CED Digest Vol. 2 No. 41

CED Digest Vol. 2 No. 41 • 10/11/1997
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 1997 00:38:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: Larry Scott
To: Tom Howe <ceds@teleport.com>
Subject: Pioneer cartridge laservision system?

I apologise for asking another laserdisc-related question in this CED
magazine, but again I feel this would be the best place to get a
knowledgeable answer:

My friend has a Pioneer laserdisc player he picked up used somewhere, and
he's looking to possibly sell it.  It is a large unit, that plays both
laserdiscs and CD's.  It also has an opening on the bottom left where some
form of cartridges can be installed, but he has none of these cartridges
with the unit. He thinks there may be a cartridge that allows the player
to play turbografx-16 software.. but he's not sure.  I've heard of a
Pioneer unit called a "Laseractive" player..  Would this be such a beast,
and if so, what capabilities does it have?  Unfortunately I don't have a
model # handy, but I'll try to get it next time I'm over there.  Also, how
hard is it to find the cartridges this unit uses?

Thanks..
Larry

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 07 Oct 1997 10:47:35 -0600
From: David Potochick
To: ceds@teleport.com
Subject:  CED Movie For Trade!!!

I would like to trade the CED movie "Ordinary People" for another CED
movie. This is a 2 disc movie and basically I don't like it that much.  I
thought that someone out there might like this movie and I would like to
make a fair trade. The movie is in good condition. So, send me your
offers.... I figure that a CED for a CED is a fair trade. 

Send me an offer of any movie you are willing to trade... However, here
are some CED's I would like to trade for......

TRON
Rock And Roll High School
Surf 2 
Fast Times At Ridgemont High

But, basically just send me the best offer that you can.... 

I will contact the person with the movie that I am interested in..... 

Later,

Dave.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 1997 15:40:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: return
To: ceds@teleport.com
Subject:  Question stylus...

    Regarding defective Stylus Cartridges...

   I have a fair amount of stylus cartridges from the SGT series and SJT
series players which are defective.. I have been keeping them..  I would
like to know how to recondition them?  Some techniques have been suggested
to me by others. People who have experience with these things.. One
method described to me regarding the bending of the end of the stylus
slightly above the stylus tip up above the area where the copper ribbon
contacts the end of the stylus...  I have been told by several people that
when nothing else works.. that this sometimes brings life back to the
cartridge when you've got nothing else to loose.

  Which brings me to the question??  What other techniques are others
aware of that restores or repairs a stylus???  Surely, there must be
"someone" who knows of a method, or a technique that is workable...

    It seems perfectly logical to me that there is indeed a way.  It seems
somewhat obvious that there would be some sort of manipulation, or
repairing technique of some sort..... Would anyone out there care to
enlighten everyone else?????

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 1997 15:53:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jesse Skeen
To: Tom Howe <ceds@teleport.com>
Subject: Re: CED Digest Vol. 2 No. 40

