video-magazine-1992-12

WORLD’S BIG@ESTVIDEO PUBLICATION 95 DEC. 1992 | i\\ Beeee Libdilidh dew lle

©1992 Philips Consumer Electronics Company. A Division of North American Philips Corporation.

Philips Presents The Imagination Machine There are a lot of CD players that deliver great sound. But only one that transforms your television from something you look at and listen to into something you actually experience. It's called the Imagination Machine.” It comes from Philips, the inventors of CD technology. And it's the world's first CD - Interactive Player You Can Hold Some Of The Worlds Experiences In Ihe Palm Of Your Hand. Asa (CD audio player, the Philips Imagination Machine delivers stunning musical babicipimne And, when the simple connection is made to your television, the door is apenes to the bag Ridin worldHonenstertainment and education. In the same wayyythatcompact discs capture music, the wide variety of CD-Interactive titles have captured some of the world's truly amazing experiences and put them on standard 5-inch discs called CD-s. Major publishers already involved in the BPM ae acs em production of CD-I titles include: Time-Life, The SHThson Institution, ABC Sports Presents and Mercury Records. And, with the new Photo CD technology available through selected retailers offering KODALUX Processing Services, you can create your own CD family photo albums. To see and hear CD-Interactive in action, call 1-800-532-6363 to arrange for a demonstration near you. Just five minutes with the Imagination Machine and youl discover it's more than a CD player. It's an experience! Ps EEae Tee offin a televised go Ittoournament. Compose a minuet with Mozart. Let your kids explore Richard Scarry’s Neighborhood. Take your family on a private tour ofthe Smithsonian. And much more. The Imagination Machine and a wide variety ofCD-I titles lets you do itall from your living room. Another First From Philips PHILIPS

MID- DRIVE FEATURES SPECIAL HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 32 PRIME-TIME PRESENTS 36 nis; nises High-tech holiday hardware. By Ron Goldberg 38 BREAKING TRADITION 40 Th Holiday viewing that still surprises. By April P. Bernard VIDEOTESTS BIG GAME HUNT 44 DEPARTMENTS Stalking 92’s top titles & action CDs. By Martin Brochstein 50 HOME THEATER MAGIC The $200,000 Cello Music and Film System may be the world’s best home theater. 56 By Brent Butterworth a7 FLAT-SCREEN EXPRESS 66 The $1 billion race to invent big, hang-on-the-wall TVs. By George Mannes ADVENTURES IN THE SCREEN TRADE 14 One shopper’s odyssey, through a jungle of sets & thickets of salespeak, to discover his ideal TV. By James M. Barry Cover: REVIEWS 6 Decorating the holidays Beauty and the Beast, Alien 3, Sister Act, more 8 with the gift of video. EDITOR’S CHOICE / The Graduate at 25. By Kenneth Korman DIRECTORY / The latest releases on tape and disc Photography by Vittorio SHARP VC-H96U VHS VCR, 10 Sartor. Sony KPR-41EXR95 41-inch TV, Hitachi VM-H39A Hi8 camcorder, JVC GR-SZ1 S-VHS-C camcorder. By Berger-Braithwaite Labs 28 CHANNEL ONE / To HD, or not to HD 30 Video Magazine FEEDBACK / Letters from readers Volume XVI GAZETTE / CD-ROM for the movie buff, Flying Saucers Over Hollywood, more 116 Number 9 NEW PRODUCTS / Sharp’s radical ViewCam HANDS-ON TEST / Videonics TitleMaker OFF THE AIR / How wide is too wide? 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. © 1992 Reese Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. © under Universal, International, and Pan American Copyright Conventions. Reproduction of editorial or pictorial content in any manner The is prohibited. 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 #R125938423) U.S.; foreign, air mail, $40 U.S. Canadian ky Audit _ international publication permit #546488. Address subscription orders, change of address, correspondence and Bureau Change of address takes 60 days to process: send old address label, new address, and zip code. All material inquiries to: VIDEO, Box 56293, Boulder, CO 80322-6293, or call toll-free 800-365-1008. listed in this magazine is subject to manufacturer's change without notice, and publisher assumes no responsibility for such change. Printed in the U.S.A. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to VIDEO, Box 56293, Boulder, CO 80322-6293. For microform copies of issues or articles, write to: Serials Acquisition Dept., University Microfilms, Inc., 300 North Zeeb Ad., Ann Arbor, MI 48106. 4 VIDEO DECEMBER 1992

THE ULTIMATE MOVIE EXPERIENCE. OWN The Commitments 0691303 It’s A Wonderful Life LASER The Prince Of Tides *0847103 (45th Anniversary Ed.) 0392308 The Empire 2001: A Space *0844308 Strikes Back 0782904 The Last Boy Scout * 0779108 Odyssey 0205302 Return Of The Jedi 0783209 The Man Who Would K Beverly Hills Cop 0431908 Backdraft *0559005 * 0499301 Be King 0085803 Beverly Hills Cop Il Henry & June 0383000 Alien 0000208 PMdinted For Red anaeoen 0297705 The Grifters Aliens 0360909 TROIble aoarvon Bugs Bunny Classics The Abyss * 0881102 nae Dibgbo8 & oo Die Hard * 0367607 Edward Scissorhands 0104604 veren The nl i ac The African Queen 0051102 The se Of *0633206 Die Hard 2 * 0041806 Beetlejuice 0633008 Dangerous Liaisons *0638700 Ghost *0826008 American Graffiti 0211300 EA Reversal Of Fortune 0969709 Blue Velvet * 0515007 e Always E.T.: The Extra- * 0681106 *0921502 Terrestrial SEE DETAILS BELOW. Batman (1989) * 0642504 The Godfather 0000802 SHianrgriyn’Co&nnSiwcikn,ginJ’r.: 0968107 m7arae Cals reat The Godfather: Part Ill 0842302 TSthaer MTorteki:on Picture ‘ Back To The Future * 0211409 Star Trek Il: *0203505 Big DeG7#08 Back To The Future New Jack City 0971507 Part Il * 0921304 The Wrath Of Khan * 0201301 2 Fatal Attraction 0439307 Back To The Future Star Trek Ill: ide Chariots Of Fire 0601401 Part Ill *0497008 The Search For Spock *0201608 ATARI nan GT Star Trek VI* All Dogs Go To Heaven 0289702 Predator * 0364901 Star Trek IV: 0805309 1001007 48 Hrs. 0202200 * 0104307 The Voyage Home: jascssucus Another 48 Hours 0827808 Predator 2 Robin Hood: * 0976803 TSthaer FTirneakl VF:rontier *0448605 peamleRAge20) see aceue Prince Of Thieves Home Alone * 0104208 Superman: The Movie *0001305 plack Help Oe) Scarface (1983) 0216804 Goodfellas Superman I 0601500 Becmnest gebence *0969808 ae ete. #0216200 Hard To Kill 0953505 The Blues Brothers 0211706 BOforJnulOyn The Fourth #0489104 The Addams Family* x Wayne's World* SAssBiACiOi N wit ald Dune 0211102 Field Of Dreams 0920306 paopeed poses =< ii Double Indemnity 0210104 Kindergarten Cop 0523407 Presumed Innocent *0962100 Caddyshack 0602300 Lethal Weapon 0630806 Bead Warrier oe2e0? Above The Law 0633602 Chinatown *0202507 Bonnie & Clyde 0607200 Lethal Weapon 2 * 0642702 Bird On A Wire *0497305 Brainstorm *0260000 National Lampoon’s 0211508 Animal House Henry V (1990) *0040303 North By Northwest *0844209 Forbidden Planet *0844407 Coming To America 0441600 Patton 0788703 The Wizard Of Oz 0001404 Hearts Of Darkness: A 7 0B8u5g3s4y08 Filmmaker’s Apocalypse 1002500 The Sound Of Music *0003905 S0t7ar81W5a0r0s Here's a great way to build a days to decide; if not, you may return leolumbia House Laserdisc Club | collection of your favorite movies—on the selection at our expense. Dept.2NL P.O. Box 1112, Terre Haute, Indiana 47811-1112 | laserdiscs! Just write in the numbers Yes, please enroll me under the terms outlined in this advertisement. As a member, | of the 3 laserdiscs you want for Money-Saving Bonus Plan. If you | need buy only 2 more selections, at regular Club prices, within the coming year. | $1.00 each, plus shipping and continue your membership after OS ae RRSend me these 3 laserdiscs for $1.00 each plus $1.50 each shipping and handling (total $7.50) handling. In exchange, you simply fulfilling your obligation, you'll be Please Check How Paying: = [] My check is enclosed 2QY/2QZ | agree to buy two more laserdiscs in eligible for our generous bonus plan. | the next year, at regular Club prices It enables you to enjoy great savings (J Charge my introductory laserdiscs and future Club purchases to: | (currently as low as $29.95, plus on the movies you want—for as long [| MasterCard (] Diners Club AMEX [IJVISA (J Discover shipping and handling)—and you as you decide to remain a member! may cancel membership at any time Acct. No. Exp. | 10-Day Risk-Free Trial. We'll send after doing so. details of the Club's operation with Signature | your introductory package. If not Free Magazine sent every four satisfied, return everything within 10 Name | weeks (up to 13 times a year) days for a full refund and no further Address Apt. | reviewing our Director's Selection— obligation. plus scores of alternate choices, City State | including many lower-priced For fastest service, use a credit card and call us toll free 24 hours a day: Zip Phone No. ( ) | laserdiscs. And you may also receive | Special Selection mailings up to four Dept. NEoatHei:nshCioollumWbSisa [HeoxucsluedinLgaser/dAilsecskaCllubvAprpelsiecravbelsa tshaelersi/gihatx toadrdejeedct 4o0r ocllanocreclersany#1m4e0m0beNrishFirpu.iktOdfofser limited to times a year. (That's up to 17 buying 2NL Avenue, Terre Haute, IN 47811-1112 73/F92 opportunities a year.) Vy Entertaining America... ©1992, The Columbia House Company Buy only what you want! If you want the Director's Selection, do & One Person nothing-it will be sent automatically. If at a Time.” you'd prefer an alternate selection, or none at all, just mail the response LASERDISC CLUB card always provided by the date specified. And you'll always have 14

HOW TO BUY CHANNEL ONE HOME THEATER Te: HD, or not to°HD SPEAKERS An atmosphere of inevitability about high-definition television has been build- What is a home theater without ing over the past several years, spurred by the Federal Communications Commission’s aggressive pursuit of a terrestrial broadcast standard, by rapid- loudspeakers? Not a very effective fire technological innovations, and by the courting of the HDTV selection committee and broadcasters by five suitors, each claiming to have the best one to be sure. Fortunately, many system. The testing is completed now and the data is being analyzed as the advisory committee considers which system it will recommend to the FCC, a manufacturers of home theater decision scheduled for February. After official field tests, the FCC is expected to announce a standard later in 1993. components have added these im- We recently had the opportunity to see some of the vigorous HDTV portant ingredients, designed espe- lobbying under way in Washington at a gathering of the Maximum Service Television Association (MSTV). This was the sixth annual HDTV conference cially for use with video, to their conducted by MSTV, a broadcasters group. It was titled Countdown to Con- sensus, since it would be the last such meeting before the FCC decision. home theater product lines. The only consensus evident, however, was among broadcasters who are Satellite speaker systems con- extremely wary of high-definition technology and most reluctant to embrace it. In an era of dwindling audience share and advertising revenues, these tain the necessary speaker compo- broadcasters are unable to see how the significant investment required to up- grade their facilities for HDTV would bring them additional revenue. nents. They differ, however, in the Broadcasters, especially in smaller markets, feel beleaguered. Throughout number of speakers provided. All the day, conferees struggled to get a handle on how much they would have to invest in HDTV conversion and how they could earn it back. Estimates satellite systems will contain two ranged from $2 million to $15 million, leading one to note if that were truly the magnitude of the investment, he just would go out of business. front satellite speakers and a Another asked FCC Chairman Alfred Sikes point-blank, “We're forced to subwoofer, which will provide the invest $10 to $15 million with little or no chance to recoup it. What’s the benefit in addition to more lines of resolution?” deep, seat-rumbling sounds so im- Sikes, who delivered the meeting’s keynote address, gave a two-part an- portant to creating a theater-like swer: First, HDTV technology will open new avenues of creativity we can’t even begin to imagine today. Second, failure to upgrade could sound a death ambience. To complete the pack- knell for the traditional broadcast system. “If General Motors hadn’t upgraded its plants a few years ago, it would be dead today,” said Sikes. “Any industry age, you'll need to add two sur- that fails to upgrade is dead.” round, or rear channel, speakers so Richard Wiley, a former FCC chairman who now heads the Advisory Committee on Advanced Television, sounded the same tone in his remarks. that you can “Advanced digital is not just about pretty pictures,” Wiley said. “It’s part of a worldwide imaging revolution.” enjoy the full We agree with the chairmen that digital technology represents the future Dolby Sur- of video and communications. Video Magazine’s readers know well that the movement has already begun and will soon accelerate, thanks to direct-broad- round Sound cast satellites and other digital platforms. We expect savvy broadcasters will Y try effect. Some find ways to adapt and evolve in the coming digital age. It won’t be a simple transition. But the digital train will soon be leaving the station, and those Professio val systems will who aren’t on board will surely be left behind. Aucivige have these James M. Barry Editor Associatlo: speakers in- cluded. Still other systems will include a center channel satellite speaker, which will output the video’s dialogue realis- tically and thus let the system de- liver the full effect of Dolby Pro Logic. Regardless of the size and power handling capability, look for front channel and center channel speak- ers that are magnetically shielded. Other variations on the theme in- clude in-wall models as well as self-powered ones. What is right for you depends on the size of your viewing room, the needs that the home theater must fulfill, and, as always, your budget. To find out more about home theater speaker systems, consult your local PARA dealer. PARA is an association of specialty audio/video retailers. To locate a PARA dealer near you, call: (708) 268-1500 Circle 2 on Reader Service Card.

