CED Digest Vol. 8 No. 12

CED Digest Vol. 8 No. 12 • 3/22/2003
20 Years Ago In CED History:

March 23, 1983:
* A plan to use the latest in modern technology to build an invulnerable
missile shield for the United States is proposed by President Ronald Reagan. In
a televised address from the White House, Reagan presented "a vision of
the future which offers hope" that the U.S. could stop relying on massive
retaliation to counter the threat of a Soviet nuclear attack, but warned that
the technological breakthroughs necessary to create a missile shield "may
not be accomplished before the end of this century." White House officials
said the shield might involve lasers, microwave devices, particle beams, and
projectile beams directed from satellites to shoot down Soviet missiles before
they could strike American territory. The program becomes known as the
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) or "Star Wars."
* Dr Barney B. Clark, the first artificial heart recipient, dies at the
University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City, 112 days after the plastic
and aluminum device was implanted in his chest. His death was attributed to
circulatory collapse, shock, and generalized failure of all his organs except
the artificial heart. He was 62 years old.

March 24, 1983:
* Congress completes action on a $9.6 billion jobs bill, including funding for
putting up to 400,000 people to work and for underwriting unemployment benefits
in depressed states.
* The final episode of the TV series "Diff'rent Strokes" with actress
Dana Plato as a regular member of the cast premiers on NBC.

March 25, 1983:
* Congress passes legislation to rescue the U.S. social security system from
bankruptcy. The legislation must be signed by President Reagan before becoming
law. 
* The Motown 25 Television Special (CED) is videotaped. Michael Jackson
performs the "moonwalk" for the first time before a live audience.
* Future CED title in widespread theatrical release: Max Dugan Returns.

March 26, 1983:
* British art critic and historian Anthony Blunt dies at age 75. In 1979 he had
been publicly identified as a long-term spy for the Soviet NKVD and KGB, a
discovery kept secret by the British MI5 since 1964.

March 27, 1983:
* Larry Holmes retains his World Boxing Council (WBC) title by outpointing
Lucien Rodriguez in every round of a 12-round bout in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

March 28, 1983:
* Martinus Jansen, the Bishop of Rotterdam from 1956-70, dies at the age of 77.
In the 1960's he made the controversial decision to auction off his cathedral
(which was demolished for an office building) to build three smaller churches.

March 29, 1983:
* In follow up comments to his March 23 address, President Reagan suggests he
would share "Star Wars" technology with the Soviet Union.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 16:05:24 -0800
To: digest@cedmagic.com
From: Tom Howe <tom@cedmagic.com>
Subject: RE: Can separate Audio/Video connectors be added to my CED player

>I attempted to do this to my SGT100 W  but since I don't have a Service
>Manual or know where to obtain one I don't know why it doesn't seem to
>work I connected my av cables to the test points indicated in
>description and it doesn't seem to work
>Is the problem have to do with the fact that the connections are only
>single solder points on the circut board? and if so what is the other
>point that I need to connect the other half of the av cables to?

There need to be ground connections between the TV monitor and the player for
this to work. On an RCA phono jack the inner connector carries the signal,
which should be soldered to the test point, while the outer shell is ground.
I'd recommend soldering the wire from the outer shell to any point on the
chrome RF modulator box adjacent to the test points. The entire metal surface
of this box carries the common ground for the player chassis.

The are also a couple of variable resistors on the circuit board that can
adjusted to fine-tune the A/V output if desired. R3202 is the Video Level, and
rotating it will lighten/darken the displayed video image. R3609 is the Audio
Level, which will increase/decrease the sound volume when rotated. This could
be used to match the sound output of the CED player to other components in an
entertainment console.

--Tom

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 09:23:42 -0500
To: digest@cedmagic.com
From: "James M. Long" <jmlong>
Subject: Two Notes, and SJT-300 For Sale!

First off, thank you Travis for the laugh - it was hilariously jarring to see
the name Eroticpanties pop up in a traditionally very straight-laced digest.
Hope it wasn't a surprise to you!

