RCA's CED failed; their history can tell us why (Pt. 3)

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Part three! It’s here! Huzzah! Let’s learn about what happened in the history of RCA that led up to the eventual failure of the CED.
You can find the previous two videos here:
Part 1:
• The CED: RCA's Very La...
Part 2:
• The CED: No really, it...
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[@TechnologyConnections]

Hey everyone! I want to give a thanks and shout-out to Nathaniel Cole Alexander for an excellent thumbnail improvement! Hopefully you clicked on this video because of that absolutely groovy masterpiece!

[@ColeslawProd]

Ayyy

[@BenQuigley]

Have you done a video on Teletext yet?

[@SamTheBattleshipp]

Hahaha, that interlude text made me jump. Wasn't expecting that. Lol. As always, an excellent and informative video. Great job!

[@HeadRoaster]

no, man, the thumbnail is great and stuff, but I click because I love how you present information.

[@Nicholas_Steel]

20 minute pre-amble before the meat of the 26 minute video.

[@eugenebebs7767]

Part 1: "So it looks like this is gonna be a two-parter" Part 9: "Finally, we are approaching series finale where..."

[@88porpoise]

He is just adding the extra connection that this series takes as long to complete as the CED

[@awdrifter3394]

Part 10: Teletext.

[@sheilaolfieway1885]

are you saying this series is as long as CED's development?

[@panda4247]

Directed by Peter Jackson

Part 931: We are finally ready to get into RCA but first...

[@renakunisaki]

Imagine being that manager? "Fine, we'll try your silly radio music box idea if it'll get you to oh God what do we do with all this money"

[@phitsf5475]

Cool radio idea but if you could get me those TPS reports that would be great, yeah.

[@kwc0435]

@@phitsf5475 "mkay?"

[@springbonnie8937]

He was doing a black mesa refrence

[@-O3o-]

He was doing an office space reference

[@sonicmastersword8080]

@@phitsf5475This was before that nonsense was required.

[@crosstheborder731]

"Here's where the CED comes in" (Roll credits) I lost it here. Haven't laughed like this in a while

[@cloudkitt]

It was very funny XD

[@NeverlandSystemZor]

Same here... Hilarious! :D

[@TonyLambregts]

still laughing.

[@Jurgen_Wulf]

Me too! It was hilarious!

[@Felipemelazzi]

So simple. Yet so funny

[@opensourceq]

3:27 wait united fruit co. just straight up had a gun on their logo? jesus christ guys you dont have to be PROUD about banana wars

[@brocklewis7624]

LMAO this was my thought exactly. The weirdest of flexes but aight....

[@keatomic]

Ha! Hey man, teh shit is bananas. Even Gwen Stefani was indoctrinating us in the 1990's.

[@everynametaken]

Based

[@studiosnch]

Go watch Sam O'Nella's videos on these banana companies.

[@gayusschwulius8490]

I mean, I would be pretty proud, too, if I was powerful enough to just overthrow some government when I feel like it

[@lafcursiax]

As a librarian, it always dismays me when people assume that, if information isn't on the internet, it simply doesn't exist (or is not worth knowing). I do sincerely hope that becomes the case one day, but in the meantime, I heartily approve of your book recommendation!

[@franrogers5723]

One interesting sidebar in RCA history, which might make for a good topic in your series on radio, is their attempts to kill off FM radio as a threat to their plans for television-cunning moves like convincing the FCC to move the entire FM band, obsoleting all existing equipment.

[@LakeNipissing]

Ah, yes. I have one of those old vacuum tube FM tuners with the 42 to 48 MHz FM band.

[@LMacNeill]

Edwin Armstrong -- the inventor of the Superheterodyne radio receiver, and of "wideband" FM radio itself (both still in use today) -- killed himself because of the stress of continuous litigation against RCA, who refused to recognize his patents, and, like you said, actively attempted to kill off FM radio. David Sarnoff definitely bears some responsibility for this.

[@shockwave77598]

Yes. They drove Armstrong to Suicide, then had to pay his widow an incredible sum of cash for the tech...

[@Madness832]

Could use one of those, around 20 years ago, to tune in cordless phones.

[@DOCTOR_SONG]

YES!!!

[@BCassidy2]

What blows my mind about hearing timelines like RCA's, is that it was only 100 years ago. We went from the infancy of radio to the infancy of quantum computing in only 100 years. It took less than 60 years to go from the the Wright Brother's flight to the first manned space flight. It makes me imagine what will be available to the next generation.

[@seraphina985]

Electronics in general and particularly computers have proven to be massive accelerators for the development of all other technologies including themselves. That said the huge increase in human population cannot be dismissed either nor can the increasing spread of opportunities like education to a larger fraction of that population. After all to maximise the number of potential great scientists and engineers you get requires more rolls of the genetic dice and to maximise the number of those who reach that potential needs a civilisation that maximises opportunities for all to reach their potential. AI may change this in the future but currently human capital is the most valuable asset to progress.

