Capacitance Electronic Disc

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The Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED) is an analog video disc playback system developed by Radio Corporation of America (RCA), in which video and audio could be played back on a TV set using a special stylus and high-density groove system similar to phonograph records. First conceived in 1964, the CED system was widely seen as a technological success which was able to increase the density of a long-playing record by two orders of magnitude. Despite that achievement, the CED system fell victim to poor planning, various conflicts with RCA management, and several technical difficulties. That slowed development and stalled production of the system for 17 years, until 1981, by which time it had been made obsolete by laser videodisc (DiscoVision, later called LaserVision and LaserDisc) as well as Betamax and VHS video cassette formats. Sales for the system were nowhere near projected estimates. In the spring of 1984, RCA announced it was discontinuing player production, but continued the production of videodiscs until 1986, losing an estimated $650 million in the process. RCA had initially intended to release the SKT425 CED player with its high-end Dimensia system in late 1984, but cancelled CED player production prior to the system's release. The format was commonly known as "videodisc", leading to confusion with the contemporaneous LaserDisc format. LaserDiscs are read optically with a laser beam, whereas CED discs were read physically with a stylus, similar to a conventional phonograph record. The two systems were incompatible. RCA used the brand name "SelectaVision" for the CED system, a name also used for some early RCA brand VCRs, and other experimental projects at RCA. The Video High Density system is similar to that of CED.