CED Appearances on Television and in Movies

CED Appearances on Television and in Movies

This page provides still images from television and movies that contain CED references (players, discs, accessories, etc). If you know of any more of these, please email me information on the program material.

VDR3000 On Shelf Here's an appearance of a CED player in a movie that is also available on CED, the only such occurrence I've seen to date. This is a scene starting at 38:58 into Side 2 of Max Dugan Returns where Nora McPhee (Marsha Mason) is talking to her son Michael (Matthew Broderick) in his bedroom. This room is full of early 1980's electronic technology, and a Sanyo VDR3000 CED player can be seen in the shelf at the lower left. Other things to look for in the scene are a two-piece VCR, custom shelving for Atari game boxes to the left of the TV, and an Atari 800 computer (with its 5.25" floppy drive impractically located a few feet away on top of the TV).

This 1983 movie contains Matthew Broderick's first film role, and a few months later he became famous in WarGames. His bedroom in that movie is likewise full of electronic gear, most notably the IMSAI 8080 computer capable of speech synthesis.

SGT250 In Console Tales from the Crypt episode "Death of Some Salesmen" (original airdate October 2, 1993) with an SGT250 CED player in the entertainment console. In this episode, phony insurance salesman Judd Campbell (Ed Begley, Jr.) offers Pa and Ma Brackett (both played by Tim Curry) a death benefit of $10,000 for a $500 fee, but after looking at their entertainment console, he doubles the benefit to $20,000 for a $750 fee.

SGT250 Above Color TV Tales from the Crypt episode "Death of Some Salesmen" where Pa Brackett opens his entertainment console to show Judd Campbell his "Color TV" underneath the SGT250 CED player.

Television commercial from 1981 in which a little girl says "Hello Charlie Brown" to his image coming from the CED that has just been loaded into the player. Click Here or on the image to see the full 30-second commercial. This requires QuickTime version 4.0 or later.

Television commercial from 1981 that concludes with the guy saying "We're watching a great movie, and you're watching - us." Don't shove the caddy into the player the way this guy does, as it can result in a broken pivot on the left receiver pad assembly inside the CED player. Click Here or on the image to see the full 30-second commercial. This requires QuickTime version 4.0 or later.

OJ Simpson SFT100 Television commercial from 1981 in which O.J. Simpson (then a celebrity spokesperson for RCA subsidiary Hertz) promotes the SFT100 CED player. I need this complete commercial if anyone has it, as this still was captured from a soundless two seconds shown on a Channel 6 news story.

WOSAT Digital Command Center RCA Digital Command Center being used by Lucky Straeker (Steve Brodie) to control an RCA TV in The Wizard of Speed and Time by Mike Jittlov. This scene takes place 02:21 into Side 1 of the Image LaserDisc version of WOSAT. A short while later evil producer Harvey Bookman (Richard Kaye) gets an electric shock when he tries to use the remote control. This movie was filmed in late 1983 and early 1984 but not released theatrically until 1988 and is actually supposed to take place in 1977, the year of Star Wars. This makes for a number of historical anachronisms including the remote control itself, an IBM-PC computer, and The Right Stuff appearing on the marquee of the Chinese Theatre. But it is acknowledged that WOSAT may be taking place in another dimension.

The CRK32 DCC remote can control RCA TV's and VCR's as well as the SJT400 and SKT400 CED players. Note that this CRK32 remote still has the key cover hiding the left half of the keypad, a piece that is almost always missing from DCC remotes found today. This is one of my favorite movies, so it's cool that it contains a CED reference, albeit an obscure one. You can learn more about Mike Jittlov at WizWorld.com and alt.fan.mike-jittlov. The Jittlovian Repository has the movie trailer in QuickTime format.

History Channel CRK42A This is a display of remote controls from the History Channel Modern Marvels serial Remote Control that was first broadcast in February 2002. The large black remote in back is an RCA CRK42A model, a later version of the CRK32 shown in WOSAT. This model has five additional function buttons. In addition to the TV, VCR, and DISC buttons, the CRK42A also has buttons for AUX, AM/FM, PHON, TAPE, and CD.