[@polysormi3825]

Generations? Where we're going we won't need generations!

[@boulderbash19700209]

Nothing. The orcs are banging the gate.

[@Parthornax]

Terminator theme song intensifies

[@KairuHakubi]

Things are stagnating pretty hard in several ways...

[@HeffeJeffe78]

United Fruit: We keep fruit in line by threatening it with firearms. If you want your fruit to acquiesce to your demands, chose United Fruit.

[@SuperSmashDolls]

I can't believe their logo has a fucking *gun* on it. A bit on the nose, no?

[@AlRoderick]

Not so much the fruit as the people who live and work near where fruit grows...

[@countzero1136]

@@SuperSmashDolls 'Murica!

[@hedgehog3180]

@@SuperSmashDolls "We thrive off holding entire countries up at gunpoint and we're not ashamed of it."

[@jimfeldman4035]

And then there was Dole who wasn't afraid of a little regime change in Hawaii backed by US Marines.

[@ThisIsNeccessary]

This is probably the fifth time I've gone through this whole series, and it's still incredible to me how much research and prep you must have done for all of these

[@spmhealy]

I work for Sarnoff in Princeton. It's actually now called SRI. The building still houses the Sarnoff Museum and many intresting items. But it's basically an abandoned wing of the building that's vacant. Loved the channel since day 1! Was great to see my work mentioned lol

[@pvtpain66k]

"unwarranted smooth jazz" :P I love your subtitles.

[@TechnologyConnections]

My subtitles have certain subtleties, yes.

[@rogehmarbi]

I remember one of them saying "reckless smooth jazz", still cracks me up to this day

[@magreger]

You tease! I can't speak for everyone, but I could have watched 20 more minutes.

[@williamreid6255]

Ryan Schaffer You fiend! You’ve cut off the peanut butter winky supply lines!

[@countzero1136]

Same here. I love these long-form videos

[@bsadewitz]

This is a _long story_. I don't think it could possibly be told more efficiently than he did.

[@CaveyMoth]

It's really a problit that he won't make them longer.

[@glarynth]

I'm looking forward to part 17, myself.

[@dizzym9554]

So this is random, but as someone who enjoys your videos but has some audio processing issues and trouble keeping up with your pace at times, I am so glad that your videos are always captioned and captioned well and on point. So many KZbin videos don't bother with that kind of thing and auto-transcription can only do so much. Thank you.

[@thejeffbeck]

This video series is almost as long as the actual run of CED. Haha. But, I'm a super nerd, so I'm watching every second!

[@hhs_leviathan]

I know it will probably cost an arm and a leg, considering equipment to make it doesn't exist anymore, but wouldn't it be cool to put the CED special on a CED.

[@Aidenkong523]

This series has lasted about as long as the CED was on sale in the UK.

[@AquaFan1998]

I want this whole 3 part rca series pressed onto a ced disc!

[@o0alessandro0o]

I just realized that one of the things i love the most about your videos is the fact that there is no annoying beginning theme placed there for absolutely no reason. The video starts, moves on, and ends. And then there is a smooth jazz outro and end credits, which is perfectly fine, and has all sorts of funny bloopers. None of my time gets wasted. Thank you so much.

[@pastedtomato]

I want a copy of "The hardships of Captionman".

[@TechnologyConnections]

Me, too!

[@happysmash27]

Was this an easter egg in the captions that I missed?

[@otakuribo]

*makes video series about RCA and CED *wears T-shirt referencing VHS *how bold of you*

[@glassyxanderplaysminecraft8340]

A wild competition appeared.

[@Mr.Morden]

As someone who worked in my families' video store... please don't rewind, we made thousands charging rewind fees.

[@loturzelrestaurant]

@@glassyxanderplaysminecraft8340 The Learning never Ends, so wonder: May i recommend anyone some nice science-channel and education-channel one may not yet know? Yes, a very random question, but why not?

[@zupperm]

RCA sounds like more like Qualcomm of the 1920's to me.

[@MechanicaMenace]

@Nigel Cam Qualcomm are fabless, they have zero manufacturing capability, all their chips are produced by Samsung and TSMC.

[@MechanicaMenace]

@Nigel Cam TSMC is in Taiwan, Samsung are in Korea. None of Qualcomm's products are made or even assembled in the US. And most of their products are designed in England by a Japanese owned company too, Qualcomm just license the IP.

[@MechanicaMenace]

@Nigel Cam not true since 2017, Samsung's Austin fab is for very old nodes that even the cheapest Qualcomm SoCs don't use anymore. And even though Samsung are only making their EoL products they are on nodes only made in Korea now.

