There is one thing most do not understand because they were not around then. The main reason we had video rental stores everywhere at that time was the insane cost of the movies. Even a "garbage" film new on tape was normally around $100. Xanadu, Buckaroo Banzai, Raise the Titanic, each of those if you wanted to buy a tape was around $100 each. And one of the first "discounted" big movies was Star Wars, which was sold for "only $80" in 1982. However, for those of us that wanted to own our movies, CED was the best option. The movies were only around $20 each, so we could buy 4-5 movies for the cost of a single videotape movie. The cost of "videos" did not drop until the early 90s, when they finally came down to around $20 each. I had a CED, and also a huge collection of around 50 disks. And I did not buy my first "new videotape" until 1992, they were just too damned expensive. And when you have kids, having 10 disks or so that they can watch is a lot easier than videotapes. Especially if they are so young they know by the cover what it is, and can not yet read the name you put on the side of the tape you recorded yourself off the TV.
People just doesn’t understand that one issue you are referring to. Even though VHS won the war, Beta was better quality than VHS. Only reason why Betamax didn’t win because of marketing.
Sir, when you are showing Goldfinger and comparing the two CED and VHS. That is really an unfair comparison. This is why. The CED is from 1983. The tape is from around the 90s. That to me is an unfair comparison. If it was me, I would do the first release of Goldfinger and not a later VHS release.
@@TheOriginalGeorgiaFlash I would say mostly tape length. VHS blanks were 6 hours, Beta blanks were 4 hours. The tapes cost the same (around $10 each), so that meant you got more record time on the VHS tape for the same money.
@@michaelmartin4552 actually it does matter. The two mediums was both tested. The quality overall on Betamax was superior over VHS. The only way you would be able to tell the difference is using machines from the same time period and watch the same movie. The overall quality is better. That is common knowledge between Betamax vs VHS. 480i doesn’t mean shit at all. I am referring to picture itself. Betamax could have up to 500 lines horizontal compared to the 240 lines on VHS. More features on Betamax is the fast forward and rewind was faster. Tapes themselves lasted longer than VHS. Betamax had the bookmarked feature while VHS didn’t. The recording capacity was higher on Betamax than VHS. One of the reasons why VHS won that war was it was cheaper than Betamax was. I have Ghostbusters on both Betamax and VHS, each one their first issues. You can tell right off which is better quality. There is even a guy on TH-cam who recorded a more recent movie from TV and the same movie on VHS. He was impressed the quality the Betamax did compared to VHS.
I've owned every home video format here, but have never seen a side by aside comparison of clips from each. Well done! Thanks so much for posting this.👍
@@Ikes_online_video_space_78 1). It wasn't Victor, it was JVC who developed the VHD disc 2). JVC only developed VHD because RCA had GIVEN them an early CED prototype, which JVC then improved. 3). RCA then turned around and incorporated the improvements JVC came up with into the CED system
Oh yes the quality of the video was much better when the players and the disks were new. First experience of stereo movies at home when I was a kid too.
the CED wasnt actually read by the stylus, that was just used for tracking. the disc was read by a sensor attached to the stylus that could measure the distance from the disc by measuring the strength of the capacitor that it and the disc formed (hence the C in CED)
Thanks for making such an informative and well made video. I recently bought a CED at a convention and knew nothing about them. Not only was this video was very informative, it was presented well. Have a great day and I look forward to watching your other videos.
I accidentally bought a CED disk thinking I was getting a Laserdisc on Ebay. When it arrived I was very confused and looked it up. What a strange format.
I can remember a friend of mine back when I was 12, invited me to her place to watch a movie. Her family had this weird player with what I thought were records that played movies. I had never seen something like it before nor ever again after but I explained it to many people who thought I was making it up or misremembering. Thank you SO MUCH for clearing up what has always been a mystery for me. I KNEW I'd seen a video player that played what looked like records but they came in a hard case that got inserted into the player to release the disk. I knew it!! I have been Validated!!! :)
CED is the one common video format I never owned. I bought a LaserDisc player specifically because there were some Olivia Newton-John titles available exclusively on MCA’s DiscoVision, including her 1978 TV special. That special was never released on any other format, so I went with LD as my "high-end" format. I’m very glad I did; a friend bought a CED player and the constant skipping/looping/static was just terrible. While I’ve replaced most of the 200+ titles I bought on LD with DVD and Blu-Ray, there are still a handful of LDs in my collection that have never turned up on any other format. As far as I know, the extended director’s cut of Peter Bogdanovich’s Texasville has never turned up again. Anyway, I have a handful of CED discs that I bought for about $0.50 each just to have that format in my collection - I’ve tried to collect at least one example of every commercially available audio and video format ever made - but I’ve never been able to watch them. They’d probably be nearly unwatchable anyway. They just look cool!
LD was trying to hit the "high end", primarily by offering features not seen at that time on tapes. Like trailers, documentaries, commentary tracks, and other things just not available on tape. However, some CED offered those also. I owned several that were letterbox, and also featured things like trailers and extra content. But LD was aimed at the high end collector, CED was aimed at the common consumer. And I also remember when all three were new. Tape and LD were around $100 each movie, but CED was only around $20 each movie. That is a huge boost for families.
I never owned a CED player, but there is a video that RCA produced showing how the disks were made. Instead of film, the source footage came from a reel to reel videotape. They would literally playback the tape reel transfer it to the vinyl record. Using a tape source might explain the static in the audio and video.
