Hey guy's,

I recently picked up a Zenith VP2000 CED player. Got it along with 6 disks for next to nothing at an auction. Surprisingly, 4 of the disks still have original shrinkwrap on them and have never been opened!
Before I picked this up, I had no clue about CED. All I knew was that it existed and I had seen a few disks out and about before(like in thrift or antique shops). I didnt know they had such a short production run and that in the short time put out 1700 different titles! Very interesting history about them.:scratch2:

Well, onto my player. I found that it does work, and watched one of the movies on it. My "new" Zenith tracks very well and doesn't skip, but I did notice that it blips around a lot. It will lose focus, then come back looking sharp. The whole screen will occasionally blip as well and throws the tv off into a vertical roll and restabilize itself. All while doing this the color flips around a lot too. Sometimes it looks as if it reversed the color, go into a rainbow pattern or even just go b&w. Then back to normal.

I've since taken the machine apart and cleaned and re-oiled the turntable spindle, oiled the stylus slider bar and checked over the belts. Looking at them they seem fine. Still having the same problems though.:thumbsdn:
I'm thinking of doing the strobe test, to see if my problems are from un-even speed or something else. I've read online that uneven speed can cause the color problems but I don't know about the rest, that its dealing with

Well, any thoughts or pointers?

I actually got some pictures of this for ya's!

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4406/37361000775_bbeff71256_z.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4360/37217779851_84e2f21c55_z.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4397/37188119062_aab230d75f_z.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4404/36963137200_eb2df872da_z.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4364/37170113306_1b40d70d7c_z.jpg

I've got one. The platter belt was going bad and causing the symptoms you describe.

It is basically the RCA SFT-100 in Zenith's clothing.

Yea, I noticed it was a clone of that RCA (built by RCA) after my first visit to CEDmagic

I'll do that strobe test tomorrow to see how its holding speed, but I wouldn't be too surprised if mine too, needs a belt.
Did you ever replace your's? If ya did, where'd you get it from?

Congrats on getting a player!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey, thanks Dude!

Well, I did my "strobe" test and have some odd results. I DON'T need a belt.

Turns out, that the player plays very close to correct speed. It is just going slightly faster. I have to really stare and study it while it's running to notice that its fast.
Here's my problem though(and it coincides with my video problem): Every 6 seconds it speeds up a lot faster then returns, to it's "normal". You can even hear it speed up(with the rumble the player makes).

What causes this and how do I fix it? I read somewhere about it needing a synchronization adjustment, but I have no clue how to go about doing that... Or if the problem is even with that, or the unit just needing some new components(capacitor?).

If it uses a DC motor...and I assume it does...replacing the electrolytics in the servo area that controls the motor will correct that issue. It's a common problem on direct drive turntables.

If it ain't here, it probably never happens:

http://www.cedmagic.com/tech-info/repair-solutions.html

Follow the SFT100 matrix.

If it uses a DC motor...and I assume it does...replacing the electrolytics in the servo area that controls the motor will correct that issue. It's a common problem on direct drive turntables.huh:scratch2: i'll have to find a schematic then...unless it's easy as just tracing the wires from the motor to the circuit board...
Never heard of this being an issue in ddt's.

If it ain't here, it probably never happens:

http://www.cedmagic.com/tech-info/repair-solutions.html

Follow the SFT100 matrix.
Actually, i've looked all that over a number of times and didn't find my problem/solution in the list.
BUT, the list did point me to the possibility of speed problems and is the reason why I tore it apart and cleaned the platter's spindle and re-oiled it...along with some other maintenance I did.

Well, it's got to be out of alignment!

I haven't messed with anything on the component boards yet, and it seems to be good that I didn't. Nothing looks bad-I know looks aren't good to go by...

Doing some experimenting, I found that it plays perfect with the right side up in the air at a 10* angle. Had it sitting on a couple books like that and played a movie for half an hour with absolutely no blips.

So, anything I can do without the alignment tool? or should I stick to running this thing with the right side propped up to play CED's on it?

Seems like she might be off balance........

Are you experienced with fixing things?? -- I would say take her apart and put her back together making sure everything is tightened down good :)

Actually, yes I am. Not a professional, but I work on a wide variety of stuff with success. (Some things w/ a lot of help from websites such as this, or from diagrams/schematics)

I had it all in pieces, performed some maintenance, and put together how it should go. I read somewhere(I don't remember where anymore) that I need to find some alignment tool and get things in perfect balance.

It's been a good while now since I read about it, but I think that it uses a magnetic system with the platter and an electromagnet that is either on the inside or right outside the edge of the platter in the player. It uses these to keep it synced and to run at a governed speed.
I've read that if it's "out of whack" it can cause the exact problem I'm experiencing. Only way to fix is to get this (apparently) ultra rare tool. So, I guess I'm screwed.

Despite that, I finally found some more CED's to add to the small collection. Well, some that actually interest me. I have found a few since I got this little player collection, but they were of subjects I wasn't interested in or a half to a 2 disc set.

I've got one. The platter belt was going bad and causing the symptoms you describe.

It is basically the RCA SFT-100 in Zenith's clothing.

I hope that remote worked out for you. :scratch2:
I wonder how many of those things survived.
Many years ago, i saw one that was relatively new. I was impressed with the picture quality. :thmbsp: