CED Digest Vol. 7 No. 36

CED Digest Vol. 7 No. 36 • 9/7/2002
20 Years Ago In CED History:

September 8, 1982:
* President Reagan says he will not block a bill by Senator Jesse Helms to
allow prayer in public schools.

September 9, 1982:
* The U.S. House of Representatives votes 301-117 to override President
Reagan's veto of a $14.1 billion supplemental appropriations bill. The
following day, 21 Republican senators join 39 Democrats in voting 60-30 against
the president. The override is the first major legislative defeat for Reagan
since assuming office.
* Following a four-day conference in Fez, Morocco, the Arab League announces
its unanimous approval of a peace plan for the Middle East. It calls for an
independent Palestinian state and hints that such a move would bring about the
formal recognition if Israel.
* William S. Paley, the founder and chairman of CBS, announces his retirement
effective April 20, 1983.

September 10, 1982:
* Paul Schluter becomes Denmark's prime minister, heading a center-right
coalition. Schluter succeeds Anker Henrik Jorgensen, who resigned September 3.
* Ariane, a rocket built by several European companies, plunges into the
Atlantic ocean 14 minutes into its first operational mission.
* Argentina's navy and air force chiefs decide to reconstitute the three-man
junta that was in effect dissolved when the two men announced in June that they
would cooperate with the head of the army only in matters of national defense.
* Future CED title in widespread theatrical release: Pink Floyd: The Wall.

September 11, 1982:
* All 46 people aboard a U.S. Army helicopter, including a 38-member
international parachuting team, are killed in a crash in Mannheim, Germany
during an air show.
* "American Fool" by Jon Cougar becomes the No. 1 U.S. album.
* "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" by Chicago becomes the No. 1 U.S. single.

September 12, 1982:
* The Chinese Communist Party adjourns its 12th National Congress after
adopting a new party constitution. The document restructures the party
organization in several ways to preclude the type of "personality cult" that
prevailed under former chairman Mao Ze-dong (Mao Tse-tung). The former premier
and Communist Party chairman, Hua Kuo-feng (Hua Guofeng), is dropped by the
ruling Politburo.
* Jimmy Connors defeats Ivan Lendl for his fourth U.S. Open Men's Tennis title.
Chris Evert Lloyd defeats Hana Mandlikova for the Women's title. 

September 13, 1982:
* A special U.S. prosecutor reports that he could find no evidence of illegal
activity by Labor Secretary Raymond Donovan.

September 14, 1982:
* Bashir Gemayel, president-elect of Lebanon since August 23, is assassinated
when a bomb demolishes the headquarters of the Lebanese Christian Phalangist
party in East Beirut. At least eight others are also killed.
* Princess Grace of Monaco, the former actress Grace Kelly, dies at age 52 of
injuries sustained in a car crash the day before. She received the Best Actress
Academy Award in 1954 for The Country Girl (CED), and also appears in the CED
titles Rear Window, Dial M for Murder, and High Noon.

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From: "Allen wolf" <wolfallen>
To: digest@cedmagic.com
Subject: Return of CED?
Date: Tue, 03 Sep 2002 10:17:23 -0500

Tom,
I have bin reading or talking to others who say that RCA is planning a new form
of CED VideoDiscs to come out by 2005! is this true? i have not posted a letter
here for a while,ever sence i gave up collecting CED. but i'v just got back
into it. came acrost some players that all work well and about 70 Discs. are
the rumers true? or is some one just blowing smoke out thire backsides?
                                   Allen Wolf.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: digest@cedmagic.com
Date: Tue, 03 Sep 2002 19:27:23 -0800
From: "Tom Howe" <tom@cedmagic.com>
Subject: RE: Stylus Cartridge Needle

> you show have no needle your showing just the case..my case is 
> good i just need needle..can you help me buy just a needle ?

Unlike phonograph cartridges, CED player stylus cartridges are not designed to
replace just the diamond stylus. This is because the casing of the stylus
cartridge is essentially just a piece of plastic designed to properly position
the stylus tip on the disc and facilitate transferring the raw signal to the
player signal processing electronics. Phonograph cartridges do some signal
processing within the cartridge and can vary widely in price depending upon how
well this task is done.