Also keep in mind, these were the days before movies were being "remastered". Since home video was relatively new, many studios would provide RCA with a "good" copy of the film for them to dub to videotape. So this means some films look better than others. My copy of "Shaft" is a glory to behold while my first pressing of "The French Connection" is practically unwatchable. Not because of static or skips, but the audio is muffled badly and the film is so dark, that nighttime scenes are just a black screen. My RCA pressing of "Live and Let Die" is the most laughable. While most of the film is in good condition, about 3/4 of the way through on side 1, there was an obvious jam in the film, followed by a very poor splice. This was copied to the video tape and was copied to the video disk. It's hysterical that anything like that would be allowed today. But you have front-row seats to watching the film get fluttery, get dark where it burned when it jammed, followed by a nasty visible splice with a terrible audio THUMP accompanying it. I like CED Videodiscs for what they are; a fascinating piece of history that had the potential to be more than it was. Sometimes, it's even fun to watch movies on.
No, that wasn't the problem. It's the age of the discs and players causing playback issues today. Back in the 80's CED easily beat VHS on quality, and was nearly identical to early LaserDisc.
The tale behind this format is kinda sad. RCA was so keen on making a video vinyl, that they kept on developing it only to end up like the Hindenburg airship.
Awesome video Niki! Your content is always so informative and engaging! Your dedication and hard work are truly evident in the high-quality content you consistently produce! I can't wait to see what you have in store for us next. 🔥🎥
@@ParanormalExplorer I agree. Laserdisc (LD) was similar to DVD as far as features and the video quality was closer to DVD than VHS was. Plus, LD had some advantages over DVD. Among them was that there were no mandated portions of video on an LD. Items like the FBI Warning would appear but could be skipped after they appeared. Plus, with CAV discs you could go to a specific video frame on the LD, a feature which was used for a disc of the artwork at Louvre in Paris (you could pause the video a view and perfect still frame of each piece of artwork).
Laserdisk was the premium format through the 80s and 90s until dvd stabilized circa 99-2000. Ld prices were premium too. I didn't get into ld until 93 or so with auto flipping pioneer players at best buy.
My uncle had one of these players in the 80’s. When a disc was new it looked better than vhs. However any dust that might make it into the case would have it malfunctioning by the third or fourth viewing.
I love those educational videos. It’s awesome to see you again and I hope to see more of this great content in the future on your channel, because I’ll love that. ♥️👍🏻
When in the military in Iceland in 1982, I had the very first RCA player. It used a synchronous motor to play the discs. The player and discs were NTSC and the motor was 60hz. I had erratic video playback on all the videos with the RCA player. I replaced the needle module and it was still erratic. I then thought the drive belt might be defective, so I searched high and low in Reykjavik with no luck finding a OEM belt. I ditched the player and bought another brand. The Hitachi model, like you have. It played perfectly. Further investigation discovered the Hitachi using a crystal oscillator to keep the dive motor in perfect sync. Further investigation discovered the military power plant was converting the Icelandic power from 240 v 50hz to 120v 60hz for US standards on the military premises. I figured the conversion was not very well regulated, and that’s why the RCA player glitched, being heavily dependent on a fairly stable 60hz. The player played perfect in the US before going to Iceland, and again played perfect when arriving back home, so it must have been the loose tolerances from the power spec conversion process.
Thanks for this video. I have had a Star Trek CED for years, thought it was just a laserDisc with a funky type of case. I recently got a Pioneer CLD S104 for $50 off Facebook and a bunch (62) laserDiscs, and it works great. It's pretty fun watching laserDisc, and I can finally watch the ones I got years ago at a consignment store (the first 2 Star Wars movies, and The King and I). In my laserDiscs, I got 24 box sets, some of which have a lot of cool extras, like the soundtrack on CD (most sealed), reprints of the script, pictures, etc. A few of the actual discs were still sealed (Breakfast at Tiffany's, but I watched that, and the Cinderella discs from the Japanese import version). I don't get the impression that CED has those kinds of extras and sets, but from this video, I am in no hurry to get involved with CED, as I'm starting to build my laserDisc collection.
One thing about laserdisc, when it came out in the late 70s, it was actually much cheaper than a VCR. Many VCRs were pushing $1200 or more while laserdisc players ranged from $600-$900. Also laserdiscs were way cheaper than tapes in the early years of VCR. A pre recorded movie on VHS or Beta was nearly $100 while laserdiscs were $20-$30. It wasn’t until the late 1980s when home video prices came down for VHS. More people bought VCRs because recording was their primary use when they came out. Plus laserdisc and CED under estimated the rental market. Yes tapes were more money but people had no issue paying $2-$5 to rent a movie.
Great to see newish videos again. CED's failure was because it came to the market too late, it was developed as far back as the 60s but it had many technical hurdles to overcome, it was posed to be a cheap way to get movies at home as pre VHS and Betamax video recorders and tapes were prohibitively expensive (the Home Video market didn't exist back then, unless you count the Avco Cartrivision format). However it came to the market too little too late as video recorders for both VHS and Beta seemed like the better options because of time shifting (and video rental) and Laserdisc was already out and was really only popular with collectors (CEDs were cheaper though). In America players were made between 1981 and 1984 and new titles came out on it till 1986 where as in the UK (which is where your discs are from due to the BBFC ratings on the back, even though they were pre-certs) were only sold in a 6 month window in 1983. If it hit the market by say the mid 70s we would be hearing a different story.
Color/picture degradation must be a common problem with the 40 year old discs. I compared them back in 1981 when they were new and CED definitely looked better than VHS.
Found about 35-40 of these at a flea market mall today. Thought it was movie posters on plastic at first. Then thought it was laserdisc. But anyways I got 3 of them for $7 lol. Fast times at ridgemont high, Mr mom and Mary poppins. Don’t have a player but still added something different to my collection. Awesome video
@@flyrobin2544Agreed. I have a 3x3 display of Ld, vinyl soundtracks and now Ced disc's in good condition. I swap them out periodically. Beats movie posters. The ceds are all in one row, while ld and lp are interchangeable, same size jackets
RCA and Circuit City also had another failed format called DIVX. It was basically a DVD player which also played "pay per play" DVD's. When I was working for an RCA dealer we sold these. They were plagued by the static you mentioned and annoying skipping.
