1
00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:01,620
[ soft rhythmic music ]

2
00:00:01,620 --> 00:00:02,380
[ chime ]

3
00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:03,380
[ chime ]

4
00:00:03,620 --> 00:00:05,820
[ chiiiiime ]

5
00:00:06,080 --> 00:00:07,820
[ oh, another chime ]

6
00:00:07,820 --> 00:00:09,120
[ whooshy sound ]

7
00:00:09,120 --> 00:00:11,400
[ drums kick in, with some horns ]

8
00:00:11,500 --> 00:00:13,980
[ good lord this is getting pretty ambitious ]

9
00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:17,200
[ woah, rainbow horns ]

10
00:00:18,580 --> 00:00:21,140
[ THIS IS SO CONFIDENT I LOVE IT ]

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00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:23,320
[ and now the video glitches like crazy because CED ]

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00:00:23,820 --> 00:00:27,040
Yeahh… things didn’t quite go as planned,
did they?

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00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:31,340
Welcome to part 2 of our exploration into the CED,

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00:00:31,340 --> 00:00:35,660
RCA’s very strange yet still
somehow marketed videodisc system which effectively

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used vinyl records to store up to 2 hours
of video. We went over its history and a bit

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00:00:40,930 --> 00:00:46,170
of the context surrounding why RCA was bothering
to do this in part one, so if you haven’t

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00:00:46,170 --> 00:00:49,560
seen that, you may want to consider clicking
that clicky thing up there.

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00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:51,460
Anyway, let’s get on …

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00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:53,380
[ video glitches uncontrollably]

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00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:54,940
[THUD]

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00:00:54,940 --> 00:00:55,780
...get on with the show.

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00:00:55,780 --> 00:01:00,080
We’ll begin by taking a closer look at this
player, as well as the device that RCA thought

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00:01:00,091 --> 00:01:04,260
was too complicated to manufacture despite
the fact that they were selling them already.

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On a fundamental level, the RCA videodisc
player is merely a record player.

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It has a bit of a funky pickup, as well as an automated
“tonearm” if you will, but it’s still

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just a spinning disc with a needle tracking
a spiral groove. An insanely tiny groove on

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00:01:19,050 --> 00:01:24,160
an insanely delicate disc, but with the engineering
complexities devoted to the disc manufacturing

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process and not the player, it was thought
that it could have perhaps might have been

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maybe a good idea maybe possibly. As a matter
of fact, in an early demonstration of the

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system, Richard Sonnenfeldt, the Vice President
of VideoDisc Operations put it simply;

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And that’s exactly how it panned out. These
discs are marvels or precision manufacturing,

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but the players are mainly just a bunch of
off-the-shelf parts. The most complicated

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00:01:56,260 --> 00:02:01,640
bit of the player is how it manages fine tracking
control. I briefly showed you the visual search

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function and explained that an electromagnet
can move the stylus with fine control, but

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I didn’t really explore that at all and
I should because it is admittedly impressive.

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Look in the stylus compartment and you’ll
see this pair of little coils. These are controlled

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by the player’s electronics in order to
move the stylus, either to get it out of a locked

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00:02:19,980 --> 00:02:26,020
groove situation, or to advance or retreat
across the disc’s surface for visual search. You’ll also

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see this little solenoid which can lift the
stylus off the surface of the record.

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00:02:30,370 --> 00:02:34,890
And it does a surprisingly good job. With
a disc in good condition, the visual search

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00:02:34,890 --> 00:02:41,190
is very fluid. Strikingly so. Way better than
any VCR ever managed, and practically as good

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00:02:41,190 --> 00:02:46,280
as the butter-smooth search of a CAV laserdisc.
The only thing you’ll occasionally notice

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is some screen-tearing since there are multiple
frames encoded with each rotation of the disc.

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00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:56,280
But since the concept of screen-tearing was,
I’m pretty sure, not even a recognized phenomenon

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00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:58,430
in 1981, well who cares?