[@MechanicaMenace]

@Nigel Camunfortunately I doubt it, they're only using Samsung for an old contract and seem to have gone all in with TSMC. They might go back to Samsung for EUV processes, so newer 7nm and smaller, but Samsung are putting all their money into Korean fabs for that and it looks like nVidia are claiming most capacity their that isn't Samsung's own. The new settlement with TSMC might see GloFo take some work back to the US though, but I can imagine that's mainly going to be for AMD and Apples benefit and not anyone else's.

[@MechanicaMenace]

@randomguy8196 I'm the wrong person but yeah. They have 2 in Israel, 1 in Ireland, and one in China but the rest are in the US.

[@wa2ise]

I worked for RCA Labs in the 1980's, best job I ever had. Invented 11 patents, mostly in what was to become digital television signal processing. Down the hall were the videodisc guys, who were trying to create a killer app for it. They never did .

[@piranha1337]

Fantastically told story! I can listen to you for hours.

[@michaels840]

I was thinking I've heard stories about RCA, B/W and color TV. I could probably Google some of this and even read a book *shudder*. But why when I have Technology Connections. Trivia question (for those that read posts): What was the first TV show broadcast in color in the USA?

[@michaels840]

@Nigel Cam I disagree. The CED would never have worked. I had a friend that purchased one. I, myself, had a VHS and a Laser Disc player, both superior to the CED (IMHO). All the policies, rules, and laws would not change the fact that it came too late.

[@michaels840]

@Nigel Cam No, no, no. Why 3 nos, IDK. Laserdisc is NOT the only competitor. VCR (Beta {which is superior} & VHS {which is cheaper to produce}) are the competitors. What you say MAY be true today, but not when this was created. I remember buying my first VCR (NEC Super-VHS on sale for $400) compared to the CED my friend bought, what I saw was no comparison. CDs in 1984 were revolutionary, but DVDs are superior. Blue Rays (sorry HD DVD) were the next logical step. Technology advances and if you are too slow to market - sorry, you lose.

[@Bathezid]

You are getting better and better at narration, presentation, and comedic timing in your videos. I really appreciate all of the research you have put in to tell us about topics I've either always been curious about, or have never even thought of (and indeed, never knew I wanted to know about!). Thanks for being my companion during my lunch break every couple of weeks.

[@AndersEngerJensen]

It's astonishing that you got one dislike from BEFORE going public. Which means one of your Patreons is paying you regularly just to be able to dislike content first. Seems like a pretty dumb concept, but free speech and such... 😂

[@SimonBuchanNz]

"YOU PROMISED ME TELETYPE!"

[@Rico_G]

Great observation! Looks like you shamed the disliker as I am now showing 0 dislikes. Maybe it was one of those people who confuse their brake and throttle pedals and drive in through the pharmacy window..

[@Architector_4]

​@@smg950u I was just about to respond with this exact video. Or maybe it's a patron doing this exact same thing for this exact same purpose and is actually a good person? lol

[@lohphat]

Even though you may pay for content creation there still needs to be fair criticism. Along with the downvote that person should have said why. Without feedback you can’t improve.

You are everywhere on KZbin if it's even remotely connected to old technology, aren't you? Now that I think of it, since I spot you on so many channels that means I too am everywhere on KZbin if it's even remotely connected to old technology :p

[@yangashi]

Sarnoff was lucky it was the 20's. If it was today best case scenario he would had gotten a thank you note, with 50$, and his manager would get all the credit and promotions.

[@adama7752]

$50, lol.... it would be 2 $20s

[@SkylarsTerribleMemes]

@@adama7752 a $10 gift card that you can only buy your company's products with and 15 minutes of sick time

[@kwc0435]

@@SkylarsTerribleMemes an olive garden gift card

[@Jaymac720]

“The second: an all electronic air conditioner was an air conditioner that was entirely electronic” Your insight is invaluable

[@agimasoschandir]

It was cute, but methinks he was disguising between an ac that plugs in but cools using compressed gas and something like a thermocouple device

[@g40rc378]

But was it 1500 watts?

[@Jaymac720]

Agimaso Schandir a what?

[@agimasoschandir]

@@Jaymac720 Must have been super tired that day. What I was supposed to be saying is that some people would call a regular air conditioner "electronic" because it plugs in - assuming a household unit. What I thought was being said was an all electronic air conditioner would be one that uses a thermocouple to cool the air as opposed to a "regular" ac unit, which is still a mechanical air conditioner, i.e. not all electronic. Phew

[@Jaymac720]

Agimaso Schandir I was mostly asking what a thermocouple device is

[@AgentOrange96]

My grandfather was the chief engineer at RCA Astro Electronics (space division) so the history behind RCA is really fascinating to me. My parents actually even have a CED player and some disks, so that's also made this series interesting! It's very much appreciated! :D

[@pancudowny]

I imagine that for the fourth and final video installment on this topic, you'll want a later-model example of a CED player (second generation) for display purposes. And to show what advances were made in regards to operations and capabilities. Well, I do have a functional one in storage, along with a matching full-function remote, if you're interested... and I live just South of you in the next town over. Give me a message, and I'll dig it all out and met with you at a place of your disclosure to deliver/donate it.

