CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[hiro]

There's an eBay auction up right now for an SKT-090 player:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RCA-SelectaVision-Video-Disk-Player-Model-SKT-090-/161636854474?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item25a24eaaca

I'm looking at it as a prospective buy because I have no player for my CEDs and would like to grab one on the cheap. Honestly I'd rather have one with stereo and visual search capabilities, but as an introductory model this one doesn't seem too bad.

The issue described seems like it might be more trouble that it's worth, though. I'm going to assume it's an issue with the motorized loading mechanism. From the listing:

"I had bought this at auction being told it worked, when I got it home I hooked it up, put a record in it and it played the record but when it came time to reject I put the case back in expecting the record to come back out and it didn't..I took it apart and had to break the record to get it out..I is being sold as is and not working and for parts."

Any thoughts?

[hiro]

Okay, call me impulsive, call me impatient, just don't call me late for dinner.

I went ahead and bought that player in hopes that I'll be able to fix it up, my rationale being that it's an under-$50 investment and aside from the disc-eject issue it seems to be in working condition. I just hope the seller didn't mess up anything else while removing the stuck disc.

I'd still love to hear any feedback you folks have to offer though!

[SelectaVision420]

you dont have to break the disc to get it out. if it takes the disc in but doesnt reject it, and the belt isnt slipping, there is a possibility have a bad diode in the load circuit, im not sure, i dont think i have encountered a load but no unload. you have to take the cover of it off and watch it operate. worst comes to worse, you buy a higher model in the j/k series and you use the 90 for spare parts, if it is shipped without shipping locks, or screws consider it a lost cause.
_________________
(2)Sears 274 & 934(80150,10&11350), sft100, sgt250, sjt 090-400, vp550, VDR3000, VP2000 & 4000
complete '84 Dimensia Owner

[hiro]

Thanks for your thoughts!

I had the same reaction; they must have just gotten frustrated with the thing and decided the best way to remove the disc was in pieces. But if it went in, it only stands to reason that it can come out! I didn't see anything in the CED Magic repair guide about a disc just getting stuck in there, we'll have to see what it looks like when I get it.

I guess that's the phrase of the day with this unit... "we'll see!"

[SelectaVision420]

i was thinking, it is possible that the person didnt remove the shipping locks and tried to insert a disc. the door will still open with the locks inserted. he probably put a disc in it and when the mechanism went to lower the disc, it broke the drive pin ( fixable ) because the pins were locking it in place, and now it wont function to eject the disc.
_________________
(2)Sears 274 & 934(80150,10&11350), sft100, sgt250, sjt 090-400, vp550, VDR3000, VP2000 & 4000
complete '84 Dimensia Owner

[hiro]

That's an interesting possibility. It does look like it's seen some use, but the previous owner may have reinstalled the shipping locks before putting it up for sale...

[SelectaVision420]

[hiro]

That makes sense. I should be receiving the unit on Thursday, so I'll be sure to post a follow-up once I've had a chance to inspect its innards.

[hiro]

Okay, I got this player in the mail today. Either they didn't put it back together quite right or just didn't cushion it enough, because the front plate wasn't properly seated. There were a couple of tiny shards of plastic in the package that matched the color of the front plate, so I'm guessing some small part of it shattered. As long as it (eventually) works, though, I'm not so worried about cosmetics.

I haven't had a chance to pop it open yet and probably won't until later in the day, but when I plugged it in to see if it at least powered on, the display lit up with "--" and a motor started whirring and didn't stop. I'm not gonna mess around with it any more until I take off the case, since I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to do that (correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't it say "L" if it's waiting for a disc to be inserted?).

[SelectaVision420]

[hiro]

Will do, and I really appreciate the help! At the moment I'm working on removing the casing without breaking anything. I've got the four large screws removed from the underside and have popped off the face plate (and found my arch-nemesis, the ribbon cable, although this one doesn't look nearly as fragile as those used in modern electronics). I'm working on the assumption that the smaller screw on the underside holds something in that I don't need to remove at this point in the process.

I can't quite figure out if I'm supposed to slide the casing off toward the back of the unit, or pop it off at the sides and lift it off the top. Possible screw-ups by the previous owner are complicating things, because I don't know if it was put back on properly the last time it was opened.

EDIT: Annnnd I just found the instructions on this site saying I should remove the two screws from the BACK of the player, not the ones on the bottom. A little research goes a long way.

[hiro]

Okay, so... as soon as I got the casing off, it started working more normally. No constantly-spinning motor, and when I powered it on the display read "--" until the transfer rod lowered, then it blinked "L" and waited for a disc to be inserted. So far so good!

I popped in a disc I wasn't too attached to, and the loading mechanism grabbed the caddy as it should, extracted the tray and disc, and popped the caddy out for me to remove it. But when I did and the disc dropped onto the turntable, it missed the spindle. The turntable started spinning anyway, and when I nudged the disc over onto the spindle it made a pretty unpleasant noise. The stylus arm doesn't seem to move at all. The reject button didn't do anything (not sure if that button itself isn't working or if it was just ignoring it because it was trying to do something else first). I could power it off, but when I turned it back on the turntable would just start spinning again.

I ended up powering down the player, manually disengaging the clips from the tray at the back of the unit and lifting the disc up so I could get the caddy back in and pull the disc out. Now when I turn it on, I hear a faint hum but the display just reads "--" again. If I press the switch at the back that detects when a disc is inserted, the turntable starts to spin again until I press the power button twice. At this point, though, I can't get it to do anything else.