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00:02:58,430 --> 00:03:02,880
I believe the reason it works so well is precisely
because the discs have the synchronization

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00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:08,190
signals hard-coded onto them, and their speed
is constant. Even if the stylus skips into

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00:03:08,190 --> 00:03:12,930
the next track mid-frame, it doesn’t interrupt
the video signal at all because each adjacent

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00:03:12,930 --> 00:03:18,650
track is EXACTLY four frames ahead or behind,
down to the precise location on the scanline.

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00:03:18,650 --> 00:03:23,220
So even though it lacks the fine control of
a laser-optical system, the effect is exactly

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the same.

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That’s pretty much the only impressive thing
about how the player works, though.

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00:03:28,140 --> 00:03:31,820
Everything else is cost-optimized as far as possible.

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Were you looking for a composite video output?

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NOPE.

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00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:38,660
Too expensive. Ya get RF out only, suckers.

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00:03:38,660 --> 00:03:41,040
As mentioned before, the turntable motor is

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just a bog-standard AC motor and drives it
with a belt, though I should note that later

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00:03:46,100 --> 00:03:50,940
models had a direct-drive turntable that could
stop itself in a defined position to allow

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00:03:50,940 --> 00:03:54,610
for a fancier disc loading operation. But
more on that later.

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00:03:54,610 --> 00:03:59,720
My favorite cost-cut has to do with the mechanism
which moves the stylus carriage. Notice how

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00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:04,740
the function lever engages this felt clutch.
When the lever is in the load position, the

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00:04:04,740 --> 00:04:10,770
mechanism which moves the carriage is entirely
disengaged. Why? Well, because they used the

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00:04:10,770 --> 00:04:15,720
action of you insterting the caddy to move
the carriage back to the start point.

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00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:16,660
It’s...

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00:04:16,660 --> 00:04:17,960
a little violent.

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00:04:18,340 --> 00:04:19,780
[ mechanical thunks and clunks of this incredibly refined disc loading system ]

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Look at that! It’s just…

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00:04:21,860 --> 00:04:23,480
so inelegant. Just…

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00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:24,180
WHAM!

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00:04:24,820 --> 00:04:31,320
You can, with  conscious effort, make this not-quite-as-bad if you slowly insert the caddy, but I mean…

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who was gonna bother with that? I will say,
though, that if you for some reason are using one

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00:04:36,169 --> 00:04:39,960
of these machines daily, you probably should
make that effort.

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00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:43,960
So anyway, once the stylus has been belligerently
put back in its place, and you move the lever

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00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:49,570
to play, the clutch re-engages and now the
player has control over where the stylus lands.

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00:04:49,570 --> 00:04:54,240
And the first thing it does it bump the carriage
forward to hopefully find the start of the disc.

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00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:58,030
Oh, and since I haven’t yet mentioned
it, the disc is read from the outside in,

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00:04:58,030 --> 00:05:02,919
like a normal record, and not from the inside
out, like a Laserdisc and the vast vast majority

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00:05:02,919 --> 00:05:06,210
(if not all) of its optical disc offspring.

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00:05:06,210 --> 00:05:10,410
From here, the player just monitors the track
signalling to be on the lookout for problems.

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00:05:10,410 --> 00:05:14,210
If the user doesn’t press any buttons, it’s
just gonna bump the pickup forward every once

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00:05:14,210 --> 00:05:18,570
in a while as the stylus tracks the disc.
If it notices it’s in a locked groove,

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00:05:18,570 --> 00:05:22,860
it will try to get itself out by kicking the
stylus forward with that electromagnet.

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00:05:22,860 --> 00:05:28,720
Unfortunately, as these machines have aged, the felt clutch and the belt on its motor have worn to the

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point where the carriage itself can get stuck,
and the player wasn’t programmed with any

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00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:39,010
way to rectify that. This can create the appearance
of a badly damaged disc, when in fact it’s

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00:05:39,010 --> 00:05:43,540
a problem with the player. To get out of this
issue, you can use the rapid access buttons

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00:05:43,540 --> 00:05:47,550
to move the carriage backwards, and then use
visual search to get back to where you were.

