I got an untested SJT-200 in the mail today; a few hours, and 1 messed up copy of Brigadoon later, I got it working. My only problem with it is the video quality. I obviously know that CED's don't exactly have the best video quality to begin with, but from the videos I've seen online, this is much worse than what should be expected. There's a fair amount of "snow" and various other visual quirks, and sometimes the video and audio will just go blank, with distorted, wavy colors on the screen, for a few seconds. All of the discs I've tried have been from one lot, and the caddies are all pretty dusty/dirty. Does this sound like a problem that could be caused by a worn stylus, or would this most likely be caused by bad discs? Any and all info would be helpful, thanks!

i had a player.
and from what you are posting it sounds like either there is a bad stylus, it's not tracking right,
or there may be dust on the disc.

you can slide the disc out of the caddy, just don't touch it.
if it looks clean like an LD or Record the the disc is fine.

but if i had to guess i would say it's a higher % that it's the stylus.
just make sure if you buy one on ebay that the seller will refund, and or you can get them repaired.
check out CED magic, they have a forum, but not a lot of people are on it all the time.

Thanks for the reply. After reading a bit on CED Magic, I think the stylus is probably part of the issue, but I also think dust is playing a part. I just watched the first 6 minutes of Singin' in the Rain, and then removed and reinserted the disc, and watched the scene again.

The first time, there were two instances where the screened completely glitched up, and there were various (relatively minor) video imperfections throughout. Compared to the others I've tested, this was already the best in terms of video quality. The second time around, the screen imperfections were still there, but slightly less prevalent, and there were no full screen glitches. So, this leads me to believe dust is part of the problem here, since CED Magic states that dusty discs will play better on subsequent viewings. These discs were also shipped stacked, horizontally, which apparently can also affect the condition of the discs.

I think I'll try to get my hands on a sealed CED, and see how that plays on this player, because I really didn't plan on spending another $30+ on a stylus for a player that only cost me $22.

A $22 SJT 200 is a good deal once you got it to work.

The stylus is a significant part of the problem as you describe it, I would say. At least the symptoms you tell about indicate the stylus is worn or really dirty. Cedatum.com has an excellent cleaning and rebuilding service.

If the discs were shipped stacked together horizontally, that usually isn't enough to create the problem known as groove compression. In shipping, they typically sit all over the place on all sides of the box, though I would admit it is possible if not likely.

Also, groove compression typically does not show itself until about 20 mins into the disc, as the edges are not prone to this problem being close to the caddy corner.

The tendency for discs to play better after being played once or twice is due to two phenomena:

1. As you stated, the stylus will kick away little particles of dust upon initial playing that are stuck somewhat on the disc, and that stylus action causes the skip or dropout you see.

2. Discs are covered with a coating of silicon in a semi-liquid form that protect both discs and stylus from wear. That coating is always present unless you intentionally wash it away. The semi-liquid nature of this silicon makes it flow to an even and smooth level naturally after a long period of time, as all liquids will do. Then the stylus has trouble reading the dips of the groove since it's riding on an evened out layer of silicon. A "conditioning" play clears this up and the disc is fine after that.

Not a bad idea to get a disc that has proven itself as good on another player and try it out.

With a good stylus and good disc, the picture quality should easily match VHS and Beta, and the SJT 200 has a built-in stylus cleaner to keep it in good shape for a long while.

By the way, what did you have to do to get it to work and why did you end up with a ruined disc?

Thanks for all the info, I really appreciate it. Do you know about how much it would cost to repair the stylus?

I'm not exactly sure what I did to fix it; when I first turned it on, the disc door wouldn't open, so I had to manually open it to insert the disc. Nothing happened after I inserted the disc, and none of the buttons worked, so the only thing that appeared to work on the machine was the disc feeding mechanism. I hit the reject button, and after a few seconds, I stuck the caddy back in, but I noticed that it felt light, so I opened it up, and there was no disc in the caddy. I then opened up the player, and had to manually remove the disc, which is what ruined it. I loosened up the disc door from whatever it was stuck on, and then the door automatically opened and closed as intended. I tried another disc, and everything worked perfectly, somehow.

So is everything working okay now?

If so, it probably had something happen in shipping to cause the door to stick and somehow you freed it up.

Go to the website CEDATUM.COM and contact them, to get a price on stylus cleaning and/or rebuilding.

Sounds like the stylus to me as well. Also though it could also be the turntable platter height adjustment, shifted during shipping. Had that happen once, and it showed the colour bars/ black screen wavy lines thing too. Once I adjusted the platter hight the picture was fine.

Platter drop often happens during shipping to the SJT and SKT models. The platter height adjustment can cure it, but there is another way that reverses what actually happened in shipping:

As with all electronics, the CED players were meant to be shipped in nicely packed original boxes, right side up, and hand carried from one place to another, not tossed all over like shippers will do, or rolled end by end down conveyers, or carried upside down in trucks for miles over bumpy roads. The SJT/SKT turntable that survives this is rare.

That turntable, a direct drive platter, is attached to a stem that sits in a hole in the player with a flat no-hole washer at the bottom and a hex head slot screw for adjustment under that. The platter is attached to this stem by a rather simple internally tined large washer/connecter. These tines dig into the turntable stem and keep the turntable at a set height.

In shipping, due to rough handling and constant jarring, the turntable can slip down the tines slightly and cause it to rest too low and even scrape on the underside. Correcting this can be done by adjusting the turntable height screw accessed from the bottom of the case. But I usually have better results doing this:

I lift the turntable up by its edges so that it is a bit above the underside, to where it will move freely without scuffing and, holding it up that height firmly with one hand, I gently rap on the top of the stem with the plastic handle of a screwdriver a couple of times. This will reset the stem downward a little into proper alignment with the platter tines, and then the turntable moves freely and the disc plays properly. When set back down the platter should be between 1/32 and 1/16 inch above the surface underneath.

If I happen to knock the stem down too far, a little, gentle push downward on the turntable will correct this. Push too hard and you have to start all over again. I have even been able to direct people who know nothing about fixing anything to do this by email or phone, and boy are they proud of themselves for rescuing a player they thought was wrecked.