CED Digest Vol. 7 No. 23

CED Digest Vol. 7 No. 23 • 6/8/2002
20 Years Ago In CED History:

June 9, 1982:
* Brig. General Efrain Rios Montt dissolves Guatemala's three-man military
junta. It is then announced that the Army has appointed Rios Montt president of
the country and commander in chief of the armed forces.
* Israel's air force destroys Syrian surface-to-air missile sites in eastern
Lebanon.

June 10, 1982:
* By a 219-206 vote, the US House of Representatives approves a budget for
fiscal 1983. The measure, which is considered a victory for President Reagan,
awaits approval by a Senate-House conference.
* In the Bahamas, the ruling Progressive Liberal Party of Prime Minister Lynden
O. Pindling wins a new five-year mandate in parliamentary elections.

June 11, 1982:
* 32-year-old heavyweight boxing champion Larry Holmes knocks out 25-year-old
Gerry Cooney in the 13th round of their title bout in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is
Holmes' 12th straight successful defense of his heavyweight title. The gross
gate receipts of $50 million are the highest to date in history.
* President Reagan concludes a ten-day visit to Western Europe, his first
overseas tour as President of the United States.
* Pope John Paul II meets with President Leopoldo Galtieri at the beginning of
a two-day visit to Argentina.
* Future CED title in widespread theatrical release: Grease II.

June 12, 1982:
* A massive parade and peace rally, organized by religious and secular groups,
is held in New York City to coincide with a special UN session on disarmament.
The crowd is estimated to be about 750,000, making it the largest protest rally
in US history. A "No Nukes" concert is held in conjunction with the rally,
similar to the one on the CED title "No Nukes: the Muse Concert."
* In parliamentary elections in Mauritius, the opposition - the Militant
Mauritian Movement and its ally, the Mauritian Social Democratic Party - is
overwhelmingly victorious. Aneerood Jugnauth succeeds Sir Seewoosagur
Ramgoolam, who had been prime minister since the island became an independent
nation in 1968.

June 13, 1982:
* King Khalid, who has ruled Saudi Arabia since 1975, dies of a heart attack.
He is succeeded by 59-year-old half-brother Crown Prince Fahd Ibn Abdulaziz al
Saud, the country's foreign minister.

June 14, 1982:
* Israeli troops and tank units encircle Beirut, Lebanon, trapping PLO leaders
and thousands of guerrillas.

June 15, 1982:
* The Falklands war ends when Argentine troops, surrounded in Stanley, the
capital, surrender to the British. Great Britain later reports that 255 of its
soldiers and civilians lost their lives in the fighting. Argentina's loses are
believed to be three or four times heavier.
* The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down a Texas law that permitted local school
districts to either bar children of illegal aliens from public schools or
charge them tuition. The ruling means that children of undocumented aliens must
be granted free public education.

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From: "James & Ariana Curiel" <jacuriel>
To: <digest@cedmagic.com>
Subject: New Services
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2002 04:40:55 -0700

Dear CED Community,
 
I run CED Central, and I am now offering the tune-up service for all SJT and
SKT models.  The basic tune-up includes: a new stylus, new load belt, platter
shaft lubed, function lever lubed, springs checked, shipping back the player to
you, and I'll ship your old stylus back to you too.  The players are arriving
in dfferent states of disassembly, and that's okay. Just make sure the parts
are included. The most common repair problem is the transfer rod coupling on
the function gear is broken. I have replacement parts for this off parts
machines.  The basic tune-up runs $120.
 
Seems like a small percentage of the SJT and SKT's develop a problem where they
start anywhere from 25 seconds to 2 minutes into a movie when a disc is loaded. 
Check the Stepper Driver Rack -- the holes for the screws are wide for
adjustment.  What has happened over time is that the Rack has been pushed back. 
To correct the problem, unscrew the Rack and push it forward, and then put the
screws back in. 
 
Also, on installing the fan on the 400's, I have found just putting the fan in
by itself creates a hum in the audio. It is noticeable when the volume is on
high.  I recently had success in eliminating the hum with strategically placed
foam tape to isolate fan vibrations.  I am still working on this delicate
procedure because of the small space involved.
 
I am trying to get my hands on a Turntable Height Gauge, stock number 156529,
so I can start doing tune-ups on the SFT and SGT machines.  If you have an
extra one please let me know.  Reach me at: james@cedcentral.com

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Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2002 13:30:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mark Edwards <mark62334>
Subject: Nipper Pictures
To: digest@cedmagic.com

Saw this in the Phono group. Anyone got these internal
RCa nipper pictures?