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00:05:47,550 --> 00:05:52,950
Now that’s a modern problem related to age,
so I doubt it was an issue back in the day.

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00:05:52,950 --> 00:05:57,210
And I want to point out that there is an optical
encoder here that the player uses to monitor

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00:05:57,210 --> 00:06:02,130
the carriage’s movement, but apparently
this is only used for the rapid access function,

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00:06:02,130 --> 00:06:05,780
as it barely turns at all under normal operation.

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00:06:05,780 --> 00:06:08,220
Shame they couldn’t have made that a little more useful.

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00:06:08,220 --> 00:06:12,720
You may have noticed that the player has a
pause button. Well, instead of providing a

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00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:15,680
freeze-frame, that simply blanks the screen.

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00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:18,860
On this television is shows a white screen, but that's the television doing that,

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00:06:18,860 --> 00:06:19,740
not the player.

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00:06:19,740 --> 00:06:22,479
Because there are four frames of video encoded

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00:06:22,479 --> 00:06:27,100
with each rotation, it’s impossible for
the player to provide a real freeze-frame

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00:06:27,100 --> 00:06:33,070
without a frame buffer, and that would certainly
not be possible cheaply in 1981. However,

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there was a mode called “page mode” which
would lock the stylus and force it to read

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00:06:37,370 --> 00:06:41,520
the same four frames over and over again,
and it can be activated on this player by

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00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:46,600
holding both the forward and reverse visual
search buttons. This mode, though not officially

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supported with this player, could be used
for navigating more advanced interactive discs,

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00:06:51,540 --> 00:06:52,690
but more on that later.

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00:06:52,690 --> 00:06:57,990
Now, we’ve basically covered everything
this player can do. Remember, its goal wasn’t

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to be super exciting or to be particularly
advanced. It was trying to be a modified record player,

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00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:05,520
and to that extent - it is.

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00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:07,280
Now let’s look at a VCR.

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This RCA VDT-600 is a Matsushita-built

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model introduced in 1979. Removing the case
reveals right away there’s a lot more

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going on here.

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You’ve got your rotary video head drum.

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An erase head,

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an audio head,

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and a tracking pulse head.

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Moveable tape-guides are used
to thread the tape around the drum.

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There's a capstan and pinch roller to move the tape
across all these heads, which is done at three

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different speeds with this model.

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00:07:32,700 --> 00:07:35,020
And there’s a lightbulb on a stick,

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which is used to detect when the tape has reached the end

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by shining a light through the cassette itself,

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through the clear tape leader, and out these holes
on the side.

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All VHS machines detect the end

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of the tape optically, that’s the reason
the ends of the tape are clear, but these

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really early ones use an incandescent light
bulb for the light source, rather than infrared

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LEDs of newer machines.

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All of that stuff is just part of the tape
transport. I haven’t even mentioned the

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electronics which deal with the tape’s signals,
how tracking is accomplished, the fact that

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the video heads are coupled through a rotary
transformer, or the simple fact that the tape

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is being helically scanned.

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If you want to learn
more about video tape technology,

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you can check out this much earlier video of mine,
but be warned,

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00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:15,770
it’s a much earlier video of mine.

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00:08:15,770 --> 00:08:21,639
Anyway, now you can see why RCA thought the
videodisc might still make sense. This VCR

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is horrendously complicated compared to a
CED player, and it also lacks some useful

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features like a real time display or smooth
visual search, with this particular VCR not

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having any sort of visual search function
at all. And these things were not cheap to

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manufacture. The precision required to make
the head drum and transport was pushing the

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limits of mass production at the time, so
these machines were sold for outlandish prices,

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with this particular unit likely retailing
for about $1,250, close to $5000 in today's money.

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Knowing that VCRs were outside the reach of
many consumers, and also knowing about how

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difficult it must be to mass-produce pre-recorded
tapes, RCA thought the CED would still have

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a meaningful place in the market.

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00:09:03,860 --> 00:09:07,000
And they
were… kinda right, for a while anyway.

