video-magazine-1994-06

UT)- Hands On: Powerhouse New VideoMixer. $2.95+JUNE 1994 MaAgaz ine Digital Surround _ The Future Of _Home Theater | _ Sound? PF Power st aRaed 8 \\ hr LF Apseetyice :| pe a\\ sein es : 3MxS‘. poe | GUIDE fs :@ Ne STOAWRNINTVYOSUHROW| ww are eer eeseereseeeseseeeeees qi How To Break Into sats ; me ee .. 4 Public ee TV PUSEFLOW ’ in ! See eee ereseeereeeeeeeeseeesesen =“j = i VIDEOTESTS er tas dee. 6 ge ee ee ee 31-Inch TV, 19-Inch TVCR, VHS Camcorder, Combi Player

Now buying a camcorder that can only shootSST with one lens seems rather shortsighted. he idea was visionary. To design a camcorder __ possible. The mount allows you to work so optically advanced, it could actually with five precision-engineered genuine —uxyguowwr change the way you view the world. Introducing Canon video lenses, including our extra wide 3x the Canon L2 with interchangeable lenses. A zoom, 8x medium zoom, wide range 15x zoom, camcorder whose professional performance and 250mm super telephoto, and our 10x zoom with creative flexibility surpass anything that has ever Optical Image Stabilization. Plus, with an option- come before. al adapter, you can shoot with the entire Canon Imagine having the freedom to shoot extra EOS EF 35mm lens line. wide one minute and super telepho- But, of course, lenses aren’t all that set the L2 to the next. With the L2’s fully elec- f 2 HI8 VIDEO —2Patt. It also comes with some of the tronic VL lens mount system, it’s all CAMCORDER most advanced postproduction edit- ©1994 Canon, U.S.A. Inc.

LENS EXP CONTROL RELEASE ing features ever built into a camcorder. slow shutter speeds — as low as 1/8 second. And Including RC Time Code for precision frame with full manual image control you get editing, and advanced date and index scan- exceptional low light performance. and-search functions. And the L2 features the p _ Best of all, with its unique combi- first camcorder remote control with a four- F nation of Canon optics and electron- speed shuttle dial for precise forward and reverse playback control. F ics, the L2 delivers a picture quality ~ unprecedented in Hi8 video recording. In addition, the L2 offers six digi- tal creative effects, including two- So look into the Canon L2 with inter- time image magnification, dissolve , changeable lenses. And see what a truly and wipe scene transitions, and four visionary camcorder is like. Circle 1 on Reader Service Card. Can On

FEATURES THE NEXT SOUND YOU HEAR 38 How Dolby’s new Surround Digital format will add sonic muscle to movies and music. By Corey Greenberg GOING PUBLIC 42 How to use your own video gear to produce a TV show. By Timothy Liebe 46 HANDS-ON TEST: VIDEO MIX MASTER Videonics’ MX-1 A/V mixer brings pro power to home editors for $1,200. By Brent Butterworth and Lancelot Braithwaite SWINGTIME 50 It’s jitterbuggin’ time again as big band stages a comeback on home video. By John Lissner CALL OF THE WIDE 54 A buying guide for the new breed of cinema-savvy widescreen TVs. By Jonathan Takiff TAPES & DISCS |REVIEWS / Remains of the Day, The Piano, The Fugitive, Into the West, more 60 EDITOR’S CHOICE / The Gold Rush. By Kenneth Korman 61 DIRECTORY / The latest releases on tape and disc 77 VIDEDTESTS PANASONIC CT-31XF50 31-INCH TV, 30 RCA CC547 VHS camcorder, Samsung CXB 1924 19-inch TVCR, 6 BMB LV-1500S combi player by Nikkodo. By Berger-Braithwaite Labs 8 DEPARTMENTS ©§CHANNEL ONE /The THX experience 10 FEEDBACK / Letters from readers 14 sehsf AC-3 chip READER FORUM / Debating THX 20 — for Dolby Laboratories’ 24 ee ua Sur- FAST FORWARD / Babycam, digital DBS, talking with Wednesday, more 26 rPohuondtograDpighitalbyfoGrmeant.e NEW PRODUCTS / A Hi8 shooter and dual-well decks HOME THEATER / Tweaking TVs for the best possible picture 28 Coleman CAMCORNER / Mie easy fixes for poor vi: deo liiaghlting 110 Video Magazine Q & A/ Technical Queries answered Volume XVIII OFF THE AIR / TV tries its hand at multimedia Number 3 ; VIDEO Magazine (ISSN 1044-7288) is published monthly by Reese Communications, Inc.. 460 W. 34 St., New York. NY 10001. Second-class postage paid at New York. NY and additional mailing office. © 1994 Reese Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. © under Universal. International, and Pan American Copyright Conventions. Reproduction of editorial or pictorial content in any manner is prohibited The Single copy price $2.95; $3.50 in Canada: £2.50 in U.K. One-year Subscription (12 issues) $15.: Canada, $22.47 (includes GST #R 125938423) U S.; foreign, air mail. $40 U.S. Canadian international publication Audit Bureau permit #546488, Address subscription orders. change of address. correspondence and inquiries to: VIDEO, Box 56293, Boulder. CO 80322-6293. or call toll-free 800-365-1008. Change of address takes 60 days to process: send old address label, new address, and zip code. All material listed in this magazine is subject to manufacturer's change without notice, and publisher assumes no responsibility for such change. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to VIDEO. Box 56293, Boulder. CO 80322-6293. For microtorm copies of issues or articles, write to: Serials Acquisition Dept., University Microfilms, Inc., 300 North Zeeb Rd.. Ann Arbor, Mj 48106: 4 VIDEO JUNE 1994

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For Love Or Money 1198506 Lethal Weapon: ____ 0630806 Gettysburg 1213305 Lethal Weapon 2 ~__0642702 Hard Target 1179605 Lethal Weapon 3Ce_ 1051507 Hot Shots 0029108 Star Wars 0056408 aG>< 0091009 €fo} Hot Shots Part Deux 1176809 The Empire Strikes (3) x®|fwe] Boxing Helena _ 1190701 Back eAl] € Heart And Souls 1179100 Return Of The Jedi_ May 0354704 2io) [s) Indochine _ 1188903 Robin Hood: Prince - 0976803 =e©e Of Thieves aD+ Jason Goes To Hell 1192004 Star Trek: The 0203505 9 Motion Picture Son Of The Pink 0201301 Star Trek Il: The Panther 1191907 Wrath Of Khan Born Yesterday (1993) 1152008 The Jazz Singer (1980) 0206904 Star Trek Ill: The 0201608 Lawrence Of Arabia 30th Search For Spock Anniversary Edition 1068501 Star Trek IV: The Lost In Yonkers 1149608 Voyage Home ___ 0430603 Three Of Hearts 1152305 Star Trek V: The 0448605 Ben-Hur (11995599)) _9960307 Final Frontier Ciy Sickers SeGene re clay1001007 The (Cryi 1gGame 1106004 Backdraft 0559005 ras)Usdheattas ceerive Medicine Man — k 4070408 Seb0r02 ie TaTEvheer GTroeladtest Story Pt 0085506 “oleicBeye SIE SHY’ Willy Wonka And The Soa> = a FREE WILLY IN THE LINE OF FIRE THE BODYGUARD THE FIRMFi GrioluyndahnocginDgay_ 1108406 Laat Aston Hato \"7154806 1147503 1190107 1105907 1154400 SteelMagnolias ——_(0597807 The MagicVoyage 1219906 ‘The Secret Garden (1993) 1188804 Happily Ever After __1138700 Scent OfAWoman __1121300 Fern Gully: The Last ARiverRuns eee ae Thelen Whoa —— Robin Hood: Men In Life With Mikey 1172709 —_Basic Instinct 1033208 Rainforest 1006808 ae = A Face 1190909 Tights __1179704 Rising Sun 1174804 The Silence Of The 0805309 Menace Society 1200609 Undercover Blues 1207000 The Sandlot 1146000 +Lambs Ss 0003905 z My Cousin Vinny 1033109 |The Sound Of Music 01000827670009 ¢ LU B FAVORITES as a | Poacsksaeengzeirte5i7go 2Mi 0549808 |DENNIS THE THE LAST OF THE Bang Bang 0054809 ~Beaches 1145705 MOHICANS (1992) 1071406 |«3 CONEHEADS 1179001 |MUCH ADO ABOUT The Hand That A League Of 1075803 | MENACE UNFORGIVEN (1992) 1084003} = THEGOOD SON 1198803 _-NOTHING 1208701} 1071109 HOME ALONE 2: 1104900 BEETHOVEN 1009901 |.2 |Rocks The Cradle =Their Own ee UNDER SIEGE 1077908} 2 JUDGEMENT 1193101 SON IN LAW 1192301} ae LOST IN NEW a Se NIGHT STRICTLY shore ei MURDER MYSTERY 1189505 STRIKING 4200708 The Good, The ee gS DISTANCE ies eels IOOTING °,®Bad And ne OWE 0920306 1142009 i posi OF 0Z roo va Fiddler OnThe Roof 0055103 Field Of Dreams MADE IN AMERICA 1150606 THE TEN COMMAND- Needful Things 1198704 True Romance Pure Country 1094507 Driving Miss Daisy 0982207 TO7A208).6 MENTS (1958)),,. 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AD: VaR: TELS JE M-ECN .T DYIOREUCRTTYTO he THX experience We're talking seri- Our two recent articles about THX sound, “THX On Trial” (April '94) and ous choices here. Like Multichannel “The Decoder Debate” (May '94), generated as much reaction as any we've ; published in recent years. Opinions about THX diff—eofrten fiercely— HBO & Cinemax... 8 ways to watch—5 throughout the home theater community, and almost any effort to compare choices of HBO and THX systems with those not certified by THX is bound to generate heat. 3 3 of Cinemax— For some time the question for most home theater buyers considering a instead of only 2. THX-approved system was pretty basic: Do I want to spend the (considerable) Even more ways to catch the HOT new extra money to acquire equipment that promises true movie-theater sound? attractions: Another question, dismissed as groundless by Lucasfilm but raised relentlessly 1 Dennis the Menace by many audiophiles, was whether Lucasfilm’s faithful adherence to cinema sound was detrimental to accurate, high-quality, music reproduction. 2 Dennis Miller 3 Wimbledon ’94: The cost question has diminished in importance as the THX logo has ap- : peared on home theater components offered at prices comparable to non- Steffi Graf THX models. However, as more home theater enthusiasts shopping at retail 4 Sliver chains begin encountering THX products, they'll want to know the relative a) Na merits of THX and non-THX systems, and whether THX also delivers on its 5 World Champion performance promise at “popular prices.” Our articles addressed these issues. ship Boxing Because our results in “The Decoder Debate” differed so greatly from the 6 Nemesis Kenwood and Lucasfilm claims for Kenwood’s KC-X1 decoder, we offered 7 Carnosaur space in this issue for the companies to respond in full. Kenwood declined, 8 Bikini Carwash II but Lucasfilm’s response and our comments can be found in “Reader Forum.” Multichansiel 1s a sweet deal, but it’s Since Lucasfilm questions Video Magazine’s fairness and abilities to review only on satellite! ‘Aind fibea equipment, and implies that this magazine doesn’t take seriously high-quality nd there's more. audio reproduction in the home, it bears emphasizing that the quest for quali- 300 channels worth. ty and value in home video equipment and programs is what this magazine is Greraeatt ststuuffff lili ke walill3 lacobntoi;nu—uewthatto it was about when it was dliasgiuie tnaclhevdide1o6 years ago, and what it CNN, ESPN, TBS be about as we enter the era. and Discovery, plus As our response notes, our system was calibrated correctly. Even when we ; y:P tested the unit using Lucasfilm’s newly suggested calibration method, we picture quality to found problems. But that’s not the point. For Lucasfilm to say the calibration die for! Why wait? was not in accordance with Home THX and Kenwood recommendations is Go Dir: ect! That’s; ludicrous. Under the heading “THX Cinenia Adjustment” in the KC-X1 own- where the choices are. er’s manual the entire instruction to the owner is “Adjust The Volume Balance. Adjust so that the test tone volumes are the same on all speakers.” That's not giving the consumer much to work with to be sure the unit falls within the close tolerances required in Lucasfilm’s own words: “Since multi- channel sound fields can be very complex, a system miscalibration could seriously affect the subjective listening experience.” If Kenwood and THX are relying on retailers at the chain stores carrying these products to educate con- saugmiers in this7 matter, they need to rethink this strategy gy and be more p precise AD ANE PAD AIS: If, as THX’s own evaluation showed, the decoder is beneath THX specs, the companies should notify KC-X1 purchasers and rectify the problem. If, as THX asserts, the “out of spec” problem is minor and it still sees no problem awiitdhenttnheoimKaCr-kXe1t,. Lucasfilm needs to reevaluate its certification process for its Finally, we’re disappointed Lucasfilm chose to try to discredit the messen- ger and its methods rather than heed the message. It’s our hope that Ken- wood and Lucasfilm will take the necessary steps to assure that all equipment that carries the THX logo meet at least minimum THX specifications and— beyond that—sound good. 1-800-285-5621CALL HBO DIRECT NOW James M. Barry ; none tom “U@£2s/OPda9i1p1eAe1dIa98yS _———Edi—tor 6 VIDEO JUNE 1994

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FEEDBACK VIDE mea feet Audio snobs and GEnte online Pieces of junk-NOT Ebert and Magill’s Survey of Cinema. Fi- President and Managing aba nally, CompuServe has recently reduced Jay Rosenfield Corey Greenberg, in “Audio you can its hourly connect rates by as much as feel” (Mar. 94) does your readers a dis- 40 percent from the rates you cited. Editor, James M. Barry service when he implies that people like myself, who can not or would not plop Dawn Gordon, Manager, Managing Editor, Stan Pinkwas down $600 to $2,750 for a subwoofer, Consumer Electronics Forums, Technical Editor, Lancelot Braithwaite are saps if they purchase anything less than his ideal. I would take exception CompuServe, Senior Editors, Kenneth Korman, with him on some of the $149 products Lake Worth, Florida Brent Butterworth he calls “pieces o’ junk”! In 1988 I pur- Assistant Editors, Josef Krebs, chased a BSR subwoofer for under $115, Browse Stewart Applegath and it worked and sounded great right Contributing Editors: Bob Angus, Bob out of the box. To tantalize your readers Basic Se Barlow, Frank Beacham, Bruce Eder,M with high-end products is fine — all read- Faust, Corey Greenberg, Ty Harrington, ers can dream. However, not all of us David Lachenbruch, Timothy Liebe, George can afford the reality. Please don’t be so Mannes, Marianne Meyer, Cliff Roth, Tom harsh on less expensive items. - Soter, Jonathan Takiff, Rich Warren, Stewart Wolpin, Roderick Woodcock Nick Forte East Haven, Connecticut investment Art Director, Marshall Moseley Assistant Art Director, Nadira Abdul-Kadir Overprotected — vi ae Art Assistant, Luis Ramos Jr. _ Production Manager, Gary M. Krystofiak In your Fast Forward column (Mar. '94) Professions] Lifestyles Games Cormrounications Production Assistant, Kim Lau Andy Wickstrom quotes a Macrovision Typesetting, Janet M. Holland estimate that its copyguard process saves Y «£ ? i video retailers more than $100 million in Group Publisher, EricC.Schwartz sales and rentals. This statistic is ludi- crous. It assumes everybody who is frus- Shopping Travel Member Support Reference Associate Publisher, Linda DeRogatis trated trying to copy a protected tape has plunked down $80 or $90 for a legal Browse Mode: Detail of CompuServe Menu. Vice President, Business Development, copy. I rarely rent tapes anymore — Mac- Alan Deitch rovision encoding leaves half of the Thanks very much for your article on movies virtually unwatchable. It seems how video users are connecting via com- ~ Editor, Video Pro, Tim Wetiioe that my only choice is to spend a lot of puter. However, I’m dismayed that you money on video equipment capable of left out one of the largest, most econom- National Advertising Director, Video Pro, dealing with the interference. I now rent ical networks available. GEnie, the Gen- Annette Schnur laserdiscs most of the time —and I'll eral Electric Network of Information soon have to return to the neighborhood Exchange, offers a roundtable where Circulation Director, Rodney Bell cinema, where the kids are noisy but video professionals and amateurs meet there’s a decent picture! Marvin Jones to exchange information live, via bulle- Circulation Assistant, Rosemary Y. Paver tin boards and by more than 4,000 files Panorama City, California (with free uploading). _ Newsstand Sales Director, Gerald Levine Marketing Director, Luanne Rao More online Mike Nassour, Assistant Sysop, _ Financial Officer, Mark C. Spector, C.P.A. Consumer Electronics Roundtable, GEnie, Business Manager, Janette Evans _ Assistant Business Manager, Austin, Texas Lily Schwartzberg Advertising Coordinator, Karen Pellino Laser tragedy Assistant to the President, Kenneth Bell Corporate Offices, Editorial & Sales: Linda Futterman, Christine Barbieri, 460 West 34 St., New York, NY 10001; 212-947-6500, ‘212-947-6727 (fax) _ West Coast Sales Office: Linda DeRogatis, — While we appreciate the A+ rating giv- I strongly support the laserdisc format, en to CompuServe, there are additional and I’m distressed that it’s portrayed as Kirstin Hartenbower, Marc D. Minasian, video-oriented services not mentioned “stalled in terms of mass acceptance”. in your story (“Video Online,” Mar. 1453 Third Street, Suite 490, Santa 94). The Consumer Electronics Vendor Granted, the VHS business is lucrative Forum offers product support with on- enough that I can’t expect home video Monica, CA 90401; 310-393-5057, line representation from leading com- companies to admit (much less pro- 310-393-5538 (fax) claim) that the laserdisc is vastly superi- panies, including Pioneer, NHT, or to their bread and butter product. Chicago Sales Office: Milton Gerber, Videonics and Harman Video. EIA-ON- However, it would be tragic if laserdisc’s LINE, a support service of the Electron- rightful place at the forefront of video is Kristene Richardson, MediaPlus, ; ics Industries Association, services the denied because it isn’t new enough for 135 N. Arlington Heights Road, Suite 106, needs of the public, manufacturers and the media to get excited about. Buffalo Grove, IL aie 708-913-5400, the press. Movie reviews are available Tim McDonnell from numerous sources, including Roger —-708-913- x oa College Grove, Tennessee Editor- in-Chief Art tae (1936-1991) @& CCoOvRtPaOnRsAcaions PRINTED IN THE uae 8 VIDEO JUNE 1994

