Capacitance Electronic Disc

Capacitance Electronic Discs

A CED of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, exposed from its protective caddy
Media type	video playback media
Capacity	60 minutes NTSC video per side, 27,000 frames per side
Read mechanism	Stylus
Usage	Home video

The Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED) is an analog video disc playback system developed by RCA, in which video and audio could be played back on a TV set using a special needle 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 this achievement, the CED system fell victim to poor planning, conflicts within RCA, and technical difficulties that stalled production of the system for 17 years until 1981, by which time it was already made obsolete by laser videodisc (DiscoVision, a.k.a. LaserVision and LaserDisc) as well as Betamax and VHS videocassette formats. Sales for the system were nowhere near projected estimates, and by 1984 (before it was absorbed by General Electric) RCA had discontinued the project, losing an estimated $600 million in the process. RCA had initially intended to release the SKT425 CED player with their high end Dimensia system in 1984, but cancelled CED player production just prior to the release of the Dimensia system.

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 videodiscs are read physically with a stylus (similar to a conventional gramophone record). The two systems are mutually incompatible.

RCA used the brand "SelectaVision" for the CED system, a name also used for some early RCA brand VCRs, and other experimental projects at RCA.

RCA began videodisc research in 1964, in an attempt to produce a phonograph-like method of reproducing video. Research and development was slow in the early years, as the development team originally comprised only four men, but by 1972, the CED team at RCA had produced a disc capable of holding ten minutes of color video (a portion of the Get Smart episode entitled "Lum Fong").