RCA Selectavision

[NoTransistors]

S.A. has become a cesspool of high-priced crap of late.
Today's special was a RCA Selectavision unit for $65 plus a pile of movie discs @ $15/each.

I do know that there is a niche market for this ANALOG media, but is it enough to warrant a purchase to later flip?

EDIT: And how is the picture on these things and is the stylus available?

 

[Urchinn]

Not really a flip item, I don't think...more like an addition to a crazy person's museum of dead media! That being said, I have five working players and over 1200 titles of Selectavision discs. Hey, I have the room for them, and I love the ancient aesthetic. New styli are fairly easy to get, but really, these RCA dinosaurs are NOT very desirable.

 

[Dan ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

Pic quality? Think of VHS on slow speed.

 

[soundmotor]

I actually bought one new for my mother. Happiest day ever when I sold it and all the titles she had (~50) at the MIT flea market.

Be gone bad buying decision, be gone!

 

[Tom Brennan]

Not bad at all...... TOTAL ANALOG BEAUTY

Some movies I cannot find on VHS for example IN 100% ANALOG.... The videodisc copies are indeed all analogue!!!!

Wait a minute, are you saying an analog picture by it's nature is superior to a digital one? That you prefer low resolution analog to high resolution digital?

 

[Sandy G]

The picture & sound weren't TOO bad, the thing w/these things was the ANNOYING "Skip...Skip...Skip...." that even brand new discs, right out of the wrapper often had.

 

[Tom Brennan]

The picture & sound weren't TOO bad, the thing w/these things was the ANNOYING "Skip...Skip...Skip...." that even brand new discs, right out of the wrapper often had.

I screwed around with them too and the picture was OK, better than VHS or Beta tapes. But inferior to laserdisc, indeed I think laserdisc was superior to first generation DVD, which had some digital artifacts I found very annoying. Of course later DVD machines were <much> better.

 

[Duane]

Yeah, CED looked pretty bad. Once I saw a LD demonstrated, I was hooked.

There was a local video store that not only rented LD players, they also rented the discs.

 

[Dan ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

The thing that annoyed me about early DVD's was fast motion. It reminded me of 8mm film. :yuck:

 

[Tom Brennan]

The thing that annoyed me about early DVD's was fast motion. It reminded me of 8mm film. :yuck:

Straight vertical lines were often broken into zig-zaggy segments on early DVD machines. I used the Col. Pickering test: in My Fair Lady when Pickering escorts Eliza to the Ascot races he's carrying a black cane which is in high contrast to the light background. My first DVD machine reproduced the cane jaggedly and with subsequent machines it got straighter, then straight.

 

[Dan ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

Yes, I should have clarified my statement and said "dvd players". The offending movies presented much better on later machines.

 

[Dude111]

....That you prefer low resolution analog to high resolution digital?

Yes I do Tommy because one looks natural and the other looks worse..... I wont say which is which but I prefer more natural looking things

 

[Brianito]

You're answering a three year old question.

 

[beat_truck]

You're answering a three year old question.

He also resurrected about ten other old threads in the Movies & TV section.

 

[Dude111]

Yes all good threads