The CED: No really, it coulda made sense! (Part 2)

In a parallel universe where RCA released the CED's in 1975: TC: "Today we are going to see why the VHS was a total failure and why the ambitious idea of home recorders could have threatened our lovely copyrights!"

If you didn’t, please turn on subtitles! The intro is hilarious.

I'm digging the disc insert mechanism. Feels like loading the cannons.

17:10 I have a whole new outlook now for Mr. Rogers. This one act of his turns him into cool & somewhat of a hero! (I never knew this until now seeing your video here). Mr. Rogers: “Some public stations, as well as commercial stations, program the ‘Neighborhood’ at hours when some children cannot use it… I have always felt that with the advent of all of this new technology that allows people to tape the ‘Neighborhood’ off-the-air, and I’m speaking for the ‘Neighborhood’ because that’s what I produce, that they then become much more active in the programming of their family’s television life. Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others. My whole approach in broadcasting has always been ‘You are an important person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions.’ Maybe I’m going on too long, but I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is important.” The Supreme Court noted that Mr. Rogers’ testimony was a significant piece of evidence that helped lead them to their ultimate decision.

"The device that RCA thought was too complicated to manufacture, despite the fact that they were selling them already." That made my day.

“I probably sound sarcastic here” could be the Tagline for your entire channel 😉

confirmed max headroom was a CED playing back "normally"

Ultimately, the failure was not RCA, but the companies releasing the movies. Back in that era, the companies releasing the movies were trying to maximize profits by releasing them at a high cost. A typical video actually cost around $90 in 1981, that is almost $300 in today's money. That is why few actually "owned" company made videos, and either rented them from the booming rental market, recorded their own, or copied them. It was not until around 1992 that the industry realized they could make more money by sharply reducing the price and making up for it in volume. If they had done that a decade earlier at least on that format, the demand would have been much higher. But by that time, both CED and LD had been killed as those were play only formats, and few were buying premade movies. Fast forward another decade, and DVD did work as a play only format because the industry was smart and sold them at a price the consumers could afford to pay. But if they had never done that and was still trying to sell new pre-recorded movies in the $200-300 range, then DVD would have died also. Because there is simply no market for a play only format where the media is that expensive.

A disc-based movie rental industry is an oddly futuristic thought...

It’s stupid that an RCA brand machine doesn’t have an RCA output!!!

Another thing that probably didn't help is that a clunky plastic cartridge that needed to be gracelessly shoved into a player reminded people of 8-track tapes, which were rapidly falling out of favor in the early 1980s.

The sound of the disc flip process is really satisfying.

so, I'm 41 now. I grew up with one of these given to me by my grandfather, along with 60 or so movies/collections of cartoons like Chip n Dale, Donald Duck and more. we took it to a local repair shop very often. the player long ago gave up the ghost, but I still have a few of the disks inside their cases. .. Terms of Endearment, and some others. lot of childhood memories for me in these machines.

Excellent Video! Fun Fact: The CED almost made it as a Video Game format. In 1983, RDI decided to partner with RCA to use one of their Capacitance Electronic Disc player to use in their upcoming Halcyon video game system. At the time, RCA was working to release a new model called the SKT425 which would be part of their high end Dimensia system, but then RCA announced that they would stop developing the SKT425 and the discontinuation of all other CED player. At this point, RDI had no choice but to switch to the LaserDisc format for their upcoming console. They decided to use the Pioneer LaserDisc model LD-700 as the media player. With the high cost of LaserDisc Player, the price of the system jump to the roof and ultimately made the console too pricy for the home market. Because of this, the Halcyon was never mass-produced.

I have a friend whose father was a machinist who worked for RCA back then. He has a plaque which was given to him for his dedication to the CED project over the years.

Fun fact: the earlier players with the old pickup mechanism that is physically disengaged with the lever mean that you can pause and shut off the player at any point and come back at any time to resume where you left off!

It's amazing to me how you have managed to get every point exactly right from 40+ years ago. I know. I was there and saw all of this unfold exactly as you state. Another, obviously very researched presentation. Bravo!

This whole video makes me want to watch the original unedited version of Star Wars on CED.

I'd like to take a moment to appreciate your set background that always has relavent objects and colors on it, like the backlit RCA logo directly to your right and the tricolor logo to your upper left. I LOVE your set, and can't get over it. So awesome.

The CED is one of my favorite video stories of all time. It's sooo absurd. I'm delighted that both you and Techmoan are doing articles on it.