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00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:12,490
Remember, both the CED as well as the Laserdisc were
pioneers in home video, as although the VCR

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would eventually become the device you’d
watch the latest flicks on, at this point

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in time it was simply too expensive to use
$20 blank cassettes, spend a couple hours

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recording onto them, and sell them for a reasonable
price. So, nobody knew how home video would

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be received. Nobody would know until somebody
tried.

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00:09:29,580 --> 00:09:34,410
And you could argue RCA’s experiment was
the first successful attempt. Although MCA

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DiscoVision had gotten laserdiscs out earlier,
it never got too much traction. RCA seems

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to have done a better job with licensing content,
and while their discs certainly haven’t

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00:09:44,209 --> 00:09:48,629
held up well over time, early laserdiscs were
plagued with issues and a lot of mistakes were

155
00:09:48,629 --> 00:09:50,640
made learning to manufacture them.

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00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:53,700
To their credit,
though RCA took their sweet time getting this

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00:09:53,709 --> 00:09:57,980
product to market, they did at least iron
out all the kinks and release something that

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00:09:57,980 --> 00:09:59,339
actually worked well.

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00:09:59,340 --> 00:10:03,840
In fact, those who bought the players really
liked them. They liked them so much that

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00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:07,160
it's no wonder the average purchaser of this player

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00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:11,620
is also buying from 20 to 30 of these discs

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00:10:11,630 --> 00:10:13,940
in the very first year of ownership.

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00:10:13,940 --> 00:10:17,149
That
was surprising to RCA, in fact they were selling

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00:10:17,149 --> 00:10:21,930
about twice as many discs per household as
they had expected. Their goal of having the

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00:10:21,930 --> 00:10:28,170
system in 50% of American homes by the
end of the decade was incredibly optimistic,

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00:10:28,170 --> 00:10:32,600
but they did produce over half a million players,
and with the help of other OEMs, a total of

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00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:35,350
about 750,000 players were produced.

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00:10:35,350 --> 00:10:41,069
Still, it was clear early on that things weren’t
going that well. Initially, they only sold about

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00:10:41,069 --> 00:10:46,680
half as many players as anticipated, and the
public at large seemed pretty apathetic.

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00:10:46,680 --> 00:10:50,680
I mentioned in my video on Laserdisc that a
large part of why it (laserdisc) never really

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00:10:50,689 --> 00:10:56,129
took off was that home video was an entirely
new, and completely foreign concept. On the

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other hand, a VCR which could record shows
while you’re away, or which could record

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00:11:00,149 --> 00:11:05,230
one show while you watch another, was a true
problem-solver. RCA seems to have had better

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00:11:05,230 --> 00:11:09,439
success with convincing the public to take a leap
of faith into the land of home video than

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00:11:09,439 --> 00:11:13,769
laserdisc did, but not nearly as much success
as they needed.

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00:11:13,769 --> 00:11:18,500
However, they didn’t abandon the project
right away. They did make some improvements.

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00:11:18,500 --> 00:11:20,880
Notice how this disc has a blue caddy.

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00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:25,220
In the CED ecosystem, blue caddies usually mean the disc is in stereo,

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00:11:25,220 --> 00:11:30,300
and later players were able to decode the stereo sound to be output over RCA jacks.

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00:11:30,300 --> 00:11:33,800
And even on this mono player,
you can tell that the sound quality could

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00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:35,740
be quite good depending on the disc.

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00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:37,880
STAR WARS!!!!!

183
00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:43,840
But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!

184
00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:46,180
Oh, and some later models did feature composite

185
00:11:46,190 --> 00:11:51,959
out, too. The much sleeker 2nd generation
players had a semi-automated disc load mechanism,

186
00:11:51,959 --> 00:11:55,660
whereby you would only need to insert the
caddy about ⅔ the way in, and it would take

187
00:11:55,660 --> 00:12:00,480
it from you, release the spine, and spit the
empty caddy back out again for you to remove.

