Interestingly CD/DVD/BluRay optical pickup units can be used to build fluorescence [0]/laser [1] scanning microscopes, atomic force microscopes [2], nanoscale 3D printers [3], interferometers [4] etc, due to their high precision, low cost and high availability.
I got the CED collecting bug in 2010 when I came across a player. I keep it to show as a curiosity, a reminder that you can do things (video) in weird ways (a vinyl disc).
I have one memory of renting the SelectaVision player when I was very young.
This article on the SCM was new for me, and will be part of what I tell incredulous visitors in future!
I had a friend who had one of those capacitive video disc players when I was a kid. Those got front of mind for me a few years ago when I noticed that a local fleas market had a lot of the discs but no players. I found out you could probably get a deadstock player on EBay but the belts would need replacing and when the stylus needed replacing… well they don’t make them anymore.
Interestingly CD/DVD/BluRay optical pickup units can be used to build fluorescence [0]/laser [1] scanning microscopes, atomic force microscopes [2], nanoscale 3D printers [3], interferometers [4] etc, due to their high precision, low cost and high availability.
There is a lovely youtube video series on the RCA video disc first episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnpX8d8zRIA
You can make a link that includes the playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnpX8d8zRIA&list=PLv0jwu7G_D...
I got the CED collecting bug in 2010 when I came across a player. I keep it to show as a curiosity, a reminder that you can do things (video) in weird ways (a vinyl disc).
I have one memory of renting the SelectaVision player when I was very young.
This article on the SCM was new for me, and will be part of what I tell incredulous visitors in future!
I had a friend who had one of those capacitive video disc players when I was a kid. Those got front of mind for me a few years ago when I noticed that a local fleas market had a lot of the discs but no players. I found out you could probably get a deadstock player on EBay but the belts would need replacing and when the stylus needed replacing… well they don’t make them anymore.
Required background music for reading the article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azsk21MpbUk
> The VideoDisc is sometimes confused with the LaserDisc, a home video technology of that era that used an optical laser.
I didn’t know this existed in 1964. It’s almost vinyl for video.
I wrote an article about growing up with CED:
https://paleotronic.com/2024/01/27/the-horrors-of-capacitanc...