P..,asonic introduces the WJ-AVE7 Digital Video Mixer. With Luminance Keying and over 100 special effects, it makes your videos especially effective. Think of the new Panasonic WJ-AVE7 Video Mixer as a way to turbo- charge Dual PIP your imagination. Its sophisticated technology lets you do almost anything you can imagine at a price that’s so afforda- ble it’s unimaginable. For instance, its Luminance Keying feature lets you alter reality by superimposing video images. Its auto take feature creates flawless transitions, auto- matically. Add dual picture-in-pic- ture, a color corrector, over 100 digital effects, a built-in audio mixing board and the optional pan Baris video titler, WJ-TTL5, and this Panasonic Video Mixer lets you do almost anything you can conceive. And unlike other sys- tems, the WJ-AVE7’s digital synchronizer lets you dissolve or wipe between any 2 NTSC signals. And our AV Mixer can do even more—to find out how much more, speak to your nearest Panasonic Dealer, at 1-800-365-1515, TV picture simulated. ext. 333. | i WJ-AVE5 Panasonic’ just slightly ahead of our time.®

Debating THX To THX or not to THX? That’s the Lucasfilm Home THX has worked “THX: A Question of Specs,” after question our two features on THX-certi- very hard to develop and implement rig- fied speakers and controll—e“TrHsX on orous standards designed to achieve ac- learning of the KC-XI’s problems, Lu- Trial” in April and “The Decoder De- curate reporduction of film soundtracks bate” in May—sought to address. The in the home environment. While your casfilm suggested calibrating our system result was a flurry of strong opinions, a reviewers are free to set up home theater selection of which appears next month. in a different way from the one we gen- This issue’s “Reader Forum” is devoted systems as they please, it seems mis- to a detailed response from THX creator leading to review negatively a Home erally use in our audio testing. Lucasfilm, and our comments in return. THX component which has not been adjusted to Home THX standards. The surround-sound calibration Lucasfilm on THX We take film sound and film sound method we use is standard practice in It is unusual for us to respond to a re- standards very seriously. To avoid poor view of any Home THX Licensed prod- setup of home theater systems, we have the consumer electronics industry. It’s uct, but the negative observations established a Home THX dealer training concerning the Kenwood KC-X1 in your course which has been attended by over taken directly from Lucasfilm’s Home teview of Home THX controllers in the 700 individuals in the past three years. May issue were so atypical that we felt We would be happy to have your re- THX Audio System Installation & Opera- that some comment was appropriate. viewers attend a future session so that they may avoid the types of set up errors tion Manual. We calibrate each channel The Kenwood KC-X1 was intro- which occurred with the review of the duced over a year ago and has been the Kenwood KC-X1. A better understand- of a system to a sound pressure level subject of many favorable reviews and ing of our goals and technologies should thousands of satisfied customers (includ- make for fairer and more balanced re- (SPL) of 85 decibels with -20 dB pink ing individuals within the film industry). views in the future. The product as originally and subse- noise from Lucasfilm’s THX Wow laser- quently tested meets all of the perfor- We hope to be able to have the op- mance critreia set by the Home THX portunity to work with your staff and disc (for a theoretical maximum level of Audio Program. One of the samples re- correct their misconceptions regarding 105 dB), with our SPL meter set for ceiving a negative review was sent to us Home THX and its place in the home for evaluation. A minor problem was Theater market. C-weighting. found with the unit which we suspect could have affected low-level subjective Anthony Grimani, After learning of the KC-XI1’s prob- listening in some of the surround modes. Director of Licensing, lems, Lucasfilm suggested calibrating to We spent several hours listening to Lusasfilm Home THX Group the product in direct A/V comparisons 83 dB with the meter set for A-weight- with other controllers. Nothing was San Rafael, California found in our electrical or listening tests ing, which makes the meter largely inef- that would correlate with the strongly Editor's Response: Lucasfilm’s assertions that Video Magazine's testing procedures fective below 500 Hertz. Lucasfilm negative opinions of your reviewers. The were improper and not in accordance only misbehavior we could engender in with Home THX and Kenwood recom- asserts that because most of the effects the unit was by intentionally overload- mendations are simply false. Video Mag- ing the input with a higher than stan- azine has been reviewing and testing of room acoustics occur in the bass fre- dard level signal from a laserdisc or CD home video and audio equipment for player in excess of 2 volts RMS. more than 16 years and Home THX quencies, using A-weighting to elimi- products since they achieved broad dis- Upon discussing the listening set-up tribution about two years ago. Since nate the bass during the calibration with a member of your editorial staff, it THX emerged, we have always cali- was determined that the system was not brated THX and non-THxX systems ex- process results in a more accurate bal- calibrated in accordance with Home actly as specified in Lucasfilm’s Home THX and Kenwood recommendations. THX manual, in order to “level the ance. Since multichannel sound fields can be playing field” for all home theater prod- very complex, a system miscalibration ucts we test. In practical terms, calibrating with could seriously affect the subjective lis- tening experience. We are also con- Our reviews always have been “fair A-weighting instead of C-weighting re- cerned that some of the components and balanced”; that’s why when the KC- used for sources had possible output lev- X1 performed so poorly, we contacted duces the level of the surround speakers. els higher than 2 volts RMS. Kenwood for a second unit, contacted both Lucasfilm and Kenwood about the If you calibrate with A-weighting, the is problem, and offered both companies an opportunity to respond. meter does not “hear” the bass from the 10 VIDEO JUNE 1994 As we wrote in last month’s sidebar front channels and thus displays a lower SPL relative to the surround channel, which has little or no bass. To compen- sate, you turn up the front channels, thus making the surround channels rela- tively quieter. A-weighted calibration helps alleviate the deleterious detuning effects of the KC-XI’s pitch-changing decorrelation circuit, but it reduces the surround effect to a degree we feel is un- acceptable. Lucasfilm says calibrating with A-weighting gives you a balance more like that of film soundstages. However, the company’s suggestions are distinctly out ofstep with the rest of the consumer electronics industry, and even with its own THX manual, which carries no mention of an 83 dB reference level or A-weighting. All of the manufac- turers — THX and otherwise — who have calibrated demo systems in our office have used C-weighting, as do all of the home theater writers, installers and en- thusiasts we know. >

We made a projection TV for people who say they need their space. Introducing the worlds first 52” projection with built-in storage. It holds your cable box, four components and up to thirty tapes. So instead of a pile of components that rivals Mount Everest, you can fit everything inside one elegant cabinet. So all you'll see on your TV ts a clear, brilliant picture. And all you'll see on your floor is a rug. Changing Entertainment. Again: re#m © 1993 Thomson Consumer Electronics,

More important, the vast majority of rect that this could cause a problem for seriously its role as a reviewer of equip- KC-X1 buyers will probably not set up a surround processor. But it is important ment and programs. Our readers depend the processor in accordance with THX to note that the KC-X1’s performance on Video Magazine's reviewers to “tell it recommendations. Indeed, the “calibra- was actually worse during quiet passages tion recommendations” in Kenwood’s than it was at maximum level, so the like it is” and we do—both positive and KC-X1 manual are no more exacting CLD-97’s slightly high output couldn’t negative. a than those included with $300 A/V re- have been the cause of the KC-X1’s AMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ceivers. The manual says, ‘Adjust so problems. And in his review of the KC- that the test tone volumes are the same Xl, contributing editor Corey Greenberg on all speakers.” Most consumers who used a Theta digital-to-analog convertor buy an affordable, mass-market product that conforms to the 2-volt standard. At Video Magazine, we too take film Re-cycling like the KC-X1 do not own SPL meters, and are thus incapable of setting up sound standards very seriously. (And to their systems with the degree of preci- Lucasfilm’s concern for film sound, we Use bicycle. cable covers to tame your sion Lucasfilm demands. And in our ex- add a serious concern for music repro- jungle of audio-visual cables. These in- perience, most consumers turn up the duction in equipment that is designed to expensive plastic covers come in several surround channel even louder than one deliver both experiences.) We feel that colors, simplify cable routing and reduce would when calibrating with an SPL me- after countless hours spent with repre- the feedback that can occur when power ter set for C-weighting.The bottom line sentatives from Lucasfilm and the man- cords cross signal cables. . is, if the artifacts caused by the pitch- ufacturers of THX equipment, we do, in changing decorrelation used in some fact, understand Lucasfilm’s goals and Nicholas Esposito, THX-certified processors are audible technologies. But that’s not the point. Jericho, New York under the listening conditions most con- The poor performance of the KC-X1 Tape, rattle and roll sumers will experience, it’s a fact that raises serious questions about whether must be noted in a review. Lucasfilm’s (and its THX licensees’) pro- The most likely source of videocassette The measured maximum audio out- cedures assure adherence to its techni- rattle is a loose or poorly made roller put level of the Pioneer CLD-97 laser- cal specifications and achievement of its guide. You can see the guides by opening disc player we used when evaluating the goals, and whether or not the achieve- the door that covers the tape. Carefully KC-XI1 is approximately 2.4 volts ment of those goals assures good sound. tightening these screws may cure the RM—S0.4 volts above the standard for Since the beginning of the home problem. Phil Hawkins, Last year10pro football gamesCD audio. Lucasfilm is technically cor- video era, Video Magazine has taken very Warren, Ohio went into sudden deat Unfortunately, sc 1789347 camco What agony, missing the thrill of victory because y he NoMEM™ Battery from The cause of this unfortunate event is called “ charge every time, any time. fully drained, the more it “remembers” it’s taking less t think it’s got plenty of power, it’s actually on its las Ifyou want to be sure you’re not cut 0 Lenmar. The original memory free battery. A Plus, it’s 100% compatible with your current For fresh power you can always coun: our Benmar dealer for NoMEM Batteries. And catch all the action without your battery suddenly calling “time out.” For your nearest Lenmar Battery dealer, and a catalog of our Camcorder Performance Products call: 800/424-2703 ©1994 Lenmar Enterprises, Inc. CAMCORDER PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS 12 VIDEO JUNE 1994 Circle 5 on Reader Service Card.

: >>8k peteteceseeeaaeeRateeecaeteuG.aaee<eeecoStyeseaeeMase A ad ble)aldayaie GPiei)ind awe.e Ececececectc ree erele eQccecececece -VIDEO MAGAZINE, January, 1994 “Deep bass without the aid of big, expensive amplifiers. Sounds panned from side to side as smoothly as their corresponding images flew across the screen.” -SOUNDG& IMAGE, Summer, 1993 “We quickly discovered what a difference the right sound system can make! The subwoofers added tremendous excitement to the movie watching experience.” -POPULAR ELECTRONICS, January, 1993* iilsiiiti “Cerwin-Vega produces a powerful and taut sound. *= The impact can be especially felt in the midrange, which will oo>sas pound you with rotor blade sweeps from Anco spse Now.” 2e3o3s) -SATELLITE ORBIT, June, 1993 ee y = _¥ 1 /£S8 \"- i E““ES2SS5S ’ StieSVaANtorass 2a 25® (Eee 53is E ois CeeEs RWIF NAy-VETRGCA SENSURROUND! @ HOMEArT THE>AATpEaR ‘ e3E $33 lurnitbs Lip: © 3oo ee ©1994 Cerwin-Vega, Inc. SenSurround® is a registered trademark of MCA Systems, Inc. For more information 52qs °: or a full-color brochure, please write to us at Cerwin-Vega, 555 East Easy St., Simi Valley, CA 93065, or call SO5-584-9332 “Reprinted with permission from Popular Electronics Magaz sine, January 1993 issue. ©Gernsback Publications, Inc., 1993 ' hsheehehe T0sssE9e5:grR2PRR 0R0ReEEEgE7eR9SE0kSEEDSEEHRERERS

Pr EDITED BY KENNETH KORMAN rast >> Wednesday’s World: FORWARD Christina Ricci (Left) as Wednesday Addams dl with the rest of the clan. >> Strained peas and CCDs A iif ang Gerber has moved from baby ALL IN THE FAMILY food into the electronic age with a wire- less video monitoring system designed It should come as no surprise that Christina Ricci, best known as Mor- with nursery-bound children in mind. These funky, beautifully-designed units ticia’s devilish little daughter Wednesday in The Addams Family and its cur- were developed by Toy Biz Inc. and fea- ture a black-and-white image (with au- rent sequel Addams Family Values (Parmount Home Vidco), has an axe to dio) that runs through your TV— you grind. This precocious and self-possessed 13-year-old is busy articulating her can easily switch back and forth be- tween baby and your favorite program. latest pet peeve: “Everybody talks about women getting snubbed in the indus- try, but what about little girls? It’s always little boys. The girl’s part is usually The system comes in two versions, one of which includes a wireless, porta- minuscu—ltehe girlfriend who says ‘Hi’ and that’s it.” ble monitor, and will set you back either $299 or $399. And you won’t even have If anyone’s going to to do something about this trend, it’s Ricci. After com- to keep the kid up with blinding videc lights: Its infrared capability lets chil- dren be seen in virtual darkness. The systems should be available at major toy and department store chains by October (800-634-7539 for further info). We think it’s a great idea. —Stewart Applegath BabyCam: Monitor tots, ing perilously close to stealing both Addams movies, her reputation in Holly- wood precedes her. “The audience loved her so much in the first film, we had to give her a bigger part in the second,” says director Barry Sonnenfeld. “She knows so much it’s scary. She’d tell me how to block a scene and she'd be ab- solutely right. But if I needed something else for a particular shot, she’d say ‘Okay’ and do it.” Ricci vows you won't see her on Oprah a decade from now weeping about the hellish world of the child star. “I don’t live in Hollywood,” she says. “I think that would be really bad. But I love going there to make a movie —it ) | makes me feel so purposeful.” —dJon Silberg : home receivers for digital models and same as a similar cable package, but began switching to digital compression there’s a $300 installation charge. so.it could add several movie and sports channels. When its new high-powered PrimeStar 50-channels system will satellite becomes available next year, offer three pay-per-view movie chan- PrimeStar customers will turn in their nels, 15 channels of regional sports and four-foot dishes for 18-inchers, compara- PrimeStar’s dish du jour ble in size and appearance to those of THE NUMBER By the time Hughes Aerospace, DSS. At that time, they'll be able to re- Be ge i cee RCA and United States Satellite Broad- casting get their DSS small-dish, direct- ceive up to 50 channels. The feet f R Hughes’ to-home satellite service up and run- Unlike DSS, PrimeStar doesn’t sell DirectTy satelSleein ning, they're going to face competition In Castle Roc Cole center from another player. PrimeStar Partners, its hardware, but provides it as part of which has been delivering 11 channels of the overall program package, according video to 70,000 customers equipped for to president John Cusick, who says the the past 3-1/2 years with four-foot anten- policy makes it easy for the company to nas, took the first step in upgrading its upgrade to new technology and protects system to 50 channels in April. the viewer from purchases that can quickly become obsolete. PrimeStar’s It swapped all its existing analog DBS system will probably cost about the 14 VIDEO JUNE 1994

TIMESHIFT TEN YEARS AGO IN VIDEO MAGAZINE “As we go to press RCA has an- nounced its intention to send the CED videodisc player to that great product burial ground in the sky, al- hortcuts to the next level ready populated by Edsels, 8-track tape players, and a host of other BP Good news for the digitally chal- items which not pepe j SCT _ lenged: Game giants Sega and Nintendo enough con- are both introducing adapters to add bi- sumers wanted nary pep to their game machines. Nin- to consume. tendo strikes first with a $59 Super NES One can hardly Exclusive: blame RCA for anasoniVHcS’His-Fi cartridge that has a pocket for tiny The Sound Standard its decision. If Game Boy cartridges. Dubbed Super alii. Game Boy, the adapter lets SNES ad- we'd lost over half a billion dicts play any of the 350 Game Boy ti- tles, while enhancing the handheld the three commercial TV networks, plus system’s black-and-white images with a dollars on an in- PBS. By contrast, DSS will offer at least limited color palette. 40 pay-per-view movie and sports chan- vestment, we Later this fall, Sega will let Genesis nels, and has not announced plans to and Sega CD owners upgrade with a 32- might consider carry any networks or PBS. Both will bit booster that gives both machines cutting our make available CD-quality audio music losses too. De- JUNE 1984 spite the addi- channels. Will videophiles with one type of Nintendo’s tion of interactive capabilities to Super DBS hardware (or with an existing large Game Boy RCA’s latest CED model, Pioneer's dish) be able to subscribe to both cartridge services? Definitely not. DSS and LD-700 laserdisc player proved su- perior in every area but price. Pi- PrimeStar are using separate, incompat- oneer, of course, is quietly popping ible scrambling systems, and both trans- champagne corks at the news of mit in a way that makes reception with RCA's setback. CED’s obit even made the front page of The New York large dishes prohibitively expensive. —Bob Angus Times...Some 40 percent of us na- eoceeccesceecese eeoeceeceseesesccesccos tionally have taken down our roof- Get Smart top antennas in favor of cable. But bP This “Smart Card” developed by since this is the year that stereo News Datacom will allow owners of the RCA DSS small-dish satellite receiver broadcasting is due to get started as to access programs from DirecTv and USSB. DSS is currently being rolled out some of the digital oomph of the RISC- an FCC-authorized “multichannel in five markets and is scheduled to go national this fall with 150 channels of based Saturn system Sega is planning for TV sound” (MTS) service, you may digital video. next year. Sega says its Genesis Super want to dust off your antenna and INSERT THIS END THIS SIDE UP 32X adapter, priced at $149, will im- once again receive local stations di- os prove the speed, color, scaling, rotation, rectly. Cable operators do not want audio and other characteristics of exist- to be required to install the neces- ing games on Genesis cartridges and sary “head end” and other equip- Sega CD. —Stan Pinkwas ment required to directly pass MTS eeccseccceces Coeeeeesrecvsescseseesesesece signals to you...MGM/UA says all of HDTV Update its Beta hi-fi tapes are now duped bP The FCC Advisory Committee only from PCM digital audio mas- and the Grand Allianace of companies constructing the nation’s digital HDTV ters, a move which should provide system are conducting field tests this year in Charlotte, North Carolina and top-quality audio fidelity and clarity. laboratory tests at several sites including Alexandria, Virginia, Boulder, Colorado The company’s VHS tapes will follow and Ottawa, Canada. suit later this year...Video and com- Presuming the test results meet ex- pectations, the Advisory Committee will puters are coming closer together.” recommend the system to the FCC early in 1995 for rulemaking and a final field would mean the U.S. digital HDTV test of the system’s performance. That standard would be set sometime in 1995, and sets would begin appearing on the market in late 1996 or in 1997. —Jim Barry JUNE 1994 VIDEO 15