188
00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:04,320
Now, I used to have one of those players,
and I’ll tell you that while it’s pretty cool,

189
00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:09,600
it dramatically slows everything down.
Especially disc flips, since you have to wait

190
00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:14,379
for the stylus to return to the park position,
have the player return the disc to the load

191
00:12:14,379 --> 00:12:18,420
position, and then once it finally lets you
put the caddy back in, the motorized action

192
00:12:18,420 --> 00:12:22,920
prevents you from doing a quick one of these.
Sadly, that player never worked right so I

193
00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:26,899
got rid of it years ago, but I’ve put some
links in the description so you can see some

194
00:12:26,899 --> 00:12:28,549
of those players in action.

195
00:12:28,549 --> 00:12:31,060
Regardless of that little annoyance from the later players,

196
00:12:31,060 --> 00:12:34,239
RCA did plan on using the digitally-encoded position

197
00:12:34,240 --> 00:12:39,760
signals of the disc to enable things like
true random access and discs with chapters.

198
00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:46,120
However, that never got far before RCA threw
in the towel. In April of 1984, RCA formally

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00:12:46,139 --> 00:12:51,069
abandoned the system, announcing players would
no longer be manufactured. The remaining stock

200
00:12:51,069 --> 00:12:56,499
of players were sold at steep discounts, and
people did buy them because RCA committed

201
00:12:56,500 --> 00:12:59,340
to producing discs for three more years.

202
00:12:59,340 --> 00:13:03,579
That’s right, RCA was so surprised with
how many discs people were buying that they

203
00:13:03,579 --> 00:13:08,269
decided, well nobody’s buying new players, but at least those who own them are making

204
00:13:08,269 --> 00:13:14,089
us some decent money. Unfortunately they didn’t
make it through to their three year commitment,

205
00:13:14,089 --> 00:13:18,970
not only because sales of the new discs started
to fall as owners abandoned the format, but

206
00:13:18,970 --> 00:13:25,759
also because in a somewhat cruel case of irony,
RCA was bought by their original owner, GE,

207
00:13:25,759 --> 00:13:31,429
in 1985 and swiftly broken to pieces. What
was once a huge company with their hands in

208
00:13:31,429 --> 00:13:36,180
the buckets of communications, broadcasting,
television, music, and at times even the military

209
00:13:36,180 --> 00:13:41,240
industrial complex, was now a bit of quick
cash for GE,

210
00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:43,400
and a heaping pile of garbage.

211
00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:48,079
Although discs did in fact keep getting made
for about a year after GE’s acquisition,

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by 1986 the format was officially dead.

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So. What went wrong? And what could have been
had things gone better?

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Well, fundamentally what went wrong was that the system was delayed, delayed, and delayed further,

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until finally it was delayed again

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00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:06,620
and subsequently delayed
before its final delay happened

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before its eventual delayed released. RCA’s internal
target was a 1977 release, though personally

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I think that might have been a little too
late to be truly successful, so let’s just

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imagine they had managed to pull this off
in only 11 years and get it out in 1975

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In 1975, there were basically no VCRs anywhere.

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Yeah, there had been these weird experimental things kicking around for a while,

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and I hear Sony’s getting ready to launch this new Betamax system,

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but you gotta be real dedicated to the idea
of recording TV at this stage in the game.

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And fairly rich.

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00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:48,220
But, here comes RCA with
their fantastical videodisc! A player for

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only $500? And some of my favorite movies
available to own for as little as $20?

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Hmm.

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That sounds intriguing.

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The magic of the RCA VideoDisc.

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A simple, affordable record that, like magic,

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can bring not just sound, but sound and pictures.

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Clear, beautiful pictures right into your living room.

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I would bet good money that if this system
was out in 1975, it would have been a big deal.

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For one thing, in hindsight these discs and caddies are comical compared to a videocassette.

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But, in 1975 I suppose they wouldn’t seem too out of
place.

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Music still comes on these things,

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and the videodisc is only marginally larger.
By the way, I’m going to take this opportunity

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00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:37,309
to admire how RCA used a circular theme in
most of their artwork to really hammer home

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00:15:37,309 --> 00:15:39,820
that there is in fact a disc in here.

