CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[Chicago Guy]

Hi. I am brand new to this site but wanted to ask if anyone knew of anyone that has the ability to transfer CED movies onto DVD format? My dad and I just recently found hundreds of movies we use to watch when I was a kid. We even have the player still but it doesn't work. Anyone know of anywhere that might be able to have movies transfered or even the player fixed?

Would love to hear from anyone who might know.

Thanks!!!

Chris

[Smoky Pond]

It can be done, but it would sure take a lot of time (but not really much effort).

Having a 3rd party do it would probably be cost prohibitive. And asking someone to burn up more than 200 hours playing time on their prized CED player and stylus would probably not be well received. But if if you acquire another player or have yours serviced, then purchase your own DVR/DVD recorder and do it yourself, I think that you'll find the results to be quite good.

I have a Sony RDR HX715 HDD DVR/DVD recorder that I've used to make DVD copies of some of the CED titles that are not currently available in any other format (Fleetwood Mac's '82 Mirage Tour; Memories of CED - or - Thanks for the Memories...; etc.). In my opinion, the results are nothing short of spectacular!

Here are the steps that I follow to record a CED:

First, if the CED hasn't been played recently, I'll play it all the way through. This tends to "clean" the disc of any intermittent skipping that may occur.

Next, I'll take a a quick look at the quality of the disc playback. If I see any herringbone-like interference or excess video noise, I'll remove the stylus and clean it with alcohol and a small fine-haired paint-brush.

Now, I'm ready to record the CED to the DVR HDD. I use the A/V outputs of my SKT-400 CED player. If you use a player with just RF out, you won't get Stereo audio and may lose some video quality. I use my recorders Standard Play (SP) recording quality mode, which provides 2 hours of program content on a DVD-R/+R (use -R blank discs if you can - they're generally more compatible with older DVD players). SP is is more than sufficient for a CED. In fact, due to the recorders time-base correction, the adjustable video noise filtering and video equalizer settings, the final product looks much better than the original!

I then edit out the disc-flip/swap pauses and combine all the sides (1, 2, 3 and more) - sometimes!

Finally, I title the recordings and burn the edited titles to DVD.


Matt

[Guest]

Sorry there Chicago Guy! It appears that I didn't really answer your question completely in my last post!

If you just want to watch those old movies, your best option would be to have your player serviced, or purchase a working CED player off eBay. I personally recommend any of the RCA models that begin with an SJ or SK.

Those movies should play fine if they haven't been abused.

One of the neat things about the CED players is that they have an RF OUT connector. That's hard to find on any of today's video equipment. RF OUT will allow you to watch the discs on an old TV set. We have an SJT-100 CED player connected to our 1947 RCA Model 648PV rear-projection TV that I restored several years ago. It's a great setup for watching any of the old black & white classics!

Matt

[Jesse Skeen]

I have the Philips DVR-985 and have transferred a number of the rarer CED titles to DVD with it. I have a mint-condition SGT-250 that I got last year that had never been used until I hooked it up. The DVD recorder will not record anything if there's no signal, and the CED player does not put out a signal when there is no disc playing, so side changes are seamless- at the end of a side the recording automatically stops til the next side starts playing. I can then put in chapter marks on the DVD- if it's a banded disc I'll put them wherever the bands were, otherwise I put them wherever I want. The discs coming off the Philips start out with a menu screen that you have to push "Enter" on to start playing, so I get rid of that on the computer with DVDShrink- I have it take out the menu but not compress the disc any further, so the end result is a DVD that plays right away and stops at the end (I've always hated how most movie DVDs make you go through a stupid menu before you can start the actual movie!)

I have just about every CED title, so if there's something that anyone wants to see on DVD that hasn't appeared on any other format just ask! (I don't have any of the RCA Video Communications or Aloha Conference discs, so if anyone wants to give me those to put on DVD )
_________________
Videodisc and stereo sound- there's no better value around!

[cbertra2]

I have a Panasonic DMR-E85H DVR. I transfer the CED's over to the hard drive then edit. After editing I burn the movie onto a DVD. I always put the name of the movie on a thumbnail and put in the year and the length next to the thumbnail. I use my CED Magic CD ROM disc to get the front and back picture of the CED. I then insert the pictures onto a DVD cover template and print then on A4 size paper. When I'm done the DVD case looks like a miniture CED. The quality of the DVD is always better than the original CED.

Charles in Indy

[systemcat]

Use a TV card, with the card I use:

48 min. under bitrate 2065
49 min. to 54 min. bitrate 2390
55 min to 60 min. bitrate 2585

this works for the second smallest screen size
use MPEG-2