all + © 1992 Canon U,S.A., Inc, m Ae on ‘ f |' =\\ \\eanmUGSS we :: min VIDEO CAMCORDER y: WNW \\\\ \\ (<I| f foe : one a” | | ( f Yi \\ wtf yo § , } aN —#nuTO LOCK wate (A/Ser ue | / di : = Vi ‘ le WV 3 | Fe 3 CT G-SHIFT t y, Canon . EREO y “Warton needtScotge sare professional quality videos. Yo don’t have to be a professional to get profes- Canon’ 6-mode Programmed AE—our exclusive sional quality results. All you really need isthe auto-exposure system that ensures perfectly exposed Canon UCS3. videos, even under extreme shooting conditions. The UCS3 is like no ordinary camcorder. It offers Of course, there are other things to like about the Hi8 format for superior picture definition. An advanced —new UCS3. Like the fact that it offers extraordinary digital processor for even sharper, more brilliant Hi-idelity stereo sound. And comes equipped with colors. And an improved AF system for faster, more a stereo zoom microphone that allows you to move-in precise focusing. on sound as you move-in on your subject. In addition, the UCS3 gives you the superior optics So ifyou want professional quality videos, you don’t of a Canon 12x zoom lens. And offers the brilliance of 1 need a network. You need the UCS3. Circle 3 on Reader Service Card. Can On

Choosing a : President andnag a shooting format | Jay Rosenfiel Cs After reading your comparison of five Editor,James M.‘Barry ou mM S-VHS-C camcorders (‘‘Five Star Hatchet Job: itwas5 Dare: not Boris and Natasha, “Managing Editor,Stan Pinkwas Shootout,” Aug. ’92), I fail to see the says a reader, that chopped Bullwinkle reissues. -Technical Editor, Lancelot Braithwaite purpose of the entire S-VHS-C format. “Wossamotta U.” was subjected to the Who were these camcorders made for? worst mangling, with almost 10 percent Senior Editors, Kenne! You state that “the picture quality of of its 40-minute running time lopped off. Brent Butterworth camcorder formats like VHS-C and Disney has one hell of a lot of nerve to 8mm usually doesn’t cut it for serious mutilate someone else’s work, then label Assistant Editors, Brian Clark, home video.” People interested in seri- it “Classic Stuff.” April P. Bernard ous home video should use S-VHS. Palm-sized camcorders were not intend- William Sommerwerck ow Editors: Bob als hoe } . ed to be used to shoot “serious home Bellevue, Washington Arthur,BobBarlow, Frank Beacham, Ivan video,” and people not interested in Berger, James Caruso, Steve Daly, Steve editing their footage certainly aren’t se- Reformed Betaphile Ditlea, Bruce Eder, Ron Gi rious. Furthermore, these camcorders Harrington, David Lach cost just as much as excellent S-VHS McComb, Marian: camcorder—sso no sensible market ex- Roderick Woodcock — ists for them and no sensible person would purchase one. Art Director, Lonnie elle Associate Art Director, Vs Christian Kugel Art Assistant, Luis Brenham, Texas Production M Production Typesetting, Janet M Holland — Publisher, Eric C. Schwartz oe I must admit that when I first read CAisrsociate Publisher, Linda DeRogatis a Roderick Woodcock’s suggestion to a In “Five Star Shootout” you conclude reader (“QGA,” May ’92) that he buy hae Rodney. Bell that some people will enjoy the extra an S-VHS VCR instead of an ED Beta resolution of S-VHS-C camcorders and machine, I really thought he had come porate Offices, the benefit of having tapes compatible off the spool. I own two Sony with an S-VHS VCR. I believe the real- EDV-9500s and one EDV-7500 and they West 34 Street, New Y ity is that people looking for quality are superior performers in every way. 212-947-6500,(212-9 camcorders don’t have S-VHS VCRs at However, I now realize I’ve been duped home, and can’t drop another $1,000 af- again, as Sony seems to have abandoned ast Advertising M | ter the camcorder purchase. the format. Third Street, Suite 490, Santa lonica, The alternative is using the cam- When I needed some tape in a hurry, 90401; 310-393-5057, 310-393-5538 faa corder for the player, which is what hap- I went directly to the Sony outlet on pens with Hi8. Hi8 has twice as many Route 17 in New Jersey. When I asked to Chicago Sales Office: Milton machines to choose from, offers two Plus, 4409 RFD Stonehaven Dri hours of recording time as opposed to 30 buy some EL500 blank tapes, I was Grove, IL 60047;708-913-5400, minutes, and has video input recording, treated like I had two heads. Then I paid a rarity on S-VHS-C camcorders. When full list price ($20 each). After I calmed 708-913-5403 (fax); 405 North W: purchasing a small, high-resolution con- down, I did some detective work and sumer camcorder, why not opt for the purchased a JVC BR-S6000 S-VHS Chicago, IL 60611; 312-644- one format that has more going for it? VCR. Then I made some side-by-side 312-644-0930 (fax) comparisons with the EDV-9500, using Robert Lebzelter a laserdisc for the source material. The Detroit Sales Office; Joke Kennedy & Conneaut, Ohio difference was so slight I would have to Associates, 16899 Village Lane, Cee recommend the S-VHS format. Pointe, MI 48230; 313- ctutcuddas Chopped-up classics 313-354- 1482 (fax) Peter Milo Readers who may have bought any of Suffern, New York fini the Disney reissues of the Rocky and Bullwinkle shows should know they’re Video Magazine welcomes your comments. Editorn-ChiefArt Levis (1936-199) getting chopped-up versions. Disney has Letters may be edited for clarity and space. edited out episode transitions to reduce Address correspondence to Feedback, Video REESE. the amount of“filler” and keep the time Magazine, 460 West 34 Street, New York, COMMUNICATIONS under 60 minutes for each cassette. NY 10001. @ INCORPORATED 8 VIDEO DECEMBER 1992

AVROIIGDHTCOFMRMOOMNTMHIESTSATKARETS. @ - & ISHER’S NEW Hi-Fi VCR WAS CREATED TO RECORD, 4F-VHHe8a9d02Mid-Mount playback and reli‘ eve anxie: ty. It’s vi2 rtually goof-proof. VNoCRunh/appy buielnmtideiningtso wi: th,eryeou bergeicnonridngsyouwrerefavosruipt: peossehdowto sib: em.plyWitbhy VHS Video Cassette aia kl pressing the show code number that appears in your local TV list- VHS Hi-FiStereo _) Flying Erase iprnagisa. If you rseent ate: lot of movieHse,e you Wlll. appreciaShte the si elf-cleani. ng PRehcioyrkdaiankg and CVHCeRad Pluss” heads. You can even set the clock without a Ph.D. Get a great pic- MTS/dbx Stereo Programming ture and great sound and avoid mistakes. oud SAR (Second, |” Ui Programmed FISHE R Audio Program) Universal Remote Control Decoder with Shuttle 4 AUDIC/VIDEO ...lrust your senses. VCR Plus+” is a trademark of Gemstar Development Corporation. ©1992 Fisher Audio/Video Circle 10 on Reader Service Card.

GAZETTEEDITED BY KENNETH KORMAN 02299 W 10-apr-1992 [vontSearch [Gato |Gasca [anak can take with you to the video store. You can find any title or individual Edit Bookmark Help E¥ert:|;- Pearet Il (19970) 2°72 quickly, with searches by genre, actor, director, release date, star rating or Academy Award status. Want to delve deeper into your search? Click one of the highlighted words and you can jump straight to a related topic: Bogart + western = Treasure of the Sierra Madre. And for those who've always wondered what a “key grip” does, Cinemania con- tains a handy glossary of movie terms. Now how much would you pay? How’s $79.95—a bargain for CD- ROM —and $30 for annual updates available to registered purchasers. The catch is that you'll need a well-endowed PC for all this. But Cinemania is intuitive to use and a lot of fun. Now what was that movie where the guy had a rela- tionship with his computer and never left his room? Let's see..... —Ron Goldberg THE GODFATHER, Part 11] at the onera Just the Facts: Cinemania icons give basic info, while a menu offers categories for more details. Plan 9’s ROM with lowly legacydatabase of Oscar nominees and win- a view ners? The capsule reviews were culled from Leonard Maltin’s Movie and Video Few films have ever achieved the mix of Guide, and the bios, as well as other nu- adulation and revulsion inspired by Plan merous articles, are courtesy of Baseline. 9 From Outer Space (1959). This made- At a particularly sinister moment in But wait, there’s more. Static text is for-pennies science-fiction epic — writ- GoodFellas, Joe Pesci asks his poker cro- something you can get out of a book, so ten, directed and produced by the legen- nies, “What’s that movie that Bogart who needs a computer? Well, wouldn’t dary auteur Edward D. Wood Jr. (Glen made, the one where he played a cow- it be nice to see a still from the movie or Glenda, Night of the Ghouls) — has boy?” Although someone ventures The you’ve just looked up? There are more gained the reputation as one of the all- Oklahoma Kid, the than 500 of them time turkeys, a title that is instantly answer comes too here, as well as placed on every “‘worst movies of all late; an irate Pesci 1,500 photos of time” list. With its ridiculous script, stu- shoots the bar- stars, directors pid plot and overall technical incompe- tender’s foot off. and producers. tence, Plan 9 offers everything you'd Too bad the wise- Still not con- ever hope to find in a truly dreadful guys weren't PC vinced? How movie. literate. All they about audio snip- But is there more to the Plan 9 story? had to do was pets of famous dia- | This question sent Mark Patrick Car- boot up Cine- log from almost ducci scurrying all over Los Angeles for mania, and poor 100 different films? several months in search of an answer. Spider might still Now you'll always The result is Flying Saucers Over Holly- be walking today. know when Gloria wood: The Plan 9 Companion, an invigo- Cinemania is a Microsoft Marquee: Cinemania’s opening visual. Swanson is really tating lll-minute video tribute to the multimedia film ready for Mr. cinematic schlocker. Filmmaker Car- reference stored on a CD-ROM disc, DeMille, and why Alfonso Bedoya don’t ducci (who co-wrote the fright film the ultimate movie “book” for the tech- need no stinking badges. Videophiles will get a special kick Pumpkinhead) explores the history and | no-cineaste. You want details? How legacy of the 1959 cult classic through about 19,000 movie listings (ranging out of Cinemania, because not only does some incredible anecdotes from actors from 1914 to 1991), 3,500 biographies and production people who worked on -and filmographies, and a complete it indicate a film's availability on video, the film, commentary from aficionados it lets you print out a “shopping list” you 10 VIDEO DECEMBER 1992