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I sound sarcastic probably but honestly I love this aesthetic.

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In 1975, this would have been the only way to turn
your television into SelectaVision,

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and doesn’t that just sound neat?

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We’ve never had movies
at home!

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00:15:52,820 --> 00:15:54,780
You know what we’re gonna do? We’re gonna

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00:15:54,780 --> 00:15:57,640
♫ bring the magic home ♫

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00:15:57,640 --> 00:16:01,140
♫ with RCA ♫

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00:16:01,140 --> 00:16:03,179
And it will be wonderful.

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00:16:03,179 --> 00:16:08,619
The fact that RCA sold half a million players,
and a few millions discs, 4 years after the

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00:16:08,620 --> 00:16:13,240
VCR was pretty well introduced should prove in and of itself

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00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:15,920
that the idea was actually quite sound.

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00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:22,580
So in a world where VCRs just... weren’t a
thing yet this would probably be an extremely

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00:16:22,589 --> 00:16:27,529
compelling product. And, with home video
having proven itself before videocassette

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00:16:27,529 --> 00:16:33,230
recorders truly became affordable, many people
may have seen little reason to buy a VCR.

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00:16:33,230 --> 00:16:35,529
At least, until they got really cheap.

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00:16:35,529 --> 00:16:40,559
With a robust installed base of, maybe, 10
million units by 1980, blockbuster films in

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00:16:40,559 --> 00:16:44,819
theaters could expect to make another $20
or $30 million after they’re on home video,

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00:16:44,819 --> 00:16:49,819
and you just know movie studios would jump
on that bandwagon real quick. With the greater

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00:16:49,819 --> 00:16:54,579
manufacturing capacity financed by this successful
system, RCA could start manufacturing more

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00:16:54,579 --> 00:16:58,540
niche content like television shows, and maybe
third-parties would get into making their

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00:16:58,540 --> 00:17:01,470
own discs, and oh god this is horrible!

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00:17:01,470 --> 00:17:04,610
If RCA had succeeded here, and everyone was

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selling their content to be owned on videodisc,
would the VCR have been…

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00:17:09,420 --> 00:17:11,080
outlawed?

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00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:15,820
You might recall that there was a supreme court case
on whether videocassette recorders violated

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00:17:15,820 --> 00:17:20,420
copyright law, and we in no small part have
this wonderful man

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00:17:20,420 --> 00:17:23,240
[to thank, but Alec didn't say those words for some reason] for settling that with with an emphatic "no".

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Yes I know this disc is in
horrible shape, but come on, I’m not gonna

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00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:30,220
pass up an attempt to use this picture of
Mr. Rogers on a videodisc, I mean duh.

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00:17:30,220 --> 00:17:35,870
That case was settled in 1984, when it was
clear that the CED was a disaster. But if CEDs

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00:17:35,870 --> 00:17:40,650
had become successful, and everyone from television
studios to independent filmmakers was putting

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00:17:40,650 --> 00:17:47,890
their stuff on CED, then suddenly the case
against time-shifting becomes a lot stronger.

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Of course you can’t tape your own TV shows,
since NBC is gonna release that season next

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00:17:52,830 --> 00:17:57,920
October. That would be infringing on their
ability to make a profit, and we cannot have

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00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:03,880
that oh no. As a matter of fact, movie studios
kept on lobbying for some sort of legislative

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00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:08,260
action from Congress making time-shifting
illegal, and the fact that they were making

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00:18:08,260 --> 00:18:12,430
serious money from rentals and home video
sales is cited as one of the main reasons

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00:18:12,430 --> 00:18:14,940
Congress basically said buzz off.

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00:18:14,940 --> 00:18:20,400
Though, to be fair, requesting that you buzz off seems to be Congress’s default strategy these days.

