RCA Selectavision CED

[jeyurkon]

I finally got around to trying out the unit that doesn't appear to have sustained damage in shipment.

It plays for nearly two minutes and then skips back and keeps repeating. This is true for any of the disks I try. I guess it must be an issue with the player since it always seems to occur at the same play time.

The color oscillates on and off with a 2-4 second period.

Guess I need to find a service manual for this.

John

[jeyurkon]

Well, the CED magic page has a lot of useful information.

The 1-2 minute play time is probably due to a bad servo belt.

The 2-4 second color/bw cycle is probably due to a bad turntable belt.

Guess what I'll be ordering!

John

[ceebee23]

John,

good luck with your CED player...

CED magic is an invaluable resource and Tom, who runs the site is a true enthusiast with vast knowledge!!!

I hope you get the player up and running well soon!

[Steve D.]

I had an RCA CED player back in the 80's. I believe it was the last players they produced model SKT 400. It was compatible with RCA's Dimensia series of AV components that could be linked together and operated with a single huge remote. I recall When RCA announced the end of production the discs and players were sold at give away prices by dealers. There was,for a time, dedicated RCA CED stores that only sold the players and discs. Other Manufacturers such as Zenith, Toshiba, Hitachi also produced and sold the CED machines. Many were produced for Sears, Radio Shack, Penny's ect. Tom Howe at CED Magic is a great guy and has a wonderful site devoted to this product.

-Steve D.

[ceebee23]

Tom and I once exchanged CED players... I had stumbled across two brand new, un-used, still in their box Hitachi PAL CED players. This was around 2000. (Bizarrely they were literally around the corner from home ...a bit like finding a CT100 in your local TV repair shop in its carton!).

Rare animals at the best of time but in unopened boxes ..that was something.

After some discussion with Tom I sent him one of the players (.. all the way to the US across the Pacific) and he sent me a basic NTSC RCA player in return.

ebay was a good place to find disks and even stylii.

Thankfully the RCA player is 110volt/50/60hz so a simple step down transformer enables me to happily play NTSC disks.

People still marvel at the idea of a vinyl video disk played by a stylus like an LP!

[Phil Nelson]

I just resurrected a CED player and can't resist sharing a couple of photos.





The player is a Wards (Toshiba) GEN10301 that my Dad the packrat had sitting in his basement for about 20 years, along with about a dozen discs. He got it at a garage sale for a few bucks and had never even tried it out. The rubbery belts had all melted into gobs of sticky black goo. After cleaning up the mess and installing new belts, it just worked.

My son (24) is an avid collector of old LPs and obscure VHS movies, so he is ecstatic about getting this gizmo working.

The CED Magic website is a great technical resource, as Steve D. noted.

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

[Steve D.]

Very nice Phil. The CED "magic" continues........

-Steve D.

[Phototone]

In regards LaserDisc, only on industrial and lower-end consumer players, and early players did you have to flip the disc to play both sides. From mid-level up to Top level the players were built to play both sides with just a brief pause while the lead assembly moved around to the other side and the disc spindle motor reversed rotation.

[Phil Nelson]

I wrote a little article about reviving my Wards SelectaVision player:

http://antiqueradio.org/WardsGEN10301CEDVideoPlayer.htm

It plays nicely after replacing the belts and cleaning the stylus.

Has anyone ever seen a service manual for this? Sams doesn't list the model (GEN10301). I like reading schematics, although this one probably just shows a lot of black box ICs.

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

[ChrisW6ATV]

Phil-

There were only a few manufacturers of those players, so that Montgomery Ward's player was probably made by Toshiba, Hitachi, or RCA, or there may have been others. If you track down enough pictures and/or player feature descriptions, you may figure out the "brand name" version of your player and find a manual that way.