I can't believe I'm actually going to defend CED here, but I think the comparison with VHS in this video isn't entirely fair. The Rocky and Goldfinger tapes look to be much newer, I'm guessing a 90s releases, by which time they'd probably digitally remastered the films, so they're struck from completely different masters which would account for the colours and possibly the picture as well. In reality I think CED is pretty much on par with VHS - except it's still worse because you not only don't get any of the benefits of laserdisc (better sound and picture), but you don't get any of the benefits of VHS either (recording) - plus any issues with the pressings (or just the age) result in skipping, whereas the other two just give you dropouts!
A friend of mine just mentioned he has a CED disc and I had never even heard about them! Your vid cleared that up nicely. I subscribed so I hope to see more vids soon!
In Europe back in time I owned a LaserDisc player and I modified the Pioneer CLD-2950 to have an AC-3 RF output so I could connect the RF demodulator to plug into the DD 5.1 receiver. I saw Matrix on LaserDisc in DD 5.1 before I had it on DVD. As for stylus based video - JVC did the same approach as RCA CED - but without a guiding groove. The stylus was way larger - more girth - than in the grooves. A servo kept the capacitance electrical sensor always above a grove. But as the stylus was large - it did not wear out the disc - not much pressure per square inch. No skipping. Cheap pressed discs. It had success in Japan for 10 years! As a VHD disc from JVC was at 1/10th of the price of a LaserDisc.
The best part is the case. you dont ever have to touch the disc. for LP this would have been good. I think the technology used for this was used for laser etching vinyl records.
_"The best part is the case. you dont ever have to touch the disc."_ And RCA did that as a matter of necessity. Originally, the disc was meant to be handled by hand. But despite efforts RCA made to make the disc easy to handle without touching the signal surface, people managed to touch those areas of prototype discs anyway, and the fingerprint left behind would degrade the signal at that point. And you couldn't really clean it off without also risking stripping away the silicone layer on the surface, which was meant to help prolong disc life by reducing friction with the stylus. So, RCA devised an autoloading system, to eliminate the risk of fingerprints on the disc altogether. Of course, LaserDisc didn't have that kind of a problem. Touch the signal surface of a LaserDisc, and usually the player can just play through it with no problem. Or, if there was a problem, it could simply be cleaned off. ---- _"I think the technology used for this was used for laser etching vinyl records."_ CED copper master discs were cut using a special lathe machine that didn't use lasers at all. Lasers were used to check the quality of blank copper master discs as well as to check the integrity of the recording of cut copper master discs, but that's about it when it comes to lasers used to make discs ... unless we also count barcode scanners used in production.
@@Watcher3223 cool, cheers for the info :) Unlike LD CED never came to Australia i think and its a shame because the concept would have been good if they pulled off the player in time. LD's cost around $50-$90 AUD ea at the time.
@@jamesburke2759 Speaking from experience, CED actually wasn't a very good format. Australia really didn't miss much in this case. CED's picture quality is roughly on par with VHS, with a slight edge in favor of VHS overall, IMO. Despite some online sources claiming that CED had an edge in video quality compared to VHS, CED video doesn't seem to be quite as stable on average, at least to me. Sound quality was better on CED compared to video cassette ... up until VCRs with AFM Hi-Fi debuted. VHS Hi-Fi and Beta hi-fi, with their wider frequency response and higher dynamic range, blew CED stereo sound with CX noise reduction out of the water.
The CED format might have been successful if it had been released in 1970 or so and been the *first* home video format. But it got stuck in development hell until 1981, by which point it had to compete with both LaserDisc and VCRs.
A local used music store had boxes and boxes of laserdiscs and CED discs when I stopped by a couple days ago. 4:00 - That’s why the format is called Pan & Scan.
That is one of the reasons I went with Laserdisc. VHS didn't have the resolution to do letterboxing and most movies were released in Pan & Scan. However, there's a Benny Hill Sketch which humorously illustrated the problems with Pan & Scan (the person responsible for deciding what to show chose the worst part of the images to show).
I just watch a tiktok with a guy owned a RCA CED system 😮 and I jumping to your video. It's so hilarious that this kind of disc exists. I almost forty😅 never heard about it .
the cover of the CED is cool looking. I would prefer play VHS over them though. Only time I ever watched shows on CED was when I was a child and my babysitter would play some cartoons for me. I have never seen CEDs anymore after my mother, sister and I moved to another part of the US.
I had the same issue when watching "The Hobbit" (the Rankin-Bass production) on CED. Just watching it for a few minutes made me not want to have anything to do with CED.
Even after *17* years of development, CED was still released to market with major flaws. It ended up being the downfall of the once-mighty RCA, and its subsequent breakup and sale to GE, Thomson & others.
I remember renting one of these players and movies a couple of times when i was a kid. I tried to watch a segment of HeMan over and over, but after about the 3rd pass that part became unplayable. I complained enough after that we only rented VHS players.😂
So there are a couple of points that you’re missing and they mainly deal with cost. Laserdisc players were quite expensive, as was the media. VCRs were also very expensive because they required lots of precise moving parts. VHS/Beta pre-recorded tapes were VERY expensive because they had to be dubbed in factories and could not be high-speed dubbed like audio cassette due to the nature of helical scan used on VHS/Beta. CED on the other hand was cheap to manufacture for both the player and the media. They really are quite close to record players. The discs themselves are vinyl and could be pressed in a manner similar to an audio record. As for your bad picture/static audio you very likely need to change the cartridge on your CED machine. It is a wear part, just like the stylus on a turntable. Hope this helps.
