really great man, im glad you were able to make it aesthetically more pleasing, it looked like hell when i had it, the paper notes and guide sadly suffered worse, but on my 300, not one of them skipped or anything, maybe the occasional tick here and there, but the box is deceiving! sadly no amount of glue or paint will fix a disc dropped in the mud. i ended up finding a box set still sealed, from a guy locally and he even met me to deliver it, so at least i got to watch it and then pass it on because i dont plan on watching it anytime soon again maybe one day when my niece is old enough ill open it so she can learn what they will probably neglect to teach by the time she is old enough to go to school...


p.s

you know i have been thinking, i have a sears 934.54810350, and i was wondering, since it has an analog only time display, does that mean that the DAXI on the disc serves no purpose?
_________________
Sears 274 & 934(80150,10&11350),sft100,sgt250,sjt090,100,101,200,300,400,vp550, VP4000!
caddy.daddy.fleetwood@gmail.com