Another thing I thought was weird is that the door in the faceplate is always down, ready for a disc to be inserted. It doesn't budge when I try to move it manually either, so is it supposed to always be in that position or is it normally supposed to close until I'm loading/ejecting a disc?

I can take pictures of any parts needed to diagnose the issue tomorrow, but for now I'm just gonna hit the hay. Again, I appreciate anyone willing to help out with this process--I expect to learn quite a bit about how this machine works along the way, which is always a good thing!

[SelectaVision420]

[SelectaVision420]

[SelectaVision420]

here is a flow chart from one of my skt manuals, do me a favor and follow this chart as far as you can and maybe we can figure it out from there, because im getting mixed messages about what the symptom might be. if its not a problem with the gear train though the hopes of fixing it went down...
you can basically start in the center there where it says " does caddy rev direction?" then follow the no line and answer the rest of the questions as best as you can


_________________
(2)Sears 274 & 934(80150,10&11350), sft100, sgt250, sjt 090-400, vp550, VDR3000, VP2000 & 4000
complete '84 Dimensia Owner

[hiro]

[SelectaVision420]

just to be clear, the location of the shipping locks is the 2 holes under the face plate

the stylus arm is driven by a gear train, the only way to move it is by manually rolling one of the reduction gears, or letting the player do it (the only way to remove the stylus is to manually roll the gear forward until the transfer rod lowers an the stylus arm advances forward)

is the stylus in its "home" position? it should be hidden basically towards the face plate

before i go further, you really need to be patient with this, there are some fragile parts in the player that are hard to find. go slow and dont force stuff. and be careful of static electricity its easy to zap these boards
_________________
(2)Sears 274 & 934(80150,10&11350), sft100, sgt250, sjt 090-400, vp550, VDR3000, VP2000 & 4000
complete '84 Dimensia Owner

[SelectaVision420]

i noticed you said that the disc didnt fall down onto the spindle and you had to nudge it on.. im trying to think about this angle now, although this is sounding more like it was damaged in shipping. shipping one of these with out shipping locks is a real bad idea...
_________________
(2)Sears 274 & 934(80150,10&11350), sft100, sgt250, sjt 090-400, vp550, VDR3000, VP2000 & 4000
complete '84 Dimensia Owner

[hiro]

Ah, okay... nope, no screws or shipping locks then.

The stylus isn't in the home position right now; I can roll the gear like you mentioned (while the unit is powered off) to get it all the way back under the face plate, but as soon as it's plugged in the stylus arm moves back out, presumably to start playing the disc it thinks is there.

Aside from the disc not falling onto the spindle, as far as I can tell I was able to replicate the issue the previous owner had. He was able to get it to play a disc, it just wouldn't give up the disc when he was done. So from my (admittedly inexperienced in this area) point of view, it seems like there was something wrong with it to begin with (ejecting) and now there might be another problem caused by damage during shipping (loading). Joy!

I've been pretty ginger with it thus far, since if it's possible I'd rather fix it up than use it for parts. Although thinking about it now, if there are any hard-to-find plastic parts, it might be possible to 3D print replacements. Just an observation for possible future reference, since I have two relatives who own 3D printers.

[SelectaVision420]

[hiro]

I'll keep that in mind... hopefully the pickups are still good, since I'd imagine those can't be easily replaced.

[kitchensynch]

Will my SGT 075 lend any parts Hiro needs?

And you should look closely at the lid and check to see if it's flat placing weight on them tends to warp/bow them over time, they aren't meant for stacking).

Since you state that some of the problem goes away when the lid is off, this sounds possible.
_________________
A New Vista of RCA Victor COLOR!

[SelectaVision420]

[hiro]

[hiro]

So, hopefully I haven't just invited more of a headache, but I couldn't pass up the chance to snag a cheap SJT-400 on eBay. It was listed as-is for parts, but the seller noted that it powered on and no further testing was done. I did ask them to make sure screws were installed in the shipping lock slots on this one just to be safe. It looks like it's in good cosmetic condition, so I'm hoping that it won't be in bad functional condition either.

Either way, hopefully between these two players I'll be able to cobble together something that works. I'll also be able to compare and contrast how things look in the two machines, which might help me diagnose any problems!

[kitchensynch]

[hiro]

I did try looking for that when I saw it mentioned elsewhere on the forum, but I haven't had any success finding it. Do you know what the listing title would be by any chance? I'd love to pick that up.

[kitchensynch]

I'm not finding it either...I'm not one to copy stuff like this that was meant as their current and direct bread and butter, it would also be time consuming with only Windows Movie Maker but if I just go look in the other room!

This disc is copyright 2004!

You know, I had to persuade him to keep at it when I got it from him...he DID for a while...did he just give up?

I've been thinking of taping it too. He placed a printed sheet with a table of contents in the case too.
_________________
A New Vista of RCA Victor COLOR!

[kitchensynch]

This is as close as you may get to the DVD...

http://www.ebay.com/gds/RCA-Videodisc-Keeping-Them-Working-/10000000001829775/g.html

I hope that helps. This members account is closed. Their feedback is short and has no real immediate clue as to what they may have sold but they wrote a detailed guide. Tom or one of the rest of us would have to vouch for it's usefulness. There aren't enough items to even suggest they sold the DVD, at least not from THAT account.
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A New Vista of RCA Victor COLOR!

[SelectaVision420]