[@izzieb]

Bump

[@debug9424]

You might have more luck being heard by sending him an email

[@pancudowny]

@dandanthetaximan It's a SKT-300, and it's been a while since I used it... but yes, it does. I just punch in the desired track via the oddly wide remote, and up it comes! Plus, since it's a second generation, loading/ejection is a semi-automatic assisted function. Just insert the caddy part way, and the machine does the rest and then partially ejects the caddy to be pulled out by hand.

[@pancudowny]

@@debug9424 If only I could...!

[@bbgun061]

Also bump. That's incredibly kind and generous of you! I hope you can reach him.

[@TirarADeguello]

The Teletype jump scare was timely and hilarious for Halloween time. Thank you for waking me up!

[@loturzelrestaurant]

The Learning never Ends, so wonder: May i recommend anyone some nice science-channel and education-channel one may not yet know? Yes, a very random question, sure, but why not?

[@a_shovel]

10:13 TC: so rca got a new facility newspaper: SPRAY-ON HOUSES

[@johnmccallum8512]

Yes I spotted that as well intriguing hmmm. Would that be what they now call spray concrete?

[@josephmmuller]

Spray-on concrete houses indeed! Perhaps the most (in?)famous example is the Bubble House designs by Wallace Neff. Inflate a big balloon, anchor it to the ground, and cover it in a concrete slurry. Let it dry, deflate the balloon, rinse, and repeat. :P

[@andrewcurtin7003]

@@josephmmuller i can see why this didnt catch on

[@migueldelmazo5244]

Thank you! 3D printed house just casually passing by. I noticed that and sought out this comment.

[@LakeNipissing]

Excellent, excellent video. Incredible amount of research, and fascinating history of RCA. Incidentally, KZbin member 'Spats Bear' restored a 1954 RCA CT-100 (first color TV) in a ten part video series. Massive restoration.

[@joelthefrog1]

The National Museum of Scotland has a colour TV from (I think) the 30s. It has a manual and some advertising with it, so clearly it was meant to be mass produced but it just sort of never happened.

[@jimfeldman4035]

a series about Western Electric/Bell labs would also be interesting

[@demogorgonzola]

11:42 ``towards more colorful but less fruitful future`` So, this was the time United Fruit left RCA? (re: list of parent companies at 3:22 )

[@Arikayx13]

I just dont understand how this channel hasn’t passed a million subscribers.

[@SweetBearCub]

People just don't know a great thing when they see it.

[@tolep]

@@SweetBearCub it has, with a little help of dishwasher soap.

[@totbenru]

I didn't know the Comic Sans font existed already back in 1919.

[@darkowl9]

Yes, it did and it was called "Ye Olde Illustrated Picturebook Sans".

[@brettknoss486]

Comic Sans, is simplified text, used by cartoonists, at a time when cursive was the norm elsewere. A similar script is Shopkeepers Writing, painted onto glass storefronts. All of these have been attempted in print.

[@XLNC_YL]

8:48 Top center: "The Weather - RAIN."

[@RSDDL]

Anthony B came here for this

[@rrrproductionsrd]

BRING ON PART 4! This is a perfect example of my favorite KZbin video. Never stop making videos. I love you ❤️

[@FreudianSlipDK]

As a eurotrash transplant I get the feeling that teletext was never really a big thing stateside. But growing up in europe it was awesome. I remember using it every single day for programming schedule, news and weather. It's crowning achievement was when teletext equipped VCRs came out and you could program the VCR straight from the teletext page. Each program would be accompanied by a unique code which the VCR would "listen" for. So if a program was pre-empted or there was some other scheduling delay, or it was a live program that ran over, the VCR would gracefully record the program as transmitted without loosing anything. Plus it made programming the VCR immensely easier. Either choose the program from the teletext menu, input the unique program identifier, or for some VCRs, scan a barcode with the barcode reader in the remote and you were set. When I moved over here it floored me that even modern DVRs here didn't have that feature as it had been present in VCRs since the late 80's. I guess it was just wasn't seen as a selling point here. But i would love to see a US centric look at teletext and why it failed here but succeeded in europe. And thank you for an awesome channel that provides exceptional content. It's very much appreciated.

[@MattMcIrvin]

Broadcast teletext really didn't catch on in the US. Nor did we have a really popular phone-line videotex system like the French Minitel. Instead we had simple BBSes and dial-up services like CompuServe that were accessed with personal-computer modems, and they were never quite mass-market things until lots of people started getting AOL and Internet service in the mid-1990s. I remember riding the Paris Metro in 1991 and thinking that all the ads for Minitel services on the trains seemed like a glimpse of the future. It was, more or less.

