Selectavision - because streaming cannot give you that 1982 Home Theatre experience (1 Viewer)

I worry sometimes because the Selectavision section in my local Best Buy has shrunk down to invisibility. Did streaming somehow claim its first video format victim more than three decades ago, or did that only happen in that really confusing "Terminator: Genysis" movie?



So here I am in 2015 with my 1982 Selectavision player. Nowadays people don't come over to watch pristine Blu-Ray presentations of great movies on my sweet home theatre system; they come over and play with their smart phones during the p.B-R.p.o.g.m.o.m.s.h.t.s., and then they show me short YouTube videos on my own laptop. The only thing that stops this from happening is my merry cry of "Let's kick back with a little...SELECTAVISION!" (I usually pause dramatically between "SELECT" and "AVISION!").



Here is my modest Selectavision library. Elvis fans will instantly spot the prized "Aloha From Hawaii" disc which has the only "Hawaiian Love Song" in any video format, and that fully 40% of my Selectavision discs are Elvis programs. "Huzzah for Elvis!" they'll cry, and I'll know that it's going to be a great night of Selectavision Home Theatre entertainment. Really, hardcore Elvis fans are the best.

Anyhow, Selectavision is one video format that streaming truly cannot ever affect, so there's that. I invite your comments, though I think I know what they're going to be. Coming soon to this topic: "Singin' In The Rain" Selectavision vs. Blu-Ray format shootout!

DC Cab CED has an "oops" of the feminine variety that the VHS and DVD edited out. Is there a Blu?

And how it all ended:

If the thrill isn't being able to watch a movie at home whenever and however you like, then what is the thrill? Dr. Jon Clemens was right; "Bring the magic home" is still what it's all about. Long live Selectavision!

This is the only home video format I've never seen. How did the quality compare to tape and laserdisc?

Another Selctavison demo video.

Worth said:

This is the only home video format I've never seen. How did the quality compare to tape and laserdisc?

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A bit better than VHS in picture quality, although the discs skip occasionally. I think the format was limited to mono audio, but the audio is clean and adequate. I've tried using RCA cables to connect the player to my system, but using a coaxial cable to run the signal through my S-VHS recorder (which I never record off cable with anyhow) delivered exactly the same results. The laserdisc format was superior in every technical aspect, which is why it prospered. However, for me the snob appeal of kicking back with a Selectavision disc remains unassailable.

I never heard of Selectavision. Do you also have a Commodore 64 computer you enjoy ?

davidmatychuk said:

A bit better than VHS in picture quality, although the discs skip occasionally. I think the format was limited to mono audio, but the audio is clean and adequate. I've tried using RCA cables to connect the player to my system, but using a coaxial cable to run the signal through my S-VHS recorder (which I never record off cable with anyhow) delivered exactly the same results. The laserdisc format was superior in every technical aspect, which is why it prospered. However, for me the snob appeal of kicking back with a Selectavision disc remains unassailable.

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There were indeed Stereo Selectavision titles. Some may have even had Dolby Surround sound.


http://www.cedmagic.com/home/cedfaq.html#threeseventeen


I found a CED fan website instead of using the Wiki page, because does anyone really trust Wiki all that much as a citation?


/Oh, and I hadn't heard of this format until I saw this thread. A Video record? Hm. If it had came out when they wanted it to instead of after Laserdisc and VHS/Betamax, it might have succeeded.

"In association with 20th Century Fox, Magnetic Video is proud to offer this major motion picture on videocassette."

My player is defiantly mono, as is my modest library of Selectavision discs.

I believe a good work friend of mine back in the early '80s owned an RCA Selectavision player. I seem to recall watching a few scenes from American Gigolo and maybe Star Trek: TMP at his place. It was pretty cool back then seeing a film on a disc. My foray into Laserdisc began less than a decade later. ( He moved away and I have no idea what became of him, or the player for that matter. )


- Walter.

The Obsolete Man said:

Oh, and I hadn't heard of this format until I saw this thread. A Video record? Hm. If it had came out when they wanted it to instead of after Laserdisc and VHS/Betamax, it might have succeeded.

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Before the explosion of VHS rental stores, CED had at least a certain amount of success in selling to those who wanted to own titles at home, but were on a bit of a budget, as the CED version of a recent hit film was often much less-expensive than the VHS/Beta counterpart.


I remember drooling over these as a kid and after mowing yards all summer in 1983, I saved up enough money to buy a player from the Sears catalogue. I forget exactly what my first disc was, but it was likely one of the Star Trek double-episode discs that was advertised in the same catalogue. It was the relative cheaper price of the format (versus VHS/Beta), the cheaper price of titles in general, and the fact that there were several Star Trek 2-episode discs available that got me to buy-in.


As a 13-year-old in 1983 who hadn't had access to Star Trek reruns since about 1976 (bar the fuzzy signal from the occasional out-of-town station on a severe weather day), this felt absolutely amazing! Also, the fact I now had access not only to recent favourites (like Wrath of Khan, the Bond 007 movies, etc), but also to films I'd always heard of but never got to see before (M*A*S*H, 2001, Alien) was just icing on the cake. I was even in Columbia House's CED club, which give some inkling of how successful the format was for a brief time.


I saw to it that I had every Star Trek double-feature that came out (six were released in all). Periodic trips to Lee Merriman TV in Lexington, KY (who had the largest CED collection in the area...I think they might have even rented them) ensured that my pocket money didn't go unspent.


It was only a couple summers later, though, that the format died its death. The handwriting was on the wall all throughout '84 and '85, though. The number of titles available in CED kept getting smaller in the Columbia House mailer. I had to double-check with Merriman's to see if the latest Trek release (Search for Spock) would come out on the format (it did, and I bought it), but once VHS rental stores started coming to even the rural town I lived in, it was obvious that tape was the way forward, especially with prices of VCRs starting to come within reach of my parents (if not myself). 1985 saw us get our first VCR and also saw me purchase my last CED titles outside of the 'collector's market'.

Walter Kittel said:

I believe a good work friend of mine back in the early '80s owned an RCA Selectavision player. I seem to recall watching a few scenes from American Gigolo and maybe Star Trek: TMP at his place. It was pretty cool back then seeing a film on a disc. My foray into Laserdisc began less than a decade later. ( He moved away and I have no idea what became of him, or the player for that matter. )


- Walter.

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Bah! Screw the work friend! But what happened to the player, man?!?!?

VideoDisc and stereo sound- there's no better value around!