“OFaVLEYR.INNGHGOSLSA—niHL—UlYCieWaEPOREOSRDS aaTIMESHIFT lune 24 — TEN YEARS AGO IN VIDEO MAGAZINE ad man Harry Thomas and actor Conrad A Chicago viewer has sued a local station complaining about the poor Brooks showed up, and they recalled the quality of a 3-D movie it broad- cast... Three satellites were lost in film’s production. We videotaped them, a single week in September, two in the Atlantic Ocean and one that just and realized a few weeks later we should ran out of gas...Highly promising CBS cable, offering the finest mix make an entire film about Plan 9.” of cultural and food-for-thought pro- gramming around, called it quits af- Flying Saucers Over Hollywood: The ter a little more than a year on the Plan 9 Companion is available for $24.95 air, blaming the economy...Accord- (plus $3.50 shipping) from Atomic Pic- ing to a study by the California Board of Education, kids who watch tures, Box 15824, North Hollywood, CA Dukes of Hazzard regularly score 4 percent lower on achievement tests 91615. —Irv Slifkin than kids who watch it only a little or not at all. Even worse, kids who Clancy’s fancy watch Charlie's Angels, CHiPS and The PTL Club score 10 to 15 percent like director Sam Raimi (the Evil Dead Harrison Ford studies the image on a lower than non-viewers. The good series) and clips from Plan 9 and other computer screen, electronically magni- news is that kids who watch fying a tiny speck again and again until M*A*S*H and the nightly news Wood works. Carducci draws a surpris- he transforms a vague outline into a scored 4 percent higher than other ing conclusion: Yes, Plan 9 is an enter- clear image. This sequence from Patriot kids...Sony is readying its first tainingly awful movie, but it should be Games (Paramount) is eerily reminis- shipment of stereo VCRs for the be- cent of Ford in an almost identical scene ginning of next year and wants to appreciated — even respected— for sev- from the 10-year-old sci-fi cult classic make sure folks have the perfect pro- eral reasons. Blade Runner. The difference is that gramming for them. You know all what was once a part of Blade Runner's those music video clips you see on Carducci admires Wood for “his de- futuristic fantasy world is now featured MTV, Don Kirschner and USA Net- termination in making films his own way in one of writer Tom Clancy’s accurate work? Well, now you and your kids and with no money. He had a way to and detailed portraits of modern intel- will have a chance to pay for turn a phrase, and the dialog has a bi- ligence technology. them...Recommended gifts for zarre eloquence to it. Although he the holiday season: the Schudel Vid- So eo Telekaster ($495), an add-on couldn’t afford special effects, at least he magnifying device that turns a 13-to used symbols for special effects. There Future Shock: Patriot Games’ Harrison Ford, aided 14-inch TV into a low-powered pro- was a certain chutzpah to what he was by a computer, zeroes in on a terrorist camp. jection system; the Winegard AT5001 indoor antenna ($54), which doing.” Still, Carducci wanted his pro- In another powerful scene from this stands more than six feet tall; the duction to present an impartial look at adaptation of Clancy's best-selling tech- Kloss Novabeam Model Two Moni- Plan 9, because “some people like it, no-thriller novel, Ford and fellow intel- tor ($2,200), the best front-projec- ligence personnel use satellite surveil- tion set available to home users at while others are offended by it.” lance to pinpoint and destroy a terrorist any price; the Sony KV-2645RS big- Originally called Grave Robbers From hideout. For all of us who’ve watched screen 26-inch monitor ($1,250), a real destruction on CNN and seen stereo-ready set that’s a videophile’s Outer Space, Plan 9 tells the tale of alien phrases like “smart bomb” join the ver- nacular, this scene’s cold, distant por- includes a 19-inch invaders who plan to take over the trayal of “sterile” killing is now easier to TV, a seven-watt Earth by transforming dead humans into identify with than the more graphic vio- audio amplifier, an lence we've grown accustomed to in AM/EM tuner, an deadly zombies. The ensemble cast in- movies. The technology somehow audio cassette makes the scene feel disturbingly real. deck and speakers cludes TV horror hostess Vampira, 350- with separate Clancy’s technical expertise and ex- woofers and twee- pound former wrestler Tor Johnson, ters. . Hollywood psychic Criswell and a sadly decrepit Bela Lugosi, who died before filming actually began and was replaced by a chiropractor in a cape who bears lit- tle resemblance to the actor. Wood merely inserted silent footage of Lugosi he had shot earlier where needed. -'“My friends and I decided to have a party on May 6, 1991, the date Criswell predicted flying saucers would land in Washington, D.C.,” says Carducci. “We watched Plan 9 on laserdisc. Makeup DECEMBER 1992 VIDEO 11

THE NATION’S STILL WAITING FOR SKYPIX? asonic, which the company plans to first live simulcast Don’t hold your breath. The pioneer- inn TSC and ing effort to set up a direct-broadcast market next spring for about $6,000. MAAAAAAAAAAAAL Harman Video showed a front projec- HDTV was dem- satellite system is foundering. After tor/line doubler package that pro- Video onstrated by the missing startup deadlines and losing duced a big, near-HDTV quality Advanced Televi- time it had leased for satellite trans- picture for a relatively paltry $10,000. sion Research ponders, SkyPix filed for bankruptcy. And Runco showed a prototype of a Flashes Consortium in The company, mired as well in several $5,000 high-end laserdisc player that combines a rugged Matsushita side- Washington, lawsuits, had billed itself as “the entre- D.C., on September 30. An evening preneurial story of 1992” for its prom- news program of WRC-TV, a local _ ise of a system that would offer dozens changing transport with improved dig- NBC affiliate, was transmitted con- of movie channels plus traditional ca- ital video and audio circuitry. ° ventionally, as well as in HDTV, to a ble programs. At presstime, SkyPix A TOP COP HAS COME OUT nearby hotel. The side-by-side com- was due to submit reorganization parison of 4:3 NTSC with 16:9 HDTV plans. ‘ shooting, and the camcorder is his dramatically showed the advantages of weapon of choice. Accused of using the digital system, and that the two KEVIN ADAMS’ 30-MINUTE TAPE “Gestapo tactics” to collect traffic signals can be transmitted without in-- Can't Take That Away From Me won fines and other court-ordered judg- terference. ments, New York City sheriff Philip Grand Prize in Sony's eighth annual Crimaldi has ordered his repo squads THE FIRST ANIMATED FEATURE Visions of U.S. video contest. Two 14- to videotape every one of the 117,000 year-old Seattle residents, Gabriel Ju- cars, trucks and businesses his office nominated for a Best Picture Oscar det-Weinshel and Aidan Fraser, took seizes in a typical year. If local officials can now bedissected frame by frame First Prize for fiction video. Deadline want to pursue their charges, “they with Walt Disney’s $50 “work-in-prog- — for next year’s contest is tentatively set can look at the videotape,”’ says ress” CAV laserdisc of Beauty and the for June 15. Watch this space for fur- Crimaldi. ‘ Beast (Image Entertainment). A ther details. unique combination of finished color — THAT OLD CAMCORDER OR film and pencil animation, the letter- WE UNCOVERED MANY HIGH- video camera you don’t use could be boxed disc also boasts an alternate tech surprises at October’s Custom furthering the cause of human rights version of “Be Our Guest,” theatrical Electronic Design and Installation As- rather than gathering dust in a closet. trailers and preliminary animation of sociation (CEDIA) show in Dallas. — The Witness program provides video equipment to human rights activists the Beast’s “transformation” scene. © First was a 58-inch, 16:9 widescreen around the world. Call 212-598-3646 Disney has no plans to release the fin- | rear-projection monitor from Pan- for more information. ished film on disc. Clancy’s fancy the spot to buy a pair of VideoPhones if I could get an actual demonstration. Per- continued from page II haps I could videophone someone in an- actitude caused some friction with the other store? Nope, said the clerk, AT&T creators of the film, but the writer was wasn’t doing demos. But there was a sales video I could pleased with the realism of these scenes, according to Mace Neufeld, one of Patri- watch. As the tape, fed by a VCR, start- ot Games’ producers. When Ford and ed to play, a swirling glob of mushy col- the filmmakers visited the CIA anti-ter- ors appeared on the VideoPhone’s three- inch-square LCD screen. rorist center, they found a number of Clancy and Ford fans eager to help the Call Watching: MCI's videophone, at $750 per “Ts that supposed to be a person?” I unit, is half the price of AT&T's VideoPhone. production. Says Neufeld: “We got in asked. newspapers, you would think the people because Harrison had a cup of coffee at AT&T would go into overtime trying “T think so, but I’m not sure,” the to get the good word out about its new clerk replied. with some of the guys and said, ‘Gee, $1,499 voice and picture telephone. Think again. wouldn't it be great if Icould see the “Does it always look this bad?” I anti-terrorist room?’ ” The next thing For months, Video Magazine has at- they knew, they were in the inner sanc- tempted to acquire the VideoPhone to asked. see if this is the breakthrough product that will herald a new age of video com- “Sorry, but there are no controls to munications. Before the negative no- adjust it,” said the clerk. tum with the production designer tices, we were told no units were available. After they appeared, we were sketching away. —Jon Silberg told the phones were getting “new soft- Not content to let AT&T rest on its ware” and were not available. laurels, MCI Communications has an- Undeterred, I visited an AT&T A tale of : phone store in New York City, where the nounced its own videophone. Priced at VideoPhone 2500 is on display. Posing as $750, half the AT&T price, it will be a customer, I suggested to the sales clerk 2 videophones that I might plop down three grand on available early next year. Both phones use compression tech- “Is Your Head Melting, Or Is My Video- nology to send 10 color video frames per Phone On the Blink Again?” asked The New York Times headline. “AT&T's Vid- second over standard telephone lines, eoPhone Doesn’t Measure Up To Its although neither phone will be compati- Price Tag,” answered The Wall Street Journal. With opening notices like these ble with the other. Both plug into a | in two of America’s most prestigious home phone jack and permit video calls for the same price as a conventional call. Will the pictures be worth watching? Stay tuned. —Frank Beacham 12 VIDEO DECEMBER 1992

are the intelligent choice in ‘Il not only want to carry a You actually can. nation, call 1-800-BE-SHARP. SHARP ISION SHARP. come. SHARP PRODUCTS” LCD VIDEO PROJECTION SYSTEMS » LCD DIRECT VIEW VIDEO MONITORS *«CAMCORDERS¢ VCR°-» AUDIO“ EREXISONS LCD © 1992 SHARP ELECTRONICS CORPORATION. “MEASURED DIAGONALLY. SIMULATED PICTURE. MODEL SHOWN XV-H30U, Circle 5 on Reader Service Card.

il!BERGER-BRAITHWAITE LABS artaenoonet nRtAReEsRnatnTmHeERnEStA, prmenyniaeimnnaesaentramsamreonmtsienninnmniantUroennt Hi Fi MIS STEREO — 1 £h KP AL-PICTUR JONTROL SYSTEM POWER EJECT VHS) HOY 'Many people who pictures by using an extra set of heads Sharp aimed its do a lot of time- VC-H96U VHS optimized for EP playback hi-fi VCR at the VIDEOTEST shifting or who Conventional four-head VCRs use many people who collect videotapes 661 love the VHS EP the same pair of heads for EP and spe- like to tape at the slow EP speed. The (or SLP) speed, cial effects. These heads use a gap (the deck carries an extra set of video tiny slot in the head where its magnetic heads with a 19-micron head gap de- which squeezes six field is concentrated) about 30 microns signed for better EP playback. Com- wide to lessen. noise in special-effects. bined with automatic noise reduction SHARP hours of video modes like search and still. Unfor- onto one T-120 tunately, 30-micron head gaps are much and a midmount transport, this con- tape. But record- larger than the diagonal video tracks re- figuration produces stunning results. In both SP and EP, the picture quali- ing at EP causes a corded on the tape at the EP speed. The ty of the VC-H96U is really out- significant drop in result is that on playback, the head picks standing. Audio quality and ease of -up the edges of other tracks, as well as use are both very good, making over- VHS picture quality the track it’s supposed to read. This all performance very good to excel- lent. At $570, it’s a great buy —some VCR compared with SP, causes noise. The VC-H96U’s dedicated 19-micron EP heads eliminate the over- decks at this price have more fea- although advances in EP recording have tures, but few can match its picture. helped close the gap. With the VC- H96U, Sharp dramatically improves EP Sharp Vo-H9GU Price: $570 wireless with buttons search up to 9 marks for VCR—power, eject, in either direction VHS VER Weight & Size (h/w/d): TVVCR, menu, call, 10.4 Ibs.; 3-5/8 x 15 x onscreen, 10-digit key- Audio: linear mono, 12-5/8 inches pad, 100, -, +, add/ hi-fi AFM stereo tion coach, front-panel EP; chroma AM—48 erase, display, cancel, input, skip search up to SP, 43.5 EP; chroma Tape Format & SP/EP record, record, Tuning Method: 2 min., random repeat, PM—40.9 SP, 39.1 EP Speeds: VHS; standby, stop, play, frequency synthesis tamper-proof function, tecord—SP, EP; pause/still, slow, slow auto head cleaning, Audio Frequency play—SP, LP, EP speed/DPSS - and +, Channel Selectors: auto noise reduction Response: hi-fi—20 frame advance, 2x, re- programmable scan on Hz-20 kHz, +0.1/-1.8 Video Heads: 6 wind/search, fast for- VCR, scan plus direct Absent Features: au- dB; linear (-3 dB)—80 ward/search, tamper access on remote dio dub, video dub, Hz-11 kHz SP, 75 Hz-4 Cue & Review Search: proof, zero back, repeat insert edit, titles/graph- kHz EP SP/LP—5x, EP—15x and skip search; TV Preset Method: auto ics, fyingerase head, (post-1985 Sharp mod- program with manual jog/shuttle dial, remote Hi-Fi Dynamic Range: Fast Forward/Rewind els)—power, TV/video, add/erase pause jack, record 86.4 dB Time: approx. 5 min. speed control on VCR, Linear Audio S/N: for T-120 channel up and down, Cable Tuning Range: VCR Plus, headphone 43.1 dB Front-Panel Controls: volume up and down, A-8, 2 to 13, A to W, jack, mic jack, record- buttons for power, mute AA to BBB, 65 to 94, ing level control Audio, Distortion: hi- eject, rewind/search, A-5 to A-1, 100 to 125 fi—0.3%, linear—0.9% play, fast forward/ Jacks: rear RF in and RESULTS search, stop, pause/still, out and video/stereo Timer: 8-event/1-year RATINGS record, setup, TV/VCR, plus simple timer with Horizontal Resolution: add/erase, + and -; audio in and out, front 24-hr. delay 250 lines Picture: excellent slide switches for noise video/stereo audio in reduction on/off and Special Features: still _S/N Ratios (dB): un- Audio: very good fine head on/off Program Start frame, frame advance, weighted video—46.6 Locator/Index/Cue: slow motion, speed SP, 42.6 EP; weighted Ease of Use: Remote Control: IR index—auto mark, play, midmount trans- video—52.3 SP, 51.1 very good port, onscreen instruc- Overall: very good/excellent 14 VIDEO DECEMBER 1992

