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RCA Press Release for October 14, 1982

CANNES, October 14 -- RCA plans to introduce its "CED" VideoDisc system to the European market in 1983, it was announced today at a meeting here of the International Tape/Disc Association.

"The hardware and software facilities are ready for mass production while marketing and distribution matters are in current negotiations," said Dr. Jay J. Brandinger, Vice President and General Manager, RCA "SelectaVision" VideoDiscs Operations.

RCA is presently manufacturing and selling its "CED" VideoDisc system in the United States, having launched it there nationally in March 1981.

The expansion of the new home entertainment product to Europe will result in RCA supplying discs for the initial launch from its disc manufacturing plant in Indianapolis. European "CED" players are expected to be offered by a number of brands presently doing business in Europe, Dr. Brandinger said.

At a special "CED" display at the annual VIDCOM show here, demonstrations are being given showing the compatibility of "CED" discs with both the PAL and SECAM television systems. Software participation is being demonstrated at VIDCOM by potential "CED" participants showing a variety of disc titles.

Specific firms participating in the "CED" display are: Hitachi, RCA, Toshiba, ITT/standard Elektrik Lorenz, MGM/UA Home Video, CBS-FOX Video, and RCA/Columbia Pictures International Video.

In his presentation to the ITA, Dr. Brandinger stressed the capabilities of the "CED" VideoDisc system, including random access selection of programming material by time or field number. He noted that the random access feature "is now a high priority development item at RCA."

Dr. Brandinger noted that demonstrations of the "CED" European system were well received at the recent Dusseldorf Fair, "particularly the picture performance and stereo sound quality." He said that while the disc size is the same for both the NTSC and European systems, the latter employs a slower rotational speed of 375 rpm. and 50 hz. of frequency compared with 450 rpm. and 60 hz. in NTSC countries.

The "CED" European system "is optimized to give the consumer superior performance compared to most home video cassette recorders and comparable to that obtained from off-the-air pictures," Dr. Brandinger said. The '"CED" European players demonstrated at Dusseldorf featured visual scanning, forward and reverse at four times, 16 times and 120 times normal speed, along with random search and pause, stereo sound and two-channel bilingual sound.

In reviewing the progress of the "CED" VideoDisc system in the United States market, Dr. Brandinger noted that total dollar sales of players and discs in the introductory year exceeded the combined total of black-and-white TV, color TV and VCR's in their first year of sales by more than $90 million.