CED Digest Vol. 6 No. 17

CED Digest Vol. 6 No. 17 • 4/28/2001
20 Years Ago In CED History:

April 29, 1981:
* Peter Sutcliffe, a 35-year-old British truck driver, confesses to
killing 13 women in the "Yorkshire Ripper" case.

April 30, 1981:
* RCA PRESS RELEASE:
RCA VIDEODISC INTRODUCTION 'MOST SUCCESSFUL' PRODUCT LAUNCH IN INDUSTRY
HISTORY

INDIANAPOLIS, April 30 -- RCA said today that in five weeks its
VideoDisc system has achieved the most successful introduction of any
major electronic product in history.

Executive Vice President Roy H. Pollack said RCA already has sold 52,000
players to distributors, and an estimated 26,000 have been sold to
consumers. This compares with the estimated 30,000 players sold by the
competitive optical system over a two-year period.

Mr. Pollack, addressing reporters touring RCA's VideoDisc manufacturing
plant, said production of the RCA "CED" VideoDisc player at the nearby
Bloomington plant has been increased by 20 percent. And, said Mr.
Pollack, RCA has raised its 1981 production target of video discs from
two million to three million.

Emphasizing the success of the VideoDisc introduction, he said the color
TV and black-and-white TV industries had sold only 5,000 and 6,000 sets
respectively in their initial year of introduction. Microwave ovens, now
considered a major business in appliances, accounted for 30,000 unit
sales in this product's introductory year.

"RCA is extremely pleased with the launch of VideoDisc. We believe the
outlook for the new product is promising enough to assure our reaching a
goal of 200,000 RCA-brand player sales in 1981," Mr. Pollack said.

Speaking of the increase in disc production, he said, "The VideoDisc has
met our expectations in terms of both consumer interest and
manufacturing capability. From this point forward, the thrust will be an
expansion of production that allows us to balance players and disc
inventories at all levels of distribution."

Mr. Pollack said that RCA intends to double the number of video disc
presses at the Indianapolis facility from 10 to 20 by year's end. "This
accelerated installation schedule should help assure a satisfactory
supply of the more popular video discs as determined by RCA's initial
sales experience," he said.

Jack K. Sauter, RCA group vice president directing the marketing
introduction of the VideoDisc system, said the public already has bought
an estimated 200,000 video discs, "more than we expected."

Mr. Sauter said that consumer purchasers of the VideoDisc system were
satisfied with their purchase, "a most encouraging sign for future
sales." Of 1,132 purchasers responding to a survey, he said 96.4 percent
said the product had either satisfied or exceeded their expectations.

Dr. Jay J. Brandinger, division vice president of "SelectaVision"
VideoDisc Operations, reaffirmed RCA's intention of introducing a "CED"
player with stereo capability in 1982. He said a number of special
features such as stop action, slow motion and random program access are
technically possible in the "CED" system.

May 1, 1981:
* Senator Harrison A. Williams, Jr. (D-NJ) is convicted of crimes
stemming from the Abscam investigation.
* The Japanese government announces that it will limit its passenger car
exports to the U.S. during the next three years; the U.S. Congress had
indicated it would impose import quotas if Japan did not act on its own.
* Future CED title in widespread theatrical release: Heaven's Gate. This
release was the version shortened to 149 minutes. The original release
at 220 minutes from November 19, 1980 was pulled from theaters after 3
days in the wake of disastrous reviews. THE CED from 1983 is the long
version.

May 2, 1981:
* The largest antiwar demonstration since the early 1970's is held in
Washington to protest U.S. military aid to El Salvador and the Reagan
administration's proposals for increased military spending and cuts in
social programs.
* The 107th Kentucky Derby is won by Pleasant Colony ridden by jockey
Jorge Velasquez in a time of 2:02.
* "Morning Train" (CED) by Sheena Easton becomes No. 1 U.S. single.

May 3, 1981:
* Nelson Piquet wins the San Marino Grand Prix (CED).