PAUSE/ Head Game; In an effort to HIGHLIGHT With the KPR- AY FRR MSTOP MST Two of the video heads make big-screen 41EXR95, Sony TV more practical carries the trend on Sharp’s VC-H96U VIDEOTEST for those with lit- toward slim rear- use 19-micron head tle space, and projection sets to a new level—the gaps optimized for EP 662 set is only as deep as most 20-inch di- recording and playback. more attractive to rect-view sets. As a re- SONY those with an sult, it can bring the MID-DRIVE large picture required 41-inch aversion to giant, for home theater into CENTER MOUNTED MECHANISM room-dominating much smaller rooms. rear- And it works this mira- components, some cle without sacrificing projectiOn. manufacturers quality or features. Pic- have begun offer- ture quality is excel- ing slim rear-pro- lent, and audio, ease of ariel oe By use and overall perfor- mance are very good to tubes upward, excellent. At $2,799, it’s a bit pricey, but un- they can trim deniably hard to resist. a 20-inch direct-view set. TV set more than a foot The set carries enough features to of depth, making the sets thin enough to satisfy almost any videophile. It offers picture-in-picture and a Hughes SRS lap and clean up the EP picture. fit in most living rooms. Sony’s audio system, which produces surround- sound effects using only the two speak- However, squeezing six video heads KPR-41EXR95 is perhaps the most ele- ers inside the set. Its crowded rear panel and two audio heads on the same drum offers three video inputs, as well as a is difficult because it also requires two gant realization of this concept. It pro- monitor (selected source) output, and extra transformers, which are used to the front panel has an input for easy transfer signals from the spinning part of duces a 41-inch picture, but its cabinet is camcorder connection. the drum to the stationary part. If Sharp had used the flat rotary transformers only 20 inches dee—apbout the same as DECEMBER 1992 VIDEO 15 found in most VCRs, the transformers would have been too close together and Lean and Mean: crosstalk (signal leakage from one chan- Sony's KPR-41EXR95 nel into another) would have resulted. 41-inch TV set is only Instead, Sharp uses stacked cylindrical rotary transformers to reduce the inter- as deep as most 20- ference. inch sets, and offers The result of all this careful engi- top-notch rear-projection performance. neering is a cleaner EP picture much closer to that obtained at the SP speed. A midmount cassette transport mecha- nism reduces mechanical vibration fur- ther, improving picture quality at all speeds. Sharp also made the machine very easy to use by restricting the number of controls on the VCR, putting all but power and eject inside a compartment to produce a clean uncluttered look, and adding a simplified onscreen instruction manual for the common functions. The VC-H96U has many modern features, like front input jacks, frame advance, slow motion, double-speed play, segment repeat (which marks and repeats a user- selected segment of tape), skip search (which advances the tape in 30-second increments at the touch of a button) and a tamper-proof function locking sys- tem. It doesn’t have the features you continued on page 26 MLPVOEHISRODSETIOOLTGLEROSATPHS:

4I I I I I | | I I I I I I I = NEW TECHNOLOGY, Three program palette modes let a Sony RF; front—1 video/ster- LOWER PRICES... user optimize picture and sound for dif- eo audio (duplicate of ferent types of program material. The KPR-41EXR95 video 3) HOME movie mode boosts sharpness and cre- 41-Inch Rear- CABLE ates theaterlike audio effects. The sports Projection Outputs: 1 S-video/vid- mode boosts brightness and provides eo/stereo audio, 1 stadium sound effects. And the news Monitor/ Receiver video/stereo audio mode reduces picture noise while opti- (loop-through of input mizing audio for voices. 3), 1 fixed stereo audio, 1 variable stereo audio The set also offers switchable noise Internal Audio reduction, selectable color temperature Amplifier Power: (10,500 or 8,850 Kelvins), channel cap- 2 x 12 watts CNN ¢ USA Network » TNT** « tioning, onscreen labels (such as “WHS” Price: $2,799 Special Features: very WGN ° Family Channel * HBO & and “LD”) for video inputs, three on/off shallow footprint, Cinemax* ¢ Sci-Fi Channel ¢ Black timer settings, channel block (which Weight & Size (h/w/d): Hughes SRS sound, Entertainment TV * ESPN** ¢ Mind locks out channels you don’t want the 158.8 Ibs.; 46-3/4 x PIP, multibrand remote, 36-5/8 x 20 inches picture palette, three- Extension University » CNBC kids to watch), convergence from the setting on/off timer, op- Disney Channel* * The Discovery remote control and onscreen menus in Screen Size: tional VCR shelf, Channel * The Movie Channel* « English, Spanish or French. 41 inches diagonally channel block, English/ MOR Music ¢ Headline News « Arts Spanish/French menus, & Entertainment * The Nashville The sides and back make it look Speaker Size: 5-inch switchable noise reduc- Network ¢ Superstation TBS * and more like a graceful, gently curved woofer and 1.4-inch tion, selectable color sculpture than the bulky projection TV tweeter for each chan- temperature MORE! sets we’re used to. The front is quite nel simple, with the screen reaching to Absent Features: $29\" within a few inches of the top and sides. Type of Tuning: headphone jack, front- frequency synthesis panel S-video input, Complete System including Programming. Below the screen sit buttons for power, second tuner for un- channel, volume and input. A small Method of Tuning: aided PIP, external New! SMALL-DISH System compartment below hides video/stereo programmable scan on speaker connectors, in- audio jacks for video 3 input (duplicated set, scan plus direct ternal Dolby Pro-Logic for crystal-clear cable access on remote decoder programming nationwide. on the rear) and buttons for demo, re- turn/favorite and the menu system. Broadcast Tuning RESULTS CSR1Coaei6enrradcvdl.ieecre For FREE CATALOG Call Range: 2 to 13, Horizontal Resolution: The remote control also operates 14 to 69 760 lines 800-346-6466 many brands of VCRs, laserdisc players and cable boxes. It offers the usual con- Cable Tuning Range: Picture S/N (at picture trols for channel, volume, mute, sleep 125 channels—A-8, 2 tubes, in dB): lumi- to 13, A to W, W+1 to nance—56.8 dB, (30-, 60- or 90-minute off timer), input W:+58, A-5 to A-1, chroma AM—64.6, select and other functions, plus picture W+59 to W+84 chroma PM—63.4 plus and minus buttons and menu sys- Remote Control: IR Accuracy of Colors: tem controls. Picture-in-picture controls wireless with switches excellent for VIR 1/2/3/MDP and include on/off, swap, freeze, input select, TVi/cable box; buttons Audio Frequency position (in any corner of the screen), for muting, sleep, pow- Response: line out—20 channel (when the inset picture comes er, 10-digit keypad, Hz-20 kHz, +/-1 dB; from the tuner) and audio swap, which enter, TV/video, display, speakers—20 Hz-15 switches to the audio that accompanies jump, A/V window + kHz, +/-10 dB the inset picture. A sliding cover reveals and -, menu, return/fa- buttons for controlling a VCR or a laser- vorite, picture + and -, Audio S/N: 71.3 dB disc player. and volume +/- rocker; PIP buttons—channel + Total Harmonic Using the set is relatively straightfor- and -, freeze, TV/video, Distortion: less than ward. The primary operating control is position, swap, audio, 1%, SRS off the remote. Direct channel access re- PIP and off; covered quires that you press the enter button VTR/MDP buttons for RATINGS after making a keypad selection. Many TV/VTR, code set, options, including almost all picture and standard, power, chan- Picture: excellent audio adjustments, are made with four nel + and -, rewind/ buttons. search, play, fast for- Audio: ward/search, stop play very good/excellent Some operatio—nsusch as adjusting and record (2 buttons) ‘Name Brands Only\" brightness, tint and other picture pa- Inputs: rear—1 S-vid- Ease of Use: yw rameters— require many button pushes. eo/video/stereo audio, 2 very good/excellent NBO video/stereo audio, cen- — However, the reduced number of but- ter speaker (right/left Overall: tons minimizes remote clutter. The pair, 50 watts max.), 1 excellent/very good **Geographical restrictions may apply. *These services demo button in the front compartment serves as a simplified instruction manu- require a small additional fee. al, and tells you what appears on each submenu. se eeei al16VIDEO DECEMBEReoeaSnneeeeeeeeneeeeeneeeteeeeeneee 1992 Unlike some other Sony sets, the KPR-41EXR95 has no second tuner for the PIP—you’'ll have to connect a video source to use the feature. To watch two continued on page 27

12 MORE ay vo REASONS TO aes BUY A JVC he Universal 12 free tapes from JVC let you capture hours of priceless Studios w memories. And because it’s Compact VHS, you can play your cassettes back on any VHS VCR (via provided VHS Ski wo playpak). Not every camcorder maker can say that. Lessons And this holiday season, no other camcorder maker v is offering this... Softball v Game This offer is available only at authorized JVC dealers. Air Race ee ee ee ee eae Ree he ee ee nn REPO en EE GR MRL Ae pee Seater eer a Nancy'6 Shower |I !I' GET 12 FREE JVC VIDEO TAPES* =civic:Compact VHSonly VHS, and ||1 Dance WHEN YOU BUY ANY JVC CAMCORDER “omnpac ; Recital ! Mardi | OFFICIAL * REQUEST * FORM provided VHS playpakc)an be I Gras 92 H To get your 12 FREE JVC VHS-C compact video cassettes enclose: conveniently played on any VHS VCR. | Offer good in USA only. PO/APO addresses 4 1. A photocopy of the purchase receipt of any JVC video camcorder clearly a: lloweda. Allow 3 6-8 weeks cafoyr delivery. ; 1I indicating a purchase between 11/1/92 and 12/31/92. Offer rights not assignable or transferable. I1 1 2. This completed Official Request Form including UPC number. No group or organization refunds will be I honored. Offer expires 1/31/93. ‘ : (Official Request Form only. No reproductions will be accepted.) Consumers will receive 12 JVC EC-30 I I Mail to: JVC Tape Offer, P.O. Box 210, Cataumet, MA 02534-0210 VHS-C compact video cassette tapes, ! ! Limit one request per family or household. Void where prohibited. approx, retail value $60.00. *Each tape ; has an approximate recording time of ! ; 20 minutes for Standard Play Mode : (60 min. for Extended Play Mode). f 1 These promotional tapes are not meant } . Name (Please print clearly) for resale. I 1 1 ©1992 JVC Company of America, } - Address Elmwood Park, New Jersey 07407. 1 I State Zip (must be included) 1 I City | : I UPC Number (from camcorder box) 1 Offer void if correct proof-of-purchase requirements and the Official Request Form are not included. “

fA 4 bee “ ‘ae BOGEN 3169 THE RUNCO CINEMAPRO 750 SERIES §f CINE/VIDEO PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL PROJECTOR TRIPOD A positive i THE IDEAL projection on the future of CAMCORDER COMPANION home theater. Easy to use and 7% Runco has raised the stan- easy to handle, dard for front projection the 3169 TV with its new CinemaPro combines Bogen 3001 Tripod Legs 750. Projecting an extremely bright picture, the 750 has Super and a 3130 QR Micro Fluid Head with Quick Release Delta-Brite lenses with enhanced phosphors. This technology | Plate. The Bogen 3001 Tripod is the lightest (about 3 lbs.) enables the 750 to deliver a dynamic peak picture brightness of 750 @ and the smallest (folds to 20 1/2 in.), but is one of the most lumens — 25 percent more than Runco’s previous model, the 600. fe versatile tripods we offer. Sturdy, hard finish aluminum legs Also included in the 750 is an innovative and advanced video processor that contains several sophisticated components including a 2H adaptive comb filter, black level expander and 2d Pe ata erence te ae eee | feature 3 click stop spread angles and each has a sure grip, Convenience features also abound in this model. An easy to use Me quick-acting, non-fouling lever lock. The Bogen 3169 is on-screen menu system takes you through the set-up of the unit i ;; : : 2 and the enclosed learning remote control lets you access virtually Just one ofa wide choice of tripods, fluid heads, dollies and all of the other commands of the 750 as well as many other pieces of home theater gear. m accessories. See your dealer or write to Bogen Photo Corp., 565 East For more information, contact Runco at 26203 Crescent Avenue, Ramsey, N.J. 07446-0506; (201) 818-9500 Production Ave., Suite 8, Hayward, CA 94545; Tel: (510) 293-9154; Fax: (510) 293-0201. N Hear Ye! i . GREAT SOUND FOR your Calcorder is THE HEARING IMPAIRED $i°t caadnvtanScheodothsOtw¥ajCgohmt?e Chaparral, a leading Do your videos cause motion sickness? There’s only one manufacturer of sophis- solution. The Steadicam JR™. You can walk, run, climb stairs ticated home entertainment products, has come up —and your videos never shake. Fits 8mm, Hi-8, VHS-C and with the perfect entertainment solution for the hearing impaired — the dB50 assistive listening device. The S-VHS-C camcorders weighing 4 pounds or less. dB50, a wireless personal listening system, lets the 3 For more information or the hearing impaired enjoy audio/video programming without blasting the sound throughout the room. It STEADICAM] name of the dealer nearest you, uses Chaparral’s EquaTone™ stereo technology, — Se call (800) 955-5025. which provides tone adjustment for the left and right ear individually and in full stereo. It can be used any- Cinema Products Corporation, 3211 S. La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90016 # (310) 836-7991 where in your house or yard within a 150-foot range. And you can tune the compact wireless receiver to all FCC-designated listening broadcast frequencies, and listen at the level that’s ideal for you while family and friends listen to normal TV sound. To hear more, call Chaparral at 800-435-7253.