Second, thank you Tom for the QuickTime from Memories of Videodisc.  I am
anxiously awaiting 5pm when my office closes so that I can hook up some
speakers and hear the sound as well.

Third, I am lightening my load of players:

SJT-300 FOR SALE!

Cleaned, lubricated, new belt, new stylus.

Case/detailing in Very Good condition.

See Tom's site for details on this player: 

http://www.cedmagic.com/museum/ced-player-guide/sjt300.html

Can email images to interested parties.

Will also include:

- spare function drive belt
- extra *new* stylus #154216 - a $30-$45 value in itself! (tested by playing
once, briefly)
- spare arm drive reduction gear: I have never had trouble, but this gear was
broken on all three of my machines when I first opened them up.  (as Tom once
stated in the digest, "this is a breakaway spoked gear designed to
sacrifice itself to spare the stepper motor in the event of a player
jam.")  Clearly can't hurt to have a spare... new-old RCA stock part
#157598.

(no remote, sorry)

All for $150, plus shipping, which will depend on how you want it sent (will
ship however you ask - can use USMail ground if you want, but my responsibility
for its safety and condition will end the moment I leave the post office. would
rather discuss safer options, but it's up to you)

Contact at the above email address.
Jim

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 18:25:22 -0600
From: niNjaTaz <mrmagnet>
To: digest@cedmagic.com
Subject: Reegarding the Manufacurting video

Is this available in any format other than QuickTime MOV? I would like
to convert it to a VCD, but I have been unable to extract the audio
from the MOV. Thanks. I really enjoyed watching it...

---
Derek Tombrello
Shelby TV Service

mrmagnet@bellsouth.net

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 22 Mar 2003 21:47:09 -0800
To: digest@cedmagic.com
From: Tom Howe <tom@cedmagic.com>
Subject: CED Tour Video CD

Hello All:

Some people with dial-up connections have had problems with their system
conking out a couple hours into downloading the CED tour, so I have it
available on a CD-R in Video CD format. This can be played full-screen on most
recent DVD players. Your DVD player needs to be compatible with both CD-R and
Video CD for the disc to be properly recognized. You can look this up in the
owner's manual or look up your player model number in the table located at this
web site:

http://www.dvdrhelp.com

The actual 210 MB file on the CD-R is in MPEG1 format, so an alternative is to
watch it on a computer screen using an MPG viewer program (the free QuickTime
player can do this). To buy the CD-R, send me a $1.00 payment via PayPal to
tom@cedmagic.com or send it via snail mail to the address on the CED Magic
contact page. I'm not going to add this to the purchase page, as it's mainly
intended for people who have trouble with the download, but another reason to
buy it would be to have full-screen versions of the CED fanfares. I've received
a few emails over the years from past player owners who want nothing but to be
able to watch the original CED fanfare on their present TV. The file on the
CD-R starts with the original 1981 fanfare and then displays the modified 1982
version used at the beginning of the manufacturing movie.

The story of the Video CD format is an interesting one, as it has certain
parallels to the introduction of CED (and LaserDisc and VHD), but 10 years
later. In the early 1990's three competing formats were introduced that allowed
CD's to display visual and audio information from special CD players hooked up
to televisions. These were Philips CD-I, Radio Shack VIS, and Commodore CDTV.
VIS died a quick death, and CDTV was marketed mainly in the UK, but CD-I lasted
for quite a while in the US. A couple years after it was introduced, Philips
came out with a Digital Video Cartridge that could be installed in the original
player to allow it to play CD-I movie titles:

http://www.cedmagic.com/history/cdi.jpg

A CD-I movie disc (or Video CD) can hold about 70 minutes of near-VHS quality
video, so most movies required two discs. The format never caught on in the US,
but became quite popular in Asia in the few years before DVD was introduced, as
VHS was not as well established for movie delivery in that region.

--Tom
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