CED Digest Vol. 7 No. 7

CED Digest Vol. 7 No. 7 • 2/16/2002
20 Years Ago In CED History:

February 17, 1982:
* Mexico withdraws support of the peso in international exchange markets
resulting in a plunge of value within a week to 41 cents against the U.S.
dollar.
* Polish-born acting teacher Lee Strasberg dies at age 80. He introduced method
acting and trained such stars as Marlon Brando, James Dean, Rod Steiger, Anne
Jackson, Shelly Winters, Paul Newman, and Robert DeNiro.

February 18, 1982:
* The Iranian government announces that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini will
eventually be replaced by a four- or five-man elected council. Concurrent
reports that Khomeini is seriously ill are denied by the government as
"imperialist and Zionist lies."

February 19, 1982:
* The DeLorean Motor Company of Belfast, Northern Ireland goes into
receivership after the British government announces it can no longer provide
money to the ailing manufacturer of the deluxe stainless steel sports car. The
receivers, aware of the high unemployment rate in Northern Ireland, express
hope that $90 can be raised to keep the company operating.
* Future CED title in widespread theatrical release: Vice Squad.

February 20, 1982:
* The New York Islanders win a record 15th straight game in the National Hockey
League.

February 21, 1982:
* Interior Secretary James Watt, in a policy shift, announced he would ask
Congress to bar mining and drilling in wilderness areas until the year 2000.
* Mexican president Jose Lopez Portillo, during a visit to Nicaragua, declares
his willingness to act as a mediator to lessen tensions in Central America and
the Caribbean.

February 22, 1982:
* Syria admits for the first time that intense fighting is taking place against
the rebel Muslim Brotherhood in the city of Hama.

February 23, 1982:
* The Japanese government announces that it will grant no new credits to Poland
until it lifts martial law. Japan, however, promises to fulfill its earlier
commitments of economic aid.

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Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 06:51:54 -0800
From: James Curiel <jacuriel>
To: Tom Howe <tom@cedmagic.com>
Cc: digest@cedmagic.com
Subject: Re: CED Digest Vol. 7 No. 6

Recently, some of my machines were subjected to below 50 degree temperatures
for a few days.

I tried to play a few of them while they were cold, and I heard a strange like
small snap noise like something small breaking or cracking.  Sounded like it
came from up front.  I then warmed up the machines putting one in a warm room
for a couple of days, and the other using a hair dryer.  These SJT-90 machines
power up,load and unload discs, but they will not read a disc and they display
only two horizontal dashes on the time readout.  I have not yet done autopsies
to find out what broke or why they will not work even after they were warmed
up.

I warmed up two machines before playing using the same methods of one in a warm
room for a few days, and one using a hair dryer.  Both work fine, and I have
watched several movies on them.

Does anyone know what part or parts on the SJT's and SKT's is breaking when
machines are played when they are cold?  I believe it is in carrier arm, but I
am not sure.  Haven't had time to look yet.

I also wanted to warn people not to immediately plug in and play a machine that
is cold.  Let it warm up in a heated room for a couple of days.  Take the cover
off if you want.

Thanks, James.  jacuriel@csus.edu

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To: digest@cedmagic.com
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 19:12:33 -0800
From: "Tom Howe" <tom@cedmagic.com>
Subject: RE: Television Appearance

>Is there anyway to see the CED TV show on the
>internet?

There is a QuickTime movie of the computer museum appearance on the TV/Movies
page at CED Magic:



http://www.cedmagic.com/misc/tv-movies/

During the first segment a TRON CED can be seen on the window sill above the
Apple III computer. We had planned to mention the computer's appearance in that
movie while showing the CED, but ran out of time right after the memory error
was shown. There's still plenty of CED stuff to be seen in the background. I've
also added the appearance of a VHD player in the anime series Moldiver to the
TV/Movies page.

--Tom

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To: digest@cedmagic.com
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 19:17:24 -0800
From: "Tom Howe" <tom@cedmagic.com>
Subject: RE: Player With No Sound

>I recently recieved a CED player.  THe only problem is there is no sound
>only a buzzing crackling sound.  To me that seems like it would need a new
>stylus.  What do you think?  The picture looks okay.

