CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[lynx]

Hello again to the whole CED community! As we all know, today is the 44th anniversary of the introduction of the RCA Selectavision video disc format to the public. It happened 16,071 days ago, or 2,288 weeks ago, or 528 months ago.



I have a personal annual tradition of writing an essay for this occasion sharing some historical fun facts about CED that I’ve learned which aren’t well documented anywhere on this site. It’s just another avenue of enjoying the CED hobby, and making sure that CED isn’t forgotten. I also like to watch one of the first 100 CED titles on my RCA SFT 100 W player, just like the very first CED owners did on the premiere.



For this year's anniversary message, I am going to post links of some old CED print advertisements in department store catalogues that I’ve discovered, which is similar to my topic that I wrote for last year’s anniversary.



Just a few weeks ago, I found a web site which has all of the old annual mail-order catalogues that used to be very popular before online shopping, which had every product that they sold, and I found some advertisements for CED players and discs in the appliance section, which is what I am going to share here in this message. I remember Tom writing in one of his old CED Digest messages, years ago, about wanting to know which magazines and catalogues featured advertising for CED, so here they are, all these years later.



It was in CED Digest Vol. 2 No. 39. Here is a link to it:



http://www.cedmagic.com/home/ced-digest/ced-digest-vol-02/ced-digest0239.html



In both alphabetical and chronological order, here are the old catalogue advertisements for CED that I’ve found:



First, the 1981 Sears Fall / Winter catalogue has a color advertisement for one of their CED players on page 816, priced at $489.95, along with the optional remote control, priced at $39.50, proudly boasting features unavailable on their top competitor’s model, and a short list of titles available, priced between $14.98 and $27.98. The page also has an advertisement for a large color front projection TV.



https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1981-Sears-Fall-Winter-Catalog/0816



The 1981 Montgomery Ward Christmas catalogue references their CED player on page 345, which is a black and white advertisement for three of their televisions, one color console TV and two 5” portable TVs, and a list of titles available on page 346, priced from $14.95 to $39.95, which also has a B&W advertisement for their 19” B&W deluxe TV and their 12” B&W table TV. Page 348 referenced their new CED player on the back cover, which is an advertisement for three of their top loading VHS VCRs with remote controls. The back cover has a full page color advertisement for their CED player priced at $429.95 with the optional remote control priced at $37.95.



https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1981-Montgomery-Ward-Christmas-Book/0353



https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1981-Montgomery-Ward-Christmas-Book/0354



https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1981-Montgomery-Ward-Christmas-Book/0356



https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1981-Montgomery-Ward-Christmas-Book/0500



The 1981 Sears Christmas catalogue has a color Red Ribbon Value advertisement on page 428 for one of their CED players selling for $439.95, along with two of their large and heavy top loading Betamax format VCRs, which Sears called Beta Vision.



https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1981-Sears-Christmas-Book/0430



The 1982 J.C. Penney Spring / Summer catalogue has a full page color advertisement on page 610 for the RCA model SFT 100 W CED player for the “budget price” of $449.95, along with eight CED caddies, and lists of disc titles available for sale, with various prices ranging from $13.98 up to $38.98 each.



https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1982-JCPenney-Spring-Summer-Catalog/0610



The 1982 Montgomery Ward Spring / Summer catalogue has a full page B&W advertisement on page 802 for their CED player priced at $439.95, along with a list of disc titles available, priced from $19.95 to $39.95, and the optional remote control, priced at $37.95. It seems odd to me that Montgomery Ward increased the prices for CEDs and their CED player from the 1981 Christmas catalogue.



https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1982-Montgomery-Ward-Spring-Summer-Catalog/0802



The 1982 Radio Shack catalogue has a full page color advertisement on page 2 for the Realistic CED player for $499.95.



https://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/flipbook/1982_radioshack_catalog.html



The 1982 Sears Spring / Summer catalogue has a B&W advertisement on page 748 for one of their CED players, priced at $469.95, with an optional remote control with a 20’ cord priced at $39.95, along with a list of disc titles available, priced from $14.98 to $27.98, covering the upper half of the page, and VCR accessories on the lower half of the page.



https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1982-Sears-Spring-Summer-Catalog/0748



The 1982 J.C. Penney Christmas catalogue has a color advertisement on page 619 with a list of CED titles available, priced from $19.98 each up to $34.98 each along with a picture of eight CED caddies. The rest of the page has an advertisement for a 12” B&W TV and another advertisement for a cordless TV remote control system.



https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1982-JCPenney-Christmas-Book/0619



The 1983 Radio Shack catalogue has a color advertisement on page 154 for their Realistic CED player, along with its corded remote control, priced at $379.95. The rest of the page has an advertisement for a 13” color TV.



https://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/flipbook/1983_radioshack_catalog.html



The 1983 Sears Spring / Summer catalogue has an Electronic Showplace advertisement, consisting of a description of one of their CED players and a list of titles available on the bottom half of page 694, with the upper half having a description of their VCRs. Page 695 has a color advertisement for one of their stereo CED players priced at $349.95, along with 13 CED caddies. The rest of the page has advertisements for six VCRs, both Betamax and VHS formats, which are both front loaders and top loaders.



https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1983-Sears-Spring-Summer-Catalog/0694



https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1983-Sears-Spring-Summer-Catalog/0695



The 1983 J.C. Penney Fall / Winter catalogue has a sepia advertisement for their stereo CED player on page 862, priced at $389.95, along with a long list of titles available, priced from $19.98 each all the way up to $99.95 for Jesus Of Nazareth, a four disc title. This price was also the same price as the no-frills RCA model SJT 090 CED player. The rest of the page has a mix of advertisements for other various TV, home video, film, and video camera accessories.



https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1983-JCPenney-Fall-Winter-Catalog/0862



Finally, the 1983 Sears Fall / Winter catalogue has a color Sears Electronic Showplace advertisement for one of their stereo CED players, along with several CED caddies, on the lower portion of page 855, priced at $289.99. The rest of the page has advertisements for TVs with remote controls, a VCR, and speakers.



https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1983-Sears-Fall-Winter-Catalog/0855



That’s the end of the catalogues with CED advertising, and none of them have any players or discs advertised during the second half of CED production, 1984, 1985, and 1986. Personally, I think this fact is a bit sad to think about, but once again, with this web site, CED can still be remembered and enjoyed well in to the future.



I already have my CED anniversary essay for next year underway, which I will post exactly one year from today. Until then, keep having fun with CED!



The End.
_________________
Let RCA turn your television into Selectavision!

[ketonic_dude]

That's some great research, and Happy Anniversary to CED! I will have to take a closer look at all of these later. I was thinking the other day, it would be nice to compile a list/collection of all the Gene Kelly ads they made. I see people selling them on eBay all the time and there seems to be tons of different ones. As always, keep up the good work!

[Samson]

Wow, so amazing to see the old print ads and catalogs with CED Selectavision Players and Movies.

[nick99nack]

Great research. Happy Anniversary of the CED!