_"VHS/Beta pre-recorded tapes were VERY expensive because they had to be dubbed in factories and could not be high-speed dubbed like audio cassette due to the nature of helical scan used on VHS/Beta."_ Well, yes and no. Initially, duplication of video cassettes were done using large banks of recorders. Sony would develop high speed video tape sprinter machines, which could duplicate a two hour movie recorded in the SP speed on VHS in one minute. And another reason why prerecorded video cassettes were more expensive than video discs was also because movies on cassettes were sold through a tier whereas movies on discs were direct sale. For video tape, you first sold to the rental market, which had the highest prices. Then when that market was satisfied, you sold to the collector market at lower prices, but still expensive. Then when that market was satisfied, you sold to the masses at the lowest price. ---- _"As for your bad picture/static audio you very likely need to change the cartridge on your CED machine."_ Yes and no. The stylus cartridge is a wear item, but the problems we see here can still be due to the disc. The CED format was a bit finicky even at its best. Sometimes, you can have a disc with skips merely because you hadn't played it for a long time.
@Watcher3223 never had issues with skipping back in the day personally. Pretty sure there was an adjustment for that. In truth all 3 formats (ld,ced,vhs) look like crap now. And ld, ced are only a tinge better especially considering the televisions at that time.
From what I understand, at first VHS tapes weren't easy to duplicate at high numbers due to having to be copied in real time (it would take 90 minutes to duplicate a 90-minute VHS tape). Eventually, they did develop ways of speeding up the process. That was one of the reasons that early VHS tapes were priced for rental (>$100).
I think it's amazing that this tech even made it to the public... back in the day companies took chances and there was always something new coming out. Today only on sites like Kickstarter are doing similar but new aspiring companies are not shy on their prices. I own one of these players and a stack of mainly horror movies. Its really cool tech showing they were able to do audio and sound running from a stylus. Although if you see one of these players out in the wild don't pay too much because it will probablly not work. The discs need to be in mint shape also or the movie will skip or sometimes the styus will go straight through the entire movie in seconds. They are really finicky. I own like 6 that need repaired. I have a nice one for my collection. Its the stereo version with remote. In working condition these are highly collectable and fetch a lot of money. Maybe someday I will find the masters of all my fave 80s horror movies at a garage sale.
It's not terrible at all, it's better than VHS but not as good as laserdisc, Betamax is the clear winner so get your facts right. I suggest you service your player.
These videos are underrated! Real masterpieces! Loving it!! Maybe use gloves to handle the discs tho, would help with my ocd 🤣 jk.. Awesome content! Keep it up!!
Yes, ced was ridiculously bad. Don't recall if there was a cost advantage of ced over vhs in 82-83. Of course at the end >84, ced closeouts had some bargain hunters snapping them up. To this day, I have ptsd, suffering through a showing of Raiders of the Lost Ark on ced circa 1985. Terrble glitches, skipping, etc.
Tbf the equipment one is using to play the ced makes a difference. If your unit is in poor shape you get poor results. Same with the pressing you might be using.
I would like to see more Movie location videos. Its unbelievable how you did them. Such a great job
Nice video with good content too! Good to have you back Niki! 🇸🇪🤝🏻🇩🇰
There is one thing most do not understand because they were not around then.
The main reason we had video rental stores everywhere at that time was the insane cost of the movies. Even a "garbage" film new on tape was normally around $100. Xanadu, Buckaroo Banzai, Raise the Titanic, each of those if you wanted to buy a tape was around $100 each. And one of the first "discounted" big movies was Star Wars, which was sold for "only $80" in 1982.
However, for those of us that wanted to own our movies, CED was the best option. The movies were only around $20 each, so we could buy 4-5 movies for the cost of a single videotape movie. The cost of "videos" did not drop until the early 90s, when they finally came down to around $20 each.
I had a CED, and also a huge collection of around 50 disks. And I did not buy my first "new videotape" until 1992, they were just too damned expensive. And when you have kids, having 10 disks or so that they can watch is a lot easier than videotapes. Especially if they are so young they know by the cover what it is, and can not yet read the name you put on the side of the tape you recorded yourself off the TV.
People just doesn’t understand that one issue you are referring to. Even though VHS won the war, Beta was better quality than VHS. Only reason why Betamax didn’t win because of marketing.
Sir, when you are showing Goldfinger and comparing the two CED and VHS. That is really an unfair comparison. This is why. The CED is from 1983. The tape is from around the 90s. That to me is an unfair comparison.
If it was me, I would do the first release of Goldfinger and not a later VHS release.
@@TheOriginalGeorgiaFlash Does not matter, because ultimately they are all NTSC 480i.
@@TheOriginalGeorgiaFlash I would say mostly tape length. VHS blanks were 6 hours, Beta blanks were 4 hours. The tapes cost the same (around $10 each), so that meant you got more record time on the VHS tape for the same money.
@@michaelmartin4552 actually it does matter. The two mediums was both tested. The quality overall on Betamax was superior over VHS. The only way you would be able to tell the difference is using machines from the same time period and watch the same movie. The overall quality is better. That is common knowledge between Betamax vs VHS. 480i doesn’t mean shit at all. I am referring to picture itself. Betamax could have up to 500 lines horizontal compared to the 240 lines on VHS.
More features on Betamax is the fast forward and rewind was faster.
Tapes themselves lasted longer than VHS.
Betamax had the bookmarked feature while VHS didn’t.
The recording capacity was higher on Betamax than VHS.