The lack of sound would not be due to a bad stylus because the signal recovered
at that point contains both video and audio and it wouldn't be possible to have
one without the other. The problem causing lack of sound takes place somewhere
in the signal processing circuitry after the video and audio components have
been separated. The most common cause of this sound loss is failure of the
Audio FM Demodulator integrated circuit, which results in no sound on mono
players and sound on one channel only with stereo players:



http://www.cedmagic.com/tech-info/repair-solutions.html#missing-audio-on-one-channel

The failures I've seen with this chip result in no sound period, so the
crackling sound could be something else. The best way to diagnose this would be
to signal trace the sound path through the processing board until the circuit
node where it goes awry is located.

--Tom

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Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 21:01:12 -0800
From: "Highlander" <d69stu>
To: digest@cedmagic.com
Subject: Follow-up on Servo belts

Well, the Servo belts and drive belt arrived I am thanking you for the
speedy handling of the affair considering the small financial gain it
might have meant to you.  <grin>.

Onward.

So. I installed the new belt and wisely tested the results before
re-assembling the case.  The symptom is still apparent, only not to the
same degree of frequency.  Let me put that another way.  What seems to
be happening and is probably why the original belt failed is that the
belt tracks out along the drive shaft, which causes it to walk off the
primary gear as well.  The end result is that it jams the larger
secondary gear, putting a drag on the entire process.

It is therefore apparent that one or the other or perhaps both of the
surfaces (the shaft from the motor or the tracking surface of the drive
gear) are out of true.  At least if the belt tracked in the opposite
direction toward the wall of the gearbox, it would be less prone to bind
up the operation.  Still, it would eventually run off the drive surface
altogether or at least sufficiently enough so as not to be functional.
Anyway, what's happening seems to indicate that the tension of the belt
has either pulled the shaft from the motor up or the drive gear shaft
down; perhaps a little of both.  There probably is a mechanism built
into the design that makes it possible to adjust this problem, but I
haven't, as of this moment in time, quite got a handle on the dynamics
involved.  I have a couple of thoughts involving shimming that might
work, but have yet to implement them.

Since the motor transom and gearbox assy are injection mold creations
made from a duPont styrene synthesis, I happen to have found a stress
table for variations of this sort of design that was manufactured by
Paramount Plastics back during the late seventies and early eighties.
I've been working on a relational variation routine in EXCEL that will
accept the output from a simulation run under TrueSpace (3-d imaging)
and Turbo-Cad.

Um, Well, yes.  That's getting way off into left field, isn't it.
Anyway, if I can work it out over the next few days, I'll share the
results.  Hopefully, I will be able to put sufficient stress back into
the transom to draw the two shafts away from each other sufficiently to
cause the belt to track properly once again.  I wonder why they designed
that drive with a convex hub instead of a concave one!  Planned
obsolescence and timed failure?  Who really knows for sure!

DJS

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Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 21:53:13 -0800
From: "Highlander" <d69stu>
To: "CED Digest" <digest@cedmagic.com>
Subject: Ok... Now I get it (Duh!)

It took a minute.  This is a weekly magazine as opposed to a Newsgroup!
The turnaround is a week or so instead of an hour or so!

The only downside here is that by next week my brain will be in some
undiscovered country!

Anyway, I'll still get back with the ongoing results of the great SGT075
repair adventure.  It is still dismantled all over a yard of coffee
table in the middle of the living room, but it's an 800sf living room so
there is room to cope.

Drives me up the wall a little because "Raiders...", "Victor, Victoria",
"Star Wars", Star Trek", "Superman", and about a hundred other
oldie-but-goodie things are in Selectavision format!

DJS

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Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 09:10:37 -0800
From: "Highlander" <d69stu>
To: "CED Digest" <digest@cedmagic.com>
Subject: Follow-up on Servo Belt (II)

Well, there it is.

I had a great time emotionally, running simulations and scratching my
brain with a lawn rake, but in the end I guess all the belt needed to do
was sit overnight and get comfortable ...

I did what I had to do during the day yesterday and fired up the
Selectavision after dinner.  Pushed in the Raiders of the Lost Ark
platter and alternately stared at the crystal clear display while
glancing down regularly at the sturdy little belt tracking nicely as it
should have.

I didn't even bother to attend it during side two.  After all, that's
the grand fight scene on the truck that drags on forever it seems.
Somewhere up here I read a piece about revitalizing the stylus with
alcohol so I swirled it around in a glass of cognac for a few seconds -
removing it when the plastic began to dissolve.  Sure enough, the
minuscule tip brightened right up and began transmitting a flawless
image!

Just kidding!  Actually, I used a cotton swab and dried it all out
carefully with a few gentle blasts from a can of air.  No fluorocarbons.

DJS
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