CED Digest Vol. 6 No. 30

CED Digest Vol. 6 No. 30 • 7/28/2001
20 Years Ago In CED History:

July 29, 1981:
* Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer are married at St. Paul's
Cathedral in London before a worldwide television audience of 700
million persons. Lady Diana can be seen earlier in the month on the CED
title Wimbledon 1981.

July 30, 1981:
* U.S. Attorney General William French Smith announces proposed changes
in U.S. immigration laws that will levy fines against any employer of
four or more workers who knowingly hires an illegal alien.

July 31, 1981:
* The U.S. baseball strike ends after 49 days as players and owners
reach a compromise agreement on the issue of free-agent compensation.
* Future CED titles in widespread theatrical release: Eye of the Needle,
Stevie.

August 1, 1981:
* MTV launches at 12:01 AM with "Video Killed the Radio Star" (CED) by
the Buggles:

"Video killed the radio star.
Video killed the radio star.
In my mind and in my car,
we can't rewind we've gone too far.
Pictures came and broke your heart,
Put the blame on VCR."

Although the original lyrics from the 1970's used the acronym VTR.

ed. note:
MTV will be doing quite a bit of retro stuff this week for the
anniversary:

http://www.mtv.com/mtv/tubescan/20anniversary/

* An airplane crash kills Panama's strongman leader - National Guard
Commander Omar Torrijos Herrera.
* Paddy Chayefsky, the American playwright, dies at age 58. He won
Academy Awards for three movie screenplays: Marty (CED), Hospital (CED),
and Network (CED).
* "Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield (CED) becomes No. 1 U.S. single.

August 2, 1981:
* The German Grand Prix is won by Nelson Piquet (CED).

August 3, 1981:
* More than 85% of the members of the Professional Air Traffic
Controllers Organization (PATCO) go on strike across the U.S. despite
warnings from the federal government that any controller who refuses to
work will be fired.

August 4, 1981:
* Congress completes passage of a tax-relief bill urged by President
Reagan, cutting federal tax rates by 25 percent over nearly three years.
* Melvyn Douglas, the American actor, dies at age 80. He won academy
awards for his performances in Hud (CED) and Being There (CED). He also
appears on the CED titles Ninotchka, The Candidate, and The Changeling.

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From: "Topy44" <topy44>
To: <digest@cedmagic.com>
Subject: not working......bleach
Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2001 04:04:25 +0200

after a LOOOOONG time i finally got hand onto a 12V-to-110V power
inverter
well and at least, the CED player now does SOMETHING..... :)
the counter stays at --, but playback begins (pause key works btw)
i get a flickery black/white picture and no sound
also, i can hear a ticking regular sound from the player, and the
picture fluctuates to it
im using a 250W PC power supply connected to a 150W 12V-to-110V power
inverter to convert the 220V 50hz to 110V 60hz
 
cya
Topy44

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Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 08:28:21 -0700
Subject: R C A CED VIDEO DISKS FOR SALE
From: LINDA CHOW <snakelady12>
To: <digest@cedmagic.com>

I HAVE SEVERAL HUNDRED CED VIDEO DISKS FOR SALE I HAVE NO LONGER ROOM
FOR
THEM I AM WILLING TO SELL THEM IN ONE LOT FOR A VERY REASONABLE PRICE. 
MY
NAME IS SAM F. CHOW AND MY PHONE NO IS 1-604-525-7855 LEAVE A MESSAGE IF
NOT
AVAILABLE.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 17:43:47 -0800
To: digest@cedmagic.com
From: Tom Howe <ceds@teleport.com>
Subject: Sarnoff Corp. (formerly RCA Laboratories)

Hello All:

While at MacWorld NYC this past week I had the opportunity to make a
visit to Sarnoff Corp. in NJ and meet several of the original CED design
engineers who still work there. I got new information, including high
res scans of publicity photos of engineering models from the David
Sarnoff Library. They no longer have any engineering players at Sarnoff,
but Richard Sonnenfeldt has the prototype predecessor to the SFT100 in
his personal collection. From these scans, I've been able to see in
detail the front panel controls of the prototype players for the first
time, so look for these to appear at CED Magic in the months to come.

One interesting thing I learned may partially account for those 10 long
years from the time RCA produced the first discs in 1971 until market
introduction in 1981. James Hillier, the principal inventor of the
electron microscope, had RCA Laboratories under his supervision for much
of this period, so for political reasons, the labs may have been too
fixated on electron beam mastering.

http://www.ieee.org/organizations/history_center/oral_histories/
oh_rca_menu.html

The problem with electron beam mastering was that it was extremely
difficult to get an acceptable master and could never have been used in
the production process. It wasn't until Jerry Halter was isolated in
Indianapolis that he was able to perfect the electromechanical mastering
used in final production:



http://www.cedmagic.com/mem/way-we-were/mem226.html

Halter's electromechanical mastering, as well as the conductive disc
perfected by Len Fox are two major reasons why we have these discs
around to collect today:



http://www.cedmagic.com/mem/rca-laboratories/mem448.html

--Tom

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From: gordoninsechelt (Gordon Keays)
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 21:11:26 -0700 (PDT)
To: digest@cedmagic.com
Subject: Movie trailers

My raiders of the lost ark ced has the trailer too,as for a $50 player
looking like it was beat to hell i bought one in 97 for 50 and as
advertised as a laserdisc but i knew what is was and if it did not work
I could get a full refund,and as i took it to the counter to my horror
the woman behind the counter picked it up and smashed in down on the
counter,too heavy she said,in my mind if there was a needle in it it was
trashed,but got in home put in making of Star Wars and the button went
to zero and a very good image appeared on my tv,with fairly good sound
so dont let looks be your guide,it still works fine even after 4 years
and 17 years of age,it is the rca sgt-90.

gordon

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From: ThomAVO
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2001 01:46:55 EDT
Subject: Availability....
To: digest@cedmagic.com

I have about 25 RCA Videodiscs and nothing to play them on.

I need a machine with which to show the movies or to sell the discs I
have.  
Could anyone please suggest how and where (and for how much) I might
locate a 
machine?  And/or, where I might find information about the marketability
and 
value of the discs I own?

Thank you,
Thom

------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "keyman" <keyman>
To: "Tom Howe" <tom@cedmagic.com>
Subject: Re: CED Digest Vol. 6 No. 29
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2001 13:27:36 -0400

I have 31 ceds I will give away FREE to the first person that will come
and
get them in Lenoir, North Carolina.
Keyman@twave.net
thanks
Everette

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From: Feslmogh
Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2001 12:10:25 EDT
Subject: JACKPOT on July 21, 2001
To: <digest@cedmagic.com>

On that day I went "junkin" and the first place was a local Pawn shop
and he had about fifty CED's. Most of them were Disney titles, old
movies, and such. He wantd to know the selling price of them. I gave
them the CED Magic address

The other place was at a flea market with about the same number but I
didn't check what all he had but we would be there for a long time...

J A C K P O T ! ! !
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