‘INSTANT _ PROGRAMMER’ , VCR Plus+ Instant Programmer is the VIDEO torx tore =.= perfect holiday gift for anyone who's ever missed their favorite show. They'll find it’s the fastest, easiest way to tape the programs they want to see. Simply punch in the PlusCcode™ numbers, which are Connect your camcorder, VCR or other video sources to the WinVision™ board to create your own computer published in TVGuide and most newspaper listings, for the images, importing them into your favorite applications. Retouch, edit, get printouts, even send faxes (With your PC fax board - Why oy mail pictures? Fax Grandma shots of the birthday party before you cut the cake! shows you want to watch. VCR Plus+ Instant Programmer does ~ Print up to multi-page life size posters on most dot matrix, ink jet or laser printers |the rest. ~ Create image data bases (real estate, insurance, personnel, etc) It automatically turns on your VCR, changes the channel (even ~ Create your own greeting cards for next Holidays, add pictures to store pamphlets, club newsletters An SHOP SWHIHTOOHLWICVDAIASDYEEO'S fion vour cable fox) and recards the nrooram for voiWinVision™ is a PC compatible card (IBM XT, AT, 386, 486 and clones) and comes with powerful image retouching and enhancing software: PhotoFinish™ 1.01 for Windows (min. Windows 3.x, EGA or better and mouse) or PC Paintbrush IV Plus™ for DOS users (min DOS 3.x, CGA or better, hard disk and mouse). A fax card “~ jommended, as itenables you to send images away as a Frugal Fax Video Phone! ‘han VGA resolution, 64 to 256 grays, HiQ notch filter to eliminate color without distortions mode required, real time capture in less than a second | edit, retouch and paint tools, special effects and filters, like mosaic, emboss, motion blur irites images as PCX™, TIF, BMP, GIF, MSP, TGA and EPS (Write only) a in:itBe e Your imagination sets the limit! Get more information on any advertisers featured in Video Showcase or find out where the nearest dealer is for that roduct. Simply circle the product number = a eo option and O AJO PO LY FO R PCs well do the rest. gin Games Offers Showcase #1 Showcase #5 onopoly® Deluxe BA.. SSeenndd mmee ldietaelrecrture —AB._ SSeenndd mmee ldietaelrearture For PWilnyd®ows Ke information information oly, the best-selling board- Showcase #2 Sheucase #6 of all time, is now able to be A. Send me literature B. Send me dealer Sond me literature on IBM PCs and compati- information § Send me dealer 7ith Windows interfaces. ii poly Deluxe, ps ie Showcase #3 Showcase #7 f, iis an exact replica of the Ao.S Send mee dlietaelrearture A5 SSendamwaeslldietearrature giivegs plaByeSrs tDhOe RI aSbilOitMy G:to heweheell and and dedaeall anc and| informobion a SRS e real estate moguls. Showcase #4 Showcase #8 mputer version allows for up to ten players, either| A rer me paves : a oe a ag , computer or both, and features advanced effects ———— ee ertog - and effects and animated tokens. Game pieces come J on the computer screen — a running horse, a walk- de, a driving car, etc. Name doly Deluxe lets the user customize the house rules ii fers a time limit option for those interested in a dif- | Address approach. : City ‘al holiday gift, Monopoly Deluxe is available at Phone 5 Ii ‘ested retail price of $49.99. For more informa- 3 tate Ip ontact Virgin Games, Inc., at 800-874-4607. \\ VS11

! BOGEN 3169 THE RUNCO CINEMAPRO 750 SERIES CINE/VIDEO PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL PROJECTOR TRIPOD A positive wt ” THE sae projection on =) |CAMCORDE the future of Mfeee1 me ©OMPANION home theater. if 7 4° ,| Easy to use and Runco has raised the stan- 4 easy to handle, dard for front projection ov |\\ TV with its new CinemaPro j; 750. Projecting an extremely bright picture, the 750 has Super Delta-Brite lenses with enhanced phosphors. This technology / \\ the 3169 enables the 750 to deliver a dynamic peak picture brightness of 750 lumens — 25 percent more than Runco’s previous model, the 600. | qyu ¥ if \\ combines Bogen 3001 Tripod Legs Also included in the 750 is an innovative and advanced video processor that contains several sophisticated components and a 3130 QR Micro Fluid Head with Quick Release inclu|ding a ,2H adaptive comb filter, black level expander and 2d Plate. The Bogen 3001 Tripod is the lightest (about 3 lbs.) Oe ca, aaa inonq eae a Sy and the smallest (folds to 20 1/2 in.), but is one of the most | Convenience features also abound in this model. An easy touse versatile tripods we offer. Sturdy, hard finish aluminum legs on-screen menu svstem takes vou through the set-up of the unit feature 3 click stop spread angles and each has a sure grip, quick-acting, non-fouling lever lock. The Bogen 316%1¢ | just one of a wide choice of tripods, fluid heads, doll | accessories. See your dealer or write to Bogen Photo Corp., 565 Ea Crescent Avenue, Ramsey, N.J. 07446-0506; (201) 81. HEAR } GREAT SOUNLE = me | THE HEARING =~ ®&= IMPAIRED 3s < = == : ———— Chaparral,ale = oD ———— ——s manufacturer of >= =r Ss ticated home entertainment products, has cc = ok with the perfect entertainment solution forthe! <= <F ee impaired — the dB60 assistive listening devic = = dB50, a wireless personal listening system, 1 =- oF Ss hearing impaired enjoy audio/video prograi without blasting the sound throughout then = =o uses Chaparral’s EquaTone™ stereo techn = Petes -* : which provides tone adjustment for the leftan ear individually and in full stereo. It can be use = where in your house or yard within a 150-foot And you can tune the compact wireless receive FCC-designated listening broadcast frequenci« listen at the level that’s ideal for you while fam | friends listen to normal TV sound. To hear more, call Chaparral at 800-435-7253

ee connie VCR Plus+ Instant Programmer is the I1B)ie) TTOO FPARXINTERTO PC ONLY cdI feye) _-« perfect holiday gift for anyone who's ever missed their favorite show. They'll find it’s the fastest, easiest Connect your camcorder, VCR or other video sources to the WinVision™ board to create your own computer way to tape the programs they want to see. images, importing them into your favorite applications. Retouch, edit, get printouts, even send faxes (with your PC fax board). jj ™j - Why wait to mail pictures? Fax Grandma shots of the birthday party before you cut the cake! Simply punch in the PlusCode numbers, which are - Print up to multi-page life size posters on most dot matrix, ink jet or laser printers published in TVGuide and most newspaper listings, for the - Create image data bases (real estate, insurance, personnel, etc) - Create your own greeting cards for next Holidays, add pictures to store pamphlets, club newsletters shows you want to watch. VCR Plus+ Instant Programmer does WinVision™ is a PC compatible card (IBM XT, AT, 386, 486 and clones) and comes with powerful image retouching and enhancing software: PhotoFinish™ 1.01 for Windows (min. Windows 3.x, EGA or better and B the rest. mouse) or PC Paintbrush IV Plus™ for DOS users (min DOS 3.x, CGA or better, hard disk and mouse). A fax card is highly recommended, as itenables you to send images away as a Frugal Fax Video Phone! Itautomatically turns on your VCR, changes the channel (even - Higher than VGA resolution, 64 to 256 grays, HiQ notch filter to eliminate color without distortions on your cable box), and records the program for you. - No still mode required, real time capture in less than a second - Powerful edit, retouch and paint tools, special effects and filters, like mosaic, emboss, motion blur m All of which makes VCR Plus+ Instant Programmer a gift ~ Reads/writes images as PCX™,TIF, BMP, GIF, MSP, TGA and EPS (Write only) anyone on your holiday list can use. It's available at stores Free the artist inside you! Your imagination sets the limit! = everywhere. For more information, call 1-800-432-8271. 2629 Terminal Blvd -Mountain View - CA 94043 © 1992 Gemstar Development Corporation. VCR Plus+®, PlusCode™ and Instant : oech 415 867-6791 Fax 15 967-8762 Programmer™ are trademarks of Gemstar Development Corporation. Winvision is a trademark of QUANTACorp PCX, PhotoFinish andPC Paintbrush IV Plus are trademarksofZSott Corp. All others are those oftheir respective holders. AllNew!‘VIDEO SHOPPER’ MONOPOLY FOR PCs The Magazine Virgin Games Offers For The Hands- Monopoly*” Deluxe On Video User Are you a video For Windows™ enthusiast who rolls Monopoly, the best-selling board- up his sleeves and works with video? game of all time, is now able to be Then, the new magazine VIDEO played on IBM PCs and compati- SHOPPER is designed for you. bles with Windows interfaces. j ih Monopoly Deluxe, from Virgin bee rhs Games, is an exact replica of the rae lore ace; PY RR pO ; and deal and whic ives players the ability to wheel pactnerent tate moguls. “ editing, pre- and post The computer version allows for up to ten players, either production, taping techniques, program collecting and new human, computer or both, and features advanced effects products and accessories that help you add on, upgrade and like sound effects and animated tokens. Game pieces come | enhance your video system. Plus, in every issue, you'll find VIDEO to on ci computer screen — a running horse, a walk- TRADER, our very successful newsletter that contains hundreds of ing shoe, a driving car, te. a ads from people just like you who want to buy, sell or trade Monopoly Deluxe lets the user customize the house rules anything and everything related to video. mm and offers a time limit option for those interested in a dif- ferent approach. For a$9.97 subscripti : ive 6 i {VIDEO 4e6H0OPWPeEeRs.te34tSehnd St.na, mNeecwheckYoOorcrkm,moanrNi.eaYyn. e1o0rr0ad0e1e.tr1t0 oSIVDIEDDEOSaSH rat An ideal holiday gfifGit,acmeMeosno,ofpo$Iln4yc9.,.9a9Dt,e8lF0uo0xr-e8m7oi4sr-e4a6v0ai7il.nafbolrema-at | fm_tiaons,uggceosntteadct dVeitragiiln 3

VIDEOTESTS CAMER. A a | EJECT aVIDEO Hi-Fi STEREO DATE PLAY/PAGE @@ .xZOOM MODE EIS HITACHI DISPLAY RESET O.FITER FADE B.LIGHT REVIEW *FOCUS STOP/SHIFT TITLE PAUSE OOFNF/ Image Improvement: Hitachi's VM-H39A uses a CCD sensor with unusually high resolution to minimize picture degradation when its digital image stabilizer is activated. For a couple of simple operation, with no manual a acd Despite being one years, camcorder of the smallest manufacturers con- trol of exposure or shutter speed, but the VIDEOTEST camcorder packs many unique digital camcorders ever made, Hitachi’s 664 have called their video goodies. These include an elec- smallest machines tronic image stabilizer (EIS), a 64x digi- $1,800 VM-H39A boasts some of the “pocket-size,” tal zoom, and modes for 16:9 recording, most sophisticated digital processing even though you’d black-and-white, sepia tone and sunset we've seen. Because it uses a high- HHiIT8ACHI have a tough time compensation. On many camcorders, resolution sensor, its image stabilizer finding a pocket the addition of digital effects is a mixed does not degrade the picture, and its they would fit in. blessing—they’re fun and sometimes digital zoom provides surprisingly But with the VM- useful, but they often degrade the pic- clear images. It also offers wide- H39A, Hitachi ture. Electronic image stabilizers and camcorder has created a Hi8 digital zooms decrease the number of screen, black-and-white, sepia and camcorder that pixels used, effectively “throwing away” sunset modes. Picture quality is good much of the resolution of the CCD for to very good, audio quality is fair, really does fit in a large coat pocket. Hitachi designed the VM-H39A for the sake of a steadier picture or higher ease of use is excellent and overall performance is good to very good. Hitachi VM-H39A Distance: 1/2 hed zoom magnification, Time: 7 min. 56 sec./8 flying erase head, patentee Seemed min. 45 sec. for P6-120 counter memory, two- Mii B Camcorder —|weirdeep-haontgole, 3 feet zoom mode, no tape, mode digital zoom (16x 40.3, weighted lumi- digital filter mode, EIS, Remote Pause: or 64x), color view- nance—48.2, Autofocus: TTL Hi8, record, time zone, through A/V edit cable finder, video light with unweighted video— time and date powered accessory 39.8, weighted video— shoe, case 47.7, chroma AM— Minimum Illumination: Viewfinder Controls: Remote Control: IR 41.7, chroma PM—37.5 5.3 lux for 50 IRE diopter focus, position, wireless with buttons Absent Features: frame advance, slow Audio Frequency brightness, color and 4 for rewind/search, fast motion, speed play, au- Response: 200 Hz-14 dio dub, video dub, kHz, +0.4/-3 dB; -16.9 Iris: auto with BLC tint forward/search, stop, indexing, manual shut- dB at 20 Hz; -6.6 dB at ter speed adjustment, 20 kHz Price: $1,799 Auto Fade: to white, VCR Controls: play, play/A/V dub safety, mic jack, two-speed trigger-operated fast forward/search, re- AN dub (record), zoom, headphone jack, Hi-Fi Dynamic Range: Weight & Size (h/w/d): wind/search, stop, pause/camera start/ standard S-video/video/ 78.4 dB 1.3 Ibs.; 4 x 3-1/4 x Shutter Speeds (sec.): pause, camera run/stop stereo audio output 9-1/2 inches (full auto only) 1/60, and eject camera stop, tele, wide, Audio Distortion: 0.3% Image Sensor: 1/3-inch 1/100, 1/120, 1/250 display, counter reset, RESULTS CCD, 470,000 pixels Microphone: stereo title on/off RATINGS White Balance: auto Horizontal Resolution: Lens: {/1.4, 8x with black-and-white, electret condenser Audio: hi-fi AFM stereo camera—480 lines, Picture: (6-48mm) power zoom sepia and sunset en- Hi8—400 lines, 8mm— good/very good with macro hancement options Jacks: multipin A/V in/ Titles/Graphics: 2 250 lines out pages, each 2 lines of Audio: fair Filter Diameter: 34mm Viewfinder: 0.7-inch 16 characters S/N Ratios (dB): un- color LCD, with diopter Tape Format & Speed: weighted luminance— Ease of Use: excellent Minimum Focusing and onscreen indicators Hi8/8mm SP Special Features: still for auto exposure shut- frame, insert edit, 16:9 Overall: ter speed, manual Video Heads: 4 mode, sepia tone good/very good focus, battery condition, mode, black-and-white Cue & Review Search: mode, sunset enhance- approx. 7x ment, image stabilizer, Fast Forward/Rewind L 22 VIDEO DECEMBER 1992