[@FreudianSlipDK]

@@MattMcIrvin I just never understood it. It seemed like such a simple thing. And yeah. We had BBSs and dial up ISPs as well. Early 80's my step dad had a 300 baud acoustic coupler and my first ISP when I bought my own first modem was CompuServe. Modem was 28.8kbaud and ISP was 9100 ;) But there was an ease to simply turning on the TV, punching in the page number and waiting for it to cycle through to the right page. It just floored me that it was never a thing over here. And yeah. That's kinda how it always goes. It's the little things that we make assumptions about that gets us. Like why oh why do I have to prefix long distance phone calls with 1??? I mean the exchange KNOWS it's long distance already. That took me years to accept :)

[@raydunakin]

This was very interesting, especially all the historical background of RCA.

[@BenVan117]

"This is where the CED comes in...'music'". I laughed so hard.

[@macsandsquid528]

In describing the failure of the CED, you also did the best job in explaining the rise and fall of RCA. Well done sir!

[@ScottCroom]

This is a fascinating story to me since I'm an RCA fan. My dad was a designer/EE that worked on RCA satellites. I've got a cool memorial printed circuit board about half the size of a business card that they handed out to people that were at the first run of PCBs that RCA ever did. Super basic circuit but my dad explained that it was beyond high tech at the time.

[@hansshekelstein9450]

Bored again? Yeah…

[@williamreid6255]

11:59 First, I literally went “WHAAAT?” Second, I giggled. Third, I applauded. These guys literally went back to the future with their *flux capacitors* (reference to the other part when Alec mentioned _Back to the Future)_

[@harryf9885]

I like how he says “to those who have made it this far in the video” and I’m like “dude I have watched your entire CED series multiple times.” I had no idea this was a thing before watching this channel and it is absolutely fascinating

[@batt3ryac1d]

back in the days when anti trust laws were actually applied lol. *COUGH* Disney *COUGH*

[@neyoid]

"Anti-Trust is COMMUNIST!" -someone probably

[@doesnotplaythecello]

To be fair, a monopoly can only exist with government intervention/regulation. Making the barriers for entry into an industry is why larger companies lobby politicians for regulation. Seems antithetical unless you're the one on top.

[@robertharris6092]

@@doesnotplaythecello except without regulation all you have is anarcho capitalism where the biggest company threatens and buys out its competition thus becoming the monopoly.

[@doesnotplaythecello]

@@robertharris6092 That disregards consumer demand for the least expensive product. Competition will be created out of demand for a cheaper product. If hypothetical company buys out that competition and hikes the price too high, then a new competitor will arise.

[@castirondude]

@@robertharris6092 Regulation is what floated RCA all this time. They just "invented" something and filed a patent with the government, then charge everybody else licensing fees with the threat of government litigation.

[@ronnienes]

I love what you do, it’s so uniquely informative and constantly subtly humorous. More power to you!

[@SomeBorkedAccount]

Please do a podcast, the world needs it.

[@atarigames]

Podcasts are dead. I’d much rather have more of what he’s already doing best.

[@TechnologyConnections]

I mean, I'm not gonna stop doing what I do, but "podcasts are dead"? Where have you been?

[@atarigames]

@@TechnologyConnections Watching all of your videos.

[@slothfulcobra]

I'm really thankful for you recommending the book you got a lot of your material out of. I'm really interested in corporate history and mechanics, seeing as how much of a part it plays in our lives and the making of our world. I've always been drawn to entertainment news from that angle, since all the media dedicated to sussing out what's happening with the latest movies and junk will often let slip a lot about the corporate world and product development. You might want to consider doing bibliographies for your videos that go in depth on historical data, since that can foster more learning for people who are interested, or even help you sort out your old information on topics you've forgotten.

[@Craxin01]

Props for the vintage Blockbuster tee. Also, loved the trolling near the end.

[@SergioEduP]

FOR GOD'S SAKE JUST GIVE ME A VIDEO ABOUT TELETEXT! I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR SO LONG, YOU CAN'T JUST TEASE ME LIKE THAT!

[@BigOlSmellyFlashlight]

that's exactly how I felt with the ced video and look where we are now

[@bsadewitz]

Delayed fruit tastes sweeter, or something. We must be patient.

[@Tornado1994]

Oddity Archive.

[@RickinBaltimore]

This was one of your best videos. It's incredible to think how much of a role RCA played in what we take for granted now with regards to technology

[@bsadewitz]

I took a class on this, so I've heard the story. Let me tell you, he wasted not one word. This might be his best video.

[@coreys2686]

"The answer to that is remarkably complex." I haven't watched past this point yet, but feel that's going to be a bit of an understatement.