Although it might technically be possible to transfer the stylus arm from one
cartridge to another, I don't think the chances of successfully performing that
operation are very good. I've never seen a damaged cartridge casing, but this
procedure might be useful to move a seemingly good stylus arm from a damaged
casing to a good casing with a bad stylus tip.

James Curiel (via CED Central) and Harry Libby (via the RCA VideoDisc
Classifieds) offer new-in the-box stylus cartridges. Here are the links to
their web pages:

http://www.cedcentral.com/

http://www.ep.com/js/about/c1064/b1064/v2/50703.html

--Tom

------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Ken King" <kkingcqe>
To: digest@cedmagic.com
Subject: SJT- Problems
Date: Sat, 07 Sep 2002 14:12:06 +0000

I've got a couple more problems with SJT- series players.

I was watching a disk on an SJT-90 player this week that seemed to be working
just fine.  Suddenly the picture went black.  Never did come back on.  Had my
best SJT-400 player wink out the same way last evening with the monitor
indicating that there was no signal.  Came back on in a few minutes and played
just fine with no intervention from me.

An SJT-200 player makes a slight rubbing sound when first loaded.  The rubbing
reduces in frequency and picture doesn't come on until the rubbing noise stops,
guessing a minute or two in duration.

Same player when disk is rejected doesn't seem to slow rotation enough before
the disk is lifted, causing the disk to rotate out of position and miss the
caddy.  Very hard on disks.

Thanks to all who answered my black ooze question.  I just found that same
issue had been addressed on the CED Magic Web site.  Thanks, Tom.

-Ken

------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: digest@cedmagic.com
Date: Sat, 07 Sep 2002 23:19:44 -0800
From: "Tom Howe" <tom@cedmagic.com>
Subject: SelectaVision Introduction at the World Trade Center

Hello All:

With the sad stories we'll be hearing about 9/11 this week, I thought I'd
relate a story about a happy event that took place at the Twin Towers 25 years
ago. This was the introduction of the VBT200, the first retail SelectaVision
product, and the first VHS Video Cassette Recorder marketed in the United
States. RCA announced the VBT200 VCR on August 23, 1977, and from that date
until it went on sale in October, the company had a road show demonstrating VHS
to the technology press and RCA dealers.

One of the more prominent of these briefings took place at the World Trade
Center and was presided over by Dave Daly, Roy Pollack, and Jack Sauter of RCA.
The reason the conference was held in the World Trade Center became apparent
when George Willig appeared on the podium with "Today Show" host Tom Brokaw.
George Willig, also called "The Human Fly," had recently scaled the sheer face
of the South Tower using an invention that took advantage of the grooves used
for window washing equipment. Upon reaching the top after about 4 hours he was
arrested and fined $250,000. But he became an instant folk hero, and in a
public relations move, the city subsequently lowered the fine to $1.10, a penny
for each floor of the building.

On the podium, Brokaw explained that the "Today Show" had been following
Willig's climb live and went on taping it even after the show went off the air.
Brokaw then handed Jack Sauter four bulky NBC studio tapes, each an hour long.
Sauter produced from his jacket pocket a SelectaVision videotape cassette,
slightly smaller in size than a paperback book, and gave it to Brokaw, who
handed it to Willig.

Sauter then stated, "This one small cassette, which we recorded on a
SelectaVision unit in Indianapolis, holds as much as the studio-made cassettes
you just handed me - four hours."

Hence the memorable marketing slogan "Four hours, $1,000, SelectaVision."

A picture of the cover of the bimonthly RCA magazine "Communicate" with Daly,
Sauter, and Pollack along with the VBT200 VCR can be seen on this page:



http://www.cedmagic.com/history/vbt200.html

And the name Jack Sauter may sound familiar, as he later was the Group Vice
President of Consumer Electronics above the VideoDisc project, and has been
quoted in many of the press releases posted to CED Digest over the past couple
years. Earlier this year Mr. Sauter was inducted into the Consumer Electronics
Association Hall of Fame as a testament to his 35 years of leadership in the
industry:

http://www.ce.org/publications/hall_of_fame/sauter_j_02.asp

--Tom
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