>> There is an image of what the painting looked like
before it was
>> modified to feature a disk phonograph at...
>>
>> http://www.nipperhead.com/nipperf2.htm
>>
>There where variations of this picture internally
circulated at RCA
>to mark various corporate events like the dumping of
the CED
>videodisc (shows Nipper pissing on a videodisc
player) and when
>GE bought RCA (Nipper having a GE lightbulb screwed
up his
>ass).  This was back in the days when company loyalty
existed
>and one actually cared.....    :-(

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From: "Allen wolf" <wolfallen>
To: ceds@teleport.com
Subject: Realistic 16-301,CED-1 VideoDisc Player & RCA SGT-100 Disc Player.
Date: Mon, 03 Jun 2002 16:06:40 -0500

HI ALL,
Just yesterday morning,i latched onto two more videodisc player's for my CED
Collection! the first is the Realistic 16-301/CED-1 & the RCA SGT-100 Player's!
the Realistic works fine. but the SGT-100 did not have a needle in it. so i
took one out of my great working SFT-100 and popped it into the SGT-100. and
the needle still would not set down on the disc. now,i looked up the problem on
the CED Magic fix,it page and the problem listed it as a bad Needle. now,this
needle works in all my other SFT & SGT Player's so why not this Player i just
got? it does power up and the Platter does spin, but the needle will not set
down!!! Can you help me Tom? or anybody as to why this isn't working?!!!!!
                                                      Allen Wolf.

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Date: Mon, 03 Jun 2002 18:59:24 -0400
Subject: Re: My Luck with CED's!
From: Mark Cohen <mbcohen>
To: <digest@cedmagic.com>

I'd like to echo comments made by Allen Wolf in the May 27 edition of CED
Digest.  Specifically, I agree with Allen's opinion that "RCA pulled the
plug too damn soon."  I recognize that many of the members of this group are
former employees of the RCA divisions responsible for development,
manufacture and distribution of the RCA video disc system.  And I certainly
mean them no disrespect.  But I remember reading a Wall Street Journal
article, after the RCA decision was announced, which carefully picked apart
where RCA went wrong in marketing the video disc technology -- particularly
in the early years in underestimating the demand for programming to play on
their machines.  I was so disgusted with what I read that I vowed to never
purchase another RCA consumer product again -- and, over the years, I've
expanded my personal boycott to include the consumer lines associated with
the firm that now produces RCA consumer electronics.  Just as VHS now is
beginning its inexorable slide toward obsolescence as DVD and recordable DVD
take off, the video disc was destined to fail eventually.  But I do believe
it's superiority to VHS video and audio could have kept it alive much longer
had RCA not mortally wounded it with an ineffective marketing strategy.

to be sure, CED enthusiasts could throw a party and invite those who
invested heavily in pre-recorded reel-to-reel audio recordings, pre-recorded
movies in 3/4-inch U-matic format, the Betamax home video format as well as
the laser disc.  It's the price all of us pay for willing to be "early
adapters."  But although we recognize that's the price we pay, it's still
frustrating when we're hung out to dry.

Mark B. Cohen

------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: digest@cedmagic.com
Date: Tue, 4 June 2002 17:32:26 -0800
From: "Tom Howe" <tom@cedmagic.com>
Subject: Tyco Problems - Shades of RCA

Hello All:

This hasn't been a huge news story, but the financial woes of the
industrial conglomerate Tyco are oddly reminiscent of RCA's problems
20 years ago.

Tyco had made too many acquisitions for its own good, about 700 over
the past three years, and a couple months ago the conglomerate was
expected to break up. Tyco purchased CIT Financial Services for $10
billion in June 2001, the same company RCA Chairman Edgar Griffiths
purchased in 1980 for $1.4 billion. Tyco's plan is to divest itself of CIT
to keep the rest of the conglomerate afloat, although it may be just a
stopgap measure, as they're going to take an estimated loss of $2 to
$5 billion on the sale.

RCA also used CIT profitably for this purpose, first selling off the CIT
headquarters in New York for a profit of $28 million in 1981, and
divesting itself entirely of CIT in 1984 for a profit of about $100 million.

Tyco's future may be up in the air right now, as the company's CEO
Dennis Kozlowski, who just resigned yesterday, has been indicted for
tax evasion of about $1 million for not paying sales tax on the purchase
of six paintings worth $13 million. The paintings were allegedly
shipped from New York to New Hampshire and the company books
doctored to make it look like the purchase originated in that sales-tax
free state. This has caused speculation about other questionable
practices the conglomerate may have engaged in. A series of articles
about Tyco can be viewed from this page:

http://www.forbes.com/2002/06/04/0604kozlowski.html

--Tom

------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Martin Kitrosser" <mkitrosser>
To: digest@cedmagic.com
Subject: Porno on RCA CED
Date: Sat, 08 Jun 2002 15:58:45 -0700

I want to let Tom know how much I enjoy his CED Website. I used to work in the
Video business years ago and want to let everyone know of something which
wasn't covered in the media trades. I worked for VCX Video whiched specialized
in Adult Videos.In 1983, VCX as well as Excalibur and ARROW Entertainment tried
to make a deal with RCA to release CED versions of many popular XXX Adult Porno
Titles like "Deep Throat", "Devil In Miss Jones" and "Sex Wish", but none of
the RCA executives were interested in Porno on CED, so we ended up working
soely for Image Entertainment on Laserdiscs. Yes you have read right: Porno
came close to being on CED. Anyone else interested in reading more about this
development which did not come to be? Let me know via this digest. Martin
Kitrosser.
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