Editing Capacitance Electronic Disc (section)

{{short description|Analog video disc playback system}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{One source|text=This article relies largely or entirely upon a single source, the CEDMagic.com web site.|date=February 2015}}
{{Self-published|date=February 2015}}
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{{Infobox media
| name          = Capacitance Electronic Disc
| logo          =
| image         = [[File:Ced cart2.jpg|200px]]
| caption       = A CED of ''[[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]]'' (1977), exposed from its protective [[Caddy (hardware)|caddy]]
| type          = [[video]] playback media
| encoding      =
| capacity      = 60 minutes [[NTSC]] video per side, 27,000 still [[Film frame|frames]] per side<ref name="CEDMagic.com">{{cite web|title = RCA SelectaVision VideoDisc FAQ - What are the technical specifications of the RCA VideoDisc system? | publisher = CEDMagic.com | url = http://cedmagic.com/home/cedfaq.html#onethree | access-date = 2007-03-07}}</ref>
| read          = [[stylus]]
| write         =
| standard      =
| owner         =
| use           = [[Home video]]
| extended from =
| extended to   =
| released      = March 22, 1981
| discontinued  = 1986 (RCA)<ref name = "fail">{{cite web | title = Memories of VideoDisc - CED Retailing at G&M Video in Indiana | publisher = CEDMagic.com | url = http://www.cedmagic.com/mem/ced-folklore.html | access-date = 2007-03-11}}</ref>
}}
The '''Capacitance Electronic Disc''' ('''CED''') is an [[analog video|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 [[Order of magnitude#Uses|orders of magnitude]].<ref name = "expect">{{cite web | title = RCA SelectaVision VideoDisc FAQ - Why did the CED system fail to even come close to RCA's expected market penetration? | publisher = CEDMagic.com | url = http://www.cedmagic.com/home/cedfaq.html#onesixteen | access-date = 2007-03-11}}</ref> Despite this 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 already been made obsolete by laser videodisc ([[DiscoVision]], later called LaserVision and [[LaserDisc]]) as well as [[Betamax]] and [[VHS]] [[Videotape|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 their high end [[RCA Dimensia|Dimensia]] system in late 1984, but cancelled CED player production  prior to the Dimensia system's release.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cedmagic.com/museum/dimensia/skt425.html|title=RCA Dimensia SKT425 CED Video Disc Player|first=Tom|last=Howe|website=www.cedmagic.com}}</ref>

The format was commonly known as "[[videodisc]]", leading to much confusion with the contemporaneous LaserDisc format. LaserDiscs are read optically with a laser beam, whereas CED discs are read physically with a stylus (similar to a conventional [[phonograph record]]). The two systems are mutually incompatible.

RCA used the brand name "[[SelectaVision]]" for the CED system, a name also used for some early RCA brand [[VCR]]s,<ref>{{cite web | title = VBT200 - The First RCA SelectaVision VHS Video Cassette Recorder (VCR) | publisher = CEDMagic.com | url = http://cedmagic.com/history/vbt200.html | access-date = 2007-03-14}}</ref> and other experimental projects at RCA.<ref>{{cite web | title = HoloTape | publisher = CEDMagic.com | url = http://cedmagic.com/history/holotape.html | access-date = 2007-03-06 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title= MagTape | publisher = CEDMagic.com | url = http://cedmagic.com/history/magtape.html | access-date = 2007-03-06}}</ref> The [[Video High Density]] system is similar to that of CED.