AS WE PRE- knocked $100 offits X-EYE Multi En- dicted last month, Jurassic tertainment System before the player Park will in- deed be re- even hit the stores. leased on video in the fall. e You'll find a $24.98 cassette BLOCKBUSTER ENTERTAIN- in stores Octo- ber 4; two letterboxed, THX-approved ment has become a diversified compa- laserdisc editions will arrive October 12. The CLV edition will go for $44.98; ny, but good old-fashioned video rent- a deluxe CAV boxed set will cost als still account for more than half the First steps for Video CD $74.98. No word yet on what extras company’s income. Last year, Block- will be included on the CAV set. buster stores took in a whopping $1.3 ° billion in rental revenues, passing the IN YET ANOTHER INDICATION bb Matsushita, parent to Panasonic the digital age has truly arrived, the billion mark for the first time. and Technics, expects to begin selling Vatican announced plans to translate Video CD components later this year. its 500-year-old library into digital e Only a lack of software will alter compa- form for use with online systems and ny plans. Technics will move first, intro- other new technologies. IBM has HERE’S NEW EVIDENCE THAT ducing a mini-system, the SC-VCI1O0, signed on to help with the digital scan- that includes a Video CD player along ning of the Vatican’s more than achieving interactivity’s going to be with a tuner, an audio tape deck, speak- 150,000 manuscripts and one million harder than it seems. Interactive Tele- ers and a remote. books. The project is meant to provide new access to these materials, and to vision Spain, the country’s prime-ex- Matsushita previewed the SC-VC10 allow further digital enhancement of periment in new TV technology, during a recent tour of its factory in Ja- important images in the works. pan, along with prototypes for a Video produced more than a quarter million CD player with a pop-up LCD screen, e two-way TVs that included a modem TIME IS FAST RUNNING OUT and a printer. But it only sold 12,000 of and a stand-alone Video CD player. The for entries to Sony’s 1994 Visions of the $240 sets. The result: megabuck U.S. video contest. Entries will be ac- demonstrations were impressive, but not cepted through June 15 in each of five losses and temporary receivership. Are they discouraged? Hardly. “Techni- without glitches, which Matsushita en- categories: fiction, non-fiction, experi- gineers attributed to early-generation mental, music video, and a category cally it worked very well,” said an ITV software. They said further refinement for videomakers aged 17 and younger. spokesman. of the encoding algorithms will bring All entries must be produced and sub- Video CD picture quality to VHS or e better levels. mitted on VHS, Beta or 8mm cassettes, and must be accompanied by CHALK ONE UP FOR THE CITY The Video CD format lets CDs store a complete entry form. Four winners will receive Sony camcorders. Judges of brotherly love. Philadelphia will 74 minutes of full-motion video and dig- this year include Francis Ford Cop- ital audio. The coding follows MPEG-1 pola, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Penelope host next summer’s Consumer Elec- guidelines, making it playable on NTSC Spheeris. Call 213-856-7787 for fur- and PAL TV sets, with Layer-II stand- ther information. tronics Show, a June rite in Chicago ards for sound, producing audio quality for many years. The summer and win- between that of MiniDisc and DCC. @ ter CES extravaganzas are the pre- —Rich Warren AT PRESSTIME, SONY HAD JUST miere showcases in the U.S. for new decided to cut the price of its popular video products and technology. The HandyCam Snap camcorder, which includes a built-in color LCD screen, winter CES stays put in Las Vegas. by $200 to $799. Sony is reportedly working on a new version of the Snap ® for introduction in the fall. THE HUE AND CRY OVER VIO- e lent videogames, and the possibility of THERE’S A MULTITUDE OF NON- government-imposed ratings, has compatible formats, and just as many Tapes, discs and| chips? theories about where the market is prompted a dozen leading game pi- heading. But it seems there’s one thing bP Conventional wisdom says that the makers of interactive multimedia oneers to circle the wagons in the players can agree on—lower prices. shape of a new trade group, the Inter- optical disc-based formats will ease vid- active Digital Software Association. 3D0O recently lowered the price of its eotape out of the market over the next Interactive Multiplayer by $200, Pi- Charter members include Nintendo, oneer lopped $235 off the price of its decade or so. But disc purveyors better LaserActive System, and JVC Sega, Acclaim, Atari and Sony Elec- tronic Publishing. A voluntary rating get cracking if they want to maximize their opportunity before solid-state plan is high on the group’s agenda, which only goes to prove that when video media overtake them, according to one industry forecast. the going gets tough, the tough get to- “I believe magnetic tape is an en- gether. dangered species,’’ said John Ber- e mingham, an AT&T vice president who WANT TO KNOW WHAT EX- used to head up the magnetic media di- Nixon aide Bob Haldeman was really vision at Sony. Bermingham told the an- up to during the Watergate years? It nual conference of the International turns out he spent at least 27 hours shooting home videos inside the Tape and Disc Association that the cost of large-capacity, chip-based memory White House. Now you can see 45 minutes of his ‘‘never seen before” devices is plunging even as the number footage for yourself on The Haldeman of components on each chip doubles ev- ery 18 months. Because of its durability, Diaries, a new multimedia CD-ROM ($69.95) by Sony Electronic Publish- capacity, consistency and lack of moving parts, “It won’t be long before solid-state ing. Dwight Chapin, Nixon’s appoint- ment secretary, spin-doctors the becomes the medium of choice for full- length audio and video recording,” Ber- narration. g mingham predicted. —JB 16 VIDEO JUNE 1994

Nun XO)D16 (GINCERYEN © Ni b’as'<0)\\V Less 21:70 Toshiba's quest to maximize VCR picture quality has led to the reinvention of the chassis design. Shown above is a cutaway view of Toshiba's new V3 head cylinder with built-in Flying Pre-Amplifier, previously found only in professional studio decks. By placing the pre-amp directly in the head cylinder, the signal path is shortened considerably, thereby dramatically . = : : co reducing picture noise. ; But Toshiba didn’t stop there. The revolutionary V3 chassis also incorporates a Py Model M-760 new Triple Noise Canceller for improved S/N ratio and intelligent Y/C separation for higher picture resolution. Combine these impressive advances with a long list of user-friendly features such as Intel-A-Play one step operation, Universal Remote Control and super high-speed fast forward and rewind, and you have a VCR that is indeed revolutionary. TOSHIBAIn Touch with Tomorrow Toshiba America Consumer Products, Inc., 82 Totowa Road, Wayne, NJ 07470 Circle 7 on Reader Service Card.

“The Recog! Win National _SennenenenemmtianeneteesreNeiS to have’your home theater featured | in two of your favorite publications. The Electronic Industries Association wants to find America’s best home theaters for a special report that will appear in upcoming issues of VIDEO and Traditional Home magazines.

heater Award Search pn and a Laserdisc Player Whether you enter the National Home Award Search or not, you’ll definitely want to take part in the Home Theater Dream Contest. Just tell us in 40-50 words how you and your family would benefit from.a home theater system and complete the attached postcard. It’s already addressed. And we've even paid the postage. The Grand Prize includes a Toshiba Cinema Series 27-inch television, an Advent home theater speaker package, a Sharp Electronics Hi-Fi Stereo VCR and a Pioneer Laserdisc Player. One hundred-runners-up will receive one of the following: A Pioneer Laserdisc Player, a Parsec 200 Energized TV/Stereo Antenna, BIB America Video Accessories Kit, a selection of Recoton connecting cables, a JVC ae Selector, Recoton Wireless Headphones, a Discwasher DC Hydrobath or a blank videocassette. Do you own a home theater? Tell us in 40-50 words how you and your family would (you do not need to own one benefit from a home theater. to be eligible to enter and win). Specify any components in your home. Write the number of each component you own in the space provided. 1.Direct View Television(25\"+) 2.Rear Projection Television NAME 3.Front Projection Television ADDRESS 4.A/V Receiver with Surround Sound with Surround Sound fa |) eeeeerarceee eres ZIP. 5.Amplifier 67..HLiaFsierSdtiesrceoPlVaCyRer oe : 8.Speakers - Front (Lft & Rght) —> 1AM 18 YEARS OLD OR OLDER (Signature) 9.Speaker - Center Channel = Please return this postage paid card to VIDEO Magazine 10.Speakers - Rear All entries must be postmarked by June 30, 1994. 11.Subwoofer

z o os -) oe The National Hon Win National Recog! HOME THEATER DREAM CONTEST OFFICIAL RULES 1. Contestants may enter 4 completing HOME THEATER AWARDS SEARCH CONTEST OFFICIAL RULES 1. No purchase necessary. Contestants ' the self-addressed — postcard or sending the required information on a 3X5 postcard to may enter by completing the entry form or A teugired information on a 3X5 postcard. 2. Mail } VIDEO Magazine, 460 W. 34 St; New York, NY 10001. No purchase necessary. 2. All entries entries and photographs to VIDEO Magazine, 460 W. 34 St., New York, NY 10001. All entries must be H Must be postmarked by June 30, 1994, to be eligible to win. Winners will be announced in the October 1994 issue of VIDEO Magazine and the October/November issue of Traditional Home. postmarked by June 30, 1994 to be eligible to win. Winners will be announced in the October 1994 issue 3. VIDEO Magazine, Traditional Home Magazine, and the Electronic Industries Association are not responsible for lost, late, or misdirected entries. Mutilated or illegible entries will not be of VIDEO Magazine and the October/November 1994 issue of Traditional Home. 3. VIDEO Magazine, Considered. 4. Limit one Home Theater entry per household. Entrants must be 18 years of age Traditional Home “yo and the Electronic Industries Association are not responsible for lost, late, or or older to enter. 5. VIDEO Magazine, Traditional Home Magazine, and the Electronic industries misdirected entries. Mutilated or illegible entries will not be considered. 4. Limit one Award Search ent Association, its member companies, their respective agencies and employees will have no ~ household. Four winners will be selected. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. 5. VIDE liability whatsoever for any injuries, losses or damage of any kin resulting from the gazine, Traditional Home Magazine and the Electronic Industries Association and their member acceptance, possession or use of the prizes offered. 6. One hundred winners will each be companies and their respective agencies and employees will have no liability whatsoever for any injuries, selected by their short answer to the question “How would you and your family benefit from a losses or damage of any kind resulting from the acceptance, possession or use of the prizes offered. 6. home theater Sgn Entries will be judged by their originality (no less than 40 words) on One winner will be judged in each of the four categories of home theater systems. Winners will be selected or about July 30, 1994, from among all — entries received by VIDEO Magazine, whose from entrants who spent up to $1,500 on their home theater systems adding to equipment they already decisions are final. All prizes will be awarded by the Electronic Industries Association. By own, entrants who spent up to $3,000 building home theaters from scratch; entrants who spent up to entering the contest, each entrant accepts and agrees to be bound by these rules. One hundred winners will each receive a prize and there will be one grand prize winner. 7. All entries become $5,000 creating their home theaters from scratch and entrants who spent $5,000 or more creating home the property of VIDEO Magazine, Traditional Home Magazine, and the Electronic Industries theaters from scratch will be selected by the editors of VIDEO Magazine, Traditional Home Magazine and Association and cannot be returned. 8. One hundred winners plus one aid prize winner will representatives of the Electronic Industries Assocation, on the basis of the uniqueness, design and be notified phew by VIDEO Magazine and will be required to sign an affidavit of eligibility and functionality of contestants’ home theaters as represented by the photos, descriptions, information and release for the rights to use their name, panes and materials which must be completed and returned within fifteen (15) days of notification. If no such affidavit and release are contained on the entry form (or copy ‘thereo!), The types of equipment owned by entrants and decor received the prize will be forfeited and awarded to an a alternate winner. 9. Prizes are described will be considered whether or not the manufacturer of the equipment is affiliated with EIA will have no on the front of the “ Approximate value of all prizes offered is $3,000. Any tax liability is relevance in the contest judging. Entrants must Supply a written description and photos of their home the responsibility of the winners. 10. Employees of Reese Communications, Meredith theaters to be eligible to win. Entrants will be judged only within the category they entered on the entry Corporation, the Electronic Industries Association and its member companies, Stackig form or postcard and entrants also will be judged on the behnas of design and use of their home theater Advertising and Public Relations and D.F. White Inc. are not eligible for this contest. system as described in their 100 word “a8 By entering the contest, each entrant accepts and agrees to be bound by these rules. The Electronic Industries Association will award all prizes. Each prize is a Sony laserdisc ps You will also have your photo and interview bj en in the magazines, as designated in tule #8. The decisions of the judges are final. 7. All entries become the property of VIDEO Magazine, Traditional Home Magazine, and the Electronic Industries Association and cannot be returned. NO POSTAGE : 8. Winners will be notified by mail f or phone by VIDEO Magazine and H NECESSARY will be required to sign an affidavit H IF MAILED of eligibility and release which must H IN THE fbieftceoemnp(l1e5t)ed myansdarneottuirfniecdatiwoint,hoin r H UNITED STATES owe ed oan alternate“winner. ! Winners grant permission for use; of their names, photographs and ‘ interviews, conducted with them, to be used in conjunction with this and future promotions with no additional compensation. Winners BUSINESS REPLY MAIL agree to be interviewed and have jotos of their home theaters FIRST CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO. 3494 NEW YORK, NY included in the home theater insert ——- the October issue of POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE IDEO Magazine and October/ November issue of Traditional VIDEO Magazine Home Magazine. VIDEO Magazine 460 West 34 Street and the E.1.A. shall have the right in New York, NY 10117-0460 their sole descretion to edi the intearsvthieyesewe fit. 9. The total approximate viaue of the = offered is $1500. Any tax liability is the responsibility of the winners. 10. E of Reese Communi- cations, Meredith Corporation, and the Electronic Industries Associa- tion and its member companies, Stackig Advertising and Public Relations and D.F. White Inc. are not eligible for this contest. 11. Building or creating a home theater from scratch means: the equipment and cabinetry were ut New expressly ur ome theater and the bulk ofthe system was instalalteodne time.

[heater Award Search pn and a Laserdisc Player There’s no purchase required and it’s fun to enter. Here’s How: Four systems (one from each of four categories as designated below) will be selected.Send us two color photographs of your home theater (non-returnable) -- one of your equipment, the other of the seating area, complete the entry form and describe your system in 100 words or less telling us why your home theater is so special. Be sure to describe how you and your family use your home theater. Originality of design and use are important criteria. Send your photos and entry to the address listed below and you could be one of our lucky winners. If you are, the magazines will photograph your home theater and interview you about how you selected, installed and use your system. You'll receive an elegant trophy for your home and a state-of-the-art Sony Laserdisc Player to add to your home-theater. (See attached card for details!) : Two great contests. Enter one. Or enter them both. But enter today. r Specify the components in your home theater by writing the number ofeach —_ Cabinetry (Specify type, i.e., pre-made cabinet, custom-built cabinet, built in) I component you own with brand and model number in the spaces provided. : a SS te L Direct view Television (25”+) Check category: | s Laserdisc Player __ Up to $1500 __ $1500-$3000 __ $3,000-$5,000 __ Over $5,000 I ae Rear Projection Television 7) {_ Front Projection Television Adding to already Creating system Creating system Creating system | ; ]__ Audio/Video Receiver existing equipment from scratch from scratch from scratch | pl with SHeurroun‘d Sound F Amplifier with Surround Sound Describe in 100 words or less your home theater system, the qualities that | Bb HiFi Stereo VCR gg Speakers - Front (Left and Right) make it special and the way your family uses it (Please attach to coupon) |__ Speakers - Center Channel — Speakers - Rear Your Name: bs = is AS andreas __ Subwoofer ; State: Zip: a City: __ Other (Specify) ,i biaytiene pace piaaiee | am 18 years of age or older (please sign) 1h § yatta Return this coupon (and additional pages, if necessary) to: VIDEO Magazine 460 West 34 Street, New York, NY 10001 All entries must be postmarked by June 30, 1994 to be eligible.

