CED Digest Vol. 5 No. 4

CED Digest Vol. 5 No. 4 • 1/29/2000
From: "Peter Veach" <pete>
To: <digest@cedmagic.com>
Subject: Remote for SKT400
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2000 17:12:11 -0600
Importance: Normal

I just picked up an SKT400 sans remote control unit.

Are there any off the shelf universal remotes that will work with this unit?

Thanks

-Pete

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2000 11:17:17 -0600
To: digest@cedmagic.com
From: Aimee Glassel <aglassel>
Subject: videodisc transfer to digital
Cc: Aimee Glassel <aglassel>

[NOTE: Please reply to me directly as I am not subscribed to this
list - aglassel@cs.wisc.edu]

I am trying to find out information about digitizing a videodisc. I
have a videodisc of 20,000 images made from 16mm film and now need to
digitize those images - preferably directly from the videodisc.

Does anyone know of any vendors/businesses that do this?

Thanks.

Aimee Glassel
aglassel@cs.wisc.edu

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2000 12:21:55 -0800
To: digest@cedmagic.com
From: Tom Howe <ceds@teleport.com>
Subject: Re: Remote for SKT400

Pete and All:

There are programmable remotes on Ebay going for about $5 each that provide
most of the control functions for the 400-series players. These are
76-button CRK55B units, and there are a couple Ebay sellers regularly offering
these, one of whom indicated he has an almost unlimited supply. The remotes
are late generation tabletop models, and the surplus may have arisen when
RCA switched to handhelds in the early 90's. These can be code programmed
to control a variety of of VCRs and cable boxes, although the VCR2 button
needs to be left at the default to control the 400 player. Here are URLs to
the sellers (cyberads2000 and buy) who have auctions up now:

<http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=ViewListedItems&useri
d=cyberads2000&include=0&since=-1&sort=2&rows=200>

<http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=ViewListedItems&useri
d=buy&include=0&since=-1&sort=2&rows=200>

Note that seller cyberads2000 has both CRK55B and CRK55R models up for
auction. The later is a Proscan model with a lot of the buttons missing,
including the REPT button that permits programming a band or time sequence
that repeats.

KEY EQUIVALENTS BETWEEN 400 REMOTE (CRK36A OR CRK36B) AND CRK55B:

CRK36		CRK55B (set to VCR2)
-----		------
0 - 9		0 - 9
PROG		PROG
SEEK		SEEK
TIME		TIME
BAND		BAND
CLEAR		CLEAR
PREV		N/A
PAGE		N/A
NEXT		N/A
TV/DISC		ANT
PLAY		PLAY->
REPEAT		REPT
PAUSE		PAUSE
AUDIO		SAP
REJECT		STOP
VISUAL<-	N/A
VISUAL->	N/A
HI SPEED<-	"K" (BUT BLANKED)
HI SPEED->	"M" (BUT BLANKED)
DISPLAY		STATUS
MEMORY		MEMO

So all functions are available except PAGE (and previous/next page) plus
the two visual search speeds. On interactive discs the PLAY-> button can be
substituted for NEXT by tapping it lightly, although there isn't a way to
move backwards through a sequence of pages. The "K" and "M" keys when
pressed actually initiate a seek towards the previous/next band but with
most discs being unbanded, these perform the equivalent of the blanked high
speed search on RCA's 100 and 200 series players. Note that the "M" key
will seek to the end of the disc and initiate reject if you don't press
PLAY-> at some time before that. In any case, it's actually advantageous to
use blanked search over visual, as kicking the stylus over the groove
ridges causes slight ridge damage that accumulates over time. RCA was aware
of this and would have minimized it in later players as detailed in US
Patent No. 4587570 in the CED Patents Table.

Another interesting items that cyberads2000 has up for auction now is an
RCA camcorder character generator. I got one of these on the chance that
its character generator chip is identical to the OSD chip in the 400-series
players, and though both IC's are 24-pin, one is made by Motorola and the
other by Hitachi; so they don't appear to be identical. But this unit is a
nice add-on to RCA camcorders from the CED era.

--Tom
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