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00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:26,200
That horrible hypothetical aside, a 1975 release
would also have beaten Discovision to market,

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00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:31,280
and I have a feeling Philips and MCA would
just give up were that to have happened. See,

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though the existence of laserdisc was, I don't think, really hurtful to the CED,

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00:18:35,740 --> 00:18:38,560
confusion between the two standards was definitely a thing,

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00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:40,780
so having just one videodisc on the market

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would further help RCA. And, RCA didn’t
repeat Sony’s mistake and be real stingy

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00:18:45,970 --> 00:18:50,490
with the licensing of their tech. They were
open to third party OEMs getting involved,

286
00:18:50,490 --> 00:18:55,950
in fact Hitachi, Sanyo, and Toshiba all manufactured
third-party players, so it’s unlikely there

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00:18:55,950 --> 00:19:00,460
would have been a VHS of discs to unseat RCA’s
CED.

288
00:19:00,460 --> 00:19:05,500
Now, of course, RCA didn’t manage to get
their product out in 1975. But they still

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00:19:05,510 --> 00:19:10,150
thought it would be worth trying. Their thought
that the cheap-to-make discs and inexpensive

290
00:19:10,150 --> 00:19:16,480
player would be a good value compared to a
VCR wasn’t wrong. But they fundamentally

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00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:19,680
misjudged something about the home video market.

292
00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:24,130
RCA basically forgot about the concept of rental.

293
00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:29,640
OK, "forgot" isn’t quite fair, but
their research led them to believe that people

294
00:19:29,650 --> 00:19:35,399
would prefer to own a movie than rent a movie,
and with that stuck in their heads, VCRs could

295
00:19:35,399 --> 00:19:36,880
never make sense.

296
00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:42,650
But of course, for the VCR, rentals were a
perfect two birds one stone scenario. Pre-recorded

297
00:19:42,650 --> 00:19:46,240
VHS tapes are expensive and time-consuming to manufacture, sure,

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00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:51,200
but if you’re renting them, well you’re spreading its use out between 10 or 20 people.

299
00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:52,620
And of course, that means you only need a

300
00:19:52,620 --> 00:19:57,040
tenth or a twentieth the number of tapes as
you would if people were buying them, so tape

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00:19:57,040 --> 00:19:59,900
duplication facilities don't need to be huge.

302
00:19:59,900 --> 00:20:06,090
Really, this was the one thing that RCA failed
to imagine. Their product essentially

303
00:20:06,090 --> 00:20:10,380
relied on economies of scale and people wanting to buy their movies,

304
00:20:10,380 --> 00:20:14,000
and lots of them. That would in fact get expensive

305
00:20:14,010 --> 00:20:20,270
real quickly if you were buying pre-recorded
VHS cassettes. But with a VCR, you could not

306
00:20:20,270 --> 00:20:25,400
only just pop down to your corner video store,
and pay something like $5 to borrow a movie

307
00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:30,880
for the night, but you could also record TV
while you were away. And once people started

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00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:34,800
getting into that groove, they weren’t interested
in RCA’s.

309
00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:36,370
God I love puns.

310
00:20:36,370 --> 00:20:41,020
Well. I didn’t think I was going to end
up making three videos about this format…

311
00:20:41,020 --> 00:20:45,040
but it looks like I am. Before I end this
one, though, have you noticed something about

312
00:20:45,050 --> 00:20:50,090
the CED? Those of you who know a thing or
two about Laserdiscs will know that they come

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00:20:50,090 --> 00:20:57,800
in two flavors, CAV and CLV. CAV discs only
held 30 minutes per side, but CLV discs could

314
00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:02,080
hold an hour by slowing the rotational speed
of the disc as it played, making use of a

315
00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:03,520
disc’s geometry.

316
00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:04,600
Well?

317
00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:06,680
CEDs are CAV!

318
00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:10,940
They spin at a constant speed of 450 RPM. And yet,

319
00:21:10,940 --> 00:21:12,720
they hold an hour per side.

320
00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:16,680
If RCA had said, you know what?
We’re gonna make the players a bit more

321
00:21:16,690 --> 00:21:22,420
expensive by using a variable-speed motor,
but at the same time we’ll get 2 hours of

322
00:21:22,420 --> 00:21:28,620
video on each side, I think that might have
made the format work. They had incredible

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00:21:28,620 --> 00:21:34,660
information density on these discs, but wasted
a lot of potential by using a constant rotational speed.

