CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[lynx]

Greetings to every one at cedmagic.com.



I just joined this web site today, and I am not exactly sure how it works, so please be patient with me.



My old RCA Selectavision video disc player is malfunctioning, and I am searching for someone located in the southern California area who I can hire to repair it. Since this product is very old & obscure, I do not know who is able to work on it, or any one who is even familiar with it; therefore, I do not know who else to turn to but this web site.



I do not know anything about computers or electronics, or how to repair or service them, so any help would be much appreciated. I can also provide my E-mail address to contact me.



Thank you very much!

[jsdspif]

I would say contact cedatum.com they may be willing to work on it for you but be prepared to spend money, because seeing you are on the west coast and they're in Indiana I imagine shipping the player to them and having it shipped back to you would probably be in the $100 round trip, that's just for shipping, any parts and repairs would then cost extra. It may help us a little to know what player you have and what exactly is not working. Might also help to know why you want to get it working.

[lynx]

[jsdspif]

I think you can remove your stylus/cartridge by sliding an access panel on top of the player and then opening the cover on the cartridge arm and remove the cartridge/stylus. You can either download a service manual or just google search and probably find images for it. Package the stylus/cartridge well and send it to cedatum and they will clean and inspect it for free and then tell you if it needs repaired or rebuilt and advise you of the charge. It's possible the stylus cartridge may have been bad from the start.

[lynx]

[jsdspif]

good deal, at least you're pretty sure the cartridge is good. If it were mine at this point I would know it has to be opened up and worked on. I'd probably just start right off cleaning and lubricating the turntable shaft and the motor and then check the turntable speed. I know if the speed is off by very much it can cause the strange color issues, and it could also p-lay properly part of the time and improperly at other times, but unfortunately I know that isn't much help to you. One of the "quirks" with these players seems to be you almost have to know how to work on them if you want to use them. It's possible someone could buy one and have it work properly but I think more often than not they need work.
Is there a specific disc you want to watch that you aren't able to find in another format or is it just "I want this player to work"? I don't know who works on them besides cedatum but the big factor in that is packaging it very well so hopefully it would survive the shipping and the cost involved in the shipping there and back and then the repair charges, which the work I've had cedatum do for me I consider very reasonable, especially after I did the same modification on a player that they did for me on another player and it was quite labor intensive, but the shipping charges to get the front panel of the player there and back kind of make it worth it for me to do it myself. But cedatum has no control over shipping prices. Someone may chime in on other repair people but as I said, cedatum is the only place I know to have them worked on.

[dumbchemist]

I just checked my copy of "Complete Guide to Laser/Videodisc Player Troubleshooting and Repair" (available from Amazon.com). It states that the Time-Base-Corrector needs work. There is a section about fixing Changing Color (Changing Tint) which seems to be what you are experiencing.

What I would do is get the above book and lend the book and the player to a good electronics shop. They should be able to figure out what is wrong and fix the player. The repair needs an oscilloscope and DVM.to track down the problem. (Home repair orobably would not work here.)

Hope this helps.
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GEN10301
RCA SJT-200 SJT-400
DiskLord DP-830

[lynx]

Thank you both for the suggestions, it really helps a lot!



I have done some quick research on this web site, to try & figure out what is wrong with my CED player, but I could never figure it out on my own, and it was frustrating. I had my CED player shipped to someone back east to be repaired a few years ago, but my guess is that he was not thorough in his workmanship. I ruled out every other possible culprit for the colour issue:



I know the problem is not the disc because it does the same thing on every disc I play.



I know it is not the television because it did the same on my old analogue TV that it is now doing on my new Samsung LED HDTV.



I know that it is not the RF cable because it did the same thing on my previous RF cable that it is doing with my new RF cable.



Finally, I know that it is not my physical location because I moved a few years ago, and it does the same thing in my new house that it did at my previous residence.



I really just want this player to work right because I am fascinated with CED technology & history, and I have a fairly big collection of discs that I really like to watch. Unlike some of the other collectors, I only have one CED player, and I really only want one reliable player to watch my discs on. I am not skilled with player repair, so I am trying to find a competent technician to work on my player. I am not quite sure, but I may have a few disc titles that are unavailable in any other audio-visual format. I have some music titles & some Disney titles that I think may be out of print & never re-released on other formats.



I will definitely buy the Complete Guide To Laser/Videodisc Player Troubleshooting & Repair from Amazon to loan to the technician I hire to service my player. I also have a rare RCA dealer-only disc that is used to repair players; it was Featured CED VideoDisc No. 43 - Winter 2007. I have never used it before; I got it from the same yard sale where I bought my player back in 2012. I was going to order a service manual for my player from Sams Technical Publishing, but this manual may be more helpful.



I can not thank both of you enough for the suggestions, and happy Fourth Of July!

[dumbchemist]

I should have mentioned the pages in the book I referenced. Go to page 260 for Introduction to CED Troubleshooting and page 286 for the Time-Base-Corrector Troubleshooting.
_________________
Sears 934.54780150 & 934.54810350
CED-1
Hitachi: VIP2000, 3-VIP1000, VIP201P
GEN10301
RCA SJT-200 SJT-400
DiskLord DP-830

[lynx]

[Beetlescott]

[lynx]

[Beetlescott]

I have been thinking, and It may be less expensive for you, if you could find a player from one of the guys who are are trustworthy, one that is working, and if you get a similar to the one you have.and then you could learn from it, and even use a working player, and get yours working that way. Just a thought. Maybe save money. I'm sure that one of the guys on here would have one for sale. Good luck to you. Another thing, if you think you might be interested, I can check and see if John might have a player like yours for sale, I'd be happy to pick one up, and ship it to you myself.
_________________
SGT-250
SGT-200
SFT-100
SKT-100

[lynx]

[Beetlescott]

Will do, and ill get back to you. Take care.
_________________
SGT-250
SGT-200
SFT-100
SKT-100

[lynx]

[kitchensynch]

Well, semi-dang.

We had a member in the Bay Area who was a total wizard, but after a terrible car wreck we all lost track of him.

We do have Jesse Skeen in San Diego I believe it is. You might know him on You Tube as EyeH8NBC I think it is as well.
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A New Vista of RCA Victor COLOR!