'80s video disk players

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support :

C

cfz2882

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 9, 2010
Messages
2,510
Location
Belle Fourche,SD
Anyone have or use any of the videodisk players that originated in the early 1980s-
RCA CED "selectavision" or pioneer laserdisk?
I have two RCA selectavision players,both made in 1982-i keep one hooked up out in
the garage and run it from time to time-it actually works pretty good though
sometimes can get playback glitches from debris or inperfections on the grooved
video "record".About the size of a standard LP audio record,the CED videodisc is
housed in a heavy plastic sheath that you insert into the player then withdraw,
leaving the disk in the machine to be played-when playing is complete you reinsert
the sheath to collect the videodisk-kind of a klutz procedure compaired to a VHS
cassette LOL.On the earlier players like mine,the disc is driven at about 500 RPM
by a shaded pole phonograph type motor.I have about 60 CED discs to play on this
machine,fave is one with early '80s rock videos-just perfect to watch with the
selectavision player hooked to '81 RCA TV!
Also have a 1990 pioneer laserdisc player-first ones came out about 1981,i was
suprized these were still made in 1990 and some of the disks i have for it are
from the late 90s...This one is sick with some motor bearing problems,so i don't
use it much.
 
I never owned a videodisc machine but I worked on hundreds of (Pioneer) Laserdiscs in the late 80s. The LD format was pretty sound. The RCA format, less so. LD had the same bandwidth as broadcast videotape but a lower signal/noise ratio.
 
I was a fan of the Laserdisc machines-still have two that still work.One is a Pioneer "Combo" machine that plays laserdiscs or DVD's came out when DVDs were first introduced.Still works-the other is a Sony Laser disc player.Later Laserdiscs had "Digital" sound recorded in the same way as a CD.Sorround sound tracks were MUCH better from Laserdiscs than VHS tapes.It is rumored the Japanese still use the Laserdisc format.Don't know how true that is.And it was so cool to play the movie "The Thing" into an old DuMont BW TV I used to have-looked more spooky when played over the monochrome set.Laserdisc players had modulators so you could play them thru TV's that didn't have a video input.
 
I have LaserDisc thanks to thrift shop clearance day.

I was interested in the format in recent years. As I commented in the TV thread, LaserDisc was the preferred high performance video format before DVD. (And actually, for at least a while, it was preferred after the advent of DVD by some.) I never considered buying LaserDisc back then--too expensive (I remember seeing ads for $1,000 for a player), and VHS was good enough for me. (I'm not that picky about video.) But in recent years, the technology has gotten cheap--I've seen both players and discs linger in thrift shops until clearance day (which is my preferred day to buy!). I was curious if it was as good as claimed, and I have a weakness for old, obsolete technology.

I am using a Panasonic. It has a sticky flap covering the loading tray--first attempt to eject is always failure, but then it works flawlessly for the rest of the evening. It also claims to have MASH digital decoding, which was a hot CD player technology ca. 1990. (Not so much in the US, but I remember MASH Technics players seemed to do well in audio magazines elsewhere.)

I haven't had enough chance to play with LaserDisc to say how it compares. It is definitely better than VHS. (No, this wasn't a surprise.) It's harder to say with DVD--but then I'm not sure I can even make a fair test. I don't have a great TV, and I'm not sure how good the DVD player is. (It too is another thrift shop find. It works well--even on a steady diet of banged up library DVDs. But it's probably not a DVD player someone making a state of the art home theater would choose, either.)

While LaserDisc is mostly a toy, it has actually proven practical. I have managed to find stuff on LaserDisc that I'm interested in owning before the equivalent DVD or (much more likely) VHS tape turns up. In fact, one such find was what pushed me into actually making the jump--I found a LaserDisc of old TV shows. VHS or DVD probably exists, but I've never seen it locally. It is ironic that a LaserDisc of old, black and white TV shows is what finally sold me on what was once the best video format for home use....
 