I would be all for becoming a "part-owner" of what remains of the 
patented system, just so that whatever equipment still exists (like the 
disc-pressing unit) is taken care of instead of thrown out as "junk". I 
still think the most important future consideration is making sure 
there's enough parts to keep the existing players working for as long as 
possible. It WOULD be really cool to be able to make a few new discs just 
for fun, but I don't know what practical use that would serve ("Men in 
Black" on CED???) Remember the format died because there WAS no practical 
use for it, since you already had laserdiscs, and even tapes, that were 
better quality than CED. But that's the reason I like it so much :)
Is there anyone with graphics capabilites and a lot of free time on their 
hands who would want to make pictures of what the covers of current 
movies might look like on CED? I could already imagine "The Lion King" 
complete with the red and yellow circle around the picture that RCA's 
Disney movies all had. I have a picture someone made of what the Jurassic 
Park laserdisc cover would have looked like if they still used the "MCA 
DiscoVision" label!
I've also wondered if CEDs were still being made today if they would have 
made the caddies transparent, like most audio cassette packaging is now. 
I also wonder if they would've eventually put stereo signals on every 
disc regardless of whether or not the movie was really in mono; I'm kind 
of annoyed that the mono films with the later RCA opening didn't have 
that in stereo. (When one TV station here started broadcasting in stereo, 
they turned the signal on ONLY for stereo programs, and kept it off the 
rest of the time! They often forgot to turn it on sometimes too, they 
finally kept it on all the time after I complained!)
One more thought about the magic word "Digital": The cover of Gone with 
the Wind says "Digitally Enhanced for Stereo", and the back cover of 
Purple Rain mentions the album is available on "Compact Digital Discs". I 
have a Columbia House 8-track of the 1982 version of "Fantasia" (where 
they re-recorded all the music) which says "New Digital Recording" on the 
cover, the only 8-track I've ever seen to have that word on it!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Zach D."
To: Tom Howe <ceds@teleport.com>
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 1997 00:17:36 -0500
Subject: Re: CED Digest Vol. 2 No. 40

Hi...

This is an automatic reply from ZACHD

As of Friday, October 3rd I will be on my way to sunny
Deleware for a weeks vacation. I will be back on Wednesday, October 
the 15th.

If we have a pending deal, please do not panic!!  I apologize
for the inconvenience that will occur from me not being here 
to package and ship whatever it is we may have pending.  I only get
to take some time off once a year, so please bare with me until I get
back.

You can email me at : WSMITHIV@UDEL.EDU   

I will check that 1 or 2 times while gone and would be glad
to hear from any of you guys.

Thanks and enjoy your day, week, and month.
Zach D.

TTYL,
ZD

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 09 Oct 1997 17:53:39 -0400
From: Mark Fisher 
To: ceds@teleport.com
Subject: selling 5000 ced disc.

Selling 5000 ced disc

  I've got over 5000 disc to sell.  Pls send your want list.  The more
disc then the better.  I have to drive a round trip of 5 hrs to get to
the storage location on the weekends to pick them up... so the more
orders I get in the more I can get them picked out and justify my trip
(Gas, Time, Work, Wear and tear on me and the Car).

   I am trying to put together and inventory sheet of what I got.. It
will take a while, because it will be very tedious, and meticulous to
do. That will take some time.. (and work)

 I'm asking $6 a disc
 '''''''''' $10 for new sealed (shrink wrapped) discs
 I will try to figure a way to give a better deal for those who order
 Large numbers of disc. (I'm still figuring that out)
   I've got dupes of certain titles...
   Many dupes of others..
the buyer pays for the shipping...
If some people want 20 disc picked at random (and sent out in a box)
I could do that to (if someone wanted that)
   I'll try to work with you the best I can..
      Sent your list.
ph #423-524-4143  or e-mail me...  I work and go to school so leave a
message on my machine if you have to...    thanx..........

------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: DPC16
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 1997 19:31:52 -0400 (EDT)
To: ceds@teleport.com
Subject: The Future of CED's * Part Three

Dear Fellow CED Enthusiast's,

As in the last CED Digest, I stated there being ways to help bring back the
CED.  If you missed that article, there is a brief and revised edition below.
 Join me, Daniel P. Cayea, Operations Officer at Telecom Technologies
Incorporated in this almost futile fight.  Write me on how to send donations,
write or call Thompson Consumer Electronics, even better call or write
General Electric who bought out RCA Corporation in 1987, and we will 'Bring
this good thing back to life!'  One thing that I have learned from past
experience from other entertainment medias is that if complains enough, they
eventually give in to demand.  I will try to keep you posted as events
unfold.  

