CED Digest Vol. 8 No. 23

CED Digest Vol. 8 No. 23 • 6/7/2003
20 Years Ago In CED History:

June 8, 1983:
* A new three-party, center-right coalition government, headed by 
Prime Minister Kaare Willoch, takes office in Norway.
* The 19th summit conference of the Organization of African Unity 
(OAU) convenes in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

* RCA PRESS RELEASE:
Two RCA Laboratories Scientists Receive IEEE Award for Contributions 
to Video Disc System

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) today 
presented its 1983 Vladimir K. Zworykin Award to Dr. Jon K. Clemens 
and Eugene O. Keizer, both of RCA Laboratories, Princeton, N.J., for 
"outstanding contributions to the development of an electronic disc 
system for recorded television programs."

The Award was given to Dr. Clemens and Mr. Keizer at the 
International Conference on Consumer Electronics in Des Plaines, 
Illinois.

Dr. Clemens and Mr. Keizer played key roles in the development of the 
capacitance electronic disc system (CED). Both men were involved with 
the project since its inception at RCA Laboratories in 1965. The 
system utilizes a diamond stylus to sense video and audio information 
stored in the grooves of a specially formulated plastic disc. It is 
reliable, easy to use and relatively inexpensive. The system was 
commercially introduced by RCA in the United States in 1981 and will 
make its debut in the United Kingdom this fall.

In 1980 Dr. Clemens and Mr. Keizer were the only two Americans among 
seven scientists honored by the Eduard Rhein Foundation of West 
Germany for video disc developments.

Dr. Clemens, a native of Lansdale, Pa., received a B.A. degree in 
Physics in 1960 from Goshen College, an M.S. degree in 1963 and a 
Ph.D. degree in 1965, both in Electrical Engineering, from M.I.T.

He joined RCA Laboratories in 1965 to work on high density video 
recording for consumer use. During the years 1965 through 1970 he 
worked on various approaches to video disc systems including the 
capacitance pick-up video disc system. Since then his work has 
included all aspects of system development, including disc format and 
signal encoding systems and the responsibility for specifying the RCA 
VideoDisc standards.

In 1975 Dr. Clemens was named Head, Signal Systems Research, with the 
primary responsibility for developing the VideoDisc signal system for 
both mastering and player design, and in 1981 he was promoted to 
Director, VideoDisc Systems Research Laboratory. He was appointed 
Staff Vice President, Consumer Electronics Research, in 1983. Dr. 
Clemens has received three RCA Laboratories Outstanding Achievement 
Awards and the David Sarnoff Award for Outstanding Technical 
Achievement for his work on the capacitance electronic disc videodisc 
system.

Dr. Clemens and his wife have three children and live in Skillman, N. J.

http://www.cedmagic.com/mem/whos-who/clemens-jon.html

Mr. Keizer, a native of LeMars, Iowa, received a B.S. degree in 
Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University in 1940 and joined 
RCA after graduation.

Since 1940 Mr. Keizer has contributed to research in several areas, 
principally radar, color television receivers, color television 
display systems, and prerecorded video disc systems. He led the RCA 
video disc research team during its early years, 1964-1971, and 
continued to be responsible for research teams in video disc 
mastering and signal retrieval areas until 1979, when he became 
associated with RCA "SelectaVision" VideoDisc Operations in 
Indianapolis. He returned to RCA Laboratories in 1980, where he is 
now Staff Scientist in video disc research. Mr. Keizer has received 
two RCA Laboratories Outstanding Achievement Awards as well as two 
David Sarnoff Awards for Outstanding Technical Achievement.

Mr. Keizer and his wife, who have two sons, live in Princeton, N. J.

http://www.cedmagic.com/mem/whos-who/keizer-eugene.html

June 9, 1983:
* The Conservative Party of Britain's Prime Minister Margaret 
Thatcher increases its parliamentary majority in national elections, 
winning 397 of 650 seats in the House of Commons.
* Ending a political stalemate that began with parliamentary 
elections April 25, Portugal's Mario Soares is sworn in as prime 
minister of a coalition government made up of the Social Democratic 
Party and his own Socialist Party.