One of the reasons why VHS won that war was it was cheaper than Betamax was. I have Ghostbusters on both Betamax and VHS, each one their first issues. You can tell right off which is better quality.
There is even a guy on TH-cam who recorded a more recent movie from TV and the same movie on VHS. He was impressed the quality the Betamax did compared to VHS.
Love these videos. Hope to see more
Enig
hi
This format was a dead end, consumers were right not to buy into the hype of it.
I agree buttt it’s an awesome collectible.
Fascinating! Thank you for sharing such a detailed video on this CED video format.
Recently found your channel! Love your movie locations videos❤️
I've owned every home video format here, but have never seen a side by aside comparison of clips from each. Well done! Thanks so much for posting this.👍
I wonder why CED ever tried. When VHS was already there.
It was supposed to come out much earlier than it did, in the 60s.
Well, we invested already 650 Million $, let's see if we can get some of it back from those poor consumers.
@@Ikes_online_video_space_78 1). It wasn't Victor, it was JVC who developed the VHD disc
2). JVC only developed VHD because RCA had GIVEN them an early CED prototype, which JVC then improved.
3). RCA then turned around and incorporated the improvements JVC came up with into the CED system
@@looneyburgmusicVictor is JVC. Japan Victor Company.
Oh yes the quality of the video was much better when the players and the disks were new. First experience of stereo movies at home when I was a kid too.
"...so maybe this one has been played 499 times..." --great slam. 😂
the CED wasnt actually read by the stylus, that was just used for tracking. the disc was read by a sensor attached to the stylus that could measure the distance from the disc by measuring the strength of the capacitor that it and the disc formed (hence the C in CED)
Thanks for making such an informative and well made video. I recently bought a CED at a convention and knew nothing about them. Not only was this video was very informative, it was presented well. Have a great day and I look forward to watching your other videos.
Thanks for all the work you do! Just discovered your channel today and I'm really enjoying your content.
I accidentally bought a CED disk thinking I was getting a Laserdisc on Ebay. When it arrived I was very confused and looked it up. What a strange format.
haha I can imagine....
I can remember a friend of mine back when I was 12, invited me to her place to watch a movie. Her family had this weird player with what I thought were records that played movies. I had never seen something like it before nor ever again after but I explained it to many people who thought I was making it up or misremembering.
Thank you SO MUCH for clearing up what has always been a mystery for me. I KNEW I'd seen a video player that played what looked like records but they came in a hard case that got inserted into the player to release the disk. I knew it!!
I have been Validated!!! :)
Their scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn’t stop to think if they should.
CED is the one common video format I never owned. I bought a LaserDisc player specifically because there were some Olivia Newton-John titles available exclusively on MCA’s DiscoVision, including her 1978 TV special. That special was never released on any other format, so I went with LD as my "high-end" format. I’m very glad I did; a friend bought a CED player and the constant skipping/looping/static was just terrible. While I’ve replaced most of the 200+ titles I bought on LD with DVD and Blu-Ray, there are still a handful of LDs in my collection that have never turned up on any other format. As far as I know, the extended director’s cut of Peter Bogdanovich’s Texasville has never turned up again.
Anyway, I have a handful of CED discs that I bought for about $0.50 each just to have that format in my collection - I’ve tried to collect at least one example of every commercially available audio and video format ever made - but I’ve never been able to watch them. They’d probably be nearly unwatchable anyway. They just look cool!
LD was trying to hit the "high end", primarily by offering features not seen at that time on tapes. Like trailers, documentaries, commentary tracks, and other things just not available on tape. However, some CED offered those also. I owned several that were letterbox, and also featured things like trailers and extra content.
But LD was aimed at the high end collector, CED was aimed at the common consumer. And I also remember when all three were new. Tape and LD were around $100 each movie, but CED was only around $20 each movie. That is a huge boost for families.
I never owned a CED player, but there is a video that RCA produced showing how the disks were made. Instead of film, the source footage came from a reel to reel videotape. They would literally playback the tape reel transfer it to the vinyl record. Using a tape source might explain the static in the audio and video.
Also keep in mind, these were the days before movies were being "remastered". Since home video was relatively new, many studios would provide RCA with a "good" copy of the film for them to dub to videotape. So this means some films look better than others. My copy of "Shaft" is a glory to behold while my first pressing of "The French Connection" is practically unwatchable. Not because of static or skips, but the audio is muffled badly and the film is so dark, that nighttime scenes are just a black screen.
My RCA pressing of "Live and Let Die" is the most laughable. While most of the film is in good condition, about 3/4 of the way through on side 1, there was an obvious jam in the film, followed by a very poor splice. This was copied to the video tape and was copied to the video disk. It's hysterical that anything like that would be allowed today. But you have front-row seats to watching the film get fluttery, get dark where it burned when it jammed, followed by a nasty visible splice with a terrible audio THUMP accompanying it.
I like CED Videodiscs for what they are; a fascinating piece of history that had the potential to be more than it was.
Sometimes, it's even fun to watch movies on.
No, that wasn't the problem.
It's the age of the discs and players causing playback issues today. Back in the 80's CED easily beat VHS on quality, and was nearly identical to early LaserDisc.
The tale behind this format is kinda sad. RCA was so keen on making a video vinyl, that they kept on developing it only to end up like the Hindenburg airship.
Good to see you back online after 1 year away.
4:57 the VHS benefit from a better video transfer technique as it was released over a decade later.
Yes, I also have some VHS tapes at home
Awesome video Niki! Your content is always so informative and engaging! Your dedication and hard work are truly evident in the high-quality content you consistently produce! I can't wait to see what you have in store for us next. 🔥🎥
That CED thing looks tedious. 😯 Glad we had VHS and DVDs and eventually bluray. Love your videos. Very informative. 😃
Laserdisc was great.
