CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

Pedro12345 · Joined: 04 Nov 2010 Posts: 10

Been reading every now and again, but I haven't posted in a while, hopefully someone can help out on this:

I'd like to try to move my player to the living room and hook it up to the nice, big flat screen. It's an RCA Selectavision 100 with just a coax in and out on the back.

Can I just connect this straight into my TV like I would a cable box or something or do I need to get some kind of adapter/converter? If I do need to get some type of coverter, what would you reccommend?

Any tips/tricks for hooking a CED player up to a modern TV would be appreciated.

blindfury420 · Joined: 26 Jan 2011 Posts: 1036

You are correct just hook it right up to the coax! Then make sure it and the switch for channel 3 or 4 are the same! Common mistake, tv is on 3 and switch is on 4 haha.

No tips on hooking it up its same any thing else, whether its coax or rca jacks. Here is a general tip though... sit back as far as you can haha. It helps, makes it look better than it is on these new giant tv's!
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Jesse Skeen · Joined: 28 May 2004 Posts: 532 Location: Sacramento, CA

The newer TVs make you "scan" for channels before you can select them- since analog channels 3 and 4 are gone in my area now, I had to hook a Nintendo up with the RF and turn it on, then do a channel scan on the TV first with the game set to channel 3 and then channel 4 to get them programmed into the available channels. I wanted them in there anyways just on the off-chance the analog stations ever come back on the air (would they come on in an extreme emergency- say an alien invasion or something?)

Of course, if you have a good system you want to get a stereo CED player which will have A/V out jacks. Mine is connected to my Pioneer receiver, which then upscales the picture to 1080P and sends that to the TV via HDMI. HDMI can't pass closed-captions so I also have the regular video output of the receiver going to the TV so I can still access the captions.
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Beetlescott · Joined: 03 Oct 2010 Posts: 2085

I hooked one up with my 52" Plama screen TV, it worked great! Good Luck! Let us know how it works out.
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Pedro12345 · Joined: 04 Nov 2010 Posts: 10

I actually routed it through my VCR to save some input real estate (I've got a couple of retro gaming systems hooked up, so input jack space is at a premium) and it worked great!

Alchemy · Joined: 27 Nov 2010 Posts: 532 Location: Sweet Home,Oregon

http://aof.utnij.net Pick up an NEC AVX-910 to minimize the wire runs
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Midwinter · Joined: 13 Apr 2011 Posts: 41

To piggyback on this thread that was already started:

Has anyone found the best way to hook up to an HDTV for best picture quality? I would definitely say use one of the units that has more than just the RF outputs, but any other suggestions?

Mine can look a little jumpy at times on my tv. I have a 65 inch DLP 1080P screen. I'm sure the size of the screen doesn't help. (It looks breathtaking when watching a blu-ray or any other 1080p source material though!)
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Real1shepherd · Joined: 10 Apr 2011 Posts: 67 Location: Eastern WA

maskddingo · Joined: 05 Dec 2010 Posts: 23

I use a 26" LCD samsung computer monitor for my system. It has a HDTV tuner in it as well. Unfortunately, there is no composite or S-video inputs on the thing. Only RF, DVI, SVGA, Component and a couple HDMI ins.

For anything that has composite out (like my laserdisc player, my CED player, and older video game systems) I run it to my Onkyo receiver which does all the up-conversion from composite/S video to 720P which then gets sent via HDMI to my monitor. results are great. You can really only see noticeable artifacts if you are less than 4 feet from the screen. It's infinitely better than going the RF route, and having the receiver up-converting to 720P is significantly better than having it output a 480i conversion that it can also do.

Midwinter · Joined: 13 Apr 2011 Posts: 41

Real1shepherd · Joined: 10 Apr 2011 Posts: 67 Location: Eastern WA

maskddingo · Joined: 05 Dec 2010 Posts: 23

Real1shepherd · Joined: 10 Apr 2011 Posts: 67 Location: Eastern WA

I'll have to take your word for it, because you sound more knowledgeable than what I've read/understand. I meant that the VGA was a interface between the analog realm and the HDTV which I assume is digital. The articles I read said that any HDTV that inputs in analog devices like VHS, has to have a VGA interface to do it...built in. The only OUTs my HDTV has is the 'PC Monitor', with a screw in cable they call 'VGA Cable' that would go to my PC. And the other OUT is the 'PC Audio', which takes a audio cord that also goes to my PC.

I have no OUTs to hook up headphones. How then is the monitor's picture downgraded to the realm of VHS, CED etc?

