CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[RT9342]

Quite true. That's probably why they never came out with "record burners" or "LP-R", although I've heard of people on the streets in the old days who would let you record a 45 on the spot, but I don't know much about that, and I would imagine that it probably recorded lacquer discs (instead of vinyl discs), which wear out fast. Could you imagine a CED camcorder? That would be horrible!

[7jlong]

Actually, the practice of cutting records at a small scale has been going on since Edison - most recently with the Vestax VRX-2000.

Before that, yes, larger record stores had one-off record services where you would play, they would cut a record. (If you've seen the Simpsons episode where Homer becomes Lurleen Lumpkin's manager and they cut a CD in a booth, this is what the writers were lampooning).

Or, you could buy something like the Wilcox-Gay Recordio - yes, available for the home market - and cut your own at home.

In the early days of recording before magnetic tape, performances were cut directly on a fresh wax platter, which they would then make a "mold" from to make the stamper. But this doesn't change the fact that the first platter was playable. (See George Martin's All You Need Is Ears for a great description of all this)

So: the "stamper" argument for why a new CED could never be doesn't quite work. Stampers are a by-product of the process, not the origin. In fact, the last time this was discussed here my argument was that the only reason for a stamper was so that the discs could be mass-produced. The copper original disk that had to be etched to get the process going might not mesh with the playback system (conductivity/capacitance/etc), but there is no other reason that the original should not be playable that I am aware of.

So, with the advancements in laser etching (never mind an electro-mechanical process, which seems like it would be a step backwards), a one-off or even a repeatable disc should be quite possible if it were set up and programmed correctly by someone very clever and with the proper means (i.e. the very rich and very bored) - especially considering that it doesn't seem that the substrate material/conductivity is necessarily a make-or-break detail.