CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

Rick Picciuolo · Joined: 12 Jul 2013 Posts: 27

Hello to all! I'm a newbie to this forum and I am looking for a player in very good to excellent condition that actually works with no issues.

I bought 2 players on ebay and got hosed on both!! One was a 1983 RCA SELECTAVISION VIDEODISC PLAYER SJT-090 and a RCA Selectavision Video Disc Player CED Model SGT 075. Both sellers claimed they worked fine. When I received them they were not working properly AT ALL.
So I'm here asking on this forum where I should have started in the first place.

If anyone has a NICE unit they would like to sell, please let me know.

Thank You
Rick Picciuolo

Rixrex · Joined: 28 May 2004 Posts: 1222

I have several nice players available, as do others here on the forum. This is the right place to buy them as we here know what we are talking about when we say a player is working and tested.

But first, tell us what's wrong with the ones you have. You might be surprised that the fix is not too difficult.

Rick Picciuolo · Joined: 12 Jul 2013 Posts: 27

The SJT-090 wont load at all. I took the cover off and pushed the disc in until it "clicked". I pulled out the caddy and after pushing play several times, the disc finally dropped in and started to spin.(making a LOUD humming all the time) No picture or sound on the TV. Then the plastic gear to the right front would just keeps clicking on the track it is sitting on. Disc caddy very difficult to push in as well.

The SG 075 loads and the disc spins, but then the "transport" just fast forwards through the disc in like 2 seconds. This does this every time I load a disc. Not sure if that all makes sense, but that's the best I can describe it.

Not sure if I want to bother with them. Might just "cut my losses", and sell them for parts!!
So... what do you have for sale?? Smile

Thanks
Rick

Beetlescott · Joined: 03 Oct 2010 Posts: 2144

Hi Rick, Welcome to CEDmagic! Sounds like you bought someone elses problems! Rixrex is correct, there are people here who sell players all the time. I have bought players from Rixrex, as well as Blindfury, both are great guys to deal with. The 2 players you have, are bottom of the line models, If memory serves, one (or both) models, doesn't ave a reverse feature. Talk to one of those guys, you can get fixed up with a good player. Don't forget, the players you have, the ones that don't work, the stylus in them is worth a lot.

Good Luck
_________________
SGT-250
SGT-200
SFT-100
SKT-100

SelectaVision420 · Joined: 25 Mar 2012 Posts: 1424 Location: Hartford

Rixrex · Joined: 28 May 2004 Posts: 1222

Rick, in what state do you reside? Your players have minor problems that can be fixed. This is what it seems to be:

The SJT 090 need to have a new "loading" belt installed and sounds as if it suffered some shipping damage. See here:

http://www.cedmagic.com/tech-info/repair-solutions.html#worn-out-function-motor-drive-belt-or-dirty-rollers

It also sounds like one of the stylus arm advancing gears broke so the stylus arm won't advance. Most likely the larger spoked gear. This is common in shipping when the stylus arm is not secured properly.

The SGT 075 has either a bad or dirty stylus, or it could possibly be a stylus tip slightly askew. See here:

http://www.cedmagic.com/tech-info/repair-solutions.html#worn-out-stylus-tip

Now, these are repairable problems that you can do, but if you are nervous about attempting this, another person here can do them for you, or maybe take the players as trade in for a different player. At the very least, you should get some refund of what you paid for these.

Blindfury in Michigan is good for repairs or even trades, and he may be closer to you. I am on the West coast, so that's why I ask where you are.

One thing, most all of us who collect these discs and players have at some point done our own repairs or belt changes because that's the nature of the format. There is nothing around anymore like a local shop that has a person adept at these machines. Even an old-time electronics TV repairman I know would not know what to do with CED players.

So you have to think about what you want to do. If you want to try a fix on your own, let us know and we'll give you guidance on doing such.

JimBe1221 · Joined: 15 Jul 2013 Posts: 8

Hey guys,

I'm also a noob to the CED world. I bought a couple of SFT 100 players for cheap in unknown condition in the hopes I could get one to work. After cleaning them up and blowing out the dust I found that one has a stylus that is missing the needle totally and the other has a complete stylus, but still doesn't work properly. Maybe just a bad needle all together!

Using the whole needle I have the following issues:

Unit 1 - The disc loads and spins and the side show properly and the counter starts counting, but everything seems to be running in fast forward. There is a pic and sound.

Unit 2 - The disc loads and spinds and I can see fuzzy pic, but no sound. I think it may be playing, but there is no counting on the play time and the unit doesn't display which side.

Thoughts?

Anyone have surplus stylus for sale?

I wouldn't be against buying a working unit from someone too!

Dude111 · Joined: 28 Jun 2013 Posts: 164

Welcome to the site buddy!!

I hope you end up getting a good player and I hope you like it here Smile

JimBe1221 · Joined: 15 Jul 2013 Posts: 8

Thanks, Dude! Always nice to find people with like interests! I joined the FB group too. I have had a fascination with the CED since seeing one in action back in 83 when I was 9. I wanted to know how it worked, but the adults couldn't explain it. It became a myth to me because so few people had ever heard of it and I had no idea what it was called, but I do remember seeing Heaven Can Wait and the cover of it.

Rixrex · Joined: 28 May 2004 Posts: 1222

JimBe1221 · Joined: 15 Jul 2013 Posts: 8

Yeah, I shot them an email today to find out about that service. Seems like it would be in high demand with the limited supply!