Kevin

7jlong · Joined: 01 Jun 2004 Posts: 187

Somewhere back in the forum history there's another thread about this with largely the same question (as Midwinter's), but here's the summary I recall:

I think the recommendation to get an external talk-box to go between an older device (VHS, CED, LaserDisc) and a new television boils down to the quality of the comb filter in the TV that interprets the analog signal and passes it on to the digital circuits. Lots of new TVs have a regular composite RCA video in (or perhaps S-Video), but if the circuitry to interpret it isn't up to snuff, then you will be sorely disappointed. I had a friend who had one of those early Samsung monitor/tv combo panels that did a wretched job of this - and it wasn't even that big (17"?) so it wasn't just unrealistic expectations of a low-resolution format.

The early generation panels suffered from this most, I believe. Back when I was nosing around this topic as relates to LD, the biggest complaint was that compared to dedicated devices the TV circuitry that was being built into the panels just wasn't doing a good job of upscaling the signal.

However, my (2010) Panasonic HDTV has yielded good results connecting directly to the composite RCA video-in, but I did check into the current state of things just in case the picture suffered too much using the included inputs.

At this point there are a number of interface boxes on the market - the one in the article that Real1shepherd links to, for example - that will take a component input and translate it to HDMI. That article is primarily concerned with sending the VGA output from a computer (or some game systems) to a TV, though they do include mention of regular component video outputs at the very end in reference to gaming systems. Unfortunately, CED never had component out, and LaserDisc sometimes (but not always) does. VHS, very rarely.

However, a search on "composite video hdmi adapter" will yield a number of others in a variety of price brackets that will also take a regular composite or S-Video input and sent it out via HDMI. That would likely be the safest route to get an old signal into your new TV if you didn't have a composite video in, or got the sneaking suspicion that it wasn't doing as good a job as it could.

Real1shepherd · Joined: 10 Apr 2011 Posts: 67 Location: Eastern WA

Yeah, all that is correct as I know it, but I'm still learning. My Sansui 19" is about a yr old...I just bought it used from a vendor on Amazon. I had him send me pics of the back, although the pics weren't great. With all those RCA plugs (and S Video), I though I was bound to have RCA audio OUT, which is easy to convert to headphones. No such luck.

However, it translate the lower signal image quality of the CED to HDTV extremely well. I'm very pleased with that part. And yeah, some HDTV's will not interpret the lower quality signal image and give you rather bizarre picture results.

I'm just stuck with the sound of the little built-in speakers.

Kevin

maskddingo · Joined: 05 Dec 2010 Posts: 23

Real1shepherd · Joined: 10 Apr 2011 Posts: 67 Location: Eastern WA

Your TV has a PC monitor 'out'? I've never seen that before... what's the purpose? I'm almost certain this is actually an 'in' that will accept a VGA signal from a computer or other device with a VGA standard signal output. What you are calling a 'PC audio out', is also more likely a PC audio 'IN' as well. You connect your PC's speaker cable from your soundcard and now the PC audio will go to your TV along with teh PC's VGA signal that is going into the TV's VGA input.

Why would you need to hook up headphones to your HDTV? I thought we were talking about hooking up a CED to the HDTV?

Dude, other than you living on Venus and me living on Mars, I don't know what your purpose or delight is in showing how little I know about this? I said I'm learning and I'm quoting what I've read on the Net. And of course you are wrong; all the OUTs on my TV are clearly marked as such. They are as follows: Coaxial Digital OUTPUT, PC Monitor OUT and PC Audio OUT. All I was saying is that in my pursuit of finding a headphone jack, there is no way to do it that I'm aware. As far as to "why" would I want to use a headphone on my HDTV...so I have better sound than the trashy little built-in speakers and I don't bother anyone else while viewing.....TV in the bedroom etc

I don't even understand what you are trying to say here. Why would your monitors picture need to be 'downgraded' to the realm of VHS or CED? That just doesn't make any sense. Why does having no 'outs' on the TV matter when trying to hook up a CED player to it?

What I read was that many HDTV's don't translate the picture signal quality (step down to), of lesser devices such as VHS....which would be close to a CED. Are you saying that's a total fabrication of the truth?

Kevin

7jlong · Joined: 01 Jun 2004 Posts: 187

There is definitely precedent for TVs having a "PC Audio Out". Some Hitachi TVs have this as well. I have also seen evidence of a VGA out, particularly on TV/DVD combos.

Is the PC audio out a little 1/8" jack? I'm assuming it is line level and not affected by the TV volume control? What if you used a headphone preamp or headphones with built-in volume controls? If you need to also have it connected to your computer, perhaps a Y-splitter?

Just an idea.

From what I've read here and there, you are 100% correct that some HDTVs do not do a good job with translating a low-resolution composite or S-Video video signal. Many folks have complained about this and have invested in talk boxes or better A/V receivers that handle the upconvert independently of the television.