There's an empty spot on the CRK42A where the DISC button should be, even though the button is still there, hidden under the top panel. The earlier CRK35 8-function remote had a DISC button (labeled VID2), so this omission appears to be a deliberate re-design by RCA to hide the ability of the CRK42A to control the SJT400 and SKT400 CED players. The CRK42A was the last of the large oval-profile Digital Command Centers and was released in 1985 after RCA ceased player manufacture. So this re-design may have been a political decision to remove this last hardware remnant of the CED system, as there was no technical or economic reason for hiding the button. In 1987 RCA began manufacturing wedge-shaped Digital Command Centers from which full CED functionality was truly gone. The hidden button on the CRK42A can be pressed by disassembling the remote, but an easier way to access it is through the tab opening under the Program/Timer Set Door. After this door above the top row of buttons is slid off, a straightened paper clip can be pressed through the tab slot to activate the DISC button.

Bob Knight Season On The Brink This is a closeup of an RCA FER5XX series television from the ESPN movie A Season on the Brink about the career of Bobby Knight, the irrepressible head basketball coach at Indiana University from 1971 to 2000. This movie was first broadcast on March 10, 2002 and covers the period from 1984 to 1986, dealing primarily with the 1985/86 basketball season. This was just after CED player manufacture had ceased at the RCA plant near the university in Bloomington, but RCA television manufacture was still going strong at the plant. The university contracted with RCA to provide televisions on campus, so the use of this CED-era RCA model in the movie demonstrates nice attention to detail. This scene takes place about 10 minutes into the movie, where the TV is being used to review a basketball practice session.

These FER5XX institutional televisions and their consumer FER4XX counterparts share some similarities with CED players. The model shown has a Nipper logo on the face plate below the numeric keypad, and above the keypad is a 2-digit, 7-segment red LED display. The Nipper logo also appears on RCA's SFT100 CED player, while the 2-digit LED that indicates the channel on the TV was used on many CED player models to indicate elapsed minutes of playback. FER4XX color TV's were RCA's most popular models during the CED era, so they still turn up in thrift stores. Having a CED player attached to such a TV is a good way to do a historically accurate demonstration of the CED system, as the CED player and TV will both date from about the same time.

Moldiver Professor Amagi This reference concerns the other "CED" format, JVC's VHD system, that was only marketed in Japan. In 1993 Pioneer released an Anime series on LaserDisc titled Moldiver, a science fiction story set in Tokyo in the year 2045. The first episode "Metamorforce" at 05:32 into the one-sided disc introduces Professor Amagi, a collector of technological artifacts. By 1993 Pioneer's LaserDisc had beaten JVC's VHD in Japan, so they took a poke at VHD on this LaserDisc. Here Professor Amagi unveils his VHD player to fellow collector Hiroshi Ozora, proudly proclaiming:

"Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha! This is the most rare and unique item, yes, and I have software to! Still can't beat me with your retro collection yet, eh?"

Moldiver VHD Player A better view of the Victor-brand VHD player shown in the "Metamorforce" episode of the Pioneer Moldiver Anime series.

Moldiver VHD Software Professor Amagi's assistant Isabelle shows his collection of VHD VideoDisc titles in the "Metamorforce" episode of the Pioneer Moldiver Anime series.

This is a QuickTime movie of an appearance my computer museum made on the KPTV Good Day Oregon show where I was interviewed at home by roving reporter Phil Cassidy. This is not about CED, but since the interview room is practically wall-to-wall CED's, it's probably the most CED stuff that will ever be seen in the background of a TV segment. Look for the framed metallized prototype CED's on the wall above the computers, and the TRON CED can be seen on the window sill above the Apple III computer. Also appearing are vintage RCA PFR100 and FER454 televisions. Click HERE or on the picture to view the 53 megabyte, 11 minute video. This requires QuickTime version 4.0 or later.

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