magnification. Lifelike home The Bose Acoustimass-7 Home To overcome this limitation, Hitachi theater sound from Theater System uses a 470,000-pixel sensor in the VM- Build your home theater H39A, instead of the 410,000-pixel units Virtually Invisible’ system with Bose break- used in most Hi8 camcorders. This lets speakers? through speaker the digital circuitry discard some of the technology and get life- resolution, but still have more than The Answer Is Acoustimass’ like sound and more enough for full Hi8 picture quality. Speaker Systems space to enjoy it. Thus, the VM-H39A’s image stabilizer “Hear it and be convinced for yourself” Save $100 doesn’t degrade the picture, and its digi- — Julian Hirsch, Stereo Review, 1991, For a limited time, save tal zoom provides sharp images well into at least $100 when you the 30x range. Even 64x images are us- about Acoustimass-5 Series |! speakers buy Acoustimass-7 home theater speakers able. at authorized dealers. The camcorder also has a color LCD And add a pair of Bose 101° speakers for your viewfinder for a more natural feel as you rear channel at half shoot. However, the viewfinder’s hori- price. For details, zontal resolution is only about 200 please call toll-free: lines —half that of Hi8 tape — which makes manual focusing less precise. 1-800-444-BOSE Ext. 201 The VM-H39A is about the size of a VHS cassette but about three times as USA and Canada, Weekdays thick. It weighs 1.3 pounds stripped 8:30AM-9PM; Saturday 9AM-5PM (ET) down and about 2 pounds ready to shoot, with battery and cassette. One of Better sound through research., the biggest surprises is its apparent sim- Corporation, The Mountain plicity. There are only a few camera con- IA 01701-9168 USA trols— buttons for zoom mode, EIS, digital filter, fade, backlight compensa- control all basic playback functions, plus picture in 2 lux of light, Hitachi’s mini- tor and autofocus on/off, and a thumb- wheel for manual focus. The zoom start, stop, zoom, display, counter reset mum illumination rating, but to get a button gives a choice of 2x digital zoom and title on/off. picture with approximately 50 percent for a maximum of 16x, an 8x digital zoom for a maximum of 64x, and 16:9. Using the camcorder is very easy be- contrast ratio (50 IRE) requires 5.3 lux. The widescreen mode squeezes the pic- ture from the sides when viewed on a cause iris and white balance are fully au- Audio quality is fair compared to other conventional 4:3 set, but on widescreen tomated and have no specific controls. 8mm/Hi8 camcorders we've measured. We rate the VM-H39A good to very sets (which are due on the market with- The shutter speed and iris operations are in months), the picture looks normal. controlled by artificial intelligence to good overall. While it doesn’t offer the choose shutter speeds between 1/60- and manual control options many advanced The digital filter offers the black- 1/250-second with the appropriate iris videographers demand, casual shooters and-white, sepia and sunset options. should find it very simple to operate and Sepia mode gives the picture a brownish for a correctly exposed picture. The extremely easy to carry. And its high- cast, so it looks like an old photograph. BLC button opens the iris about 1.5 resolution CCD and clean, high-quality The sunset enhancement mode changes stops for backlit subjects. The only the color balance to improve the look of slightly tedious chore is composing titles, digital processing are real innovations. m= video shot at dusk. but having a character titler is a boon in } The zoom rocker and run/stop but- ton occupy their usual places. The bat- a camcorder this small. AMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALA tery fits into a cavity in the hand grip and part of the grip’s bottom swings Its audio features are spartan— away to allow changing the battery. A compartment above the grip holds there’s a wind noise switch for outdoor brightness, color and tint controls for the viewfinder. Forward of the grip sits a shooting, but no jacks for an external powered accessory shoe for the supplied video light. The light draws power from microphone or headphones. the camcorder battery, which is conve- nient, but reduces shooting time. A The multipin connector for all in- Dropout prevention compartment under the shoe houses the put/output connections means that you single multipin input/output connector. must have the appropriate cord to make There’s an easy way to prevent or reduce Buttons for camera/off/VCR mode, connections to external devices. This the glitches caused by dropouts on vid- saves space on the tiny camcorder, but if eotape. If at all possible, don’t pause or playback control, eject, the character you lose it, you'll have to go to a Hitachi stop your VCR when playing a tape. Re- titler, date, display and record review dealer or service center for a replace- wind it only when it has reached the (which lets you play the tape without end. This minimizes wear and tear on changing into the VCR modc) cover the ment. Dual clocks, one of which can be set by time zone, make adjustment easy the tape because tape transport func- back panel. when you're on the go. Ease of operation The remote control is only half the tions can slightly flex the tape and cause is excellent. size ofacredit card and about as thick as Picture quality is good to very good, its coating to loosen. a stack of five quarters. Its 11 touch pads a little noisier than some competing Hi8 Ted P. Cantrell camcorders. You will get a low-contrast 2nd Infantry Division, Korea DECEMBER 1992 VIDEO 23

VIDEOTESTS Super VHS Video Microscope: remote control (below) A tubular attachment has zoom and start/ stop controls on the that fits between the front and VCR controls main optics and the re- on the back. DISPLAY. movable wide-angle FADER: lens lets JVC's GR-SZ1 fill a TV screen with mi- croscopic images. The The JVC GR-SZ1 Instead of full manual control of We don’t rate is so chock-full of camera functions, it offers a knob that | camcorders on VIDEOTEST goodies it’s almost accesses programmed exposure modes features, but if we impossible to list 663 them all. The that include portrait, sports, front-lit, did, we’d certainly back-lit, strobe, classic film, slow shutter rate JVC’s $1,999 S-VHS-C GR-SZ1 most unusual is a and twilight settings. Digital processing excellent. Its versatile lens uses a de- lens with a remov- provides an electronic image stabilizer to tachable front element and an exten- VC able front element take the shake out of handheld shots, a sion tube to prod uce super-wide- and an extension 2x zoom extender usable in all the opti- tube. In various cal modes, a snapshot effect with bor- angle and microscope modes. A pro- grammed auto expo- S-VHS-C combinations, ders and a shutter-click sound effect, a sure system offers camcorder these parts pro- duce two optical cinema (letterbox) mode with black bor- many scene options, zoom ranges, a and it also has an im- ders on the top and bottom, and a 16:9 age stabilizer. Picture fixed-focal-length super-wide-angle squeeze mode for use with future wide- quality is very good for screen TV sets. There’s also a color LCD S-VHS, hi-fi audio is mode and a microscope mode. viewfinder and a power focus ring. dVE GR-S71 very good and overall 5-VHS-E Lens: multimode—f/1.8, Viewfinder: 0.7-inch Jacks: mic, mic power, performance is good to Camcorder 8x (6.4-52mm) zoom; {/4, 11x (6.8-71mm) LCD with diopter and AV out, S-video out, very good. Price: $1,999 digital zoom; ultra-wide onscreen indicators for remote out zoom level, iris level, Audio: linear mono, Audio Frequency Weight & Size (h/w/d): {/1.8 (4mm); micro- digital zoom, image sta- Tape Formats & hi-fi AFM stereo Response: hi-fi—20 2 Ibs. without battery or scope f/15.4 at fixed Speeds: S-VHS- Hz-20 kHz, +1.5/-0.6; cassette; 4-7/8 x 5 x distance (92mm, bilizer, voice position, C/VHS-C, SP/EP Special Features: color linear (-3 dB)—75 8-1/2 inches +/-2mm) manual focus, low con- viewfinder, flying erase Hz-7.5 kHz SP, 75 Hz-4 Image Sensor: 1/3-inch trast for AF, S-VHS, Video Heads: 4 head, still frame, ran- kHz EP CCD, 410,000 gross Filter Diameter: 46mm, dom-assemble edit, Hi-Fi Dynamic Range: except in super-wide record speed, operating Cue & Review Search: image stabilizer 76.8 dB mode mode, scene mode, 3x SP, (x EP Linear Audio S/N: Minimum Focusing memory, counter, time RESULTS 41.3 dB Distance: 0.6 inches, remaining, fader, Fast Forward/Rewind except in microscope squeeze, autofocus Time: 3 min. for TC-30 Horizontal Resolution: Audio Distortion: hi- mode (3.6 in.) square, dew, head clog, fi—0.4%, linear—0.9% low battery, insert edit- Remote Pause: ran- §-VHS—380 lines, Autofocus: TTL ing, clock battery, date, dom-assemble edit out VHS—250 lines RATINGS time, birthday/age Minimum Illumination: Remote Control: IR S/N Ratios (dB): un- Picture: 6.2 lux Viewfinder Controls: wireless with wired re- weighted luminance— S-VHS—very good, Iris: auto switchable to angle, diopter focus, mote pause jack and 40.6 SP, 40.2 EP; VHS—average/good manual brightness, color, tint buttons for record run/ weighted luminance— Auto Fade: stop, tele and wide-an- 48.4 SP, 48 EP; un- Audio: hi-fi—very good, trigger-operated VCR Controls: fast for- gle on one side; other weighted video—37.3 linear—average ward/search, play, side—rewind/search, SP, 36.5 EP; weighted Shutter Speeds (sec.): fast forward/search, video—43.8 SP, 43.2 Ease of Use: good 1/10- to 1/2,000-second rewind/search, stop, stop, play, VCR control, pause, multibrand re- EP; chroma AM—40 Overall: White Balance: pause, random-assem- mote preset and SP, 36.8 EP; chroma good/very good full auto only ble edit start/stop tandom-assemble edit PM—85 SP, 32.4 EP controls Microphone: stereo electret condenser 24 VIDEO DECEMBER 1992

With all these great features, it’s easy “its powertul, room-filling sound The Bose to overlook the innovative infrared re- emerges from...speakers that could Acoustimass-5 Series II mote control. It’s the first camcorder re- Speaker System mote we’ve seen that also controls easily be held on the palm of one’s popular brands of VCR. You can use this hand...” — Julian Hirsch, Stereo Review, 1991 Replace your bulky, capability in conjunction with an eight- outdated speakers with Bose breakthrough scene editing controller built into the speaker technology, camcorder to automate your editing. and your eyes won't You enter the beginning and end points believe your ears. of each scene with a button on the re- mote, and an onscreen display shows the Save $100 start and stop times of each scene. Push- ing the RAE start button on the cam- For a limited time, save corder automatically records these at least $100 when you replace your old scenes on the tape in the VCR. speakers with black or JVC calls this feature random-as- , white Acoustimass-5 speakers at participat- semble edit, or R.A. edit. It gives you ap- ing authorized dealers. proximately the same capabilities you'd For details, please call get using a LANC-equipped 8mm or toll-free: Hi8 camcorder with an editing control- ler, except that the controller would 1-800-444-BOSE cost about $250. JVC threw this one in Ext. 202 with the camcorder! The optional RM- V20U remote lets you perform audio USA and Canada, Weekdays dubs, video dubs and insert edits. 8:30AM-9PM; Saturday 9AM-5PM (ET) The GR-SZI lacks a few of the fea- (1.7 =i tures found on the most advanced cam- Better sound through research. corders, including frame advance, slow motion, speed play, A/V inputs, a head- © 1992 Bose Corporation, The Mountain, phone jack, manual control of shutter Framingham, MA 01701-9168 USA speed, a titler and a full manual iris. LaserUise IMPROVE YOUR IMAGES Entesrises The GR-SZ1 looks like other JVC Kenko introduces the subcompacts, except for the controls. 1-800-347-1941 NEW KC-SET for com- They’re spread out in small groups in 1-404-439-1580 pact video cameras. This many locations, and some buttons and two lens set has a .5X switches have been replaced by rotary We Have Every Title wide-angle and a 1.5X controls. One of these is an unusual telephoto lens to cap- manual iris control near the lens with an 15% Discount ture all the action on/off button at its center. The knob (On 3 or more disks) indoors and outdoors. doesn’t take the iris from fully open to Comes complete with fully closed—you have to use the auto 10% Discount _ storage bags and lens iris to get it in the ballpark, then fine- (On 1 or 2 disks) caps. tune with the manual control. This is much better than a backlight compensa- ** Friendly Service ** Our new video filters will tor button, but more restrictive than a Same Day Shipping protect and enhance the full-range manual iris. images you shoot. Free Catalog Available The left side has an auto/manual fo- With video lens supports, transfer units and cus button on the lens cowl and two ** Visa, Mastercard, Check, assorted accessories, Kenko is the only name buttons further back for the image stabi- & C.0.D. you'll ever need. For the highest quality lizer and digital zoom. Below are the cin- video lenses, filters and accessories straight ema mode button and a window that ** Fax 1-404-439-0969 from the Kenko factories, shows the mode of the scene selector, ** 9:00 - 6:00 Est. Mon. thru Fri. ask your local dealer which is controlled by a rotary knob ** Laserdisc Enterprises to show you the Kenko product with an on/off button at its center. Fur- 390 Main Street line or write to ther down sit buttons for display, fader Hiram, GA 30141 Kenko for a dealer and snapshot. near you. Circle 8 on Reader Service Card. Most scene selector modes are self- KENKO AMERICA, INC. explanatory. Exceptions are the classic 17801 Sky Park Circle film mode, which uses a high-speed Suite B strobe to simulate old-time movie flick- Irvine, CA 92714 er; the slow shutter, which lowers the shutter speed below 1/60-second and al- lows shooting in very low light (JVC rates it at 1 lux); and twilight, which dis- engages the auto gain control and sets focus to infinity. These all work well, but there are restrictions on what digital fea- tures may be combine—dfor example, “JBZUP/dOe9A|p1BAe1DIaD8yS DECEMBER 1992 VIDEO 25