June 10, 1983:
* Delegates from the northern and southern branches of American 
Presbyterians vote to reunite as the Presbyterian Church USA, the 
nation's fourth largest Protestant denomination.
* Future CED title in widespread theatrical release: Trading Places.

June 11, 1983:
* In the wake of her election victory, Britain's Prime Minister 
Thatcher revamps her cabinet; among the changes is the removal of 
Francis Pym as foreign secretary and the naming of Sir Geoffrey Howe 
as his replacement.
* Brian Mulroney, a 44-year-old lawyer and businessman, is elected 
leader of Canada's Progressive Conservative Party.
* The 115th Belmont Stakes is won by Caveat ridden by Laffit Pineay, 
Jr. in a time of 2:27.8.

June 12, 1983:
* Comet Sugano-Saigusa-Fujikawa passes within 6 million miles of Earth.
* Michael Foot resigns as Labor Party chief in the United Kingdom 
following the conservative election victory.

June 13, 1983:
* The US spacecraft Pioneer 10 crosses the orbit of Neptune and thus 
becomes the first man-made vehicle ever to travel beyond the solar 
system. The space probe was launched in 1972 at the Kennedy Space 
Center in Florida, and the following year Pioneer 10 completed a 
fly-by of the planet Jupiter, one of its principal missions.

June 14, 1983:
* The U.S. Civil Rights Commission faults the Reagan administration 
for lax enforcement of civil rights legislation in schools.
* In Chile, police arrest more than 1,000 demonstrators as people of 
all ages and classes join in a day of protest against the government 
of General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte.

* RCA PRESS RELEASE:
RCA VideoDiscs Appoints C. J. Mitchell And R. D. Klinger As Division 
Vice Presidents

Appointments of Charles J. Mitchell and Richard D. Klinger as 
Division Vice Presidents of RCA VideoDiscs was announced today by 
Thomas G. Kuhn, Division Vice President of the RCA unit.

Mr. Mitchell has been named Division Vice President, Programs and Mr. 
Klinger has been named Division Vice President, Programs - West 
Coast. Both have had responsibility for program acquisition and for 
home video co-productions.

In announcing the promotions, Mr. Kuhn said the two executives will 
play a key role in RCA's efforts to maintain a steady flow of new 
programs to sustain and support the growth of the video disc.

RCA has already produced or co-produced several original programs for 
home video, including the highly successful "Jane Fonda's Workout," 
which has sold more than 45,000 video disc albums and more than 
150,000 video cassettes. Other programs created especially for the 
home video market include instructions in tennis and basketball, and 
music programs such as "RCA's All-Star Country Music Fair," featuring 
Charley Pride, and "The Jefferson Starship in Concert."

Mr. Kuhn said RCA also is developing programs that can be used on the 
new interactive video disc player scheduled for introduction in the 
fourth quarter of this year.

Mr. Mitchell, who was Director of Special Programs for RCA VideoDiscs 
prior to his new assignment, has a diversified media and music 
background. He was producer of "Soundstage," the award-winning PBS 
Network program; Music Director of New York's WRVR-FM, and Associate 
Editor of Down Beat magazine.

Mr. Mitchell received an A.B. degree from Princeton University. He 
resides in New York City with his wife and daughter.

Mr. Klinger previously was Director of Programs, West Coast, for RCA 
VideoDiscs. An attorney, he was Director of Business Affairs for 
Paramount Television before joining RCA.

Mr. Klinger previously was Associate Director of Business Affairs for 
the CBS Television Network, and also produced television programs for 
Metromedia Television and the American Broadcasting Company.

He received a law degree from Columbia University and an 
undergraduate degree from Harvard University. He resides in Sherman 
Oaks, California with his wife and two sons.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2003 18:50:54 -0700
Subject: RE: ced black/white
To: digest@cedmagic.com
From: Tom Howe <tom@cedmagic.com>

>  can anyone tell me if it is possible to repair a
>  ced ,(g e c mcmichael v5000h) which is playing in
>  black and white? sound is good and in stereo, the
>  picture is sharp and clear, tracking is excellent.

