CED Digest Vol. 4 No. 32

CED Digest Vol. 4 No. 32 • 8/14/1999
From: "Peter Veach"
To: <ceds@teleport.com>
Subject: CD Rom
Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 07:16:47 -0500

>>I would strongly encourage all of you to order the CD-ROM that Tom has put
together. All that is required is a computer and you will have a lot of fun
looking at all the titles that were once available as well as video clips
and
audio. I got into CED from the start back in the early 80's and remember a
lot of good titles I saw but never did buy.<<

I ordered the CD Rom and some Belts from Tom about a week ago. Looking
forward to recieving them.

-Pete

------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Peter Veach"
To: <ceds@teleport.com>
Subject: Skipping
Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 07:26:34 -0500

>>I'm still new at this, but I've noticed that if the label on the caddy
is bubbled and in crappy condition the disc inside is pretty skippy.
Has anyone else noticed this too? there are a few exceptions, but for
the most part for me this is dead on. I just bought the original
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS from someone on eBay and the caddy and
label are in excellent condition and there are just a handful of skips
on the disc, and all in the same spot. If you have noticed this too,
let me know.<<

After buying a couple of dozen disc's, I can say that I have some disc's
with pretty good caddy lables that still skip like mad. However, many of the
disc's that play well also have very nice lables.  Sooo, while no gurantee,
a good lable may indicate a disc that was properly cared for.

It seems to me that the discs which had a better life and skip, can be
cleared up more easily with multiple plays. A disc I played yesterday
skipped almost steady on the first play but was almost perfect on the second
play.

Skipping seems to be part of life with CED's as far as I can tell. I have a
couple of New disc's I have not watched yet.... Maybe those won't skip at
all?

Half the fun it finding disc's which play well :)

-Pete

------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Matt Hawthorne"
To: <ceds@teleport.com>
Subject: Re: CED Digest Vol. 4 No. 31
Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1999 16:41:28 -0400

Yesterday I went into a junk shop and found 189 discs! They were $5 each but
I asked the store clerk if we could make a deal. She finally said I could
take them all for $100!!

What a buy!

Here's the list (I hope you don't mind):

 10
 48 Hrs.
 The African Queen
 Airplane!
 Alice in Wonderland
 Alien
 Altered States
 Any Which Way You Can
 Arthur
 The Beach Girls
 The Beastmaster
 The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
 Big Bad Mama
 The Black Hole
 Blame It On Rio
 Blow Out
 The Blue Lagoon
 Blue Thunder
 Blues Brothers, The (2 of 2 only)
 Bob Welch and Friends - Live from the Roxy
 The Boys from Brazil
 The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie
 Caddyshack
 Carnal Knowledge
 Cat People
 Citizen Kane
 Clash of the Titans
 Cloak & Daggar
 Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Special Edition (2)
 Coal Miner's Daughter
 The Deer Hunter (2)
 Demo Disc (RCA VideoDiscs)
 Dirty Harry
 Disney Cartoon Parade, Vol. 1
 Disney Cartoon Parade, Vol. 2
 Disney Cartoon Parade, Vol. 3
 Don Kirshner Presents Rock Concert, Vol. 1
 The Doobie Brothers Live in Concert - Santa Barbara
 Dragonslayer
 Dressed to Kill
 Eat to the Beat - Blondie
 Endless Love
 The Enforcer
 Enter the Ninja
 Escape to Witch Mountain
 Every Which Way But Loose
 Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex...
 An Eye for an Eye
 Firefox (2)
 First Blood
 A Fistful of Dollars
 Flashdance
 Fleetwood Mac In Concert - Mirage Tour '82
 The Fog
 For A Few Dollars More (2)
 Forbidden Planet
 The Gauntlet
 Goldfinger
 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (2)
 The Great Muppet Caper
 Green Berets, The (2)
 Hang 'Em High
 The Horse Soldiers
 I, The Jury
 In Praise of Older Women
 Jacques Cousteau, Vol. 1: Sharks/The Singing Whale
 Jane Fonda's Workout
 The Jazz Singer
 Kelly's Heroes (2)
 Kenny Loggins " Alive!"
 Kramer vs. Kramer
 Lady Sings the Blues (2)
 The Last American Virgin
 The Legend of the Lone Ranger
 Little Big Man (2)
 Little River Band - Live Exposure
 The Longest Yard
 Love at First Bite
 M*A*S*H
 The Magnificent Seven (2)
 Magnum Force
 The Man with the Golden Gun
 MegaForce
 The Muppet Movie
 The Mysterious Island
 Nana
 Neil Diamond - Love at the Greek
 Night Shift
 The Nutty Professor
 Octopussy (2)
 An Officer and a Gentleman (2)
 Oh, God! You Devil
 Olivia - Physical
 On Golden Pond
 The Pink Panther
 The Pirate Movie
 Planet of the Apes
 The Postman Always Rings Twice
 Private Lessons
 Queen Greatest Flix
 RCA's All-Star Country Music Fair
 Red Dawn
 The Return of the Pink Panther
 The Robe (2)
 Rock 'N Soul Live (Hall & Oates)
 Rocky
 Rocky II
 Rocky III
 Romancing the Stone
 The Rose (2)
 Rush/Exit...Stage Left
 Saturday Night Fever
 Saturday Night Live, Vol. 2: Richard Pryor/Steve Martin
 Semi-Tough
 Sheena Easton Live at the Palace, Hollywood
 Silent Rage
 Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger
 Slumber Party '57
 Splash
 The Spy Who Loved Me
 Star Trek - The Motion Picture (2)
 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
 Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
 Star Trek: Vol.1, The Menagerie
 Star Trek: Vol.2, City/Battlefield
 Star Trek: Vol.3, Trouble with Tribbles/The Tholian Web
 Star Trek: Vol.4, Space Seed/The Changeling
 Star Trek: Vol.5, Balance of Terror/Mirror, Mirror
 Star Trek: Vol.6, Amok Time/Journey to Babel
 Starting Over
 Steve Miller Band Live!
 Stevie Nicks - In Concert
 Stir Crazy
 Stripes
 The Stunt Man (2)
 Sudden Impact
 Summer Lovers
 Supergirl
 Superman - The Movie (2)
 Superman II (2)
 Superman III (2)
 Swamp Thing
 TAPS
 Teen Wolf
 The Ten Commandments (2)
 They Call Me Bruce?
 Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
 The Time Machine
 Totally Go-Go's
 Treasure of the Four Crowns
 TRON
 The Tubes Video
 Twist of Fate (Olivia Newton-John)
 Up In Smoke (Cheech & Chong's)
 Urban Cowboy (1 of 2 only)
 The War of the Worlds
 WarGames
 The Warriors
 Westworld
 White Lightning
 Wild Geese, The (2)
 Women In Love (2)
 Young Doctors In Love