[@pjsonpiano]

This was a great video. My Dad was an engineer at the RCA Labs in Princeton towards the end of RCA. It is interesting as that model of inventing and licensing patents mentality at those labs lasted long past when RCA ceased to exist and the labs sold off to Stanford. When we would get to go to work with him it was fun to see the museum they had there. So glad to see a video that talks a lot about the labs :D

[@DEMENTO01]

THE "BE KIND REWIND" T-SHIRT OMG I WANT THAT

[@CRneu]

I just found your channel last night. Great stuff! Your presentation and humor are perfect.

[@MrRadar]

3:27 That United Fruit Company logo... what can I say but yikes!

[@TechnologyConnections]

I know! I'm not entirely sure that that logo is in fact correct, but I couldn't find anything else. It sure is a little on the nose, isn't it?

[@alex0589]

Shit's bananas

[@TheLaurentDupuis]

Did you ever eard about "Banana republics"? This logo is spot on!

[@mspysu79]

Banana Republic comes from what the US government did in south America to install puppets to help the United Fruit Company.

[@force311999]

@@mspysu79 I thought it was a store in the mall what is a mall

[@TheTonyMcD]

22:23 OMG, your sense of humor, and timing, it's incredible!

[@modulusshift]

"and weirdly, United Fruit" oh god Alright, let's fill this in: United Fruit was basically the privatized government-by-force of several banana republics across the Caribbean. If this strange bit of corporate colonialism is any surprise to you, go look it up elsewhere, it's one hell of a story. Anyhow, having these outposts across many islands of the Caribbean with lots of shipping traffic of bananas meant that communication was absolutely key to the whole enterprise, and since no one's gonna run telegraph wires across the ocean, the only realtime option was radio technology. So United Fruit established the Tropical Radio and Telegraph Company in about 1901, established key radio stations across the Caribbean and a few back on the mainland, and sold excess radio time as telegrams when it wasn't running essential internal communication traffic. Having basically established one of the largest radio networks in the world basically as a side effect of making oodles of money off of bananas, and also being run by Americans, United Fruit ended up holding some key radio patents in the US by the 1920's. GE wanted those patents in order to solidify RCA's market lead in the US, and so when it was wheeling and dealing AT&T and Westinghouse for patents it also included United Fruits in the talks and ended up giving them some shares as well. So yes, United Fruits was a technology company at the time. I mean, they're nothing if not innovative...

[@allanrichardson1468]

When I was a student back in 1967-68, not knowing what RCA had been doing behind closed doors, I was learning about “electrets,” the electrostatic analog of magnets (solid objects with a charge dipole frozen into them). Then it occurred to me that a disk made of an “electretic” material could be charged to record data (while heated), and a capacitive interface could read the data. This was just a speculation of course, but when I mentioned it to the professor who taught that class, he jokingly quoted the “commandment,” Thou shalt record data magnetically! Lasers were, of course, bulky, expensive laboratory equipment at the time, so CDs and DVDs were out of the question. Funny how thoughts vary with the times!

[@theleeoverstreet]

This is so good. And I freakin' lost it at the first appearance of the Special Thanks and theme music. 😆

[@TheEDFLegacy]

That was the most amount of contacts I have ever seen in a video, ever. You only spent about three minutes talking about how it actually affected the CED. Don't stop. You're awesome. 😁

[@aaron71]

If teachers taught like you, I would've learned something!

[@zerocooler7]

Good work. I find all of this fascinating, I'm glad you go into detail and give us the total story so that we can see just where they went wrong. I look forward to part 4.

[@pancudowny]

It is interesting how the Brits latched onto Teletext... while Americans--whom considered themselves the most technologically advanced nation at the time--did not, despite being the originators of it.

[@AshArAis]

Though I'm Irish, we would get analogue channels from UK once in a while, and I knew Teletext as ceefax. From what I can tell that's a reference to it being BBC, and using the last letter.

[@MrRadar]

I think it's because there was essentially a "chicken and egg" problem with marketing it in the US: the commercial TV networks didn't want to invest resources to upgrade their stations to broadcast it and write content because there were no receivers and consumers didn't buy receivers because there was no content. In places like the UK where you have a state-sponsored broadcaster all you need is for them to decide to support it to break that deadlock. It's possible that PBS could have served that purpose in the US, however they had far fewer resources than either the commercial networks or their overseas public counterparts as they relied (and still rely) primarily on voluntary donations. It would have likely required special funding from Congress for them to have been able to roll out a teletext-type service at the time.

[@medes5597]

@@MrRadar pretty much this. The BBC did it, so the independent channels - ITV and channel 4 - felt compelled to follow suit. The main reason the BBC did it was because it helped fulfil their education, news and information remit as public services. A lot of BBC innovations come from the BBC using new technologies for education purposes.

[@pancudowny]

@@medes5597 Well, that certainly explains a lot. Given how reluctant American television producers were--and pretty-much still are--about creating & airing commercial educational programs, along with what Mr. Radar said about PBS... which if they employed it, would've been a perfect companion to most of their content... it's no surprise it didn't have a home in America.

