1982 Hitachi VIP201P: C.E.D Player

OK a temporary distraction I'm back at this player. I've temporarily robbed a micro-switch from my Thyristor tester and have installed it into the Hitachi. I've also now reinstalled the Linear arm and tested the worm action, it tracks. Now I just need to go hunting in my belt draw to see if I have anything suitable. If I can find a couple matching the platter belt will be easier as I have the original slack one as a guide. The linear are drive belt will be a tad tricky as its gone. I will have to measure and deduct 10%, I believe that's the rule of thumb to follow.

Success! 

Plugged in, inserted the caddy, the machine powered up, it lowered the tray onto the platter which span up to speed. The linear arm twitched and there was a lot of clattering. I'm not sure but I think this was due to me having removed the stylus cartridge, I did this as a safety precaution and I'm sure I saw a youtube video where someone explained a similar occurrence. I wil now put the stylus in and see if the arm locates into position.

Trust me it is spinning in this photo. ?  

Edit: I now have the linear arm loading, skipping when FF or scan fast is selected. Eject works and return to landing for the arm. Time to hook up to a telly.

TV tested and very pleased to report it works. ? 

The only problem I need to sort out is the linear arm worm drive loading post I repaired, its sitting a little higher now and catches on the edge of the linear arm as it docks and undocks. Occasionally this results in the arm stalling, a little filing down on the top should resolve that. All in all very pleased and it looks like my reward for the effort is the Stylus being a good one, Phew!!!

To recount what was needed in order to get this working.

1. The micro-switch which operates the power on of the player, the disc loading sequence and linear arm positioning, was broken. This was replaced with a donor from my Thyristor tester.
2. Next the linear arm worm drive; the post had sheered off from its base plate. The brass post was drilled and self tapped with a steel screw. This now needs minor adjustment as the post is a little high and catches on the arm when docking and undocking.
3. Tray loading belt perished and replaced.
4. Tray worm drive plastic post that the bar locks into was broken, temporarily taped down to hold in position. This will be drilled and split pinned.
5. Linear arm motor belt perished, new belt fitted.

Solution to the platter worm drive bar not locking. I found an edge clip in my cabinet spares box, this tightly fitted over the lock block but was a tad too high so the bar could still jump out. This was overcome by cutting a rubber block which when tightly wedged in filling the gap, ensures the worm drive bar stays firmly in position.

I have not seen a picture from the a CED player, looks good, I have seen the Philips laser disc working, also excellent pictures.

The versatility of tape that could record and playback or play pre recorded tapes was too much to overcome any picture quality improvements of the disc systems available at the time.

To cap this little repair project off, last night I won 40 brand new sealed, never opened C.E.D. movies.

A wide range of material from sci-fi, horror, drama, comedy, classics, animation and music. Even better the chap only lived 20 miles away and was passing through today so dropped them off half an hour ago. An instant collection, hours of entertainment ahead. Can't believe my luck that it contains my all time favourite 50's sci-fi movie "Forbidden Planet".

In case you're wondering, blue caddy's indicate a stereo soundtrack, white caddy's are mono.

It makes one almost miss the format wars of yesteryear and constant innovation. Now we're just left with no ownership and streaming services of which I avoid like the plague. Happy to live in my bubble with obsolete formats and CRT, I neither need nor desire HD or downloadable content.

Posted by: Nuvistor

I have not seen a picture from the a CED player, looks good, I have seen the Philips laser disc working, also excellent pictures.

Me neither Frank and I've never seen a laserdisc either, something I hope to rectify as I'm now on a hunt for a decent Philips VLP700, it will go nice with the N1500 and N1700's. Though this will have to be close enough to collect as I don't think all those laser alignment mirrors will travel well through the postal system.

Hi Chris, I have found some microswitches that look the same as yours. PM me your address and I will send them off tomorrow. Norman

Cheers Norman, much appreciated, I'll pm you now. ? 

Nice one  Chris.

A good result, I have never seen any machines of this format in the flesh, the picture looks to be good quality too.

Thanks Baz, I'm over the moon with it.

It blows me away thinking about how this works, a needle reading capacitance fluctuations to produce very good quality video images and conceived back in 1964! Sadly due to poor planning and internal politics at RCA,  the system stalled for 17 years!!! By which time so much had changed in the market place and well, you know the rest of history. Still those of us who love obsolete formats can still enjoy the format and help to document and display it to those that may find it of interest.

My mission now is to find a second machine for spares to maintain at least one working player, If anyone has one in disrepair or knows of the whereabouts of one, please pm me.

Well done! You fixed it, and just as I thought, you didn't need a service manual. Luckily the microswitch is a common, standard part. A scrap microwave oven will yield several of them if you need any more.

It's great that you managed to score a batch of classic movies to watch on it. Let's hope the player holds out. I think your machine is the deluxe model with stereo sound, AV out as well as RF out, and infra-red remote control. Certain One-For-All universal remotes can be programmed to operate it in case the original remote is missing.

You mentioned the excitement of the format wars, of which CED was an early casualty. It's still going on. Remember when there were several different recordable DVD formats, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW and DVD+RW. A format war loomed, but was averted by the appearance of multi-format DVD writers.

Following on from that, there was HD-DVD and Blu-ray. HD-DVD lost, perhaps not so funny for those who had spent hundreds of pounds on a player and some movies. But it was good for me: I was presented with a perfectly working HD-DVD player and some films from the guy at the council tip. A future collectible, I am sure. I had even more fun with it, by making my own HD-DVDs using ordinary blank DVD-R discs. It works, though you can't fit a full length film on one. I made an HD-DVD of the BBC HD testcard transmission for posterity.

Even now, there are rival streaming services, each with their own exclusive content. Which one(s) will win? It never ends. I share your dislike of streaming. From a consumer point of view, you never really own any content, you have to keep paying forever, as well as paying for an internet connection, and the provider can remove content whenever they like, even that which you've already paid for. The movie studios are back in control. Surprisingly, people seem to have accepted this. Again, this is good news for me. Over the last few years, prices of used CDs, DVDs and vinyl have plummeted. I've been able to acquire a lot of the albums I always wanted but couldn't afford, now they only cost pennies at car boot sales and charity shops since everyone else seems to be getting rid of physical media.