Toli, you're a broadcast head. Do you realize that Laserdisc was timebase corrected to the same degree (5nsec) as a $75,000 Ampex VR2000 broadcast recorder with all the accessories? Or that you could import the LD RF signal to Ampex highband electronics and get a usable picture? Laserdisc video was truly a remarkable format. Had it been recordable, Beta and VHS would never have had a chance.
 
"Sorround sound tracks were MUCH better from Laserdiscs than VHS tapes."

I haven't done enough with LaserDisc to judge sound quality. And I don't have surround sound. But VHS has never really impressed me with sound quality.

When I got my first good audio system, one thing I tried was a stereo VCR. I'd heard the line from someone in the audio world that running the home video system through the audio system would get a noticeable improvement in sound quality when watching TV or movies. I was curious to try. Sound quality might have improved from the cheap TV speaker--but it also ruthlessly showed all the flaws in VHS sound. I can't remember for sure, but I think I might have thought after that time that "when I buy a new VCR, I'll get just cheap mono--it's not worth going the extra cost!" I also think I thought of improving sound quality of video by "someday" having a second system just for TV sound. It would be cheap and cheerful--something to upgrade the TV speaker, but cheap and not too terribly revealing of upstream flaws.

These days I do run my video sound through my audio system--it's the most convenient solution. I can't say I love VHS sound--but I tolerate it. Since I'm only watching movies, sound quality is less of an issue for me than it would be with, say, a concert video recording.
 
Laserdisc players had modulators so you could play them thru

That was one nice feature of LaserDisc. Someone at RadioShack told me that the day after Christmas they did a booming business in converters to connect DVD to RF-only TVs.

I haven't tried the RF on my LaserDisc player yet. I just use my regular converter box. (In my limited experience, these boxes work better for connecting a VCR to a TV. Picture quality is better. But this may vary from VCR to VCR.)
 
Yes,I used to breifly operate the old Ampex Quad VTR's-for them its ironic-nowadays you can get machines to fit in your pocket that can record video and audio better than those old behemouths-weigh much less and use so much less power-those old ampex machines weighed near a ton and used 15A 220V power for solid state VTR's and 30A 220V for the tubed ones.They were fun to operate,though.and keep away from those reels when going in rewind or FF.A TV station I worked as an engineering volunteer had these machines-most of their program material came on the 2" quad tapes.But--will take one of those Quad machines over VHS anytime.
VHS "sound "Hi-Fi' wasn't so good in reality-if you played back the tape recorded on the machine that made it-it was very good-but on other machines-was terrible and unreliable.You ended up using the standard mono sound.and to top it off---recorded Through the video-so---that "Hi-Fi" sound was polluted with sync buzz.Beta didn't have this problem with their Beta Hi-Fi-it was a separate track.Too bad the Beta didn't get adopted more over crappy VHS.
 
Can breifly remember a website of collectors that collect the old Ampex and RCA quad video tape machines.Sometimes stations,and schools had these still lingering around in storerrooms and basements.One collector on the site mentioned how he had to disassemble his prize to get it out of a walled in area-than take the parts to his basement and reassemble them-the machine still worked.
 
A small correction

Above I said, "Someone at RadioShack told me that the day after Christmas they did a booming business in converters to connect DVD to RF-only TVs."

I should have mentioned this incident took place years ago. I'm not sure how those converter sales do now that upgrading TVs to flatscreen models has become so popular.
 
Another joy of VHS sound

was that there were two stereo formats. "Hi Fi" and an earlier system that used the regular mono track. I can't remember the story, and what I heard might be wrong. But I think it MIGHT have been that stereo came first. Sony fought back with better stereo system for Beta. And JVC had to come up with "Hi Fi."

The two stereo systems are pretty much incompatible--a tape recorded on one system won't play in stereo on the other. Making matters worse, I have heard that the original stereo system isn't really compatible with mono. The track gets taken over by stereo, which uses Dolby Noise Reduction of some sort. It will play back on a mono system (or a Hi Fi system which also had the mono track support). But it probably won't sound quite right, due to the noise reduction system which wasn't used on mono.

