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 Post subject: is CED worth it
PostPosted: 14 Jan 2015, 14:45 
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Is it worth getting into this format? There is a player for sale in the UK for not to much money, I'm waiting on a postage quote but I have at the very least the potential to buy a CED player. Having read the wiki and threads in here is seems these players require regular maintenance to keep them working? Given that its listed for spares / repairs I suppose its not working at present and there could be anything wrong with it.

Any advice would be greatly appreiciated.

Below is a link to the listing:

http://www.gumtree.com/p/video-recorders/hitachi-video-laser-disc-player/1096128092
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 Post subject: Re: is CED worth it
PostPosted: 14 Jan 2015, 15:24 
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you can answer this one for yourself.
do you like the image of LD?? CED is slightly better than VHS, but not by much.


the good part is that player is a higher end one, the bad If I remember correctly is that it is harder to repair :think:
for the low price you can risk it, but if you are on the fence with the PQ of LD then this will NOT be for you at all.

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 Post subject: Re: is CED worth it
PostPosted: 14 Jan 2015, 15:44 
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Go for it then sell it on eBay, they're selling at silly prices there.
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 Post subject: Re: is CED worth it
PostPosted: 14 Jan 2015, 17:07 
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I do enjoy the quality of the LD format. If the postage cost is not excessive I'll get it. If it works or is a simple fix all well and good, if not I'll stick it on the bay.
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 Post subject: Re: is CED worth it
PostPosted: 14 Jan 2015, 19:37 
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I would say "no" unless there is some specific draw for you.

The covers often have beautiful art, a lot better than many U.S. LD releases. That's the only real plus. That, and I guess the players are a lot quieter than most LD players, if anyone cares about that.

The drawback is that the picture quality is terrible. I don't think it's fair to compare to VHS. The VHS tapes of the same time period, maybe, but by the late 80s VHS started to get a lot better thanks to better mastering and "HQ" circuitry. If you only collect 1986 and earlier stuff, I guess CED can be comparable.

The downsides are many. There are very few exclusive titles on CED and the ones that do exist are not impressive. Not at all. The beautiful covers? Almost always water damaged just from sucking in ambient moisture for 30 years. The art is printed on stickers, so it just doesn't last like LD covers. Think LDs are big and heavy? CEDs are a lot more difficult to move. The discs themselves are much lighter, but they are captive in massive caddies that increase the weight beyond LD. Oh, and a larger portion of movies are two discs, doubling the weight. The player? Oh, they're crap. LD players and VCRs are built more like standard audio components. CED players are built like Fisher Price toys. Scratch that, the Fischer Price turntable I had as a kid still works perfectly. Both of the "higher end" CED players I have are broke. Maybe it's the %100 plastic cases (yes, even on the "good" models because no actually good models were sold) or maybe it's just because the things barely functioned when built and CED is an idea that makes no sense engineering/reliability-wise, not in a world that already had VHS, Beta, and LD.

If you like huge piles of brown stuff or movies of the 1970s that were already lost to time by the 1980s, go for it. :)
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 Post subject: Re: is CED worth it
PostPosted: 15 Jan 2015, 20:24 
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I pretty much agree with and can vouch for everything signofzeta has commented on. The only reason I have CED stuff is because it's what my family went with back in the early 80s, slight nostalgia for me. Good condition players, in my experience, seem to be few and far between. Also to quote my niece they occasionally tend to "smell like grandpa's house" :lol: That being said, I think the technology is interesting, if not primitive. Plus it's a neat piece of history. I can't advise collecting them, but at the same time I also watch one or two CEDs a month.
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 Post subject: Re: is CED worth it
PostPosted: 15 Jan 2015, 20:44 
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The postage is only costing me £10 so for £25 in total ill give it a shot. Hope to arrange for postage soon. Will keep you all informed when I get it.
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 Post subject: Re: is CED worth it
PostPosted: 15 Jan 2015, 21:49 
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Make sure you get some of the disks too, I don't think any of the PAL players can play NTSC disks.

Also somewhat related, I can tell almost instantly if a Youtube capture was from a J/K player or not because the direct drive motor really helps time base stability and thus comb filtering. There's a definite quality jump there.
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 Post subject: Re: is CED worth it
PostPosted: 18 Jan 2015, 00:08 
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I have seen some early titles available on CED which are however unavailable on LD such as Loveless with Willem Dafoe. That title however was a PAL release.
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 Post subject: Re: is CED worth it
PostPosted: 19 Jan 2015, 20:33 
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Well since you're going for it, I hope you enjoy it. I actually watched Endangered Species on CED Friday night.
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