@@ParanormalExplorer I agree. Laserdisc (LD) was similar to DVD as far as features and the video quality was closer to DVD than VHS was. Plus, LD had some advantages over DVD. Among them was that there were no mandated portions of video on an LD. Items like the FBI Warning would appear but could be skipped after they appeared. Plus, with CAV discs you could go to a specific video frame on the LD, a feature which was used for a disc of the artwork at Louvre in Paris (you could pause the video a view and perfect still frame of each piece of artwork).
Laserdisk was the premium format through the 80s and 90s until dvd stabilized circa 99-2000. Ld prices were premium too.
I didn't get into ld until 93 or so with auto flipping pioneer players at best buy.
My uncle had one of these players in the 80’s. When a disc was new it looked better than vhs. However any dust that might make it into the case would have it malfunctioning by the third or fourth viewing.
I love those educational videos. It’s awesome to see you again and I hope to see more of this great content in the future on your channel, because I’ll love that. ♥️👍🏻
CED was very short lived.
Glad to have you back!
Great video. Love to watch your content!
When in the military in Iceland in 1982, I had the very first RCA player. It used a synchronous motor to play the discs. The player and discs were NTSC and the motor was 60hz. I had erratic video playback on all the videos with the RCA player. I replaced the needle module and it was still erratic. I then thought the drive belt might be defective, so I searched high and low in Reykjavik with no luck finding a OEM belt. I ditched the player and bought another brand. The Hitachi model, like you have. It played perfectly. Further investigation discovered the Hitachi using a crystal oscillator to keep the dive motor in perfect sync. Further investigation discovered the military power plant was converting the Icelandic power from 240 v 50hz to 120v 60hz for US standards on the military premises. I figured the conversion was not very well regulated, and that’s why the RCA player glitched, being heavily dependent on a fairly stable 60hz. The player played perfect in the US before going to Iceland, and again played perfect when arriving back home, so it must have been the loose tolerances from the power spec conversion process.
Thanks for this video. I have had a Star Trek CED for years, thought it was just a laserDisc with a funky type of case. I recently got a Pioneer CLD S104 for $50 off Facebook and a bunch (62) laserDiscs, and it works great. It's pretty fun watching laserDisc, and I can finally watch the ones I got years ago at a consignment store (the first 2 Star Wars movies, and The King and I). In my laserDiscs, I got 24 box sets, some of which have a lot of cool extras, like the soundtrack on CD (most sealed), reprints of the script, pictures, etc. A few of the actual discs were still sealed (Breakfast at Tiffany's, but I watched that, and the Cinderella discs from the Japanese import version). I don't get the impression that CED has those kinds of extras and sets, but from this video, I am in no hurry to get involved with CED, as I'm starting to build my laserDisc collection.
One thing about laserdisc, when it came out in the late 70s, it was actually much cheaper than a VCR. Many VCRs were pushing $1200 or more while laserdisc players ranged from $600-$900. Also laserdiscs were way cheaper than tapes in the early years of VCR. A pre recorded movie on VHS or Beta was nearly $100 while laserdiscs were $20-$30. It wasn’t until the late 1980s when home video prices came down for VHS. More people bought VCRs because recording was their primary use when they came out. Plus laserdisc and CED under estimated the rental market. Yes tapes were more money but people had no issue paying $2-$5 to rent a movie.
Laserdisc was overall not popular with most people anyways and were shortlived
@@JayPatrolit certainly didn’t reach mass adoption but the format continued until about 2000. Definitely not short lived by any stretch.
Great to see newish videos again. CED's failure was because it came to the market too late, it was developed as far back as the 60s but it had many technical hurdles to overcome, it was posed to be a cheap way to get movies at home as pre VHS and Betamax video recorders and tapes were prohibitively expensive (the Home Video market didn't exist back then, unless you count the Avco Cartrivision format). However it came to the market too little too late as video recorders for both VHS and Beta seemed like the better options because of time shifting (and video rental) and Laserdisc was already out and was really only popular with collectors (CEDs were cheaper though). In America players were made between 1981 and 1984 and new titles came out on it till 1986 where as in the UK (which is where your discs are from due to the BBFC ratings on the back, even though they were pre-certs) were only sold in a 6 month window in 1983. If it hit the market by say the mid 70s we would be hearing a different story.
Color/picture degradation must be a common problem with the 40 year old discs. I compared them back in 1981 when they were new and CED definitely looked better than VHS.
Found about 35-40 of these at a flea market mall today. Thought it was movie posters on plastic at first. Then thought it was laserdisc. But anyways I got 3 of them for $7 lol. Fast times at ridgemont high, Mr mom and Mary poppins. Don’t have a player but still added something different to my collection. Awesome video
They look great on the wall side by side, use a old movie film edge to enhance the look.
@@flyrobin2544Agreed.
I have a 3x3 display of Ld, vinyl soundtracks and now Ced disc's in good condition.
I swap them out periodically. Beats movie posters.
The ceds are all in one row, while ld and lp are interchangeable, same size jackets
Film locations of the lost world of Jurassic Park
Vad gött att ha dig tillbaka Niki! :D
Hans 'Jurassic Park locations' fick mig att prenumerera. Riktigt grym nostalgitripp fick man av den videon.
Welcome back!
Not to mention that the format's commercial failure even tanked the company itself and put it out of business!
RCA and Circuit City also had another failed format called DIVX. It was basically a DVD player which also played "pay per play" DVD's.
When I was working for an RCA dealer we sold these. They were plagued by the static you mentioned and annoying skipping.
Awesome and educational video!
Living life dangerously. Not putting that player on the bottom shelf.
