Whom here can tell me what disc based format is in this photo? If you guessed Laserdisc, you're an ignoramus who failed their IQ test lol I'm just kidding. Seriously though, the first time I ever saw one of those disc cases in the photo, I thought the same thing at first. Turns out this is actually the Capacitance Electronic Disc or CED for short. This device is Laserdisc's low tech counterpart as this is literally a visual vinyl record. Radio Corporation of America (RCA) began working on this in the mid 1960's, shelved it in the early 70's to cash in on Sony's video cassette concept with two formats in that category never released (see RCA Holotape and MagTape for reference), was supposed to have this device on store shelves in 1977 after returning to the video record project but due to a tremendous amount of bugs, thr product was pushed back to a 1981 release. And how did it do? Well, considering after a couple plays, the discs would skip making it look like you were watching Max Headroom the movie and the discs could not be repaired. Not to mention the players were faulty. CED may have been cheaper than Laserdisc, but you got what you paid for at the ens of day. Ultimately, this device brought down RCA and after the product was deemed obsolete in 1986, RCA closed its doors (Now you might be thinking "But they're still in business. I've seen recent RCA tech" and my reply is "So is Atari, but in name only." In other words, some schmoe owns the rights to the namebrand and the original company is long since gone. If they were around, we would have seen experimental ideas for new technology from them and not the basics like alarm clocks or TVs). Did any of you get the privilege of watching one of these? If so, how skippy was the disc?
Craving
Fruit Brute
Since 1983.
Fruit Brute
Since 1983.
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Forum » Retro Products » The RCA Selectavision Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED for short)
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