May 4, 1981:
* Continuing a "tight money" policy to curb inflation, the Federal
Reserve Board headed by chairman Paul Volcker raises its discount rate,
the interest rate on loans to commercial banks, to a record 14 percent.

May 5, 1981:
* Riots break out in Northern Ireland when Robert "Bobby" Sands, a
27-year-old member of the outlawed Irish Republican Army (IRA), dies of
starvation in the hospital wing of Maze Prison near Belfast, Northern
Ireland. Death came on the 66th day of a hunger strike that Sands and
other IRA inmates had undertaken to pressure British authorities into
reclassifying them as political prisoners.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 18:07:25 -0700
From: "Ernest Salinas" <primevl>
To: digest@cedmagic.com
Subject: Sales

I have the following VideoDiscs for sale.  I honestly have no idea about
there condition, I have had them in my possession for approx. 4 years,
but they seem to have been treated with some care.

COMMON:
The Ten Commandments (2 sets)
Romeo & Juliet
The French Connection
Casablanca
The Shootist
The Black Stallion
 9 to 5
Ordinary People
The Wizard of Oz (39)
First Blood
The Muppet Movie
Annie
Star Wars
Alien
Airplane

UNCOMMON:
Terrytoons Vol. 1 Featuring Mighty Mouse
Victory
The China Syndrome
Paul Simon in Concert
Death Wish
Hud
Visiting Hours
Apocalypse Now
The Red Shoes
Airplane II
Space Hunter Adventures in the Forbidden Zone

RARE:
Scrooge
Nate and Hayes
Children's Treasures Presents The Christmas Collection

If interested, please give drop a line (mail) and we can discuss the
discs.
I am a videophile myself, but limited to LD (500) and DVD (250).  I have
no room or player for these...  can you help?

Thank you.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: stephen_orme
To: digest@cedmagic.com
Subject: the digest / ced in the uk
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 19:33:42 +0100

I've just read the digest v6 n16 and there were no posts other than
the history section! What's going on? Where were the posts?

Does anyone know where to get anything ced in the uk?

Thanks.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2001 18:10:48 -0700 (PDT)
From: webbie <molina_go2mall>
Subject: Sybil
To: ceds@teleport.com

Hi,

I'm looking for the movie Sybil in VHS format.
Would you happen to have it for sale or do you know
where I can buy it.

thanks in advance.
Max

http://www.teleport.com/~ceds/home/ced-digest/ced-
digest-vol-03/ced-digest0301.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2001 21:19:33 -0800
To: digest@cedmagic.com
From: Tom Howe <ceds@teleport.com>
Subject: RE: another problem and other questions

At 11:02 AM -0500 4/9/01, Dave Killeffer wrote:
>I have another problem with my SJT-300 player.  I put a new stylus in
on
>saturday and watched part of Purple Rain and everything was fine.  I
switched
>to a Rush disc and the picture became black & white.  Still that
new-stylus
>clear, but black and white.  I reseated the needle, still B&W.  I put
the old
>one back in, still B&W.  Both needles and discs worked fine in other
players. 
>Any possibilites?

The CED system "buries" the chrominance signal inside the 3 MHz
luminance bandwidth, so if the circuitry that extracts color from black
& white fails, the player will produce a black & white picture. The
sub-circuits to test for failure in order of decreasing likelihood are
the comb filter, video converter, and time base corrector.

>Also, how can I find out when my SKT-400 was made?  It doesn't have the
date
>printed on the back label, and doesn't have a serial number on the
outside of
>the case.

RCA didn't date "K" players that were made after the April 1984
announcement of the end of the CED system.

>what is different about the prototype SKT-425 on the page?

Electrically, the SKT425 is nearly identical to the SKT400. The main
differences are in styling- the flat black front panel, flush buttons,
and longitudinal silver stripe that conform to other components in the
Dimensia system. The placement of the on-screen display at the top of
the screen is accomplished by the Dimensia TV, which places it there to
lessen the likelihood of conflict with OSD's for other Dimensia
components.
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