324
00:21:34,660 --> 00:21:40,760
If they figured out constant linear velocity,
two disc titles would essentially be eliminated,

325
00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:44,660
and most movies wouldn’t even need a flip
in the middle! Double-feature specials could

326
00:21:44,660 --> 00:21:50,320
be sold, two classic films for $20! And, had
television shows started to be released on

327
00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:55,200
CED, an entire season could fit across just
4 discs, with bonus footage!

328
00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:59,220
Look, it’s a little late, but if I had a time machine…

329
00:21:59,220 --> 00:22:02,200
I might just whisper some thoughts into somebody’s ears.

330
00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:07,500
For now, I hope you enjoyed part 2. I think
it’s safe to say that had RCA just timed

331
00:22:07,510 --> 00:22:12,320
this a little better, the CED wouldn’t have
failed. And I also think it’s a fair bet

332
00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:17,990
that had that happened, our media landscape
would be quite different. Maybe VCRs wouldn’t

333
00:22:17,990 --> 00:22:23,560
be illegal, but you can bet that the home
video scene would look nothing like it does today.

334
00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:26,800
Well, streaming is king today, so make
that…

335
00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:28,260
But you can bet that the home video

336
00:22:28,260 --> 00:22:32,860
scene of the 1980’s and into the 2000’s
would look nothing like it does today.

337
00:22:32,860 --> 00:22:38,280
In the third and (probably) final part, we’ll
look at why RCA couldn’t get this product

338
00:22:38,290 --> 00:22:42,360
out in time. It turns out that story is a
lot more involved than at first you might

339
00:22:42,360 --> 00:22:47,720
think. I’m waiting on materials to arrive,
so I may do something entirely different next,

340
00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:51,940
but be sure to subscribe if you haven’t
already so you won’t miss part 3.

341
00:22:51,940 --> 00:22:54,940
As always, I’d like to thank all of the
wonderful people supporting this channel through

342
00:22:54,940 --> 00:22:59,490
Patreon, with special thanks going to the
fine folks scrolling up your screen. It’s

343
00:22:59,490 --> 00:23:03,000
with the support of viewers like you that
I can make videos like this, and I really

344
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,520
appreciate your support. If you would like
to join these people in supporting my work

345
00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:10,440
with a pledge of your own, you can check out
my Patreon page through the link on the end

346
00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:14,600
screen, or in the description. Thanks for
your consideration, and I’ll see you next time!

347
00:23:15,700 --> 00:23:18,240
♫ regrettably smooth jazz ♫

348
00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:22,020
...and that would certainly nuh bu baa buh
buh buh

349
00:23:22,020 --> 00:23:25,909
You may have noticed that the player has a
pause button, well….

350
00:23:25,909 --> 00:23:27,020
There was a noise.

351
00:23:27,020 --> 00:23:28,240
Over there.

352
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:29,280
Cool.

353
00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:32,160
...clear tape leader, and out these holes
on the sides of the …

354
00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:33,740
woah! I skipped some words!

355
00:23:33,740 --> 00:23:37,420
The discs are marvels of pre… oh yeah. Hang
on.

356
00:23:37,420 --> 00:23:40,500
This is going so incredibly well.

357
00:23:40,500 --> 00:23:42,160
So well.

358
00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:46,420
‘Cause we’ve planned this all out. Definitely
didn’t rush anything.

359
00:23:46,420 --> 00:23:48,552
Arrgh. Come on.

360
00:23:48,552 --> 00:23:51,100
Come on. Be a good little defeat device.

361
00:23:51,100 --> 00:23:52,380
[click]

362
00:23:52,380 --> 00:23:53,850
Thank you.

363
00:23:53,850 --> 00:23:57,180
Look at that, it’s just so… [gestures
and flails really oddly]

364
00:23:57,180 --> 00:23:58,340
No.

365
00:23:58,340 --> 00:24:02,780
And also knowing about how difficult it must
be - this is a very loud rattly cassette.