It is really unfortunate that Beta did so poorly. It was always considered superior in just about every way from what I heard, except early on it couldn't record as long as VHS. And later on in it was hurt by not having enough market share. I know when my family first bought a VCR, we specifically avoided Beta. We didn't know anything about the quality of the format--but it was pretty clear which format was doing well, and which format had a good library of tapes to choose from.

Today I think of VHS and Beta as an example of one of my theories--the winner system in electronics won't necessarily be the "best"--it will be whatever has the most convenience for the mass market.
 
VHS rentals

I've always wondered how much the video rental industry-which really took off
about 1984 and used VHS-affected videodisc and Beta sales-i can imagine rental
of CED or Laserdisk with the large discs and machines would be much clumsier
than the VHS player and disc rentals...
IIRC,hollywood tried to block VCR sales to prevent home recording of movies but
were unsuccesful lol.
 
RCA memories

Not only did I own a CED videodisc player, I went to RCA training for them not once but twice!
CED worked surprisingly well if EVERYTHING was perfect, and it never was. Those players skipped during class too.
At the end, RCA had a very sophisticated remote for those units. You could skip, scan and play some interactive games that I cannot remember. It still couldn't save the format.
Truly, the format amazed me. Watching the stylus hit the record and a beautiful color picture emerge actually was a sight to behold. Wondrous as it was, I think they should have scrapped it earlier as you could never stop the skipping.
Funny note: When I went to RCA training, it was for the TOTAL component entertainment system which included TV, CED, Phono, AM/FM etc. The system name was DIMENSIA.
Well, everyone in class was pronouncing it DEMENTIA rather than the correct pronounciation of DI MEN SEE AH. The instructor was correcting us all over and over.
The product was good but the name was... awful.
 
While I am a RCA Victor collector and loved the Radio Corporation of America, I must admit;

 

RCA's format (CED) was terrible, it was like a record player with a stylus and yes they would skip alot.  The sleeve thingy could be problematic and they would warp very easily.

 

(add to RCA's shame along with their 8-Track deal)

 

 I worked for an RCA distributor and purchased one of the last stereo models and after they flopped the distributor gave me about 120 disc's because they were just headed for the trash anyway.  Later I sold the whole lot to a collector and more than made up my investment.
 
I imagine the decision to have VHS-based rental services was probably made because VHS was the most popular. But I imagine as time went by, rental services having VHS was a factor that influenced buyers of tape or disc players. I can say from my own life that my perceived value of DVD hinges heavily on the collection at the local library. All my DVD players have been bought used. Years back, it HAD to be a good deal to justify it--the library collection (and other uses for the player) weren't enough to justify anything more. Today the library collection is bigger, and so important to me that I could imagine buying a new DVD player if that was the only choice. Fortunately, DVD players have gone from "rare" to "dime a dozen" in local thrift shops, so I'm not likely to be faced with the awful experience of buying something new, at full retail. (Plus I have always had 2 DVD players once the format became important, so I always have a backup.)

I think VHS might in many ways have better for rental than LaserDisc. The tape is hidden away in the cassette. Thus it won't get scratched or pick up fingerprints like a DVD or LaserDisc. Although I have heard that video tape can be damaged by a bad VCR or some other incident, get returned, and go out again to someone who promptly destroys his or her VCR with the tape. Not a pretty picture. Fortunately, it never happened to me, or anyone else I knew...but it could have. I know I NEVER did borrowed or rented VHS watching back when a VCR was a major investment just for fear of something like this happening. When VCRs became cheap new, and even cheaper used, I ceased to care so much.

LaserDisc does have one big advantage for rental services. It's a bigger format, which might make it harder to steal easily.
 
In retrospect it's easy to dismiss the CED system but remember the state of things in the late 70's and early 80's. VCR's were still over $1000 and blank VHS tapes were $25 a piece when CED was planned for release. You had a smattering of video formats competing for market share with no clear winner in site. What's the cheapest way a consumer could get entertainment into their home without gambling a month's check on a loser? RCA Videodisc. The machines were affordable, the discs were (relatively) cheap...they could be literally stamped out, and compared to VCR's there was very little that could go wrong with the machine.