[@medes5597]

@@pancudowny yeah, I think a lot of Brits take the BBC for granted and don't realise that if it was a commercial station, shows like Planet Earth or similar likely wouldn't have been made and a lot of the technology and innovation that we take for granted - the BBC news website, iPlayer, BBC radio podcasts, so so so many schools projects we all grew up with - would likely never have been implemented. The TV licence might be contentious to some and weird to those outside the UK but it funds an absolutely fantastic organisation. The BBC actually had to close down its GCSE and A-Level exam revision websites because they were so good and complete that students weren't buying revision textbooks because they weren't as good as what the BBC was providing for free and so the makers of the textbooks took the BBC to court, and they chose to shut it down rather than waste money fighting them that could be better spent elsewhere. They likely would have won had they chosen to fight though. But thats an example of how much the BBC provide. fun although slightly unrelated fact about teletext/ceefax is that the BBC Micro, which was a BBC branded home computer from the 80s which they made to accompany a BBC TV show teaching people to code, was able to access Teletext because it used a standard TV as its monitor. Anyway its teletext mode was used by most companies to make games because it allowed colourful graphics to be displayed without using much power or memory.

[@benjaminux]

Video: Here is some long text to read Me, trained by thousands of videos where text just flashes: *press pause* Me, finished reading: *press play* Video: "here's plenty of time for you to read this text" ... Thanks for being thoughtful to your viewers! Your videos are always a treat

[@frankiesomeone]

10:20 there's an article about 3D printed houses

[@rkan2]

But mah patents! (delay everything at least 30 years)

[@Chyeld]

@nigel Cam no, the are fairly feasible today. There have been industrial concrete printers around for about a decade now. There are still things like permits and cost of the equipment to work on, but there have been plenty of proof of concept homes made so far. amp.businessinsider.com/3d-homes-that-take-24-hours-and-less-than-4000-to-print-2018-9

[@paulholstein9448]

I never thought I'd ever watch a video explaining an old failed technology, but you make these videos fascinating and I love how you tell the stories.

[@dgwdgw]

7:21 - Should've renamed it Research Corporation of America.

[@youmukonpaku3168]

RAND would probably have sued.

[@KBTime]

This CED series is like "Goodfellas"... any time I see even a clip, I end up watching all five parts. Great work!

[@OverUnity7734]

Imagine all the amazing technology that we never got to experience because some one wanted to claim bragging writes to it.

[@dannyboy42223]

the credits at 22mins had me going, well played and great videos!

[@sharedknowledge6640]

Nice job. The RCA story is an interesting one and there are some great KZbin videos that further fill in the gaps of their importance especially in the early days of television.

[@Kevinkapon]

I was so excited for this that after waiting a month I had completely forgotten about it and was super stoked it finally came out.

[@comradeturtle9370]

I believe that a video on SSTV would be really interesting :D

[@negirno]

Space Shower TV? (it actually exist, they're a pair of music themed channels in Japan, they even have a channel here.)

[@BigOlSmellyFlashlight]

@@negirno slow scan television. it's just a bunch of beep boop whrrrrrrrrr and it gets demodulated into an image over 20 seconds to many minutes

[@mattb154]

I've been fascinated with rfax, weatherfax and later SSTV for over 25 years. That would be amazing!

[@5roundsrapid263]

The Canadian version of SNL? 😁

[@joeblow8593]

I can't wait for part 4

[@PupShepardRubberized]

wags wags, such a dramatic story. love hearing these stories. Everytime the term "wild west" can be applied, it always makes for a good story.

[@williamreid6255]

Pup Shepard Wags the Dog!!

[@4FRodrigo]

Great video! I've seen most of them and I can't help with much right now, but I have just became a patreon because of your sense of humor and dedication to bring is such interesting details! These people who dislike your videos are upset for not being that informative as you. Keep up the great work!

[@ChrisHarringtonMinneapolis]

This content is amazing. Holy crap.

[@andycepi]

hey, long time fan here, just wanna let you know that I love your content! its so well researched and well produced, you deserve more subscribers. keep up the good work!

[@sharkinahat]

Teletext or bust! (JK, I'll be here watching all, even if it's another video on toasters.)

[@countzero1136]

By the time I could afford a tv with teletext, it was already obsolete :)

[@Valery0p5]

777 gang UNITE!

[@Cascade47]

Always enjoy your presentations. These were especially enjoyable. I grew up in NYC...and my neighbor in my apartment building was a guy with the name of David Sarnoff. My dad told me to always address him General Sarnoff. He, as well as my dad and I were radio hams as well. Later, as an engineer, one of my clients was RCA. At their Cherry Hill-Camden facility. They were interested in vibration damping of the CED video player. They purchased my company's product, an FFT Real-time spectrum analyzer (Nicolet Scientific 660B). Thanks for the great videos!