My dad always bought the newest technologies. I grew up watching movies on these big discs growing up, lol. We had VHS, too.
I can't believe I'm actually going to defend CED here, but I think the comparison with VHS in this video isn't entirely fair. The Rocky and Goldfinger tapes look to be much newer, I'm guessing a 90s releases, by which time they'd probably digitally remastered the films, so they're struck from completely different masters which would account for the colours and possibly the picture as well.
In reality I think CED is pretty much on par with VHS - except it's still worse because you not only don't get any of the benefits of laserdisc (better sound and picture), but you don't get any of the benefits of VHS either (recording) - plus any issues with the pressings (or just the age) result in skipping, whereas the other two just give you dropouts!
Hey, great video brother! I saw the CED on another channel so I searched it and your video answered everything I was curious about. Subscribed
Always fun to learn about Formats I never even heard of
A friend of mine just mentioned he has a CED disc and I had never even heard about them! Your vid cleared that up nicely. I subscribed so I hope to see more vids soon!
In Europe back in time I owned a LaserDisc player and I modified the Pioneer CLD-2950 to have an AC-3 RF output so I could connect the RF demodulator to plug into the DD 5.1 receiver.
I saw Matrix on LaserDisc in DD 5.1 before I had it on DVD.
As for stylus based video - JVC did the same approach as RCA CED - but without a guiding groove. The stylus was way larger - more girth - than in the grooves. A servo kept the capacitance electrical sensor always above a grove. But as the stylus was large - it did not wear out the disc - not much pressure per square inch. No skipping. Cheap pressed discs. It had success in Japan for 10 years! As a VHD disc from JVC was at 1/10th of the price of a LaserDisc.
Looks like your old stylus is the actual problem.
It might be terrible but it's also brilliant.
This channel is so underrated.
I love the obselete video formats series. Keep up the work
Same as *TD-110* i allso love these vids, and i also hope to see more :D
finnaly another upload yes yes yes!
This is super interesting, I'm glad we have our 4K UHD discs now lol
LOL at 3:55, Niki apparently discovering pan-and-scan for the first time in his life.
The best part is the case. you dont ever have to touch the disc. for LP this would have been good. I think the technology used for this was used for laser etching vinyl records.
_"The best part is the case. you dont ever have to touch the disc."_
And RCA did that as a matter of necessity.
Originally, the disc was meant to be handled by hand.
But despite efforts RCA made to make the disc easy to handle without touching the signal surface, people managed to touch those areas of prototype discs anyway, and the fingerprint left behind would degrade the signal at that point. And you couldn't really clean it off without also risking stripping away the silicone layer on the surface, which was meant to help prolong disc life by reducing friction with the stylus.
So, RCA devised an autoloading system, to eliminate the risk of fingerprints on the disc altogether.
Of course, LaserDisc didn't have that kind of a problem. Touch the signal surface of a LaserDisc, and usually the player can just play through it with no problem. Or, if there was a problem, it could simply be cleaned off.
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_"I think the technology used for this was used for laser etching vinyl records."_
CED copper master discs were cut using a special lathe machine that didn't use lasers at all.
Lasers were used to check the quality of blank copper master discs as well as to check the integrity of the recording of cut copper master discs, but that's about it when it comes to lasers used to make discs ... unless we also count barcode scanners used in production.
@@Watcher3223 cool, cheers for the info :) Unlike LD CED never came to Australia i think and its a shame because the concept would have been good if they pulled off the player in time. LD's cost around $50-$90 AUD ea at the time.
@@jamesburke2759 Speaking from experience, CED actually wasn't a very good format. Australia really didn't miss much in this case.
CED's picture quality is roughly on par with VHS, with a slight edge in favor of VHS overall, IMO. Despite some online sources claiming that CED had an edge in video quality compared to VHS, CED video doesn't seem to be quite as stable on average, at least to me.
Sound quality was better on CED compared to video cassette ... up until VCRs with AFM Hi-Fi debuted. VHS Hi-Fi and Beta hi-fi, with their wider frequency response and higher dynamic range, blew CED stereo sound with CX noise reduction out of the water.
The CED format might have been successful if it had been released in 1970 or so and been the *first* home video format. But it got stuck in development hell until 1981, by which point it had to compete with both LaserDisc and VCRs.
I remember the RCA videodiscs when they were still popular. Now just as old school as 8 tracks.
Tillykke med 100 K 💯🎉🎉
A local used music store had boxes and boxes of laserdiscs and CED discs when I stopped by a couple days ago.
4:00 - That’s why the format is called Pan & Scan.
That is one of the reasons I went with Laserdisc. VHS didn't have the resolution to do letterboxing and most movies were released in Pan & Scan. However, there's a Benny Hill Sketch which humorously illustrated the problems with Pan & Scan (the person responsible for deciding what to show chose the worst part of the images to show).
Can you try to find mistakes in Thomas & Friends going season by season in every episode?
I love your movietalks, epecially how you get really nerdy in the subject. Where is it you film it? It does not look like your usual apartment..
My dad repairs the players. He has a ton of them
I just watch a tiktok with a guy owned a RCA CED system 😮 and I jumping to your video. It's so hilarious that this kind of disc exists. I almost forty😅 never heard about it .
tillykke med 100k
the cover of the CED is cool looking. I would prefer play VHS over them though. Only time I ever watched shows on CED was when I was a child and my babysitter would play some cartoons for me. I have never seen CEDs anymore after my mother, sister and I moved to another part of the US.
Rapaz pior que nunca sabia que isso existia, vivendo e aprendendo!
A lot of the issue may be your stylus. It can get a lot of dust on it too. If you clean it, it may help the skipping and noise.
CED...what a bad format that was! Watched Tom & Jerry on it as a kid and it just stuttered and jumped around.