___BYSTEWART APPLEGATH | H18 shooter dual-well decks hpaepSdatl CANOVISION CONTENDER Canon's newest camcorder, the Canovision 8 ES-1000, weighs in at just under two pounds. It combines optical image stabilization with a color LCD viewfinder, a 12x power zoom lens and a built-in light. Sporting a new look for Canon, the ES-1000 also offers a wider image area for shooting group scenes, five auto exposure modes and variable-speed zoom control. (For additional info, circle 113 on the Reader Service Card.) CUSTOMIZED THEATER Quasar’s HT1000 Home Theater Sys- tem comes fully assembled in a cherry or oak-laminated cabinet. It includes a TV, shielded speakers and an A/V Video 8 receiver with Dolby Pro-Logic and 100 watts of power per channel. | Three-way speakers rest in cabinets on each side of the TV, while a center compartment stores a two-way speaker for dialog. List prices are | $2,799 with a 27-inch TV, and $3,399 with a 31-inch TV. (For additional | info, circle 101 on the Reader Service Card) GOLDSTAR DUET Goldstar’s GVR-DD1 Artvision Dual Deck VCR ($899) combines an 8mm player with a full-size, four-head VHS VCR with a flying erase head. The 8mm half also plays Hi8 tapes at standard 8mm resolution. Editing features include front A/V jacks, video dub and assemble edit. One-touch copying gets users off to a fast start. (For additional info, circle 102 on the Reader Service Card) -> UNWIRED FOR SOUND Go-Video's GV-3090WS VCR ($1,599) is the first dual-deck VCR to in- BRIGHT AND CLEAR clude a self-contained wireless sound system. The unit includes a pair Sanyo’s PLC200N LCD Color Projector ($5,117) is of VHS hi-fi VCRs with a Dolby Pro-Logic surround sound decoder, a built-in 900 megahertz UHF wireless transmitter, and a pair of wireless a compact, lightweight unit with 450 lines of resolu- tion and a brightness rating of 900 lux. Sanyo speakers. The GV-3090WS can also add claims this is a 30 percent improvement over previ- ces titles to recordings. (For additional info, circle 112 on the Reader Service Card) ous models. The PLC200N includes a reverse bi : picture function for rear-screen projection, and re- mote-control zoom and focus. (For additional info, circle 111 on the Reader Service Card) 20 VIDEO JUNE 1994

). .. fis 3 am. Do you know what your universal remote skip the manual. In seconds P right over isup p to? If it’s the new VCR Plust+® Control Tower, the phone, we'll send your Control it may be turning on your VCR, setting the channel and Hate manuals? ‘Tower a signal that automatically sets : recording your favorite late night movie. Use CallSet instead’ it up to work all your equipment. with The VCR Plus+ The VCR ental tnerithe This Universal Remote Does Its Best s+ contol Tove only universal remote also simplifies one featuring the VCR Work When Nobody's Watching. other usually trying Plus+ instant tapiingg aspIect of yyour life system that does the VCR programming for you. Allyou what to set Dad for Father's Day. have to do is Ipunch in the P lusCode™ numbers Esrinted in So atsick u Pp the VCR Plus+ Control Tower. aps9 EO TV Guide® or your local listing£s. It's guaranteed to make life easier in many ways) . i Ae 3 oie? 19823 dae Whether y ou're watching5 or not. AB ers Ec ers\": he Control Tower does the rest UNIVERSAL REMOTE RRS ose en ¥ x a rg \\\\% Gon Ti 6)U| paoosrs,e 3GwSaeVe watNheeWNet wcr (iinnclculdiundging cchhaangnignging cc hannelosls on TOWE i\" me sale oe NG your cable box). ANE * e If that doesn’t simplify your life enough, try this: With our exclusive CallSet™ technology, you can ‘verZ2> ©1994 Gemstar Development Corporation. VCR Plus+, PlusCode, CallSet and Control Tower are trademarks of Gemstar Development Corporation. Circle 4 on Reader Service Card.

NEW PRODUCTS SVELTE SOUND v ZENITH COMBO > Kinergetics Research KSP-2 Stereo/Surround Zenith joins the TVCR fray with a Processor is constructed with high-end home the- ater enthusiasts in mind. Not only does it include three-model line consisting of one 13- Dolby Pro-Logic, THX certification, shielding and incher and two 19-inch sets. The high-speed switching, but many of its features TVR1920 Combo is a 19-inch model can be upgraded later on. The price is $4,500. with a unified TVCR remote and quick- (For additional info, circle 108 on the Reader Start recording. It has onscreen pro- Service Card) gramming, an eight-event timer and A/V input jacks. The price is $499. (For ad- ditional info, circle 104 on the Reader Service Card) cv THN CINEMA Es PROWL oa! HELP IS HERE v The Technics SA-GX770 A/V receiver ($499) de- livers 100 watts per channel and a dose of common sense. A Help feature improves “user friendliness” with a scrolling display that reveals TURBOCHARGED v problems and solutions. “H+” circuitry allows changes between different power outputs, while Arkon’s BC-600 Turbo Camcharger ($99) functions as a quick charger, a discharger/recondi- eliminating switching noises. The SA-GX770 can tioner, and a tester for six-volt nickel-cadmium camcorder batteries. A Top Off feature charges handle up to four audio and two inputs, and in- batteries to 100 percent capacity—Arkon claims other chargers can undercharge up to 20 per- cludes a subwoofer output and a front input for camcorders. (For additional info, circle 100 on the cent due to varying battery designs. The Camcharger charges most Reader Service Card) batteries in an hour, and an LED indicates battery condition before and during the process. (For additional info, circle 110 on the Reader Service Carit) T] “Twroteretcn VOICE CHANGE >» Atlantic Technology’s System 250 ($1,446) is a compact, six-piece home- theater speaker system. The center speaker offers adjustable timbre, so it can be used with other manufacturers’ speakers by adjusting its “voice” to sound like the others. System 250 includes two front speakers with ver- tically arranged woofers, two dipolar rear sur- rounds, and a 12-inch powered subwoofer mod- ule for bass output. (For additional info, circle 105 on the Reader Service Card) L 22 VIDEO JUNE 1994

As virtually every speaker manufacturer Evoi(craniai-1am talciiaccyelelaremaare\\csoeicelam(cait ble timbre-match with your existing rushes to deliver “home theater” speak- iCoMm dre]a)exe)mmiceya) Con er=(e.qlam elem celelaa speakers—even if they are not M&Ks. ers to the marketplace, M&K amasses nearly twenty years of experience in the Even if you are just adding an M&K M&K Center Channel Speakers field—dating back to Hollywood screen- subwoofer, front/center, or surround ing-room installations in the 1970s. Beware of inexpensive “center chan- Ss es M&K engineers have nel” speakers. In Pro-Logic, the center spent well speaker to your present system, M&K’s over a eTal(elUlom (ianle)g=mere)altce)im-li(e)) mele Ce) channel speaker is driven the fo[=Tere(el) “fine-tune” the sound of your new M&K studying speakers to achieve the closest possi- lakclce(=tsyemr-lale me)iC=1a) = the varied Circle 8 on Reader Service Card. reproduces . ee Eel He) as much \\ 4 aa surround sound—including encod- sound as the | a Ould Hare e=Uare e(=tevel[ear|e esvaree]lar0-\\equc-reelcelialef left and right | Va and the differences between reproducing sound in theaters and in homes. speakers Denisa M&K speakers exce/ in the reproduc- tion of a// source material. Accuracy, low fore)anleiat=xe p (oto)ole=(\\lola ein)ece)iavalianre\\eliarepy rel dynamic range, and deep-bass repro- Each one of M&K’s duction are all critical for music as well as film soundtracks. M&K Satellites and six individually-available Satellites Subwoofers have been acclaimed for these attributes since the ‘70s. has exceptional dynamic range and high And this is why M&K knows that any speaker that claims to be optimized for output to meet and exceed the tremen- either music or film sound, one at the dous demands of the center channel. expense of the other, will never repro- duce either one properly. M&K Powered Subwoofers M&K Home Theater Systems Legendary for their massive output, exceptional detail, and articulation, Conventional speakers make the M&K’s thirteen internally-powered Sub- music and effects on film sound- woofers set the industry’s standards for tracks compressed and dull. But high-performance deep bass. NVEAp@om >conltiale me Zar-Walesa Lale| “quick” transients give you precise M&K’s innovative Push-Pull Dual 3-D imaging and a lifelike presence. Driver subwoofers deliver a major improvement by virtually eliminating M&K Satellites are timbre- matched, using virtually identical W{slare]co(-1muarelanale)al(omelisicolatelammr-l ele) speaker drivers, crossovers, and fre- doubling efficiency (same as doubling amplifier power) with four times the quency response, for a seamless 360° surround-sound performance. With output of single driver subwoofers. an all-M&K home theater system, Whether you choose our state-of- voices and effects do not change char- the-art Home THX® Audio speaker system, an add-on set of surround speakers, or anything in between, no other speakers will give you the exciting performance, sound quality, flexibility and compatibility of M&K’s home theater component speakers. yl MILLER & KREISEL SOUND CORPORATION 10391 Jefferson Bivd., Culver City, CA 90232 (310) 204-2854 + Fax: (310) 202-8782 THX is a registered trademark of LucasArts Entertainment Co

BY KEVIN MILLER Tweaking TVs for |the best picture possible Most people spend a significant amount room accurate? In my experience, the through the Herrington Catalog of their lives in front of the TV. Unfor- answer to both is a resounding no. (800-622-5221). tunately, most of them spend all of that time looking at a lousy picture. We are Fortunately, by calibrating your The first step in calibration is to set all conditioned to accept mediocre TV set—adjusting it to correspond as closely black level using the brightness control pictures as the norm. When a set comes as possible to NTSC standards — you can and the pluge pattern. On the left side from the factory, the video controls are do much to fix the problem. But before of the frame you should see two distinct invariably set too high, which makes for we move on to the calibration process it- inaccurate colors and a geometrically vertical bars. If you don’t, turn the distorted picture. In this article, I’ll walk self, first turn your set on and warm it up brightness control up until you do. Then you through a simple, step-by-step for at least 30 minutes. The video pa- slowly reduce the brightness level until method of adjusting your set to obtain a rameters will drift while the set is warm- the blacker-than-black bar (on the left side of the frame) and the black bar more accurate and realistic picture. ing up, therefore any adjustments you seem to match. Further reduce bright- ness until the blacker-than-black bar make before the set is fully stable won’t be accurate. Finally, turn off any auto- This is Only a Test: Three test patterns from A Video Standard—pluge (left), needle pulse (center) and color bars with pluge in the lower right corner (right). Once you’re accustomed to what a good matic color or tint controls. disappears and you are just able to make picture looks like, you may become com- You'll need three test patterns to out the black bar. This is the correct set- pulsive about keeping your TV cali- ting for a home theater environment brated. calibrate your set —pluge (which stands with little ambient light. If you are view- for Picture Line Up Generation Equip- ing in a room with significant ambient When I first discovered what cal- ment), needle pulse and SMPTE color light, set the brightness slightly higher. ibration could do for a TV picture it was something of a revelation —for years, I bars. You can often find color bars and Next, set white level using the nee- had blindly accepted the fact that most dle pulse pattern and the contrast con- TVs simply have poor resolution and pluge on’ TV and cable channels when trol. When contrast is set too high it snowy pictures. The reason? For de- they are. not broadcasting. (Pluge is introduces unwanted video noise, re- cades, TV manufacturers have been sometimes included in the lower right duces picture resolution and often cre- waging a brightness war. They realize ates geometric distortion. Chances are corner of color bar patterns.) You’ll the needle-pulse line will be somewhat they’re competing for the consumer’s at- probably have to burn the midnight oil bent, indicating that contrast is set too tention on the retail sales floor, where to catch them, though. high. Reduce the contrast level until the the brightest, punchiest picture will get line is as straight as possible, and you'll the most attention. And they adjust The best source, however, is laser- have the correct white level setting. their sets in the factory so they'll look disc. The laserdisc A Video Standard has bright and punchy in the showroom. the most complete set of test patterns Whether or not you will be able to for calibrating and evaluating monitors, get a perfectly straight line depends on With the exception of a small num- and producer Joe Kane is currently fin- your monitor. On my old Sony XBR, the ber of specialty audio/video retailers, ishing work on a consumer version of correct setting is approximately 25 per- most TV showrooms display dozens of the disc, which should be available later cent of the maximum level. Because TVs end-to-end in bright ambient light. this year. The patterns are also included brightness and contrast controls often And what looks good in such a poor as supplemental material on some movie interact with one another, you should go viewing environment will definitely not laserdiscs, including the THX-mastered back to the pluge pattern and check discs of The Abyss, the Star Wars trilogy, your black level again. Then re-check look good in a sottly-lit living room. If Oklahoma, South Pacific and The Sound your white level. you need further convincing, ask your- of Music. self two questions. Have you ever seen a Finally, it’s time to set the color level TV in a store that really looks good? There is also a VHS tape on the And is the picture you see in the show- market that will assist you in calibrating continued on page 96 your set. It’s called the Audio Video Ad- justment Tape, or AVAT, and is available 24 VIDEO JUNE 1994

Carver separates. The essence of total control. Enticed by the sweetness of separates for your mode), yet without the extraneous gimmicks home theater system? that undermine aural integrity. But a nightmare image of a bazillion boxes and When matched with a Carver amplifier unruly wires has given you the heebie jeebies? (models from basic stereo to multi-channel), R-e-l-a-x. the CT-27v lets you direct power to any array of Now you can obtain a powerful home theater speaker combinations — a task for which a mere receiver is woefully undermanned. So you'll command center, combining the musical bril- achieve wider frequency response and have the liance of separates with the ease of a receiver, all dynamic headroom necessary for those explo- in one versatile package: Carver’s CT-27v Dolby sive moments in great movie soundtracks. Pro Logic™ A/V Preamplifier/Tuner. In sum: the CT-27v is the heart (and soul) of The CT-27v pairs flawless sound with excep- the most uncompromising home theater system. For more of the story, contact Carver today for a tional Dolby processing, including a generous feature length brochure. selection of DSP effects (wait ‘til you experience an old movie like Casablanca on our “Matrix” CARVER Powerful ¢ Musical ¢ Accurate CARVER CORPORATION, P.O. BOX 1237 LYNNWOOD, WA 98046 © (206) 775-1202 Circle 9 on Reader Service Card. © 1994 Carver Corporation Distributed in Canada by Evolution Audio, Oakville, Ontario (416) 847-8888 Dolby Pro Logic™ is a registered trademark of Dolby Labs Licensing Corp.

CAMCORNER BY TIMOTHY LIEBE Is poor lighting keeping your subjects in the dark? Here are three easy fixes. For most camcorder owners, concern more than just providing enough illu- also light stands and barn doors to direct about lighting begins and ends with be- mination to shoot by. If you’ve ever the light where you want it—is defi- ing able to see what's happening in the wondered why your indoor video images nitely worth the $300 or more you'll shot. For that alone, just about all con- look flat, or why you can’t keep objects probably pay. sumer camcorders have sufficient low- in focus, it’s at least partially because The easiest way to light a shot is to light capability to manage under most you don’t have enough light. For your use what my college video instructor indoor shooting circumstances. Video camcorder to “see” in a low-light situa- used to call “engineering lighting.” To hobbyists may know that lighting can tion, it has to open the iris wide. This re- do this, you mount an evenly-spaced help to set a scene’s mood or add drama. duces depth of field, which is the range line of lights (one every couple of feet) They may have even experimented with around the image you’ve focused on that high up in front of the area you’re shoot- putting lights on the floor to shine up- stays in focus as well. Another common ing, then mount a second, duplicate line ward, so people look menacing, or using problem caused by using insufficient high up in the back of the area. Point blue or amber lights to create a night- light is a grainy image, the result of your them all down at the shooting area and time or old-fashioned look. But too of- camcorder increasing the video gain to turn them all on. ten, they don’t know how to use extra compensate for low light. The drawback to engineering light- illumination to get better pictures in ev- There are two types of video lights ing is that it’s extremely distracting and eryday shooting situations. you can purchase for a sho—ophtoto- uncomfortable. Also, since all that light BACK LIGHT floods and halogens. Photo- pours down on your subjects, it has a (100 Watts) floods, the same lights you tendency to wash out their features un- used with your old movie less they’re heavily made-up. In other camera’s lighting bar, are words, this isn’t the sort of illumination relatively cheap (about $10 you want for taping a party or a meeting. for a 500-watt bulb). A far better way to evenly light a They're readily available at large area is bounce lighting, which pro- camera stores, and will vides more natural-looking, comfortable screw into any standard in- illumination. Set up your lights about candescent light socket. For five feet off the ground a few feet away under $50, you can create a from a white or off-white wall so they simple photoflood lighting bounce light off the walls, back into the kit with three of these bulbs area of the action. If the area where and three of the clamp-type parabolic light reflectors you're shooting doesn’t have white you can purchase at the walls, consider investing in silver-sur- hardware store. Their dis- faced lighting umbrellas, or tacking advantages are that they’re three-foot square pieces of white card- very hot to shoot under, board onto the wall your light will and only last for about five bounce from. hours. Worse, they’ll start to lose illuminating power The biggest disadvantage to bounce long before they burn out completely. lighting is that it requires at least double the wattage of engineering lighting. This is because you lose a lot of the original light in the bounce process. To illumi- Halogen lights, also nate a 20-foot-square area, figure you known as cool lights, last will need four 500-watt lights, one in KEY LIGHT FILL LIGHT much longer than photo- each corner. (100 Watts) (50 Watts) floods, are cooler to shoot The form of lighting most often used Visions Of Light: In a three-point lighting setup, use equal-powered under, and provide steady professionally, and which you’ve proba- illumination right up to the bly heard the most about, is three-point key and back lights, and a fill light that's only half as powerful. end. They are, unfor- lighting. It provides the best results This oversight is perfectly under- tunately, more expensive —a single light when shooting a mostly stationary per- standable, since one of the many attrac- with bulb could set you back at least son or object. It provides plenty of even tive features of low-light camcorders is $50—and since most of the bulbs re- illumination and a far more three-di- their unobtrusiveness. Unlike the 8mm quire a special socket, there’s no way to mensional feel than either engineering and Super-8 film cameras of a few de- screw them into a standard house light. or bounce lighting. However, the mo- cades back, these camcorders don’t re- (However, there are a few halogen bulbs ment your subjects move off-center, quire the camera operator to haul that do screw into a standard socket.) If they’re out of the effective range of the around a heavy bar of bright lights just you're serious about lighting, the invest- lights. Thus, using three-point lighting to get an image that can be viewed later. ment for a halogen lighting ki—wthich means changing the lights every time Lighting, however, involves much not only includes two or three lights, but | continued on page 94 26 VIDEO JUNE 1994

