Found this article/blog entry on CNET that I figured you CED enthusiasts might find interesting . . .

RCA's 'video LP' format, doomed from the start?

Doesn't offer much information that we don't already know, but I hardly ever find any articles on the format these days.

Maybe someone should let him know about that other LP-like format called VHD?

Of course, "Video LP" or "VLP" was the name used by Philips for the reflective optical disc.

It was also the name used by Sony on some early laserdiscs:

Actually back in the 1970s Telefunken had a simmilar mechanical system called TED.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuLj_lE_uJM

I think it had about 10 minutes playing time per side. The mechanics were very odd in that they not only pulled out the disk, but also bent it by 180 degrees to read it.

It wasn't quite popular and when it came out it already was obsolete and consumer VTRs were already available and close to be obsoleted by VCRs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWAs2gCm1bU

Not encountered that one before. Always fascinating to learn about a new old format.

I met somebody who actually worked on importing that system to the US, in an NTSC version, for use in jukeboxes. Of course, it turned out to be a dead-end project.

Yeah, if RCA could not get the CED system off the ground as they had hoped, who else could have? After all, they really did market and succeed well with VHS after turning down Betamax.

There would be no point in even trying a vinyl-based video disc once LDs and CDs were successful, relatively speaking. As much as I like the format, it would have been a backward move to renew it in some way.

That thing is AMAZING. Some dudes must have worked so hard on that doomed piece of crap. I respect them utterly.