Why settle for a you can’t use the image stabilizer with very good, and average for the linear cheap imitation when the real the strobe. track. But unless you use the audio dub thing is now so Tilting the viewfinder up exposes a function available through the optional affordable? menu button, rocker controls, and but- tons for date/time select, set and display RM-V20U remote, or record tapes in While other cross-country ski mode. The menu controls seven func- exercisers provide an awkward VHS-C and play them on a mono VHS “shuffling” motion, NordicTrack” tions, including 16:9, voice enhance- uses a patented flywheel and one- ment and a macro mode for use with VCR, you'll probably never use the lin- way clutch mechanism to accurately simulate the smooth weatherproof housings. ear track audio. cross-country skiing stride. That’s The power switch on the top panel why NordicTrack is known as “The We rate the GR-SZ1 good to very World’s Best Aerobic Exerciser.”\"” has positions for play, off, camera lock And, with models priced as low as and camera release. The lock mode pro- good overall. The feature package is just $299, there’s no reason to own vides fully automatic operation, and the anything but the best! release mode allows the use of manual unbelievable, and most of the bells and overrides. A panel on the rear has for- ward and reverse buttons for retake whistles are surprisingly useful. It does- (edit search). The panel lifts to reveal n’t offer the traditional manual options transport controls for playback. The remote control has buttons on of camcorders like JVC’s larger GR- both sides. On one side are camcorder $505, but most videographers will be so controls for tele, wide and run/stop. On the other are controls for playback, and enthralled with the many special effects, the R.A. edit controls for in/out point auto exposure modes and focal ranges marking, on/off, cancel and VCR record standby. Holding down the VCR control that they won’t notice. P] button on this side lets you use the play- back buttons to control a VCR. The VHS VER front has a mini-jack for use in an R.A. 30 day continued from page 15 edit setup. in-home trial! The lens system offers an 8x zoom need for editing, like audio dub, video dub, insert edit, a remote pause jack, re- NordicTrack Excel ............ mode, an 11x zoom mode (accessed by cord speed control on the VCR and a twisting the front lens until it pops out more detailed front panel display. NordicTrack Sequoia ........ slightly), a wide-angle mode activated NordicTrack Challenger ... $299! The front panel is simple. The cas- Models priced from $299 to $1,299. by removing the front lens element, and sette hatch is above the display area, and both are centered. The power and ordicjrack a microscope mode that requires insert- ing a special tube between the detach- eject buttons are set into the display A CML Company able element and built-in lenses. face. Other controls hide in a compart- FREECSR6Coaeie4nradcvd.lieecre video and brochure The microscope mode delivers 344x ment at right. The hidden controls in- clude all major transport functions, like 1-800-328-5888 magnification on a 35-inch TV set if you play and stop, and buttons for other im- use 2x zoom. The smaller the set, the NordicTrack, Dept. 68AL2 lower the magnification. portant functions, like channel select The GR-SZI’s features are sure to and manual tracking. Also in the com- appeal to creative shooters, but the au- partment are switches for noise reduc- tomated systems never give the operator tion on/off (edit) and fine (19-micron) head on/off. full control, which might frustrate ex- pert shooters. The control layout is un- There are two sets of video/stereo usual, and experienced videographers audio input jacks, one front and one may need a little extra time to grow ac- back, and one set of video/stereo audio customed to it. Ease of use is good and output jacks in back. The rear panel also holds the usual RF (antenna/cable) in- improves with practice. put and output connectors. Picture quality of S-VHS recordings The remote is the primary operating is very good; for VHS recordings it is av- control. Not only does.it access many of erage to good. We made our measure- the more advanced features, it also oper- ments from tapes recorded on other ates the power, input selector, channel machines, which slightly reduces meas- and volume for recent Sharp TV sets. ured performance, because the GR-SZ1 The only really unusual control is the can’t record line-level signals from test tamper proof button. Pushing it for two generators. The rated minimum illu- seconds locks all controls on the deck mination of 1 lux is achieved only in the and the remote. Pushing it again for two slow-shutter mode. At normal shutter seconds releases the lock. speed, a minimum of 6.2 lux is required for a picture with 50 IRE units. The im- Basic operation is very easy from ei- age stabilizer compromises resolution ther the VCR or the remote, but some slightly, but because it uses a sensor with options, like record speed selection, higher resolution than most S-VHS-C frame advance, double-speed playback, camcorders, the degradation is not as slow play, index search and zero return, great as might be expected. can only be accessed from the remote. These days, though, that’s not unusual. Audio quality of the hi-fi tracks is Of those, you’re most likely to miss the record speed selector, frame advance and slow-motion buttons on the VCR. The deck’s digital program search system (DPSS) seeks up to nine index marks in either direction. The blue 141 Jonathan Blvd. N., Chaska, MN 55318 © 1992 NordicTrack, Inc,, A CML Company. All rights reserved. 26 VIDEO DECEMBER 1992

screen that mutes the noisy picture you The Bose” Lifestyle® Music System get between channels may be shut off. Replace your bulky, The display automatically dims when outdated stereo with Bose breakthrough the VCR is off. In addition to the stand- technology that will change the way you ard onscreen timer, there is a simple enjoy music. timer with up to 24-hour delay that Step Up Now And Save takes precedence over the program tim- For a limited time, save er. Among the features you may miss are at least $150 when you replace your old stereo a remote pause jack for dubbing and with a Lifestyle’ system with new black or white editing, audio dub, insert edit and a fly- powered Acoustimass -3 speakers. At participat- ing erase head. Ease of use is very good. ing authorized dealers. For details, please call When we hooked the VC-H96U up toll-free: to the test equipment, we were im- 1-800-444-BOSE Ext. 203 pressed by the results of Sharp’s engi- neering efforts. Our measurements were among the best we’ve seen in this class of VCR. We made them with the 19-mi- cron heads turned on. You might wish to turn them off for clearer SP special ef- fects. When they are turned off, video signal-to-noise measurements are 0.3 decibels lower, and chroma measure- ments are 1.4 to 2 dB lower. One sur- prise is that switching on the 19-micron head, which should affect only EP re- USA and Canada, Weekdays 8:30AM-9PM; Saturday 9AM-5PM (ET) cording, has a slight positive effect on SP “The sound of the Lifestyle® recordings, too. Picture quality is excel- Music System was superb from ® both FM and CD.” — Julian Hirsch, lent. Better sound through research... Sound & Image Magazine, Summer 1990, Sound quality is very good, although Siissesced: about the original Lifestyle’ music system Framingham, MA the deck lacks advanced audio features ountain like recording level control and a mic jack. Our overall rating is very good to excellent. It’s an ideal deck for home theater buffs and video archivists— you'll have a hard time finding better VHS picture quality. a| PROJECTION TV continued from page 16 channels at once, you'll need to use both HIGHEST CAPACITY the set’s tuner and the tuner in a VCR. LONGEST RUN TIME LOWEST PRICES Ease of use is very good to excellent. ALL BRANDS 24 HOUR SHIPPING Picture quality and accuracy of col- ors are excellent. Sony rates screen brightness at 2,000 candellas per square meter (583.8 footlamberts) and we measured it at 174 footlamberts. There is no standard for measuring the screen PANASONIC PB80/88 orig. PAN .. $39.00 brightness of a projection television. SONY NP77H 2400 mah $3 Audio quality is very good to excel- SONY 8mm 1500 mah CANON 8mm 2000 mah lent. The speakers produce surprisingly PALMCORDER 2000 mah........ low frequencies, with usable response JVC GR-C9 1500 mah down to 20 Hertz. Although you can use SHARP BT 21/22 the speakers as a center channel in a Pro-Logic system, their timbre probably won’t match your main speakers. The Sound Retrieval System uses phase and amplitude modification to recreate a three-dimensional sound field MADE IN U.S.A. CAMCORDER CHARGER/DISCHARGER for room-filling sound for stereo mate- 6V, 7.2V, 9.6V. Runs from house or auto - 1 hour time. $49 Charges two batteries. $ tial. It also simulates stereo from mono material. Overall, we find the KPR-41EXR95 an excellent to very good TV set. Its pic- 800-442-4275 =s==¢228-25 215 PLACE, BAYSIDE, N.Y. 11360 * FAX 718-461-1978 rT ture and sound pleased us greatly, but its Circle 9 on Reader Service Card. DECEMBER 1992 VIDEO 27 small size is really its best feature. 2

BY BRIAN CLARK Sharp liberates the eye with ViewCam design FUNCTION PLUS STYLE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS Samsung's 27-inch TC2770S monitor/receiver Hitachi's three new hi-fi VCRs include the versatile VT-F462 ($600). It blends VCR Plus programming ($670) features an MTS decoder with dbx noise re- with such editing features as VHS index search, [i duction. Along with standard A/V connections, synchro edit, program edit, a shuttle ring, a flying f& S-video jacks are on both the rear and the front erase head, audio/video dubbing and front inputs. panels. Other features include programmable chan- Other features include a programmed remote, high- nel scan, a 33-key remote control and onscreen speed rewind and an onscreen owner's manual. display. The crisp design reflects Samsung’s new (For additional information, circle 156 on the Read- er Service Card.) emphasis on style. (For additional information, cir- cle 157 on the Reader Service Card.) FX GOES Hi8 Sony’s FX-series Handycams go Hi8 with the intro- duction of the CCD-FX710. The FX710 ($1,400) has all the features of the earlier 8mm CCD-FX510, including hi-fi stereo sound, a digital superimposer, 1-lux low-light capability, program auto exposure, and a “home base” adapter/charger unit. Greater manual exposure control has been added to the FX710. (For additional information, circle 159 on the Reader Service Card.) PRISM POWER Canon's newest lens for its Hi8 L1 camcorder sys- 0 tem is the first of its kind to include an image EASY DOES IT =) stabilizer. The Vari-Angle Prism, sited at the front b end of the 10x, f/1.8 lens, responds to user move- The “Big Easy” One for _Alll universal remote ments by optically correcting the light from an (model URC-2085) is image before it passes through the lens’ elements. guaranteed to operate As a result, there is no loss in image resolution. your infrared-controlled yJ The $2,999 CL 10-100mm lens is Canon's fifth VL- TV, VCR and cable box mount entry. (For additional information, circle 162 or you get double your 5 on the Reader Service Card.) money back. Prepro- grammed codes make 8~2Odj =eWae A 0 setup simple, and the re- mote’s large buttons are easy to recognize. The remote is made by Uni- versal Electronics of £ 4 dxNDonG Peninsula, Ohio, and Ss ay priced at $29.95. (For additional information, cir- cle 160 on the Reader Service Card.) RADICAL SHARP CAMCORDER || || Sharp continues to blaze new trails in camcorder design with its VL-HL100U Hi8 ViewCam, available next February. The traditional viewfinder is replaced ) by a four-inch, anti-glare LCD panel, which doubles / as a playback monitor. The lens rotates vertically through 180 degrees for angled shooting. Other »” — features include hi-fi stereo sound and digital elec- tronic image stabilization. The camcorder weighs 2.8 pounds with tape and battery. Pricing has yet to be determined. (For additional information, circle 158 on the Reader Service Card.) VIDEO DECEMBER 1992