While its HQ circuitry sharpens the picture and its Hi-Fi stereo with Hyper-Bass delivers theater-quality sound, the real beauty of the HR-VP700 lies beneath its elegant, component-grade exterior. The HR-VP700 makes sure you record the programs you want, when you want them avorewmy ith its unique VCR+ with Cable Box Control. This means it not only programs in the date and time automatically, but it can even switch your cable box to the right channel. Instead of making you sit or scan through hours of video to find what you want to watch, the HR-VP700 has a unique “Video Album Maker” function that lets you pick out exactly the sections you want and dub them to another VCR in any order! Its Jog A; M Shuttle (also on the remote) gives you variable slow motion SELECT AND ASSEMBLE UP TO 8-SEGMENTS IN ANY ORDER...AUTOMATICALLY! speeds and multiple speed visual search to study or locate segments fast and accurately. Plus, its Flying Erase Head and Zero Frame Editing give your videos that glitch-free, professional look. Think about it: most high end VCR's brag about their enhanced performance, the JVC HR-VP700 enhances your performance, too. That’s because JVC invented VHS. ® The Inventor of VHS. At JVC, higher performance ‘means more than a better picture. JVG hyper-Bess Sound

BY RODERICK WOODCOCK Definitive Technology’ PANU) dale) ah 4-\\o MBmY-¥-1(-)05 AK- Hoitt's: Fairbanks» Pyramid: Anchorage. AL- In Concert: Huntsvilles Likis Audio:Birmingham. AB- Leisure Electronics: Little Rock. Az eit ig Audio Video: Phoenix, Tucson. Jittery F/X CA- Audio Concepts: Long Beach, San Gabriel Coast Satel- lite: Atascadero, Santa Maria Creative Stereo: Santa Bar- and drab dubs bara, Ventura David Rutledge Audio: Palm Springs» Henry Radio: LA.» Pacific Coast A/V: Newport Beache Paradyme: Sacramento Performance Audio: San Francisco» Sound Co.: Escondido, San Diegoe Sound Goods: Mtn. Views Systems Design: Redondo Beache West Chester TV: Bakersfield Wit son A/V:Woodland Hills. £Q- Listen Up: Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs. CT- Al Franklin's: Hartfords Carston’s A/V: Danburys Robert's Music: New London Sound Playground: Newing- ton, Orange, Manchester, Norwich. When dubbing tapes from one VCR volves making dozens of copies end-to- end on giant tape spools that are later - Audio Buys. cut apart and placed in VHS shells. In to another, I often use the slow mo- recent years, the use of digital VCRs to DE - Sound Studio: Dover, Newark, Wilmington. create master tapes has improved video tion control on the player to copy still quality immensely, and maximized the EL- Absolute Sound: Winter Parke Audio Ctr.: Ft. Lauderdale» quality of VHS copies. But VHS still has a top resolution of only about 240 lines, Audio Video: Tallahasee* Audio Video Interiors: Meboumes so it remains the weak link in a chain of Invisible Audio: Pensacolae Hoyt Stereo: Jacksonvillee Sensu- frames and slow-motion effects to the production tools that may start off with high-tech marvels. ous Sd.: Tampae Sound Components: Coral Gables» Sound recording. Why is it they look great Since I’ve also created many home Ideas: Gainesvilles Sound Insight: Ft. Pierces Stereotypes: videos (starting with S-VHS or Hi8 orig- when I’m dubbing them, but shake and inals, creating an edited master in the Daytonas Stereo World: Ft. Myers, Naplese Stuart A/V:Stuart. same format and then dubbing to VHS), Ican tell you it is possible to obtain good GA- Merit: Columbus» Music Audio: Atlantas Stereo Shop: VHS copies. But be sure you record only jitter when I try to watch the tape I’ve at the fast SP speed, and that your VHS Martineze Stereo Video Systems: Marietta. deck is the best you can find, preferably copied them to? P. Vasquez one with wide video heads. Hi- Audio Center: Honolulu Classic Audio: Honolulu. A friend says that S-VHS tape is the IA- Audio Logic: Des Moiness Camera Corner: Davenports best high-grade tape available, and Hawkeye: lowa City, Cedar Falls. Simi Valley, California delivers better video quality even on Good Ear : Boise. standard VHS recorders. Is this true? I buy regular grade tape for around $3 and iL- United Audio Centers: Chicago & Suburbss Cars & Stere- can’t see paying three or four times the They lack the stability and synchro- price for S-VHS. But if the audio and os: Rockfords Jon's Home Center: — Stereo Studio: video are better, I might for some occa- Palatines Select Sound: Napervilles Sterling Elect.: Sterlings nization needed to allow them to be sions. Is it worth the higher price? Sundown A/V: Springfield. copied while retaining their onscreen quality. To overcome this, you would Marc DeSanto IN- Ovation Audio: Clarksville, India lis. need to have either a VCR with digital San Diego, California KS- Accent Sound: Overland Parke Advance Audio: Wichita special effects or a VCR with a built-in Audio Junction: Junction City. time-base corrector. An outboard time- The higher-resolution recordings base corrector connected between the produced by the S-VHS system call KY- Ovation Audio: Lexington, Louisville. player and the recorder would accom- for a finer grain videotape. Standard plish the same thing, but these gadgets VHS certainly can’t match the specs for LA- Alterman Audio: New Orleans, Metairie, Covingtone Mu- are still fairly expensive. S-VHS, but I agree with your friend that sic Plus: Baton Rouges Wright's Sound Gallery: Shreveport, even when recording in VHS mode, an S-VHS tape will give you results compa- MA- Goodwins Audio: Boston, Shrewsbury: Nantucket table to those of the best high-grade Sound: Hyannis* Sound sony drraladSpringfield. tapes. Colors will be deeper and more vivid, and you will see less video grain MD- Audio Buys: Annapolis, Gaithersburg, Laurel, Rockville, Waldorf» Cumberland Elec.: Cumberland» Gramophone: Balt, and fewer dropouts. You'll also find Ellicott Citys Soundscape: Balt.» Sound Studio: Salisbury. S-VHS tape holds up better. Cheaper ME- Cookin’ : Portland. tapes usually don’t offer similar longevi- ty. For programs you intend to keep, a Mb Pecar's: Detroit, Troys Classical Jazz: Holland: Front Row better tape is definitely called for and A/V: Flinte Future Sound: Ypsilantie Court St. Listening S-VHS tape, even if not used on an S-VHS VCR, will perform well. Room: Midland, Saginawe McLelland TV: Hattiesburg. Of course, the real qualitative differ- MN- Audio Designs: Winonae Audio Perfection: Minneapolis, ence with S-VHS tape is only fully real- MQ- Independence A/V: Independences Sd. Central: St Louis. I recently bought a 3-CCD S-VHS- ized when you record in S-VHS mode C camcorder and edited my original on an S-VHS VCR. But prices on these NC- Audio Video Systems: Charlottes Stereo Sound: tapes onto S-VHS, using a Mitsubishi machines have come down to realistic HS-U80 VCR at the standard speed. levels, and if you haven’t compared the Durham, Greensboro, Raleigh, Winston Saleme Audio Lab: Both the original and the edited copy Wilmingtone Audio Video World: Rocky Mt.e Tri City Elect.: had stunning picture quality. But a VHS difference between VHS and S-VHS, Conover. perhaps it’s time to take a good look. = copy was a major disappointment. You NE- Custom Electronics: Omaha, Lincoln. could hardly tell I had used such good equipment for the original tapes. The NH- Cookin’: Nashua, Manchester, Newington, Salem, S. quality of the VHS movies coming out Nashua. of Hollywood is getting better all the time, and I realize they must have some NJ- Hal's Stereo: Trentons Monmouth Stereo: Monmouth: awesome duplicating machines. What Sound Waves: Northfield» Sassafras: Cherry Hille Wood- can I do to make my finished tapes look as good? Unfortunately, everyone I make pee Stereo: W. Caldwell, Woodbridge. copies for only has plain VHS. NM- West Coast Sound: Albuquerque, Santa Fe. R.A. Haas NV- Upper Ear: Las Vegas. Derry, New Hampshire NY- Audio Breakthroughs: Manhasset» Audio Den: Lake Ee: started off right, shooting on S-VHS and editing to S-VHS for Groves Audio Expressions: Newburghe Clark Music: Albany, your sub-master. But you don’t say what Syracusee Stereo Exchange: Manhattan, Nanuet Hart Elect.: sort of VHS deck you used for the distri- bution copies. There’s considerable vari- Vestal Innovative Audio: Brooklyne Listening Room: Scars- ation in quality among the hundreds of VHS models that are out there. Despite dale* Rowe Camera: Rochester» Sound Mill: Mt. Kisco, York- what you may have heard, a $700 town Hts.» Speaker Shop: Amherst, Buffalo. S-VHS deck recording in standard VHS mode will outperform a $200 VHS deck. QK- Contempary Sounds: Oklahoma Citys K Labs Premium It’s not just a question of “bells and Audio: Tulsa. whistles.” In many cases, the circuitry and video heads of economy models are QH- Audio Craft: Akron, Cleveland, Mayfield Hts., Westlakes not the equals of those on costlier decks. Audio Etc.: Dayton. Hollywood movies are duplicated QR- Bradford's HiFi: Eugenes Chelsea A/V: Portland using either “slave” VCRs or a high- Beavertone Kelly's Home Ctr.: Saleme Sterec f' speed video printing process that in- ° \"s Electronics: State Colleges GNT - ere Hart Electronics: Blakely, Kingstone Listening Post: Pits- burgh & suburbs Sassafras: Bryn Mawr, Montgomeryville, Whitehalle Stereoland: Natrona Heights* Studio One: Erie. SC- Dashboard: Charlestone Upstairs Audio: Columbia. IN- Hi Fi Buys: Nashvillee Lindsey Ward: Knoxvilles Modern Music: Memphise New Wave Elect.: Jacksons Sound Room: Johnson City. IX- Audio Tech: Temple, Waco» Audio Video: College Stations Brock A/V: Beaumont: Bunkley's Sd. Systems: Abi- lenee Bjorn's: San Antonios Hi Fidelity: Austine Home Enter- tainment: Dallas, Houstone Krystal Clear: Dallase Marvin Electronics: Ft. Worthe Sound Quest: El Pasos Sound Sys- tems: Amarilloe Sound Towne: Texarkana. UT- AudioWorks: Salt Lake Citys Stokes Bros.: Logan. YA- Audio Buys: Arlington, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas* Audio Connection: Virginia Beache Audiotronics: Roanokes Stereotypes: Charlottesville. YT- Audio Video Authority: S. Burlington. WA- Audio Waves: Everett» Definitive Audio: Bellevue, Seat- tes DESCO Electronics: Olympiae Evergreen Audio: Sil- verdales Pacific St. & Sd.: Wenatchees Tin Ear: Kennewick. W.YA- Sound Post: Princeton. WI- Absolute Sound & Vision: Sheboygane Audio Empori- um: Milwaukee* Sound World: Wausau. Puerto Rico- Precision Audio: Rio Piedras. Canada- Advance Electronics: Winnipege Audio Ctr.: Mon- treal, Ottawa, Quebec Citys Audio Designs: Edmontone Bay Bloor Radio: Toronto Digital Dynamics: Clearbrook B.C.» Great West Audio: Londons Lipton’s: New Market Ontarioe Peak Audio: Halifaxe Sound Hounds: Victoria B.C.* Sound Room: Vancouver Sound Station: Courtenay B.C. 28 VIDEO JUNE 1994 Mexico- Contact Grupo Volumen: Mexico City. Definitive Technology®

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WV HalBERGER-BRAITHWAITE LABS | When it intro- duced the Super- Flat TV two years ago, Panasonic launched the two biggest trends in consumer video PANASONIC monitors —re- duced-curvature screens and dark- tint faceplates. 31-inch The first Super- Flat sets were out- TV standing— the 31- inch model turned out to be our favorite direct-view monitor in 1992. For legal reasons, Panasonic has since changed the name of the sets to Gaoo (Japanese for “king of pictures”), but the quality | remains the same —recently, a 27-inch Gaoo ranked highly in our “27-Inch Super Bowl” comparison test (Nov. ‘93). The latest top-of-the-line Gaoo set is the CT-31XF50R. It’s absolutely packed with features, most of which im- pact the sonics rather than the visuals. The most unusual feature is an integral infrared emitter that transmits sound to a pair of wireless headphones included Light Listening: The CT-31XF50R's wireless headphones get signals from an infrared light at the lower left. with the set. The emitter looks totally | high-te—ciht’s a perforated black cylin- portable CD players. Most infrared Panasonic’s re- headphones require you to keep your duced-curvature der with a red glow shining through the head pointed toward the emitter, but holes. The headphones sound as good as these are designed so that you can walk TVs have ranked most of the $40 jobs sold as upgrades for among our favor- Panasonic Price: $2,400 Internal Audio Ampli- berts, warm—84 foot- ites since they were introduced two fier Power: 15 watts lamberts (all using 25% years ago. The $2,400 CT-31XF50R is CT-siXFo0 W1ei9gh5t 0S,&2424Size (h/w/d): per channel, 15 watts window pattern) 31-Ineh TV surround the latest 31-inch model in the line, 31-1/2 x 21 inches Color Temperature: with Dolby Pro-Logic surround Key Features: dual- cool 13,500-K, standard sound, Panasonic’s great Active Screen Size: 31 inches tuner PIP with color, 10,500 Kelvins, warm Dome speaker system, dual-tuner tint, headphone volume 7,500 K picture-in-picture, an integral cord- Speaker Size: 2 and audio mode adjust- less headphone transmitter and sup- each—4-inch woofer ment; video noise Accuracy of Colors: plied IR wireless headphones. The and 3 x 1.5-inch oval reduction, switchable very good at warm pre- picture and sound are outstanding tweeter color temperature, dual set (although the color temperature is a program timer, Dolby bit high for our taste). We Inputs; front—S-video/ Pro-Logic, AIC digital Audio Frequency video/stereo audio; contrast enhancement Response: (electronics) rate the CT-31X F50R rear—2 S-video/video/ 20 Hz-10 kHz +/-3 dB, excellent overal—lif stereo audio, 1 video/ RESULTS -7 dB at 20 kHz you're into features stereo audio (parallel and high perfor- with front input), 2 RF Horizontal Resolution: Audio S/N: 67.3 (antenna/cable) 750 lines mance, and appre- Total Harmonic ciate the conve- Outputs: front—head- Picture S/N Ratios Distortion: 0.9% nience afforded by phones; rear—S-video/ (dB): video 52.7, a generous jack video/stereo audio chroma AM 62.1, RATINGS pack, check out (loop-through of se- chroma PM 62.3 this television. lected source), video/ Picture: excellent stereo audio, RF (split Screen Brightness: of antenna 1 input), cool 82.5 foot-lamberts, Audio: very good spring clips for sur- | standard 90 foot-lam- round speakers Overall: very good, excellent. PLMVEOHISRDOESTOITLGELRSOATPHS: 30 VIDEO JUNE 1994

around your TV room and seldom lose Despite the wide- RCA’s CC547 the signal. combines the con- spread availability venience of full- Panasonic also sweetened the sound sized VHS tapes with a built-in Dolby Pro-Logic decoder. of palm-size sub- with the simplicity of the latest VHS- If you stick with the set’s own speakers, C and 8mm point-and-shoots. It has the decoder won’t do you any good. compact VHS-C However, Panasonic included amps for no manual controls for iris, white bal- surround speakers —just connect two and 8mm cam- ance or shutter speed —just buttons speakers and you've got a surround sys- for focus, zoom, fade and a character tem. You'll get much higher perfor- corders, full-size titler. It also offers a few unusual fea- mance, though, if you use the CT-31XF50R’s line-level left, center and VHS models just tures: digital zoom, instant zoom, a tight outputs to feed an external amp RCA won’t go away. But color viewfinder, an integral video and speakers. light, wipe to black and fade to white In big-screen sets, the shadow mask that’s for good rea- with zoom. Performance-wise, this is son —they’re easy a winne—rwe rate it excellent in ev- (the perforated metal sheet that keeps ery way compared to other VHS | the beams from each electron gun from VHS to use and com- camcorders. If you're serious about camcorder fortable to shoot shooting video, this camcorder will hitting the wrong color phosphors) can with, and their be too limiting for you, but if you’re overheat and expand, causing an effect just shooting for fun, and playing tapes play in any around with features like this cam- corder's letterbox mode, you and VHS VCR without an adapter. Along your family will probably enjoy it. with Panasonic and Hitachi, RCA has One, labeled instant zoom, instantly magnifies the image by 50 percent. The been one of the biggest promoters of other, labeled digital zoom, lets you en- ter the extended zoom range. By using full-size VHS camcorders. The CC547 the zoom rocker alone, you can access the full optical zoom range plus the first occupies the top of its 1994 VHS line. 2x of the digital zoom range, for a total magnification of 24x. The digital zoom called doming, which results in dis- Surprisingly for a top-of-the-line button frees you to go out to about 64x, coloration. This set has an Invar shadow and adding the instant zoom brings the masks that for all intents and purposes model, it offers few of the features that range to 100x. prevents doming. advanced amateur videographers de- The digital zoom button also acces- The set also has picture-in-picture ses a 16:9 letterboxing mode, which puts with dual tuners, so you don’t have to mand, like manual control of aperture black bars at the top and bottom of the hook up a VCR or an external tuner to picture. This makes the CC547’s 16:9 watch two channels at once. You can and shutter speed, hi-fi stereo sound and pictures playable on a normal TV, al- monitor the sound of either picture with though when played on a 16:9 TV, they the set’s internal speakers, and monitor jacks for an external microphone and won't have as much resolution as the the sound from the other picture with the headphones, so two people can headphones. But it does include many continued on page 35 watch two programs at once. There is a full set of controls for the PIP picture features that casual shooters will actu- | and sound, including scan mode, color, ally find more appealing. These include a tint, volume control and stereo/SAP/ color LCD viewfinder, an integral video mono audio. You can program and access two light, digital zoom and a versatile fader. channel-scan sequences: all pro- Of these, the zoom is most interest- grammed active channels, and a subset ing. The CC547 combines a two-speed, of up to 15 favorite channels. Each se- quence has its own rocker control. The 12x optical zoom with a digital magnifier. Two buttons trigger the digital zoom. set uses Panasonic’s Easicon menu sys- tem, which has 12 icons for submenus. Like other menu systems, it can be a bit Light Up: RCA’s CC547 has an cumbersome, and takes some getting integral video light. used to. _ ; The video control options include switchable noise reduction, cool/stan- dard/warm color temperature and dual program timers. The set also offers Arti- ficial Intelligence Control (AIC), which uses fuzzy logic to adjust contrast in only selected parts of the picture, along with many of the picture improvement cir- cuits now common to high-end TVs, in- cluding velocity modulated scan and black-level expansion. continued on page 37 JUNE 1994 VIDEO 31

