CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[Ed Witles]

Gang -

Thanks for a great site!

I picked up a SFT100 and it does not play.

Platter spins
Arm gears can be seen moving every so slightly
Pause button turns two dashes into one
Changed cartridge w/ known good one - No joy...

Now the platter does seem a very tad wobbly but no more than my working unit.

I am reasonably mechanically inclined.

I did clean the belt and lube the steel rod carefully - just in case.

Sliding the arm over the disc did nothing - whereas on the other player would show something on the display and TV screen.

Thanks to any and all help.

[RT9342]

When the dashes don't go away, that means the processor can't read the digital data that's on the disc. There are a number of things that can cause that - usually it's the stylus, but if you've replaced that and it still doesn't work, you may have a more serious problem.

You can check the wires - the arm output is carried on a fat black wire to the bottom circuit board, and another fat black wire carries that signal to the top board as well. They have plug-in connectors, and if one of those connectors is loose, you'll get the dashes.

You may also want to look in the cartridge compartment. At the end of the stylus cartridge is a little brass button, and there's a wire connected between the button and the stylus tip. First, make sure the button is clean and that the wire is intact. Also, in the compartment where the cartridge fits, you'll find a little brass button that mates with the one on the cartridge. Make sure it's clean. The disc is made of conductive plastic, and an electrical signal from the disc must travel up that wire and through the buttons into the arm. If that signal can't make it through, you'll get the dashes.

I hope that helps, or at least gets you in the right direction.