I would guess this could be a malfunctioning IC602 or IC603 chip, but 
it could be a chroma level adjustment issue as well. To adjust this 
during playback, remove the cover from the player, load a disc, and 
with the disc playing, lift the signal processing board up to the 
vertical service position. Note that playback will not occur if you 
lift the board prior to the start of playback, unless you defeat the 
photo-interrupter mechanism.

While watching the displayed image, note the position of R419 and 
then carefully rotate this adjustable resistor left and right to see 
if the color returns. If this doesn't work, return R419 to its 
original position. At this point, circuit analysis will be necessary 
to diagnose the problem further.

For collectors in the United States, note that it is normal behavior 
for a PAL player like the GEC McMichael V5000H to display Black & 
White video when attached directly to an NTSC television. This is 
because the PAL luminance signal is close enough to be displayed in a 
slightly truncated fashion, but the PAL chrominance signal is off at 
an entirely different frequency. To display color with such a setup, 
a PAL-NTSC converter is needed:

http://www.cedmagic.com/misc/ntsc-pal/ntsc-pal.html

--Tom

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2003 18:11:01 -0700
Subject: CED Central
From: James Curiel <jacuriel>
To: digest@cedmagic.com

Dear Tom and CED Community,

I have been confronted by the realities of having a new baby and also 
increased demands for my time at work, and I have come to the 
conclusion that I no longer have the required time to run CED Central.

My wife and I started CED Central originally in March 2002 as a 
service to the CED Community in a time when shops were closing and 
Thompsons was shutting down their CED parts division.  The web page 
www.CEDcentral.com was a formalization of an impromptu repair service 
I had been doing for people here in Northern California through an 
informal network.

The web page has taken on a life of it's own, and I have enjoyed 
meeting people around the country and in Canada.

But now it is time to pass the torch onto someone else who loves 
working on these machines and helping people to keep the players 
running.

I am selling CED Central, that is the web page, and our inventory. 
Currently, our inventory includes:

136 stylus cartridges (models 149000's, 154100's, 154216's)
107 RCA videodisc players
28 Toshiba players
6    Realistic players
28 in the box never used SKT-100 players
7,000 used discs approximately
2000 never used discs, still in wrappers approximately
1 KAB EV-1  Record Cleaner
12 New In the box Digital Command Remotes
A few New in the box parts for players, and some RCA Televisions
Shelving for approximately 5,000 discs and 30 players

Those of you who have patronized CED Central know that I try to keep 
the costs down, don't like haggling, and like simple, nice round 
figures.  Thus, I am selling the website and the inventory for 
$15,000.

Ideally, the person purchasing CED Central  will know how to work on 
RCA videodisc players.  They can run the website and service out of 
their home.  It will take 30-40 hours a week to service 1-3 players a 
week, and also sell 1-3 players a week, and sell approximately 10-20 
discs a week and 4 stylus.  If you have the time and inclination you 
could increase the volume being sold.  My problem for about 8 months 
has been trying to slow down the volume because I did not have the 
time to keep up with the demand.

I will put you in touch with our supplier.  Currently, we have an 
exclusive arrangement with our supplier for stylus and New remotes. 
This will need to be renegotiated.

Please, only contact me if you have the time and the enthusiasm to 
work on these players.  The $15,000 price is more than fair, and is 
not open to haggling.  I just want to recoup some of my investment 
and not lose too much.

The disc inventories are ballpark figures, could be more, could be 
less, most likely more.

The players are a double edged sword.  No one will steal them because 
they do not work and very few people know how to get these players to 
run properly.  That's one of the beautiful things about these 
players.  Your labor and knowledge makes them valuable, and makes 
them work.  Even the new in the box SKT-100 players, you will have to 
service, test, and repack.

I have enjoyed helping people with their players.  I have found the 
people that have CED players to be very honest, honorable people that 
have lots of character.  People from media executives, people who are 
researchers, and noteworthy developers of the format and television 
itself, and also hardworking people like truck mechanics, waitresses, 
and so forth.

Contact me at:  jacuriel@csus.edu

signed James
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