CED is considered the pinnacle of needle-groove technology where you actually get an excellent color video picture with stereo sound, a/b audio tracks, frame by frame advance, pause with picture, and other features. How can you get so much information from groove technology? Well, one huge reason is that the disc spins at 450 rpm, much faster that 33. Some people worry don't the discs wear out? The tracking force of the stylus cartridge is many times removed from even the smallest tracking forces of high end LP turntables. You can play a disc a couple hundred times without noticeable picture degradation. CED's usually have up to two hours of program material with one hour on each side. For movies, like Star Wars, where the running time exceeded two hours by a few minutes, time compression was used to get the movie onto one disc. Other movies, like Mary Poppins, that ran over 128 minutes, were released on a set of two discs.
Many people are captivated by the automatic loading feature of the SJT and SKT machines.
The caddy artwork and liner notes are unsurpassed. Many shops and restaurants use the discs as decorative art and posters.
The CED video format is rare. Our patrons state that when guests see their entertainment center the first thing they go to is the CED player. There will be a DVD player, a VCR, and laserdisc, but people want to know what a CED is and they want to see it in action.
CED's are also relatively inexpensive to collect. Shipping is the major cost, so buy local and you can usually get movies for between 50 cents and 2 dollars. Invest in a KAB EV-1 record cleaning machine -- it will save you wear on your stylus and your discs will play better.
The players and discs are a good investment. The RCA players are built to last. Consider this: today DVD and VCR's are built to be disposable - use them for 2-5 years and throw them away. The RCA CED players will keep going with proper servicing. After twenty years they need a little lubrication, a new belt, and so forth. The discs are very durable. Compare a VHS tape of a movie from 1984 to the same movie on CED. The VHS picture will be grainy from loss of magnetic pattern after 20 years, but a clean CED disc will show that same clear picture it did back in 1984.
Who buys players from CED Central?
Our patrons include retired people that want a working player again. Other patrons are people who grew up with CED and want to see their favorite movies again. And a growing segment of our customer base are college students looking for cool, quirky retro technology.
With over 1700 titles produced for CED, there are a lot of movies and programs to choose from.