VIDEQTESTS SAMSUNG One of the hottest trends in video— 19-inch threh hi weG Ra VHS seems diametrical- ly opposed to the VR concerns of video- philes. The gener- al public loves TVCRs because they combine a TV and a VCR in one chassis, so there’s no hookup required, and ee eee require even a single button push. But 4 HEAD -ou-scneen the TVs and VCRs that go into these units are usually bottom-of-the-line Cool Combo: Samsung's CXB1924 TVCR combines a four-head mono VHS VCR and a 19-inch TV. components that offer the bare mini- mum of performance. And once you’re lution of both the TV and the VCR fall TVCERs are hot, used to a top-notch TV, it’s hard to short of what we’re used to testing, but as we'll see, that’s not necessarily so bad. hot, hot. Consum- watch a bad one, even if it’s only used in ers love them be- The CXB1924 clearly lives up to the cause they’re easy a bedroom or vacation home. convenience claims made for TVCRs— to hook up and us—eyou don’t have On the surface, Samsung’s $720 just push in a tape that doesn’t have a to connect the VCR to the TV, worry about selecting the proper input or CXB1924 seems to be cut from pretty record tab, and the VCR and TV both remember to turn on two devices. cheap cloth—it incorporates a four- (For videophiles, of course, these head, mono VCR and a 19-inch tube continued from page 37 tasks are easy.) TVCRs don’t perform with no comb filter. (A comb filter sepa- as well as high-quality separate com- rates the luminance and chrominance ponents, though. Samsung’s signals, and permits TVs to display the CXB1924 is no exception, but it does full resolution of signals from S-VHS, produce a pleasing picture for what it Hi8 and laserdisc.) The horizontal reso- is—it’s great for the bedroom, but samsung CXB1S24 Price: $720 Video Heads: 4 onscreen programming, not appropriate for serious viewing. 19-Inch VAS TVCR easy removal of VCR The sound is mono, and the features Weight & Size (h/w/d): Rapid Search: VISS for servicing, front are rather limited, although it does 50.7 pounds, 19-1/8 x video/audio input 22-1/2 x 18 inches Cue & Review Search: include onscreen programming. We 9x SP and LP, 27x EP RESULTS rate picture quality good, audio qual- Screen Size: 19 inches ity fair and overall performance good. diagonally Fast Forward/Rewind Horizontal Resolution: At $720, this is a good choice for a Time: fast forward TV 270 lines, VCR simple, all-in-one video system. Speaker Size: one 3-2/3 min., rewind 4-1/3 220-230 lines approx. 3 x 5 inches min., high-speed rewind Audio Frequency Re- Audio Distortion: 0.9% 2-2/3 min; all times for Picture S/N Ratios sponse: 75 Hz-11 kHz Broadcast Tuning 120 min. tape (dB): unweighted video SP, 75 Hz-4 kHz LP, RATINGS Range: 2 to 13, 14 to 47.3 SP, 48 LP, 46.5 75Hz-3.5 kHz EP (all -3 Picture: good 69 Program Start Loca- EP; weighted video dB) Audio; fair tor/index/Cue: VISS 50.8 SP, 51.2 LP, 50.1 Overall: good Cable Tuning Range: index search with auto EP; chroma AM 46.7 Audio S/N Ratio (dB): 125 channels -- 4A, 2 marking—scan with SP, 44.5 LP, 41.8 EP; 42.6 SP, 40.9 LP & EP to 13, A to W, W+1 to play of 5 secs. at each chroma PM 40.2 SP, W+84, A-5 to A-1 37.3 LP, 38.8 EP mark, or direct access Jacks: front—video/ to marks Color Temperature: mono audio input, preset 1 7,500 Kelvin, tear—video/mono audio Audio: linear mono preset 2 6,800 Kelvin input and output, RF (antenna/cable) input Timer: 8-event/1-year Screen Brightness: preset 1 93 foot-lam- Internal Audio Ampli- Key Features: auto- berts, preset 2 54 foot- fier Power: 2 watts matic power on when lamberts tape is inserted, frame Tape Speeds: SP, LP, advance, slow motion, EP three picture presets, 32. VIDEO JUNE 1994 Beied >>

t the heart of your home entertainment system are micro- strike. Features like EMI/RFI =) [sa] [ar | processors. Tiny little computer chips in your TV and VCR noise filtration for clearer picture | mw i that control! everything from the clock to the contrast, from the channel to the color. Unfortunately, this technology is as and sound, and line fault/ground COO ITdal delicate as it is amazing. Everyday surges and spikes in your OK indicators make this unit the AC, cable and phone lines can caus e serious damage to your Oh AO valuable electronics, costing you tim e and money. best there is. ole (a a So if you care about the performance of your TV and VCR, you should take the same precautions you'd take to protect Six AC outlets andaset of sm hor any microprocessor-based system. an The COAXMAXe@6 from Panamax will protect your home i>)ntertainment equipment against everything from minor coax connectors will accommo- sit UI po power fluctuations to major surges and spikes. COAXMAX lop)has the highest surge capacity in the industry - 40,000 date most any system and one |.- | i amps. That's twice the value of an average lightning outlet is “always-on” to provide 4) —--— gi - for your VCR's clock and memory SGAXMAX 6 features. ems: _ Wrap this up with the Panamax @)MADE IN USA @ Lifetime Product and $5 Million Connected Equipment ayes Warranty and you have - quite simply - the best protec- tion available. 150 MITCHELL BLVD., SAN RAFAEL, CA 94903 * 415-499-3900, EXT. 3983 » USA & CANADA 800-472-5555, EXT. 3983 » FAX 415-472-5540 Circle 11 on Reader Service Card.

VIDEOTESTS Ca 8 CC compariace uss PLAYER LV-1500S LO/CDO/COV Laser Dise «vs: ysas OPEN/CLOSE Ce PPealisctiieanll§ sxe ee Karaoke King: Although BMB is known for its karaoke machines, the LV-1500S is a plain combi player. We’ve long known matic side-changing and digital effects. BMB’s LV-1500S However, many videophiles consider combi player Nikkodo as a such features unnecessa—rthyey just comes from Nik- want a great picture and great sound. kodo, a company manufacturer of best known for karaoke machines. It’s The LV-1500S has all of the usual one of the most straightforward laser- laserdisc and CD playback options, like still, step forward disc players you can buy—no digital and reverse, multiple-speed play on effects, no automatic side-changing, karaoke machines, no jog/shuttle dial and no S-video CAV discs, and programmed playback of output. But simple as it is, it does a and we were sur- up to 20 chapters or tracks in any order. competent job of playing laserdiscs It also offers program edit, which lets and CDs. Unlike some of the latest prised to find out you record the maximum number of inexpensive laserdisc players, it scans tracks in a specified time. This makes it CAV discs smoothly, without placing that the company easy to transfer programs to another me- flashing black frames in the picture — dium with a fixed playing length (like an a big plus for CAV fans. It also has makes a straight- the usual special effects on CAVs, in- audio cassette), but it will not let you cluding still, bidirectional frame ad- combi forward, non-ka- rearrange the order of the tracks. vance, slow motion and speed play. Its playback features include pro- raoke laserdisc The front panel has the usual con- gramming of up to 20 chapters or player with no mi- trols for transport functions like play tracks in any order, and program edit, and stop, plus a 10-digit keypad and a which makes it easier to record tracks crophone input. from a CD onto an audio cassette. We rate the picture, audio and over- player Sold under the all performance very good, which is about average for a $595 player. BMB brand, the LV-1500S is a combi headphone jack with its own level con- player, so it plays 12- and eight-inch la- trol. The remote has all the controls we expect in a player at this price, including serdiscs, five-inch CD-Videos and five- the basic transport functions, a 10-digit keypad, buttons to control the program- and three-inch CDs. It’s an entry-level ming functions and audio output, and even a dimmer button that makes the player, with no fancy features like auto- player's display darker. BMB IV-1508S Program Start Loca- 53.1, chroma AM 46.5, The jack panel includes two video/ tor/index/Cue: point A, chroma PM 40.1 stereo audio outputs. There’s no S-video CombiPlayer programmed chapter/ output, which on a laserdisc player track, or random chap- Audio Frequency doesn’t make any difference unless your Price: $595 ter track; CAV frame or Response: digital 10 TV has a really lousy luminance/chromi- Weight & Dimensions chapter; CLV/CD-Video/ Hz-20 kHz, +/-0.5 dB; nance separator. (If you see lots of dot (h/w/d): 18.3 Ibs., 4-7/8 CD time or chapter/ analog 20 Hz-20 kHz, x 16-5/8 x 15-1/4 track, +2,4/-2.6 dB inches Outputs: 2 video/stereo AFM Analog Audio: Digital Audio Dynamic audio, 1/4-inch head- Stereo or two indepen- Range: 88.7 dB phone jack with level dent tracks control AFM Audio S/N Ratio: Digital Audio: stereo 72.6 dB Disc Formats: 12- & or two independent 8-inch laserdisc, 5-inch tracks, bitstream D/A Audio Distortion: digi- CD-Video, 5- & 3-inch conversion tal less than 0.005%, cD analog 0.03% RESULTS Rapid Search: by time/ RATINGS frame, chapter/track, Horizontal Resolution: point A-B 410 lines Picture: very good Picture S/N Ratios Audio: good (dB): unweighted video 47.8, weighted video Overall: good/very good 34 VIDEO JUNE 1994

crawl on edges, it does.) There’s also no VHS CAMCORDER VIDEO ADVERTISER digital audio output for connecting an continued from page 31 WEVanbemeco)(olol-)qe pmaact-y(o(-y0hm external digital-to-analog convertor, as squeezed-type 16:9 pictures we've seen Lenmar, talks about on other RCA camcorders. (Strangely camcorder accessories. many audiophiles do to get better sound. enough, the manual says the camcorder produces squeezed-type 16:9 pictures.) What do you see as being the Last, the LV-1500S has no RF input or most important camcorder Because the digital and instant accessories? Why? output, so in the unlikely event your TV zooms enlarge without adding detail, at No doubt the single most impor- any range past about 20x, the picture tant accessory is power; with- has no direct video/audio input, you'll becomes noticeably pixelated. Past out it your camcorder is useless. But about 30x, the picture becomes indis- all accessories should be geared have to use an RF modulator, or daisy- tinct, more a special effect than a usable towards increasing the performance image. Also, the CC547 doesn’t go of the video equipment as well as chain the LV-1500S through a VCR. smoothly from the end of its optical the video maker. zoom range into its digital zoom range — Examples of some of our more A voltage selector switch on the it takes about a second to change gears, popular performance products so you can’t do a smooth crawl from full include our on-board, 2-hour back lets you use the LV-1500S from vir- wide-angle to 24x. NoMEM\"™ batteries and our Beltpaks™ that let you shoot up to 5-8 hours tually any power outlet —it takes 110 The fader also caught our interest. It run time. Our OQwickClip” lenses just offers three options, each of which can snap on to let you see more and do and 220 volts, and 50- and 60-Hertz be used to start or end a scene. They more. Our Softpan™ Tripods allow AC, and it comes with a conversion are: wipe from top and bottom to black, you to pan and tilt smoothly in one fade to white, and fade to white with a single action. We also have video plug for foreign power outlets. slight zoom in at the start of a scene, and lights that improve the picture day or out at the finish. The transitions can be night, camera bags that protect your The LV-1500S’s picture is good for the called up with the fade button; view- investment, and rapid battery charg- finder icons tell you which one is se- ers that completely manage your price. In absolute terms, our measure- lected. Those who don’t use outboard power needs at home or on the go. editing equipment will find these taste- ments place it in the second tier of laser- ful transitions add style to their videos. What are the current trends in camcorder accessories? disc players. It has no problems that The four-watt color enhancement The current trend is for products light sits next to the CC547’s mic. A that are small in size, convenient really jump out at you, although with a switch on the camcorder’s left side turns to use, and multifunctional. For exam- on the light, or selects the auto mode, in ple, Lenmar’s new OmniSourcePlus™ horizontal resolution of only about 410 which the light comes on automatically will not only charge, recondition, and when needed. test one or two NoMEM or nickel cad- lines, it doesn’t produce quite as much mium batteries, but it will also power The camcorder’s other features in- most 8mm and VHS-C camcorders detail as top players like Pioneer’s $2,500 clude a titler that produces two lines of through AC or DC. up to 16 characters and works in both CLD-97, which gives you a clean 425 camera and playback modes; an auto ex- What is the difference between posure system that uses the highest a standard camcorder battery lines of resolution. But for $595, it’s not and a NOMEM™ camcorder battery? shutter speed possible (up to 1/4,000- Most standard batteries are bad. Its errors are of omission, so they’re second) for the lighting conditions; au- made with nickel cadmium cells. dio and audio/video dub; and a color Inherent to the property of NiCd isa much more benign than the digital arti- viewfinder that includes indicators for phenomenon called “memory,” battery condition and zoom setting. which can progressively reduce a facts, color noise and chrominance-to-lu- NiCd’s capacity to hold a full charge. We've often encountered problems The NoMEM Battery has no memory, minance delay found in many laserdisc trying to achieve accurate manual focus- so you can fully charge it from any ing with color viewfinders, because the level and have full capacity. players, especially those in the $1,200 resolution is usually so low. But because this viewfinder offers only slightly less range with digital effects. resolution than the camera itself, it didn’t really bother us. You can adjust When scanning CLV discs, the color, tint and brightness of the view- finder, but we found the factory calibra- LV-1500S produces clear scan —alter- tion to be accurate. nating black and still frames. We like The CC547 presents a few obstacles to the new user, all of which can be this better than the rolling, noisy images overcome with a few hours of practice. The run/pause trigger is located in the many players produce on CLV scans. On middle of the zoom rocke—irt’s possible (but unlikely) that you could hit it acci- CAVs, it produces smooth scanning dentally while zooming. It doubles as the pause button when you’re playing back a with no black frames at all speeds. This tape in the CC547. The manual focus- gives it a small advantage over the Pi- JUNE 1994 VIDEO 35 oneer CLD-S201 we tested last month, which produces a clear-scan effect when searching CAVs, so you lose some of the benefit of buying CAVs. The sound of the player’s bitstream digital-to-analog convertor is decent, much better than the cheap CD player we keep around the office, but not as smooth as the best stuff in this price range. Like most other low-priced play- ers, which tend to have inexpensive, stamped-metal chassis that vibrate a lot, its transport mechanism can be slightly noisy. If you keep the player in a cabinet, the noise will be no problem, and if you place another piece of gear on top of it, most of the noise will be dampened. But if the player is exposed and you don’t put something on top of it, you might notice a bit of noise during quiet scenes of a laserdisc. Overall, we rate the LV-1500S good to very good. It’s worth considering if you can pick it up at a good discount. Ata list price $60 lower, Pioneer's CLD- §201 offers slightly superior performance and a few more features. However, CAV fans will probably prefer the LV-1500S CSR1oi2aenrracdvdl.iecre for its smooth CAV scanning. r]

ing mode is triggered when you push 50 IRE, its low-light performance is ex- VHS linear track (which, of course, falls both focusing buttons, after which you cellent. far below VHS hi-fi and 8mm in perfor- mance). The only problem we noticed is can adjust focus by pushing one of the The sound is nearly as good, with a slight amount of transport noise leak- buttons. This made us a little uncom- fairly broad response and low noise for fortable at first, but once we got used to it, it felt quite natural. RCA auto macro and push- Tape Speed: SP Horizontal Resolution: (C547 button manual Video Heads: 2 camcorder 250 lines, The camcorder is a little shorter VHS viewfinder 200 lines than other full-size models we’ve tried. Iris: auto only It fits well on the shoulder if you keep Cameorder your elbow tucked in at the waist and is tFoadbelra:ck,toorwhiztoeo,m wipe Cue & Review Search: Picture S/N Ratios less prone to wobbling because of its Price: $899 3x (dB): width, but it can slide forward if you and unweighted video 46.2, don’t keep your elbow close to your Weight & Size (h/w/d): Fast Forward/Rewind weighted video 51.7, body. Because there are so few buttons, 4.4 lbs. without battery fade to white Time: 5-1/4 min. for chroma AM 45.9, the camcorder is very easy to operate by or cassette; 8-1/8 x 120-min. tape chroma PM 41.6 feel. One especially nice touch is con- 4-3/8 x 12-1/4 inches; Shutter Speeds (sec.): ventional RCA jacks for video and au- battery adds 1 inch to fully automatic auto ex- Edit Protocol: none Minimum Illumination: depth 2.9 lux for 50 IRE dio input and output— many past RCA Image Sensor: posure with self- Program Start Loca- camcorders used a multipin connector selected speeds of tor/Index/Cue: auto Audio Frequency that required a special cable. 1/3-inch CCD 1/60, 1/120, 1/180, marking but does not Response: 100 Hz-11 1/250, 1/350, 1/500, tread index marks kHz (-3 dB) The autofocus is pretty stable for a Lens: {/1.8, 12x 1/750, 1/1,000, 1/1,500, Linear Audio SIN: through-the-lens (TTL) design —it set- (5-60mm) zoom v1/2a,00g0, or 1/4,000 Audio: linear mono tles down quickly except in very low light, and taking only a second or two to Filter Diameter: autoirteonlyBalance: Titles/Graphics: 2 lines |41.3 dB travel from infinity focus to a close-up. 46mm of 16 characters Audio Distortion: 0.9% The CC547’s picture is as good as we Minimum Focusing can remember seeing from a VHS cam- Distance: wide-angle— Viewfinder: color LCD Clock Battery Backup: Approx. Battery Life: corder. All the measurements are very 3/8 inch, tele—44 with thumbwheel bright- 2 months 50 min. (man. focus/no high for a VHS camcorder, and a visual inches ness control and Key Features: audio zoom) check revealed virtually no visible noise Focus: TTL auto with screwdriver controls for or other picture problems. At 2.9 lux for dub, integral 4-watt color and tint Microphone: mono video light, digital RATINGS electret condenser zoom, instant zoom, wipe to black, fade to Picture: excellent Jacks: video/audio in- white with zoom Audio: excellent put/output, DC out for RESULTS Overall: excellent RF adapter PANASONIC PBS50 Orig. PAN. $45.00 RAPID CHARGERS PANASONIC PB80/88 Orig.PAN........39.00 SONY NP77H 2400 mah 2 CAMCORDER CHARGER/DISCHARGER SONY 8mm 1500 mah... 6V, 7.2V, 9.6V runs from CANON 8mm 2000 mah.. house or auto. : | PALMCORDER 2000 ma 1 hr. time for Sony, Canon, | Panasonic, RCA/Hitachi JVC GR-C9 Type C . |& most other brands SHARP BT 21/22 SHARP BT 70/80 2400 mal Charges 1 battery $44 RCA/HITACHI 8 mm 2400 mah............39. Charges 2 batteries $69 Bates eee NEW External Powerpac Spring Special 5 to 7 hours of recording time. New lower prices Powerpac+ includes: on chargers =6volt @ 10 amps Sony NP-500 sealed lead acid battery. Lithium Battery original Cs=Heavy duty pouch and belt. Sony Brand $54.00 Charger for NP-500 $49.00 =A charger for charging at home (optional charging cord for car). 36 VIDEO JUNE 1994 $85#An adaptor of your choice. =12 volt @ 7 amps $95 BATTERY TECH, INC. 800-442-427528-25 215TH PLACE, BAYSIDE, N.Y. 11360 = FAX:718-631-5117 AMERICAN EXPRESS eS = Circle 13 on Reader Service Card.