[@patchrick84]

26:14 "Dyooop!" The rest was good, too. LOL!

[@ZXRulezzz]

A Wild Macintosh Eep appeared!

[@patchrick84]

@@ZXRulezzz YES!!!

[@D.G.M.]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/rIvZiHqZZahliNk

[@BonsonPylon]

Thanks for going so in depth with this series. I had never heard of the CED

[@Meikulish]

22:23 Never before has an oboe filled me with such dread.

[@frixyg2050]

That's a likely a soprano sax, but I get what you're saying. That moment was hilarious.

[@pedrofelck]

Hey, you reached half a million subscribers!!! Congratulations, it is so nice to see this since I've been following this channel since all videos had comments like "hey this channel is awesome how could you not have much more subscribers?"

[@sbrazenor2]

At a thrift shop near my house there are tons of CED movies in the record bin. I'm not sure if they're actually worth anything. If they were, I'd buy them and put them on eBay. (The prices aren't great online.)

[@Vednier]

This is professional television level of production already. WOW

[@warrenlehmkuhleii8472]

“They were British and we can not have them controlling things.” 22 Percent of the World would like to have a word with you.

[@youmukonpaku3168]

Queen Victoria wishes to know your location.

[@polygondwanaland8390]

Britain hasn't been allowed to have anything nice since the Warspite was scrapped.

[@BEdmonson85]

Wow! I love when a topic is this well researched and the story is as amazing as this one. I can't wait for the rest of it.

[@JohnSmithShields]

So, this teletext video......

[@brandonearley9624]

I can't believe I just watched an hour of video about a format and company I have never even remotely heard of

[@stephenmorrissey1254]

10:18 Build Houses? Just Spray' Em Em This sounds like 3D printing.

[@robbaskerville253]

I just realised there are 5 episodes on this one format. Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying it, but FIVE EPISODES on a short lived failed product? That's why I love this channel.

[@ouroya]

I spent too long figuring out the NBC arpeggio. it's C major, second inversion

[@St0rmcrash]

G - E - C

[@frixyg2050]

@@St0rmcrash With the G-E-C supposedly standing for "General Electric Company", although I'm not sure if that was true, or a myth that got made up afterward.

[@OAleathaO]

I love how this channel not only deals in the technical but really gets deep with backstory on subjects. I find both sides of the subject matter fascinating. 16:26 - "...a corporate restructuring occurred. You know how well those always go..." Yea, don't remind me. It was the cause of my one and only layoff (so far) in my entire career. And I'm a pharmaceutical researcher where prior to 2008 the only two reasons a researcher would be let go at a pharmaceutical company was either poor performance/poor use of their budget or lack of ability to develop marketable products.

[@mataznuiz]

Turn on CC for the full experience!

[@Aengus42]

Why? I'm researching the first few minutes & there's no surprises. What am I missing?

[@johannesdolch]

TBH i don't even give a shit what your videos are about. I just love the way you present it. Such great Showmanship. Very well done.

[@Markimark151]

RCA delayed the CED vinyl technology for too long, that laserdisc beat it to the punch! The CED format was dead on arrival, that should’ve came out in 1973, it would’ve gotten popular and sold along vinyl records at record stores!

[@Tornado1994]

Exactly.

[@reillywalker195]

It also could've meant we'd have gotten video games on vinyl. High semiconductor costs in the early days of console gaming combined with the relatively simple process of stamping vinyl records would've probably compelled console manufacturers to adapt the CED or even a more conventional vinyl record for ROM files. Loading times would've been slow and save files would've been impossible without additional storage, but it'd have been similar to storing games on cassette tapes much like in our timeline and without the same risks of damage or piracy.

[@Markimark151]

@@reillywalker195 I don’t think video games would’ve work on vinyl due to severe limitations and the lack of RAM. It would work mostly for computers ROM programs, however CED would’ve worked for interactive games on consoles, it was the vinyl equivalent to laserdisc.

[@reillywalker195]

@@Markimark151 You're probably right. While an ordinary vinyl record perhaps _could've_ been encoded with a binary ROM file, the CED would've been a better option for that.

[@Markimark151]

@@reillywalker195 CED also has a protection case, which makes it lot less vulnerable to damage than ordinary vinyl records. Had that been released in the 1970s, companies like IBM, RCA and Atari would’ve published software on those discs.

[@TheAngelsHaveThePhoneBox]

21:55 Holy Jesus, I nearly jumped out of my skin. I fell asleep (not because I find the video boring but because I'm really, really tired) and then this sudden melody replacing your soothing voice woke me up with a shock.

[@Blake-jl8lh]

Did we ever get that teletext video?

[@coolest10293]

As of this comment, no

[@jordanericbaird2724]

I absolutely love how this man can use such big words and still make his videos coherent and make sense, this is how you teach pointless knowledge. :)