Daniel P. Cayea
Telecom Technologies Incorporated
2841 First Street
Lyon Mountain, New York

The CED Future

	The capacitance electronic disc or ced as it is known has been a long
forgotten technology to many who were once aware of it.  It has long been
obsolete since it was stopped being manufactured in 1984 by RCA Corporation. 
Although RCA Corporation is long gone, as well with the CED dream that the
company carried, there are however many persons who still have CED machines
and the discs that go with them.  They are abandoned, with no one to turn to
ever.
Since RCA stopped manufacture and they were bought out by General Electric,
users of CED discs and machines had no place to turn since GE or Thompson
Consumer Electronics (The GE subsiduary that controls RCA today.)  do not
support CED.  However this can change and will change if CED users join
together.
	VHS, Laserdisc, and Satellite Television have taken today's market by
storm leaving little or no room for obsolete medias such as Beta, CED, and
even
reel-to-reel players an recorders.  With these new thecnologies out there
today
who wants and old and potentially outdated system like CED.  Even with this
truth
there are least 200,000 people in the United States who have CED players that
are still functioning  today.  How long will they last?  This is the question
that has
long eluded many, since neither GE or Thompson will provide support or parts
for
these machines, in time they will eventually wear out.  It has been rumored
that
before RCA Corporation was bought out, they had compiled a large stock of
replacement parts and needles.  This is true, but the supply is dwindling and
will
(estimated by the year 2005 at minimal usage) soon be out. How exactly will
this
be stopped?  At the current time it cannot be stopped.
	The only way that this diminishing supply of CED parts and supplies can
be restocked is to find someone to manufacture the parts and supplies.  No
one
carries or supplies them anymore.  This maybe a truth for now but can soon
change.  The estimated 200,000 CED users left could join together to create a
financial fund a purchase  the rights to the capacitance electronic disc
system,
including disc manufacturing stampers.  Most people would think that this is
an
insane act, if one person would attempt to purchase the rights, they would be
correct  However 200,000 people could accomplish such a feat with no trouble
whatsoever.  So it is only a matter of time when CED user's join together to
re-establish the use of CED into the entertainment world.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Oct 1997 09:54:20 -0400
From: donald baraf
To: Tom Howe <ceds@teleport.com>
Subject: Re: CED Digest Vol. 2 No. 40

OK as a hobby it's fun.  But the quality is really lousy.  Why would
anyone want to spend money to press discs that don't have half the
quality of a laserdisc or a DVD?  I'd join in just to get someone to fix
the machine since I have a bunch of them and a bunch of discs that I
can't play.  Would love to hear from you if you get any serious replies.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Oct 1997 22:38:38 -0700
From: Tom Howe
To: ceds@teleport.com
Subject: RE: Pioneer LaserActive

Larry:

I recently put up a web page on the Pioneer LaserActive system for another
project I'm working on. This consists of a photo of the CLD-A100 player and
Pioneer's intro press release from 1993. Here's the URL:

http://www.teleport.com/~ceds/tech-info/laseractive-press-release.html

This press release bears a strong resemblence to RCA's initial output on the
CED System in 1981; i.e. much higher expectations than what actually came to pass.
By 1995 LaserActive was dead and the local Incredible Universe sold off their
players for $299 which included the Sega PAC, Pyramid Patrol Mega LD, Disney's
Fantasia Box Set, and an 8" LaserActive promotional disc. The LaserActive titles
were originally $120 or $180 (3-D releases), and these eventually got reduced
to $30. The basic player was widely available through liquidators like Damark for
a while, but I believe they are all gone now. The Sega PAC is by far the most
common, and in addition to the TurboGraphx and Karaoke PAC's, Pioneer also
released a PAC-PC1 for computer interfacing. In the end, only three LD-ROM titles
and fifteen Mega LD titles were released, with the two 1995 releases, "Blue 
Chicago Blues" and "Goku" being quite rare. I had a very difficult time locating
"Goku" which is a shame, since this title really showcases what LaserActive was
capable of when a lot of effort was devoted to the programming (a hint to DVD
developers).

--Tom Howe
Previous Digest | Next Digest | Volume 2 Index | CED Magic Home