Capacitance Electronic Disc

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 obsolete by the DiscoVision (LaserDisc) and emerging Betamax and VHS videocassette formats. Sales for the system were nowhere near projected estimates, and by 1986 before it was subsumed 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.