Can you tell me which ones are worth the most?

Also, I still have the speckling problem. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Matt Hawthorne
hawthorn@bconnex.net

------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: William Smith
To: "'ceds@teleport.com'" <ceds@teleport.com>
Subject: Well Cared for CEDs
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 10:45:48 -0400

Hi,

I have a couple of questions. 

1.  How rare is it to find a CED that has been stored properly and has been
kept in playable condition?  I have only bought 2 so far (from different
outlets), but both seem to have been stacked as the discs start out ok but
skip as you move towards the middle.  I mostly picked up the CED player to
have access to titles which are OP or expensive on other formats, but if I
can't find watchable discs then I am not sure it is worth my time/money.  

2. Is there any fix for discs that have been scratched or damaged?  This is
an extension of my first question.  I have heard that there is a silicon
spray which can be used on an LP to temporarily hide scratches.  Would this
work on a CED as well?  even if it is only long enough to transfer the movie
to tape?

oh and since I am writing I might as well include my want list.

thanks for you time
will

Amarcord
And God Created Woman 
Barbarella 
Big Red One, The 
Black Sunday (2) 
Blow Out 
Blue Lagoon, The 
Clockwork Orange, A (2) 
Death Race 2000 
Don't Look Now
Firesign Theatre Presents Hot Shorts*
Gimme Shelter*
Gold Diggers of 1933 
Gold Diggers of 1935 
Island of Dr. Moreau, The 
Mandingo 
Monty Python and the Holy Grail {
Neil Young: Rust Never Sleeps** 
Paths of Glory
Quadrophenia** 
Roxy Music: The High Road* 
Something Wicked This Way Comes** 
Stevie Nicks- In Concert* 
Story of O, The
Tales of Hoffman, The (2)* 
Tentacles
Terrytoons Volume 1 Featuring Mighty Mouse 
Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The 
Thunderbirds Are Go 
Time Bandits** 
We're All Devo
What's New, Pussycat? 
Zombie 
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars*

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 08:17:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Michael Russell
Subject: Re: CED Digest Vol. 4 No. 31
To: Tom Howe <ceds@teleport.com>

Greetings, Group!

Tom, thank you very much for the drive belt for
my SJT 100--I put it in, and the unit works
great now!

