CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[deckhanddavy]

Howdy folks!

First off, nice meeting you all and you have no idea how nice it is having this community available to discuss and reclaim a lost technology, CED. I went to a toy swap meet in Houston this past weekend and picked up a Sears CED player and 5 movies. I had NEVER heard of this technology, and being a person who loves tech and gadgets of new and old, it was refreshing having discovered CED for the first time. I picked up the set for 15 bucks, despite the player not working (I found this out after taking it home). I tell myself that it was a $15 door pass to discovering a whole new hobby

Anyhoo, I immediately went to ebay last night and added some discs and a player to my ebay cart. Was hesitant at first, but after some thinking, Ipurchased a nice player and over 70 titles a few hours ago from that cart. The player is a RCA Selectavision SGT-250 purchased from blindfury420. After some ebay research and finding his youtube channel, he seems to be a serious video and CED hobbyist and was pretty much what made me decide to drop a couple bills on a completely serviced CED player. I would bet he posts here on the forums too, so if you do, thanks!

Now, to my question. I'm a hi-fi enthusiast as well. I love new and vintage sound signatures. Vinyl can compete with the best if you have the right vinyl and equipment. I want to know if CED vinyl can produce hi quality audio that audio vinyl or LPs do. I have a media room that I plan on setting up my new CED player in along with a couple concerts, which leads into my next question. Are CED concerts mastered well? From your experience, how do they sound? I'm really curious about this question for those of you who have a higher end audio setup. I absolutely cannot find anything on the internet relating to its audio quality.

Other than that, I cannot wait until I have this system setup. I have a nice sized projector screen and am hoping for a new and exiting cinema experience.

Thanks for reading. -Dave
_________________
gamrz.com

[blindfury420]

Hi Dave! Welcome to the community! I do in fact frequent these forums!

Now I cant speak for all the concert/audio disc's but it depends highly on the condition of your disc. If the disc is great the audio can sound amazing on a true stereo system! Beetlescott and a few others can testify on how great they really can sound!

The mastering part I am not so sure of
_________________
I dont own

McMicheal 5001h
Hitachi VIP202P
JCP 686-5705
RCA SKT265, SKT300
RCA SJT400X, SJT425

[deckhanddavy]

[kitchensynch]

The transfer of the STEREO CED intro disc on You Tube sounds phenomemal, but for the usual suspects of aliasing artifacts that have nothing to do with the original disc-it's a digital transfer problem caused by inexperience or perhaps a You Tube issue at the time of the upload (May, 2009)! The best cases in point are the Paul Simon In Concert and Blondie-Eat To The Beat segments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQtckgu7liM 2:30 for a couple seconds is the Blondie segment and 6:30 for Rock Concerts but the poster 'scoped the Dickens out of it for time constraints, I know Paul Simon is in one of the preview discs.
_________________
A New Vista of RCA Victor COLOR!

[kitchensynch]

Here we go...ironicaly 'eyeh8nbc' on YT does the RCA *owned NBC then* stereo CED intro disc more justice and includes Paul Simon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2v6Wy59t68

Remember that there were not many stereo video choices in late 1983 and MTS stereo, HiFi VCRs and DVDs as well as widespead use of any consumer surround sound equipment was still not in general use at the time...

And do also remember that while ABC's coverage of the 1984 LA Summer Olympic Games marked the first official use of MTS stereo and Second Audio Program (SAP), NBC was the first network to jump with both feet in the ring and offer a full lineup of MTS broadcasts to it's affiliates and viewers.

PS Wasn't PIPPIN a trip?
_________________
A New Vista of RCA Victor COLOR!

[deckhanddavy]

Very cool! Thanks, kitchensynch! Yeah, I've seen the first demo disc on youtube, but not the 2nd one you posted. Very nice!
_________________
gamrz.com

[cbertra2]

Twist of Fate by Olivia Newton John has really good stereo sound.

[kitchensynch]

That's a movie isn't it? Also generally panned critically... There is a music video or concert with her though maybe (related to the Physical album)?
_________________
A New Vista of RCA Victor COLOR!

[cbertra2]

[Mayor West]

Thanks for those links. I hadn't thought to comb youtube yet, as I too am brand new to this medium.

Pippin...Pippin?...Pippin?!

Also, I often read that certain edits or transfers of film are unique and at one time could only be found on laserdisc. Is this also the case for some stuff on CED's? Thanks.

[ketonic_dude]

First off, deckhanddavy, welcome. You will not be disapointed with your recent discovery and purchases. We all think CED is amazing and we hope you will too.

Secondly, I think a lot of audio/concerts actually sounds better when heard from medium of it's time. For example, the Beatles White Album sounds far better on vinyl then on CD. So I would say that most of the concert CED's are both audibly and visually more appealing then if you were to find it on say DVD. I have gone as far as locating a RCA MSR-130 receiver and RCA SPK-100 speakers of the same year as the SJT-400 and Digital Command Center TV that I have for my CED setup. I think it sounds amazing.

Lastly, Mayor West, you are correct. For example the movie The Hobbit, has all the sound effects and background music on it but for some reason they cut a lot of that out on the VHS and DVD versions. Not really sure why. I'm sure there are other CED's where that is the case as well.