ing into the mic — you might notice it on as low as 50 Hz. The response of the VCR's linear audio track is about aver- voice recordings in a quiet room. age at SP, but the highs roll off consid- The CC547 easily deserves an excel- erably at LP and EP. lent rating—it’s one of the best VHS Our conclusion is that the CXB1924 camcorders we’ve tested. While the is quite suitable for environments where CC547’s VHS format and limited fea- you won't be viewing critically but still tures preclude its use for serious video- want a pleasing picture, like the bed- graphy, it’s an ideal family camcorder. m room or a vacation home. Keep it out of the living room, though—a good large- VHS TVGR screen set and hi-fi VCR will prove Py continued from page 32 vastly more pleasing. power up, the TV switches its input to SI-INCH TV accept the VCR’s output, and the VCR continued from page 31 BOOM! starts playing. If the tape has a record tab, you'll have to push play. The TV The remote control’s most unusual BANG automatically displays signals from the VCR whenever the deck is playing. feature is its multi button, which can ex- Introducing the ecute a combination of up to six com- The unit has onscreen programming, mands at one push. For example, it can VOLUME STABILIZER™ a one-touch record timer, front inputs be programmed to turn on the TV, turn (for making dubs of camcorder tapes) on the VCR, turn on the cable box, that lets you hear the whispers and two picture presets in addition to a switch to video input, set the VCR to and stops you from user-adjustable setting. The only addi- play, and select PIP. tions that would make the deck much cringing at the bangs. The picture quality of the easier to use are two tuners (so you CT-31XF50R is outstanding— it’s clearly It’s an innovative, low cost solu- one of the top direct-view sets you can tion to home video volume control could watch a show and tape another at buy. As with other Gaoo sets we’ve re- problems because it automatically the same time) and VCR Plus. viewed, the picture is exceedingly de- increases the volume of the audio tailed, with an almost 3-D appearance. source during soft passages and The VCR and TV are both mono— The Y/C (luminance/chrominance) sep- reduces volume during loud pas- the set has speaker enclosures on both arator works extremely well, so you get sages. You'll hear every word of sides, but the right one is empty. The very little dot crawl from composite dialogue and every bar of music rear panel has video/audio inputs and while the VOLUME STABILIZER outputs, so you can hook up the video sources. softens the sounds that are CXBI1924 like a stand-alone VCR if you The set's biggest fault is that even on normally too loud. wish. A VCR repairman we know told us the CXB1924 should be a snap to the low setting, its color temperature is Whether you use a satellite dish, service — just remove two screws and the too high, at 7,500 Kelvins. (NTSC a home theatre system, or just a VCR, you can put the remote con- deck slides out of the chassis. standard is 6,500 Kelvins.) This gives a trol aside. Prices start at $119.50. We had a tough time rating the slight bluish cast to the picture. Al- For more information call or write: CXB1924’s picture because while it does though this color is not as extreme as on Brookline Tech not offer the detail of expensive TV sets, many (if not most) other sets we’ve re- it looks decent. The reason is the rela- viewed, we wish manufacturers would 2035 Carriage Hill Road tively low horizontal resolution of both give consumers the option of a true Allison Park, PA 15101-3350 the TV (270 lines) and the VCR (220 to 6,500-Kelvin color temperature setting. 800-366-9290 230 lines), which tends to obscure or There’s also a very slight amount of lu- Circle 14 on Reader Service Card. prevent artifacts like dot crawl and minance noise noticeable. chrominance/luminance interference The audio is quite good, although (the rainbow patterns you sometimes see not as advanced as in some other big di- on striped or highly detailed subjects). rect-view sets. Panasonic designed the When we fed test patterns from a la- Active Dome sound system specifically serdisc directly into the TV, the chromi- to create a strong center image, as if the nance-luminance interference was very sound were really coming from the obvious, but when watching broadcasts screen, and this it does quite well. Its and tapes, we were very surprised to no- Dolby Pro-Logic circuitry provides qual- tice that these artifacts were much less ity surround sound without the leakage pronounced than on many much more inherent in plain Dolby Surround proc- expensive sets. And on the 19-inch essing (which is in the XBR? models). screen, you don’t really notice the lack The CT-31XF50R’s biggest competi- of resolution. We rate the picture good, tors are Sony’s XBR? sets, and deciding with the caveat that it has significant er- between these tubes is tough—they re- ally look quite similar. The Panasonic rors of omission. The sound is nothing speci—awhlat may have a slight edge in color accuracy, can you expect from a mono VCR and a while the Sonys display a bit less noise, single, 3- by 5-inch oval speaker —but it and the XBR2 model with an audio sys- is serviceable for the typical uses of a tem has better sound. Honestly, we'd be TVCR. The frequency response of the perfectly happy with either one, and speaker is fairly flat from 100 Hertz to would probably make our choice based 12.5 kilohertz, with some usable output on price and features. B JUNE 1994 VIDEO 37

_ BY COREY GREENBERG © How Dolby’s new + SS 0, to your living room. Although all six Surround Digital channels will be carried on a single digi- format will add a LA sonic muscle to tal data stream in future HDTV, laser- disc and videotape formats, their movies and muSICc. Es imaeQey,separation is maintained all the way through the analog-to-digital and digi- tal-to-analog processes. In the current Pro-Logic format, the four channels of surround sound are de- | tived from an encoded two-channel ma- If you're a hardcore home theater nut, trix, or combination of the two stereo you probably already know that Dolby iwam.er, ie tracks found on VHS tapes, laserdiscs Surround Digital 5.1 will be the new and MTS stereo broadcasts encoded in multichannel audio format for sur- Dolby Stereo. By having to encode the round sound. The whole industry is four original channels into two so abuzz over 5.1, but questions abound they'll fit on a tape or disc, and then about the specifics —like when it will decode them back into four channels get here, how much it will cost, how it with a Pro-Logic processor, the separa- will work, and whether or not we'll h tion between the four channels is dras- have to toss our current home theater tigs into landfills and start over. Reece’)tically reduced by virtue of the matrix scheme itself. In fact, the term “logic- If home theater is the hottest thing steering,” the heart of Pro-Logic de- to hit audio since the introduction of coding, refers to the Dolby circuit’s ability to quickly turn down the level of the CD, Dolby Surround Digital is the other speakers when one going to be the hottest thing speaker dominates in the mix, to hit home theater period. in order to enhance the sense While we’re still at least a ea of separation among the four year away from actual hard- Ld channels. ware and software hitting While this can work well, dealers’ shelves, it’s clear the ce logic-steering has audible arti- new format is going to radi- facts that limit its ability to cally improve not only the ~‘mad present a perfect reproduction movie-oriented home theater experience, but straight music of the intended soundfield. reproduction as well. This is especially noticeable in the admittedly rare situation WHAT IT IS Dolby Sur- a when all four round Digital 5.1 channels are car- tying different in- is the multichan- formation at nel digital audio once —the chan- format that will nels leak into be featured on each other and future HDTV make for a sonic broadcasts, laser- jumble. discs and digital With the dis- videotape. It’s crete channels of called 5.1 because in addition to the Surround Digital, this problem has five main channels — left, center, right and stereo sur- been eliminated — no matter round —there’s also a bass how complex the mix, channel meant to be fed toa there’s total separation be- system’s subwoofer. tween channels at all times, Okay, so Surround Digi- JAR and the soundfield remains tal has stereo surrounds [iidemung perfectly focused and clear. while Dolby Pro-Logic only Zoran’s AC-3 In a demonstration of Pro- decodes a mono surround si Logic and Surround Digital channel that’s fed tWohabto’tsh’ ‘lta versions of the same film surround speakers. /*\\eeey gl- soundtracks at Dolby Labs recently, I was struck by how the big deal? The answer lies much more realistic and in the word discrete —Sur- tangible the 3-D “virtual re- round Digital is a fully dis- ality” soundfield was with crete multichannel format, the new format than with which means that all six the current standard. channels of audio are kept When I went to see The totally separate all the way Fugitive this summ—efrirst from the recording session in Dolby Stereo, then in 38 VIDEO JUNE 1994

—__TRGHNIGAL HISTORY OFSURROUND SOUND: The first popular multichannel systems were two-channel stereo—a two-channel source and amp, and two speakers. The best stereo systems can produce convincing surround-sound effects. Early surround-sound systems used Hafler-matrix passive decoders, which connected to the speaker terminals of a stereo amp. Separa- tion between front and surround channels was only 6 decibels. Dolby Surround line-level decoders also offered 6-dB separation, but with delay in the surround channel for added realism, and re- sponse in the surround channel limited to 7 kilohertz. Dolby Pro-Logic decoders add a center channel and greatly in- creased channel separation (about 40 dB) to the Dolby Surround concept. Center-channel bass is usually sent to the main speakers. Dolby Surround Digital systems will offer five full-bandwidth chan- KEY 100)),(@)5 B)AYA(Qt) nels, plus a limited-bandwidth channel for a subwoofer. The source INTEGRATED device will have a direct digital connection to the decoder. AMP/RECEIVER 1)KOLOB))Ii FULL-RANGE SPEAKER LIMITED-RANGE SPEAKER SUBWOOFER JUNE 1994 VIDEO 39

Digital Deluxe: The pro Dolby AC-3 decoder used in movie theaters. CXCTLoouay ereneo)” WHAT YOU’LL NEED “Dilly Céhoratories tne. As you might expect, a new audio olby SR-D (the 5.1-channel movie- format like Surround Digital requires ei- theater version of Surround Digital) — the climactic scene with the helicopters ther modification or, outright replace- chasing Harrison Ford along the roof of the Chicago Hilton featured stereo sur- ment of current software formats. For round effects that had the choppers fly- ing all around the theater, even back broadcast television, the die is already and forth between the left and right sur- round channels. cast. AC-3 was chosen earlier this year The same scene from the standard by the Grand Alliance (a group of man- Dolby Stereo print wasn’t nearly as “what the-?!” lifelike—the SR-D print ufacturers and research labs working to- made people really sit up and take no- tice, because even though most had no | gether to create the new digital HDTV idea about 5.1 or stereo surrounds or who discovered America, they were turers’ claims that data reduction is son- standard) as the audio side of HDTV, hearing things in a movie theater they’d never heard before. And digging it! ically transparent. Sony’s MiniDisc whenever that gets off the ground. SQUEEZE PLAY format, in particular, was poorly re- As for VHS, things don’t look so Dolby Surround Digital is able to ceived by many audio reviewers, who rosy —the advent of HDTV is spurring squeeze 5.1 channels of audio out of a relatively small amount ofdigital data by found it to sound much worse than CD. VCR manufacturers to create a new dig- using a concept known as data compres- sion or, more accurately, data reduction. Many feel that Sony’s data-reduction al- ital videotape format that will probably Sony’s MiniDisc and Philips’ DCC, the digital formats introduced a few years gorithm for MiniDisc threw away too not be compatible with VHS. As it ex- ago, are examples of data-reduced digi- tal audio. much of the digital data for the ear not ists, VHS just doesn’t have the capacity Because studies suggest that quiet to notice, and that this was responsible to store digital HDTV and AC-3 audio sounds are masked by louder sounds when heard by the human ear, designers for its poor sound quality. signals, so a new, higher-capacity format have come up with algorithms for digital audio formats that selectively eliminate In developing its AC-3 algorithm, will undoubtedly hit the market not long the data that represents all the low-level sounds that are momentarily masked by Dolby heeded the concerns of audio after HDTV. But this is at least two or louder sounds in a recording. Throwing away this data dramatically reduces stor- professionals and made sonic transpar- three years away. age requirements for the digital audio signal. Dolby’s algorithm for Surround ency a primary goal. Dolby’s decades of Pioneer has already decided how to Digital, called AC-3, is able to trim the industry-leading research into human modify laserdiscs to include 5.1-channel digital data down enough so that all six auditory perception have resulted in an digital audio. The data capacity now channels fit in a space smaller than just algorithm that has impressed many of one of a CD's stereo channels. the toughest audio critics with its sonic used for the right channel of the analog performance. In fact, you may have al- But a data-reduced rose may not ready heard AC-3 digital audio and not soundtrack will be used for the AC-3 necessarily smell as sweet. Critics, myself even known it —if you saw The Fugitive, datastream on Surround Digital laser- included, have questioned manufac- What's Love Got To Do With It? or other discs. This decision was made to ensure films presented in Dolby SR-D, then maximum backward-compatibility with you’ve heard AC-3 data-reduced audio. current laserdisc players. Because 5.1 la- serdiscs will still carry the stereo uncom- Recently, Dolby pushed Surround pressed digital soundtrack that current laserdiscs do, they’ll play just like a regu- Digital over the technological hump by lar laserdisc on non-Surround Digital- co-developing a single computer chip to ready players. And 5.1-ready future la- handle the entire AC-3 decoding proc- serdisc players will play current Dolby ess. The AC-3 decoder chip will be Stereo-encoded laserdiscs just like to- manufactured by a company called day’s players. Zoran that’s already li- censed a version of the AC-3 chip to manufac- turers of HDTV cable boxes for built-in 5.1 ca- pability. The Zoran chip offers manufacturers the opportunity to add Sur- round Digital by just dropping in the Zoran chip, and everyone in the surround game is lining up to start implementing it in future gea—ryou can expect to see it first in stand-alone processors, and later in A/V re- Sound Between The Sprockets: For film, Surround Digital is en- ceivers. coded between the sprocket holes, next to the analog tracks. 40 VIDEO JUNE 1994

A SURROUND-SOUND TIMELINE The history of surround sound goes back decades, to before the advent of two-channel stereo. Here’s a sampling of the multichannel sound gear audio/video buffs enjoyed in years past. Usually when a radical new format 1958 The emergence of two-channel stereo gear like this Heathkit integrated tube amp breaks onto the scene, it renders all your gave consumers their first chance to achieve a multidimensional soundfield, old software obsolete. Not so with Dolby CHANNEL HOME THEATER SYSTEM Surround Digita—lallAC-3 decoders will have Pro-Logic decoding capability dynaco as part of the Dolby-mandated specifica- tion. The Zoran AC-3 chip automat- 1969 Audio pioneer David Hafler's method of deriving surround sound from stereo led to ically senses if the incoming audio is 5.1 quad, and to passive decoders like this Dynaco, a new version of a ‘60s classic. or Dolby Stereo, and switches its decod- Dey Crihaticed LR Deroder ing scheme accordingly. The bright boys at Dolby don’t like having to toss all mn! PHOLNIX SYSTEMS their old software in the nearest dumps- ter any more than you, so they’ve made a sure that all the Dolby Stereo-encoded laserdicsc and VHS hi-fi tapes you own 1983 Dolby Surround and similar, primitive decoding schemes like the one used in this will be 100-percent compatible with the Phoenix Systems decoder gave video buffs their first taste of movie-theater sound. new 5.1 decoders. F- FOSGATE While Surround Digital 5.1 will re- 1994 Today's top decoders, like this Fosgate Model Four, give audio/videophiles sound quire you to buy some new hardware, quality every bit as good as in movie theaters that don't have digital sound. you won't have to trash your whole rig. You'll be able to keep your front left, GCEONLEEMAN center and right speakers to use with 5.1, as well as any subwoofers you have. You will need to replace dipole sur- round speakers, if that’s what you have in your present system. Whether they’re THX-approved or not, the purpose of dipole surrounds is to spread Pro-Logic’s mono surround channel so your ears hear it as a big cloud of ambience rather than direct sound from a speaker. In addition, many dipole surround speakers have limited bandwidth at the frequency extremes, reflecting the Pro- Logic surround channel’s bandwidth of 100 Hertz to 7 kilohertz. Surround Digi- tal, on the other hand, has stereo sur- round channels. And they’re full-range, too, meaning there’s no difference in sound quality between the stereo sur- round channels and the front three. With 5.1, there’s no longer any need to fool your ears into thinking a mono signal is stereo, because now it is stereo. And che full-range response of 5.1’s sur- round channels requires full-range speakers for proper reproduction. So once you make the move to 5.1, you'll want to use the same kind of speakers for the stereo surrounds as you're using now for left, center and right. Surround Digital will still sound okay if you keep your dipole surrounds, but many of the dramatic soundfield benefits of 5.1 will be lost —in other words, you won’t be hearing what the director intended. Because Surround Digital offers the continued on page 86 JUNE 1994 VIDEO 4