I had the same issue when watching "The Hobbit" (the Rankin-Bass production) on CED. Just watching it for a few minutes made me not want to have anything to do with CED.
Even after *17* years of development, CED was still released to market with major flaws. It ended up being the downfall of the once-mighty RCA, and its subsequent breakup and sale to GE, Thomson & others.
What if you play the disc on a record player?
I remember renting one of these players and movies a couple of times when i was a kid. I tried to watch a segment of HeMan over and over, but after about the 3rd pass that part became unplayable. I complained enough after that we only rented VHS players.😂
So there are a couple of points that you’re missing and they mainly deal with cost. Laserdisc players were quite expensive, as was the media. VCRs were also very expensive because they required lots of precise moving parts. VHS/Beta pre-recorded tapes were VERY expensive because they had to be dubbed in factories and could not be high-speed dubbed like audio cassette due to the nature of helical scan used on VHS/Beta.
CED on the other hand was cheap to manufacture for both the player and the media. They really are quite close to record players. The discs themselves are vinyl and could be pressed in a manner similar to an audio record.
As for your bad picture/static audio you very likely need to change the cartridge on your CED machine. It is a wear part, just like the stylus on a turntable.
Hope this helps.
_"VHS/Beta pre-recorded tapes were VERY expensive because they had to be dubbed in factories and could not be high-speed dubbed like audio cassette due to the nature of helical scan used on VHS/Beta."_
Well, yes and no.
Initially, duplication of video cassettes were done using large banks of recorders.
Sony would develop high speed video tape sprinter machines, which could duplicate a two hour movie recorded in the SP speed on VHS in one minute.
And another reason why prerecorded video cassettes were more expensive than video discs was also because movies on cassettes were sold through a tier whereas movies on discs were direct sale.
For video tape, you first sold to the rental market, which had the highest prices. Then when that market was satisfied, you sold to the collector market at lower prices, but still expensive. Then when that market was satisfied, you sold to the masses at the lowest price.
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_"As for your bad picture/static audio you very likely need to change the cartridge on your CED machine."_
Yes and no.
The stylus cartridge is a wear item, but the problems we see here can still be due to the disc. The CED format was a bit finicky even at its best. Sometimes, you can have a disc with skips merely because you hadn't played it for a long time.
The static can also come from a poor connection on the RCA jack.
No, the best helping thing is that you stop defending this crap scam format
No, the best helping thing is that you stop defending this crap scam format
@Watcher3223 never had issues with skipping back in the day personally. Pretty sure there was an adjustment for that.
In truth all 3 formats (ld,ced,vhs) look like crap now. And ld, ced are only a tinge better especially considering the televisions at that time.
Format looks like 1:1... so it can fit into the cartridge 😄
Can you make a video on D-VHS and D-Theater?
Video cassette prices dropped because they were easy to duplicate.I saw news report in 80's about how tapes were produced 20,000 at a time.
From what I understand, at first VHS tapes weren't easy to duplicate at high numbers due to having to be copied in real time (it would take 90 minutes to duplicate a 90-minute VHS tape). Eventually, they did develop ways of speeding up the process. That was one of the reasons that early VHS tapes were priced for rental (>$100).
I think it's amazing that this tech even made it to the public... back in the day companies took chances and there was always something new coming out. Today only on sites like Kickstarter are doing similar but new aspiring companies are not shy on their prices. I own one of these players and a stack of mainly horror movies. Its really cool tech showing they were able to do audio and sound running from a stylus. Although if you see one of these players out in the wild don't pay too much because it will probablly not work. The discs need to be in mint shape also or the movie will skip or sometimes the styus will go straight through the entire movie in seconds. They are really finicky. I own like 6 that need repaired. I have a nice one for my collection. Its the stereo version with remote. In working condition these are highly collectable and fetch a lot of money. Maybe someday I will find the masters of all my fave 80s horror movies at a garage sale.
Endelig endnu en video med de der sindssyge grønsagsinkøb!
I love you videos
I wonder if the disc player needs to be cleaned. I'll bet it's full of dust too.
Hi,
I would Love to see an „Indiana Jones Movie Locations“ Video
It's not terrible at all, it's better than VHS but not as good as laserdisc, Betamax is the clear winner so get your facts right.
I suggest you service your player.
3:31 the what ?! 😂
"The Fauk"
lol
The stylist is also a factor you'd replace it every once in a while
Why was this even produced? Worse than VHS and inferior to laser disk
It started development in 1964 and cost RCA over $600 million. It was supposed to come out sometime in the late 1970s but got delayed further.
These videos are underrated! Real masterpieces! Loving it!! Maybe use gloves to handle the discs tho, would help with my ocd 🤣 jk.. Awesome content! Keep it up!!
Yes, ced was ridiculously bad. Don't recall if there was a cost advantage of ced over vhs in 82-83.
Of course at the end >84, ced closeouts had some bargain hunters snapping them up.
To this day, I have ptsd, suffering through a showing of Raiders of the Lost Ark on ced circa 1985. Terrble glitches, skipping, etc.
God video som altid Niki 😊
CED did not age well.
LaserDisc however aged phenomenally
@@Mythical6255 Well I have a bunch with disc rot.
Is there a way To Clean the players / machines ?
Fedt
Awesome👌
Could the CED glitching be the player? I have a few beta players and a couple LaserDisc players and I noticed no 2 play exactly alike.
there are more than a few ways to deal with static on vinyl recordings.
Tbf the equipment one is using to play the ced makes a difference. If your unit is in poor shape you get poor results. Same with the pressing you might be using.
Nice
3:48 Thats how it worked we had 20" TV's in 4:3 16:9 would have been tiny with giant black bars.