So you mentioned you are selling some players???

Rixrex · Joined: 28 May 2004 Posts: 1222

JimBe1221 · Joined: 15 Jul 2013 Posts: 8

Rixrex · Joined: 28 May 2004 Posts: 1222

That would be either an RCA 250, 300 or 400 series player. You can email me using the email button below.

Beetlescott · Joined: 03 Oct 2010 Posts: 2144

Welcome to this site both of the new guys!!!!
_________________
SGT-250
SGT-200
SFT-100
SKT-100

L8gr8harry · Joined: 17 Apr 2013 Posts: 78 Location: Charleston, SC

Welcome Gents,
Your in the right place, I have gotten two great players from Rixrex (looking to get more), and great movies from Beetlescott and Selectavision420. I have only been collecting a short time myself and the community here is great for helping out newbie's and long time collectors alike. Information, answers, and sound advise....good people.

Harry
_________________
SFT 100
SGT 075
Hitachi VIP 1000
The RJ Special
-Zenith VP 2000 (SGT 200)

JimBe1221 · Joined: 15 Jul 2013 Posts: 8

So I got a stylus from CEDATUM. Sadly, neither player worked just with another stylus.

Player A: Lubed up all the gears and the bearings. Everything seemed to be moving freely enough, but figured it couldn't hurt. When I put a disc in the picture shows but is very bad and there is no sound. The timer on the front just shows -- and never changes.

Player B: The pic and sound come on, but the arm moves across the disc very fast as though the stylus is bad. Being the wild and crazy guy I am I swapped the pick up arms. This unit now plays at the proper speed and has sound, but the pic is very bad with the colors going in and out and the pic being a bit fuzzy now and again. I thought about trying out the speed check strobe, but though I would run it by you all first as it doesn't exactly fit the "problem" as listed.

Player A: with the other pick up arm it behaved exactly the same. I will post some videos on youtube of what I am seeing if that would help in the diagnosing the problem!

Thanks!
Jim

Rixrex · Joined: 28 May 2004 Posts: 1222

Okay, since you have eliminated the common cause of these problems, the stylus, the other causes are a bit more complicated.

The player with bad pix and no sound and (--) for display sounds like a board problem, or some trouble in the circuitry responsible for converting the modulated signal from the stylus assembly into proper format for video/audio and display code.

The other player sounds as if the turntable drive belt is a bit slack and slipping. It can be tested with strobe, but one can also simply remove the belt off the pulley and from under the turntable and slip it around and over the turntable to get it out.

Then let it sit overnight in 100% ammonia to shrink it slightly. Before returning it to turntable, clean well the pulley and turntable sides where the belt runs, and then put the belt back on and try it out, as that could very well correct the turntable speed.

Nearly all players that I've had with this problem were fixed this way.

JimBe1221 · Joined: 15 Jul 2013 Posts: 8

So just for fun I swapped the belts and the arms again just to see what happens and the original arm still skips across the disc as though the stylus is bad. So I put the other arm back in and the color and sound are good, but the picture is very wavy and wiggles back and forth.

The copper on the arm and the little plate that holds the wheel from the donor machine look bad like they have been exposed to heat. They have a very black color to them and the plate actually had black residue on it that I cleaned off.

The original skipping arm looks great other than the skipping! Any thoughts on that? Could there be an adjustment that needs made? Or would it be easier to work with the arm that just has a wavy pic for now?

Thanks![/img]

JimBe1221 · Joined: 15 Jul 2013 Posts: 8

After watching the disc spin I'm suspecting that the disc is actually not spinning flat and might be the cause of the jerky picture. Can the platter get thrown off balance??

Rixrex · Joined: 28 May 2004 Posts: 1222

What kind of TV are you watching this on? Oddly enough, some modern TV sets will have this problem when viewing CEDs. I have seen this problem with perfectly good machines playing on certain modern TVs because the TV could not stabilize the signal. I'm only talking about the wavy picture machine, not the skipping one.

Might be a turntable issue, if all discs you play seem to have that same wobble. Could have happened in shipping or if it were dropped. Taking out the turntable is tricky because the two small screws that hold it in can easily get stripped with a phillips screwdriver that isn't proper size.

Another thing that causes skipping across the disc is when the stylus is not perpendicular to the disc. This can be checked by letting the stylus hand loose on the thin wire and see if it is hanging down evenly or canted to one side or the other. You have to be careful doing this so you don't break the thin wire.

If it is canted to the right or left, a small turn of the rivet at the top of the thin wire will bring it straight, using tiny needlenose.

Or perhaps the machine is getting some sort of signal to fast forward through the disc, but this is a small possibility. If you are watching this on a modern TV, like LCD, LED or Plasma, try hooking it up to an older CRT TV.

JimBe1221 · Joined: 15 Jul 2013 Posts: 8

Rixrex · Joined: 28 May 2004 Posts: 1222

Yeah, bad design on those screws. They should have been allen wrench heads.

Well, I don't expect a DLP to exhibit the unstable picture like the LCDs and Plasmas do. The newer sets are such that to display analog they have to have a really stong stable signal or they either flash blue screen, go dark, or just have an image like what you describe.

I once went through 3 different SJT 300 players before I found out it was the TV set and not the players. Once I hooked up a video enhancer that converted the CED video signal to digital HDMI, it looked perfect.