How to use your | local governments to provide at least own video gear to one channel devoted to PEG (Public, produce a show Educational, Government) Services— and get it on noncommercial programs created for cable TV! the community the cable company serves. Public-access, as a PEG Service, is intended to ensure that the First Amendment rights of those who aren’t lucky enough to own their own TV sta- | tions are honored in practice as well as in principle. Public-access is coverage of BY TIMOTHY LIEBE the community that might be otherwise | overlooked, entertainment for a diverse | One-Man Show: Rik Little, producer of the New group of minorities, showcases for up- York City public-access TV show The Church of f you ask most people what comes to and-coming artists, educational pro- Shooting Yourself, shoots himself on a rooftop with mind when you mention public-ac- gramming, how-to programming, even the help of a tripod and a hand-held video light. | religious programming— any type of cess television, the response is either show that might be made with a purpose YOU’LL NEVER GET RICH “amateur smut” or “Wayne's World.” A other than profit in mind. It is much THIS WAY! few folks might bring up “that Nazi guy” closer to people’s real lives than the Before ycu decide to set yourself up who was in the news about a year back, cookie-cutter shows produced by local as a public-access TV producer, keep in and ask why there isn’t some sort of law commercial or public TV channels. to keep him and others like him off the mind that public-access is noncommer- | Public-access television is your tele- cial television in every sense of the word. | air. While it’s true that there are public- vision. Do you belong to an organization | Since it’s intended as an “electronic access programs that are either low-rent that you feel would benefit from having soapbox” and not a profit-generating | vanity productions, pornographic or just its own TV show? Do you have skills or mechanism, you can’t sell any ad time to | plain offensive for one reason or anoth- information you’d like to share? Do you make money from your show. You are er, public-access television is much more | have videos, movies, artwork, or any- generally permitted to have your show than the sum of its headline-grabbing or thing visual you’d like other people to sponsored by an organization or business easily lampoonable parts. see? Do you have something you'd like as a means of financing its production, In the early ‘70s, the Federal Com- to get off your chest—and nowhere to provided you don’t openly advertise munications Commission began requir- do it? Then maybe you should produce products or services. ing cable companies to negotiate with your own public-access show. Some businesses get around tk 42 VIDEO JUNE 1994

Easy Access: In New York City, the Metro Access studio makes producing call-in shows simple and affordable. nonprofit provision by sponsoring a pro- munities, public- These producers are often perfectly hap- gram that works much like an infomer- access is their local py to speak with someone who's seen cial, providing information about TV station, sending their work and is genuinely interested in products or services while at the same out programming of doing a show themselves. time letting people know that their busi- interest to people nesses offer them. Producing such living in the area. If you’re curious about doing a pub- shows, however, often means walking a lic-access program but aren’t quite ready tightrope between satisfying the sponsor Assuming your to mount one yet, you might volunteer and convincing the public-access pro- cable system does to help a public-access producer with his vider that the program is not a glorified have public-access, or her show. This will give you experi- commercial. get in touch with its ence with the ins and outs of producing public-access provider. This can be ei- for public-access, as well as putting you In New York City, for instance, there ther an office within the company itself, in touch with people, facilities and loca- used to be a popular public-access pro- or a not-for-profit corporation. Request tions you can draw on when you're gram called In and Out With Dick, spon- the information package for public-ac- ready to be a producer. sored and hosted by the owner of a local cess producers. These packages usually adult video store chain. The show was include the company’s policies for pub- YOUR FACILITIES OR MINE? recently pulled from the public-access lic-access, technical guidelines for the schedule when it was determined that it videotapes submitted for cablecast, pro- Depending on the details of the li- was simply a half-hour advertisement for gramming agreements and scheduling the sponsor’s stores. requests. They may also include a list of censing agreement your local govern- facilities in your area that rent studio GETTING STARTED time, video equipment and postproduc- ment made with the cable company, it’s tion facilities to public-access producers. Before you do anything, make cer- possible that the public-access provider tain your local cable system has a public- STRAIGHT FROM THE access channel. Since the PEG Services HORSE’S MOUTH might supply low- or no-cost facilities for provision pretty much leaves it to the lo- cal government's discretion whether or Another way you can get informa- the production of public-access pro- not the community is capable of sup- tion about putting on public-access porting public-access, it is possible your show is to get in touch with the pro- grams. If it does, it will be noted in the cable system may not have public-access ducers themselves. Though much of the if it services a small population. information they may give you will be in public-access information package, the public-access information package, Interestingly, it’s equally possible talking with producers will help you get along with the kind of certification or that a small community will have an ex- a feel for what it’s really like to put on a tremely active public-access channel, es- program. assurance you will need to supply to use pecially if it’s some distance away from a city large enough to support a commer- Many public-access shows run a title these facilities. Usually, you must take cial television channel. For these com- with the producer's address or telephone and pass a training course for any equip- number. Write it down and get in ment you intend to use. touch with the peo- ple who produce If your public-access provider the shows you like. Let them know doesn’t offer its own production facili- you'd like to pick their brains about ties, the situation becomes a little trick- putting together a program, what ier. Though most cities have video problems they’ve come across, and production companies, they’re often too what it’s like deal- ing with the public- expensive for productions that aren’t access department. taking in any money. Access Activist: If the show you intend to do benefits Public-access producer a business or organization with its own and board member Dave Channon. video equipment —like a local music club or arts collective — you might speak with the people in charge of the equip- ment there about your show, and find out if they’d be interested in letting you use their gear. Other possible means of gaining access to video production facili- ties are churches, college media depart- ments and local civic groups like the Chamber of Commerce. > JUNE 1994 VIDEO 43

GOING PUBLIC In The Public Eye: A scene from Rik Lit- tle’s The Church of Shooting Yourself. Minneapolis, Minneso- ducers are able to spend. ta, which are capable Manhattan Neighborhood Network of transmitting signals (or MNN), a not-for-profit corporation both to and from your that has managed public-access for cable box. Manhattan Cable and Paragon Manhat- As explained by tan for the past few years, is hoping to Pamela Colby, general change all this. Its new studio facilities manager of Min- will offer both full-fledged live produc- neapolis Telecom- tion studios and mini-studios called “hot munications Network, Before you approach any of these orga- the PEG provider for Minneapolis, “Our seats,” where a producer can simply sit nizations or businesses, however, be sure dual-cable system permits us to do inter- down in a booth, turn on the camera, you have a clear, carefully thought-out active television, provided there’s a and both go out live and take phone calls. However, this studio is not ex- proposal for the program you will be do- modulator hooked up to the cable box ing that shows how it will benefit them which transmits the signal back to us. If pected to be fully operational for anoth- to help you. It’s probably a good idea to we get 60 days advance notice from a er year or more. Meanwhile, MNN’s put your proposal in writing, both for producer, we can go out and hook up current available facilities are nowhere clarity’s sake and because many groups the modulator free of charge so they can near up to the demand, and Paragon will require you to submit it to their gov- cablecast their show back to us. We ha- Cable has closed down its one studio. erning board in that fashion. ven’t had a lot of call for it outside of the VIRTUALLY LIVE If all these methods fail, you can al- recent election, when we sent signals What several New York City pro- back from all the precincts using this ways use your own video equipment. If method. Usually when producers do a ducers have done to get around this lack the show you intend to do can be shot in call-in show, they use our two studio fa- of live studio space is quite ingenious. If the neighborhood around you, it should cilities, but a show like Wayne’s World you live someplace where your cable sys- be fairly easy to produce. After all, isn’t would be possible in Minneapolis.” tem doesn’t yet offer interactive cable, that what you’ve been doing with your and happen to see a show on public-ac- camcorder all along? Before you rush out and ask for your cess where the host appears to be “live” own modulator, though, keep in mind from his or her home taking phone calls You can use any camcorder for this that Minneapolis’ interactive cable sys- about the show, you’re probably watch- purpose. Obviously, the better the cam- tem is still more the exception than the ing something called “virtual call-in.” corder, the better the results. Be fore- tule. Most other providers cannot yet of- warned, though, that many cable fer this feature and some, in fact, do not As explained by David Channon, companies are limited in the video for- offer any means of live cablecasting. public-access activist, member of mats they can accept. Some only take MNN’s Board of Directors, and pro- 3/4-inch U-matic tape, in which case LIVE FROM NEW YORK— ducer of the Volcanic Video series, “Every you'll have to arrange to dub your cam- MAYBE week of the show, the producer will flash corder tapes at a local video postproduc- a phone number on the screen and in- Until a few years ago, the only live vite people to call in. While the first tion house (which will probably cost you public-access studio facility offered by show's on the air with the number on at least $10 for a half-hour tape), or buy either of Manhattan’s two cable net- the screen, the producer sits at home wor— Mkanhsattan Cable and Paragon and videotapes himself or herself an- a used 3/4-inch deck and dub the tapes of Manhatt—awnas one studio at the swering the calls that come in for the yourself. On the other hand, if you in- Paragon offices, which was seldom used show that’s on cable that day, then in- due to its inconvenient location and the corporates that into the next week’s tend to use your own video gear to do a fact that most people didn’t even know show. So it’s not a real call-in show, be- live studio interview/call-in show, that may or may not be possible depending on where you live. LIVE FROM MINNEAPOLIS it existed! To help fill this gap, a couple cause people aren’t responding to the of video production compani—emosst show that’s being made when they call, Going back to Wayne’s World for a notably James Chladek’s Metro Access but it works really well and a lot of pro- moment, this extremely popular comedy studio—won permission during the ducers do it.” sketch/motion picture series posits two 1970s to run hookups for live feeds to Obviously, virtual call-in wouldn’t young men cablecasting their weekly Manhattan Cable and Paragon cablecast be of any use if you want people’s re- program live from Wayne’s basement, facilities for both public- and leased-ac- sponses to a particular subject or person with the capability to take phone calls cess programming. Studios like Metro being interviewed, but it’s surprisingly on the air from the viewing audience. Access, however, are for-profit busi- effective if you want to know what the Amazing as it may seem, this is not just a nesses. While their rates are quite rea- viewers think about the show that’s on case of taking comedic lice—ntshoeugh sonable compared to other video the air when you tape. If you aren’t for- I can’t swear to Aurora, Illinois, there production houses, they cost a bit more tunate enough to live in a community are cable systems, including Paragon of money than most public-access pro- continued on page 88 44 VIDEO JUNE 1994

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Videonics’ MX-1 . It’s one of the hot words of the audio/video mixer. When the compa- A/V mixer brings oe Loosely defined, itmeans “advance word” or “inside scoop.” As gratification ny announced the pro power to home | becomes ever more instant, few of us MX-1 nearly a year can stand to wait for a movie, a CD ora ago, it promised product to actually come out—we have the $1,200 product would vastly outper- editors for $1,200. to hear the buzz in advance. And once form every competitor—and at a price we know, we spread the word, and the $600 lower than the least expensive buzz intensifies. A/V mixer to date. Videonics’ strong By far, the biggest buzz the video claims, the product’ S delayed introduc- tion and consumers’ growing interest in world has experienced in the last few advanced, affordable editing products combined to create a buzz the like of years has been about Videonics’ MX-1 which we’ve never heard — countless letters and phone calls, intense gossip at video-industry gatherings and numerous messages on CompuServe’s Consumer Electronics Forum. Many video enthusi- asts have put off buying an A/V mixer until they get the lowdown on the MX-1’s performance. Finally, the MX-1 is here. Less than 30 minutes after receiving it, we had it plugged into a stack of test gear so we could rush this report to press. And we're happy to tell you that while the MX-1 doesn’t live up to every rumor we've heard about it, it’s clearly a major breakthrough in home video editing. The MX-1’s basic functions include video mixing, audio mixing, chroma TEXT BY BR NT BUTTERWORTH LMEOSRSILLO LAB TESTS B LANCELOT BRAITHWAITE 46 VIDEO JUNE 1994

keying, special effects, graphics and vari- ous miscellaneous capabilities. Each of- fers many options, so we'll describe them one-by-one. VIDEO MIXING The MX-1 uses a dual timebase cor- rector (TBC) to synchronize two video sources so you can create wipes, fades, dissolve—sa total of 210 scene transi- tions, including sophisticated flips, fly- aways and rolls. In this respect, the MX-1 is almost as capable as NewTek’s Video Toaster, which costs thousands more. No video mixer we’ve seen comes close to matching the MX-l’s effects in sophistication or number. It also does picture-in-picture. You can make the inset window any size you wish, place it anywhere on the screen, and add colored borders. You can even stretch the picture-in-picture window horizontally or vertically. A scene transition can be triggered with the MX-l’s T-bar or play button. The T-bar lets you control the speed of a transition manually. The play button triggers a timed transition; you can se- lect from 10 speeds. The T-bar has a very solid, smooth feel, but the actual results we achieved with it were jerky—transi- tions begin only after the T-bar has trav- eled a quarter of the way, which gives the bar an unnatural feel. We got much better results with the play button, which in our opinion makes the T-bar unnecessary. Controlling all these transitions is easy, thanks to the MX-l’s preview out- High-Tech Help: The MX-1 provides a master control screen (top) that shows images from each input and put. The preview output (which requires icons for scene transitions, and an effects screen (above) that lets you select and adjust the digital effects. a second video monitor) displays still images updated every half-second or so from each video input. It also indicates which input is active and which will be- come active when you trigger a transi- tion, and provides a menu of scene- call up the most commonly used effects cuts directly to an input, the other se- easily. The manual includes a complete lects that input as “next up” when a transition icons. The preview output chart of all the transitions. We recom- mend you photocopy it and tack it to a scene transition occurs. There’s an LED works great for multicamera shoots— above each cut button—when it’s lit, you can see what’s on each camera from wall—you’'ll need it. the input is active, when it’s blinking, Each of the MX-1’s four video inputs the input is next up. The combinations a single monitor. of the preview monitor, the control but- has two dedicated control buttons. One Each menu holds 30 icons, so you sometimes have to go through several M3IA3Hd ~=3NOHdOW3H TOWLNOD H3MOd pages of menus to find the right tranis- fe. “Wo E-PREVIEW HEAD CONTROL POWER tion. However, you can access an effect gy PHONE — (GP) directly just by entering its number on . W‘S) awvy evatn oi) (S] Vv the MX-1'’s 10-digit keypad. There are also dedicated buttons for fade/dissolve, Connection Crew: The MX-1 has four video inputs and three stereo audio inputs. wipe, zoom/PIP and flip, which let you JUNE 1994 VIDEO 47

MIX MASTER tons and their LEDs makes video ing on, the MX-I’s chroma keyer switching with the MX-1 super AE CABMDDOCTOR works almost perfectly. You'll still convenient — the engineer who encounter problems — occasional thought this up deserves a raise edge artifacts, mainly —but even and a promotion. network engineers suffer the You can also program a se- same problems. quence of up to 25 effects, which SPECIAL EFFECTS we found very useful when shoot- ing the cable TV show we pro- All the video mixers we’ve duce —we found that keying up a tried have special effects, but the fast sequence of transitions man- MX-1 has the most, including ually made us as nerve-wracked strobe, paint and mosaic (all of and mistake-prone as a 10-year- which can be used in varying de- old performing his or her first vio- grees), plus still frame, black-and- lin recital. Once a sequence is white, black-and-white negative, programmed in, all you have to color negative and solarization do is hit the play button to trigger (which turns the brightest parts each transition in order. of the picture negative for a “ra- dioactive” look). There are also AUDIO MIXING two effects we've never seen be- Three of the MX-l’s four fore — horizontal and vertical flip, video inputs have matching audio each of which reverses the pic- inputs. The audio can be auto- ture in the chosen direction. All matically mixed along with the of these effects can be combined video, or can be mixed sep- as you wish, and all can be as- arately—a button selects be- signed to any input. tween audio mixing, video mixing, and simultaneous audio/ GRAPHICS video mixing. This is a very func- The MX-1 can produce so- tional arrangement, but it’s less phisticated graphics using its intuitive and flexible than the “compose” feature. Compose lets sliding audio mix controls used you create rectangles and lines of on other A/V mixers. any shape and size, then fill them CHROMA KEYING with colors, still video and live video. You can also surround the Possibly the most exciting and rectangles with colored borders. surprising capability of the MX-1 This lets you create great-looking is chroma keying. This is the “blue screen” effect used on TV * LI9VE47C-AG6E4SIN title pages without using a com- weather reports. The weatherper- puter graphics program. The mix- son stands in front of a blue et offers eight preset colors for screen, and the chroma keyer backgrounds and borders, and substitutes a computer-generated lets you access one additional map for the blue areas of the pic- user-defined color (you have ture. But chroma keying can be Easy Keying; In this shot, the MX-1’s chroma keyer replaces the more than 1,400 to choose from). put to much more creative use— light blue field behind the subject (top) with a cityscape (center). One minor cave—awthen we fast-forwarded a VCR while using by laying down on a blue pedestal in front keyers instead of chroma keyers. Instead its picture as part of a composed image, of a blue screen, you can make yourself of replacing a single color in a scene the MX-1 freaked out. It threw random “fly” as in Videonics’ ads for the MX-1. with video from a second source, lumi- lines onto the left side of the screen, You can poke a subject's head through a nance keyers replace the darkest or making us start over. blue cloth and make the head float in lightest parts of the scene. This makes Although we dissed luminance key- space, as in the opening of Late Night lighting extremely critical — anyone who’s ing a few paragraphs ago, it’s actually With Conan O’Brien. And you don’t even seen public-access TV has probably seen very useful for titling, and it is included have to use blue cloth— the MX-1 will examples of the jagged edges and leak- on the MX-1. To create a title, just print key on any color. The possibilties are age caused by luminance keyers. it out in black on white paper, aim a endless —chroma keying is perhaps the But if you’re just reasonably careful camera at it and select the luminance most versatile special effect there is. about lighting and don’t let your sub- keyer (it’s in the transition icon menus Most video mixers use luminance | jects wear the same color as you're key- continued on page 92 48 VIDEO JUNE 1994