I have a question for the group about cleaning
discs.  These CEDS are records, basically, and
they have accumulated dust over the past 15
years--most of the playback problems I have seen
seem to be dust related.  I can actually watch a
piece of dust get kicked forward by the stylus
as the disc plays, rapid search over it, back up
and see the tracks that wouldn't play previously
are actually just fine.  So I tried wiping the
dust bunnies off a disc with a q-tip, and that
wasn't really satisfactory--it seemed to give me
a different quality of static.  How about
compressed air?  Is that helpful?  Would the old
discwasher records cleaner stuff be helpful? 
Very interested in what people use with dusty
CEDS. 

--Mike

------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Matt Hawthorne"
To: <ceds@teleport.com>
Subject: Speckling on CED's
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 22:07:06 -0400

How do I stop the speckling/sparkles problem? I find this very annoying. Is
this a player, or a disc or needle/stylus problem? (player is the 81 Zenith)

I was wondering how rare is CED in Canada?  I live in Canada and have only
found the discs in two stores - that's it. How many players were sold in
Canada? Do you know where I can get a RCA 400 series and/or discs in
Southern Ontario?

What were the first batch of CED's to be released (the first 10 - 20)?

I've noticed that a lot of my later (84-86) Stereo CED's have blue caddies
with white spines. Did RCA run out of blue spines? I also noticed on my
latest CED - Teen Wolf (86) uses an old white caddy with the handle. The
label is pressed right on top of the handle! Is this rare?

Sorry for asking so many questions. I'm new to the exciting world of CED!

Thanks,
Matt Hawthorne
hawthorn@bconnex.net

------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: DennySpangler
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 22:13:43 -0400 (EDT)
To: CEDS@teleport.com
Subject:

Hey all-

I regret to inform you all I have decided to give up collecting CEDs!
:-(  A friend is selling his laserdisc player and he demonstrated it for
me and I was VERY impressed- so I am switching formats. (That and I got
my long-awaited disc of COME BACK TO THE 5 AND DIME JIMMY DEAN JIMMY
DEAN and it skips like crazy.  Being a Cher fanatic it was very
disappointing... which got the thought in my mind to give it up...)  I
am going to sell everything thru eBay but thought I'd give all of you a
shot at them first.  If you are interested email me privately and I can
give you a list of what I have, and the condition it's in.  I have a
SFT-100 and SJT-100 (I believe)- the latter has a brand-new stylus with
less than 75 hours on it and the first has a semi-new stylus with 40-ish
hours that I had put on it.  If you are interested in purchasing
anything or possibly trading laserdiscs or Cher-related stuff, let me
know!  Hope to hear from you soon!

Den

Content-Description: signature
Content-Disposition: Inline
Content-Type: Text/HTML; Charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit

I NOW HAVE VOICEMAIL! TO LEAVE A MESSAGE, CALL 1-888-EXCITE2. MY EXTENSION
IS 517 465 0403. TO GET YOURS, <http://www.excite.com>CLICK HERE!!!!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Danny and Lynn Farr"
To: <ceds@teleport.com>
Subject: Videodisc player parts and service
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 20:24:00 -0400

I am trying to locate a front control panel for an RCA SJT-090. The
printed circuit in my unit is damaged beyond repair, and both RCA and Fox
International have been unable to locate one. I hope that someone has
some salvage parts somewhere. I also have a Zenith VP2000 which needs
repairs, but no one in this area will touch it. I would like to at least
get an estimate and see if its feasable to repair it. I have about thirty
movies on disc, including the Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark,
and many other action and science-fiction films of that era. I would like
to get at least one of these players working again. Danny Farr, Easley SC.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "The Libby's"
To: <ceds@teleport.com>
Subject: What is it ?
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 11:28:12 -0400

Tom I was sorting over some of the CED players the other day and came across
a player that was a RCA Selectavision But it is a VCR player what is it
Harry

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1999 15:10:26 -0700
To: digest@cedmagic.com
From: Tom Howe <ceds@teleport.com>
Subject: March 22, 1981

Hello Everyone:

I'm working on a new section for CED Magic that will provide additional
information on the CED system. One of the things it will answer is why RCA
months in advance chose Sunday, March 22nd, 1981 as the nationwide introduction
date for the system. I'm curious about how well known this story is, so I'll
pose it as a trivia question and send a free CED Magic CD-ROM to the first person
who submits the correct answer (or a refund if you already have the disc). If
you know the answer, or even have a good guess, reply to the digest before the
next issue comes out (this coming Saturday the 21st at midnight PST). To keep
the size down, the next digest will only contain the first correct answer to the
question, so if you have other items to post please put them in a separate submission.

--Tom
Previous Digest | Next Digest | Volume 4 Index | CED Magic Home