What really hurt RCA were the delays to market. Despite the advance catalogs of pre-recorded materials to entice consumers, the '81 release was right on the heels of falling VCR prices. Suddenly the price gap narrowed to the point where Joe consumer might be willing to splurge to get recording capability.

CED's found today were often stored flat, which allows weight of the discs above to "crush" and embed debris into the grooves. Discs that haven't been played in a while will skip when the stylus encounters packed dust (some RCA units had a feature that would replay that track x-number of times when encountered to break the dust free). Stylii are typically worn out, too.

Even though the system fell short of expectations, here in the midwest it's hard to avoid a machine and a stack of discs at your average estate sale. They're EVERYWHERE.
 
We had some friends who ran a video rental store back around 1985-92 or so. They carried titles in Beta, Laserdisc, CED disks and VHS. Believe it or not, they were still renting Beta tapes as late as 92'. The people who owned them claimed they gave a better picture and they were staying with the format as long as possible. Around 84-85 or so people didn't call VCR's VCR's, they called them all Betamax machines, even if it was a VHS machine.

Looking at the rental history in his computer software that tracked rentals only maybe 10 or 20 people actually ever rented the CED or Laserdisc titles. I don't think it ever really caught on here.

When we first got our VHS machine in 1980, there were only two stores in all of Houston that offered video tapes for rental. That was a place on Waugh Dr called
Video Plus+ or something like that. They had this really cool showroom with titles on shelves along the wall with downlights on them. The titles faced you front cover out rather than spine only. They had this deep gray soft carpet. The place felt more like a stereo specialty store than a VHS rental place.

They carried Memorex and Ampex blank VHS tapes for $24.95 each for a T120. But that was the going price back them.

Over the years the place started to look very run down and sleazy. The staff started to look like they took one Quualude too many. By this time there were many closer video stores to go to, so we went elsewhere.

I think Ma & Pa video stores did well until the Gulf War. Then it all started to slide when people stayed at home to watch the war on CNN. Then the Internet came and the rest is history.

In Chicago I think it caught on better. A lot of independent high end stereo stores also sold the video disc formats. And there were definitely many more of those than there were in Houston.

 
Laserdisc audio was actually better than broadcast TV stereo, which is multiplexed like FM radio. LD was not multiplexed, but two discreet channels on their own FM carriers.

Beta HIFI did not have or need its own track. Room for the 2 FM carriers was designed into the format, largely why a Beta drum was so much larger than a VHS drum. Faster head/tape speed left that extra bandwidth available.

VHS stereo had its own 2 conventional/longitudinal tracks at the top edge of the tape. However, the performance at the very low longitudinal speed was disappointing. To compete with Beta HIFI, they had to come up with the kluge of an extra rotating head for HIFI (FM) audio. The audio head preceded the video head on the drum and yes, the video overwrote and partially erased the audio. That's what made tracking so difficult on VHS HIFI. Any imperfection caused that 'buzzing sound', which wasn't video interfering with audio, but it happened at drum rate so it sounded much like sync buzz on a mistuned mechanical receiver.

True story, when Ampex went out of the broadcast business they sent out letters to customers informing them that as of a certain date there would be no more parts. Literally, all you had to do to get a half-million $ machine was back a truck up to the loading dock of any TV station. Had I had a truck and a place to put it, I would have snagged an ACR25. Think of it as the Easy Spindrier of broadcast video.
 
I probably have a half-dozen LD players of varying ages and capabilities that I got off eBay five or more years ago when they were plentiful and cheap. I kept the best one connected, and watched disks now and then. You could also score amazing things for very little money on eBay then. Example: a multi-disk Wizard of Oz package with lots of special features besides the movie. I don't remember what I actually paid for it, but I never bought and disk(s) for more than about $20. I probably have six feet of shelf space devoted to storing the disks.

That was then, however. All I had to watch on was an ordinary analog CRT TV. I left the good player connected for so long that the connectors got stuck, and I ripped out one of the RCA jacks when trying to disconnect it. Never got it fixed and lost interest in the whole area. Cats shredded the edges of the disk sleeves. Feh.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top