SMALL MIRACLE. Hitachi's new VMH39A check color, contrast and light so that Picture quality is absolutely what you see is actually what you get. unbeatable thanks to Artificial Intelli- camcorder is a small miracle in size A computer-controlled electronic gence, DSP 16X zoom and a Hi-Band only. Tipping the scales at a mere 1.3 image stabilizer automatically com- 8mm format that delivers the highest lbs., it'll take a big weight off your pensates for hand vibration that occurs resolution available today. shoulders. And its super-compact size during recording. and shape literally fits in your coat To see the VMH39A in per- pocket or purse. Shooting, including focus, is son, call 1-800-HITACHI for your completely automatic with shutter nearest dealer. He’ll show you that This rugged, full-featured cam- speed and iris synchronized for the miracle isn’t how small it is, but corder is a very big miracle, though, optimum exposure. Sound is captured how much it does. when it comes to performance which rich and true-to-life in hi-fidelity is State-of-the-art in every way. stereo. Acolor viewfinder allows you to © 1992 Hitachi Home Electronics (America), Inc. B“2UJ41}dOPE9|pR1AeD1Ja9ayS

i8 and S-VHS camcorders have el- _ Vg VIDEONICS VIDEO TITLEMAKER er )ci1Vmn712) <0) evated home videography to al- most professional levels. Today’s Video Versatility: best home videos look like TV pro- Videonics’ TitleMaker grams —that is, until the titles appear. overlays professional- They’re usually blocky, crude and plain, looking titles on live video or on any of 32 the product of an inexpensive chip in- background styles. Vid- side a camcorder or a VCR. Even view- eo can also show through the letters ers who don’t know a lens from a themselves, as shown viewfinder immediately identify videos as home-grown when they see these am- in the top left corner of this screen shot. ateurish titles. The problem is, most character gen- VC CC AMA erators capable of producing good-look- like candy sprinkles, some offer grid pat- when combined with other options. For ing titles cost thousands of dollars. But terns, and two even give you a Star Videonics has now brought professional- Wars-type “traveling through space” ef- example, tightening letter spacing can quality titles within easy reach of enthu- fect by scrolling the stars upward. It also siasts with its $500 TitleMaker. offers 16 rainbow patterns. Any of the chop pieces off a character’s outline, backgrounds can be mixed with live vid- Titles from the TitleMaker actually causing the background to become the look better than those you see on many eo at any level you choose. cable channels. No matter which of the It has S-video and video inputs and same color as the character. Also, the fonts you choose, the edges are smooth. The text isn’t quite as smooth as that outputs, and a QWERTY keyboard big boldest type thickness doesn’t work well from a Video Toaster, but for the price, enough for touch typing. Basic operation it’s unbelievably good. is simple and intuitive — onscreen menus in some fonts. But once you use the guide the user through selection of The TitleMaker doesn’t just type out TitleMaker for a few hours, you'll learn text —it offers more creative options fonts, colors and patterns. than you could probably ever use. These The only problem we encountered is what works and what doesn’t. include 12 type fonts (four small, five midsize and three large), outlines, shad- that a few of the options don’t work well We're thrilled that someone has fi- ows, three degrees of letter spacing and three character thicknesses for bold type nally come up with a good video titler effects. Borders can be placed above, be- low, beside or around blocks of text. that doesn’t cost thousands of dollars You can use pictures from a cam- and take a lot of effort to use. For home corder or a VCR as the background, or generate a colored background. The videographers, the TitleMaker is a characters, outlines, borders and back- ground can be any colors you wish—an dream come true. 5 SVCMPSHIPRCOTD1IRTSE0NE:UOTEBENIR onscreen color mixer lets you choose from more than a million. Titles can be scrolled in from the side or the bottom, dissolved in and out, and wiped in from the center or any of the edges. You can adjust the duration of all these effects. The TitleMaker can memorize more than 8,000 characters, and produce multiple pages of text that can be called up automatically. You can even program a series of pages so that the TitleMaker will bring them up and remove them automatically. The TitleMaker also lets you substi- tute patterns for solid colors. The ones we liked best were the 16 pixel patterns, which can be produced in any color. Some look like a nighttime sky, some 30 VIDEO DECEMBER 1992

Ifyou think viewing a movie at home is technology in which we have led worldwide. a mere spectator sport, you've never strapped The ultimate in sight and sound, it comes yourself into the Pioneer” Home Theater. 60% closer to reality than ordinary video- With our leadership in both audio and video tape. And features the superiority of digital sound. technology, the linking of the two produces unprece- Of course, what you hear is spectacular. The dented results. enveloping intensity of five- What you see is the channel sharpest, brightest picture ever played on a Pioneer Home Theater. Dolby’ Pro 50-inch screen. Our =|You dont just watch it. Logic” Surround Sound. All delivered All Pioneer LaserDise Players let you enjoy both laserdiscs ProVision” line of care of the industry-leading projection TVs fea- Audio/Video Receivers by Pioneer. and CDs. Ask your Pioneer retailer about special CD tures a sophisticated To maximize the quality of and laserdise offers from Columbia House. new short-focus lens Surround Sound, we've assembled a superb new pack- system for a 25% age of perfectly matched modular speakers specially brighter picture.The designed to deliver a theater-like experience. The Pioneer CLD-D701 Combination new high-contrast Of course, there’s a lot more to tell, so call us at CD/LaserDise Player and VSX-D90IS A/V Receiver black screen 1-800-PIONEER for more information. Or, drop with Dolby Pro Logie. increases the contrast ratio by 20%. And an advanced by a Pioneer Home Theater dealer. You'll find just what three-line digital comb filter significantly enhances you'd expect from the leaders in audio color accuracy and improves picture quality. and video: Home theater so advanced, The picture source is a Pioneer Laser Disc Player, a you don't just watch it” Our new ProViston SD-P5065K Projection TV incorporates a hoot of technological innovations. Pictured here ts an actual on-screen image. The new Pioneer S-V40LK Home Theater Experience Speaker collection ts customized for our Home Theater Surround Sound dydlem. Oe ele) Vacdrs © 1992 Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc., Long Beach, CA. Dolby and Pro Logie are regis- The Art of Entertainment tered trademaorfkDoslby Laboratories voration. © 199] Caroleo Pictures Inc. All rights reserved. The depiction ofENDOSKELETON is a trademark of Caroleo.

BY RON GOLDBERG In-Screen Menu: The Fox 800 universal remote uses an LCD display. FROM THANKSGIVING TO NEW. Switch Hitter: JVC's JX-300 switcher is an elegant, inexpensive way to boost system flexibility. Year’s Day, the spirit of good will ally wants. And for the videophile who outperform some top-of-the-line players seems to walk hand in hand with has everything? Don’t worry, because of just a few years hence. The new the desire to buy a few gifts. But it’s there’s no such thing. Just in case the MDP-455 from Sony is a good example, an urge easily undermined by the | tapehead nearest and dearest to you incorporating high-end enhancements chore of choosing from among so hasn’t dropped enough hints, here are at an entry-level $599 price. You get a many products. This year’s Gift _ some of the newest toys we’d like to re- digital timebase corrector, which re- Guide is designed to add spirit to _ ceive as seasonal greetings. And we’ve duces any picture jitter; a comb filter for your holiday giving, andperhaps in- been good too, Santa— honest! cleaner color edges; and a dropout com- spire a gift for yourself. In the fol- pensator, which minimizes imperfections lowing pages, contributing editors SONY MDP-455 on dirty or scratched discs. But a good Ron Goldberg and Martin Broch- LASERDISC PLAYER combi player should offer more than just stein recommend an array of video and audio components, videogames A home theater without laserdisc is great pictures, so the MDP-455 com- and multimedia players, while assis- like a meal without dessert. It’s just not pletes the package with the same digital tant editor April P. Bernard com- complete. Now that the connoisseut’s audio circuitry used in Sony’s top-end piles a stocking stuffer’s film festival CD players. of non-traditional holiday movies. Platter Up: JVC JX-300 A/V SELECTOR Finally, for the enthusiast who has The MDP-455 offers top features at a good price. Okay, you have a couple of VCRs, a absolutely everything, senior editor Brent Butterworth raises the curtain format is at the peak of its popularity, laserdisc player and a camcorder. You’d on the ultimate gift, a home theater several manufacturers have introduced like to make VHS copies of your 8mm system so real, you'll forget you're second- and third-generation units that camcorder tapes, but you’ve already watching a movie. seen them a hundred times, so you'd like to watch something else while you dub. h, the holidays. That magnificent To complicate matters, your expensive time of year when anxious video- new TV set has exactly one set of A/V philes everywhere hold their inputs. Outside of buying an expensive 'breath—and wait. Those who have to play Santa for these affected souls ac- tually have it pretty easy. After all, you always know what an A/V enthusiast re- 32 VIDEO DECEMBER 1992

Tape Helpers: The Videonics Video Equalizer (left) and Vid- iPax’s tape conversion mailer. Plug and Play: tor in your camera bag, or edit your But Canon has added some improve- RCA’s VR800HF 8mm tapes in places where a full-sized TV is ments in this new design, most notably a VCR and Straight impractical. Images are exceptionally revamped chassis which puts the trigger Wire's gold-plated cable. bright, and rendered with a wide con- and. other important controls closer to trast ratio of more than 60:1. your fingers. Throw in a flying erase A/V receiver to do all this fancy routing, head, wireless remote control and a Y/C how do you get your components talking Slim Shooter: jack for input/output, and you’ve got a to each other? JVC has the solution in Canon’s UCS2 is thin, the JX-300, a very inexpensive periph- light and packed with potent, versatile machine that can fit in eral that gives you flexibility and control shooting options. a fanny pack. over four A/V sources. Featuring both S-video and composite jacks across all PACKARD BELL four inputs (nice), the JX-300 lets you PBTV3 VIDEO CARD route signals of either type back and forth to each other. A wireless remote You’ve been sitting at the computer puts icing on the cake. for hours. Never mind Lotus, you’re sud- denly becoming interested in hemlock. SHARP 4M-T30U LCD TV Wouldn’t it be great if you could use the Until recently, the phrase “portable monitor for something really useful, like Monday Night Football or Arsenio? Pack- TV” was a bit of a misnomer, especially ard Bell has taken pity on you. The if you wanted a color set. LCD technolo- PBTV3 priced under $300, is a Win- gy is changing all that, and Sharp’s new- dows-based card that lets your PC be- est model is the proof. Here’s a high- come a TV. Simply install the card on any AT-class computer with a VGA monitor, and voila! resolution four-inch monitor with a CANON UCS2 Hi8 CAMCORDER Desktop TV: Packard Bell's PBTV lets users receive and capture TV images on personal computers. built-in VHF/UHF tuner, channel mem- Canon can still take credit for hav- ory and auto presets, for TV wherever ing the smallest Hi8 camcorder around. you want it. The whole package is small The $1,699 UCS2 is its newest, and like and light enough to fit in a briefcase or a its predecessor the UCSI, there’s a lot of pocketbook, which makes it an excel- power packed into this tiny handful. lent travel companion for camcorder or Like what? How about three pro- desktop video enthusiasts. This $599 grammed exposure modes, AFM hi-fi TV set offers direct audio and video in- stereo sound, an 8x zoom, a seven-mode puts. You can now keep an extra moni- high-speed shutter and a simplified menu system that gets you to desired functions quickly and intuitively? That all this fits into a package weighing less than a pound and a quar- ter (sans battery) is remarkable enough. DECEMBER 1992 VIDEO 33

A tuner module is incorporated for ferings, which are plentiful in this com- sion interconnects (A/V cables, for the pact package. uninitiated) that are engineered for VHE, UHF and cable channels, and the maximum rejection of interference and card can also accept signals from a cam- VIDEONICS VIDEO EQUALIZER minimum signal loss. All the company’s corder, VCR or laserdisc player. There's Here’s the Swiss Army knife of home interconnects feature gold connection also a built-in audio amplifier that can points (in standard RCA or other plug power a set of headphones or a pair of videography. For $349, the Video Equal- ends) and a low inductance signal path, optional external speakers. Video images izer offers a variety of digital processing which translates into less distortion. Both silver and oxygen-free copper are can be frozen, captured, retrieved and functions that can correct, colorize or used, and custom lengths are available. printed, making the PBTV3 useful for otherwise enhance your footage. Does Good cables won’t make your system multimedia productions. that important tape look too blue be- better, but they ensure that you get all cause you shot it under fluorescent the performance you paid for. If you’re RCA VR800HF 8mm VCR lights? No problem for the Equalizer— thinking about upgrading one of your Here’s an unusually useful gift for just slide the tint controls until the col- components, maybe you should look ots are right. Want to “paint” a portion here first. the camcorder buff in your life: an 8mm of the picture for special effects? Posi- VCR. Forget about hooking the cam- tion a crosshair over the object you want FOX 800 UNIVERSAL corder up to the back of the TV set or to colorize and knock yourself out. A REMOTE CONTROL your VHS deck. Forget about losing the split screen function lets you compare connection cable. Simply pop your altered footage to the original, and a dig- For most videophiles, a shelf filled freshly shot footage into this baby and ital noise-reduction circuit makes sure with remotes is a bit of a status symbol. enjoy. Videomakers will appreciate fea- signal loss is kept to a minimum. In addi- Still, it’s no fun to hassle with finding tures like a flying erase head, AFM hi-fi tion to its video capabilities, the Equal- the right remote when you need it, or stereo capability and a special edit mode izer has a three-channel audio mixer trying to skip to the next chapter on for optimized picture quality. But lest and a microphone input. your laserdisc only to find you’re press- you think the VR800HF, priced at $649, ing the VCR's remote. A good universal STRAIGHT WIRE is just for camcorder tapes, it’s also an ANV INTERCONNECTS unit is the answer, and the Fox 800 gets special points for design, intelligent lay- adept home VCR, with onscreen pro- A chain is only as strong as its weak- out and a reasonable $99 price. est link, and in all too many home thea- gramming, a universal remote control, ters a dinky cable is the difference You can control up to eight audio two-speed recording, a 181-channel tun- between a good picture and a superb video components, as a large backlit er with MTS stereo and VCR Plus cir- one. Straight Wire specializes in preci- cuitry. Special effects like slow motion | and double-speed play round out the of- MAKING A GREAT VIDEO After using your camcorder the first time, you realize that the built-in microphone INCLUDES QUALITY SOUND TOO! 2%.picks up sounds don’t want. And, when shooting from a distance, you can’t hear your subject's voice clearly. Azden, the leader in quality audio for video, offers a full line of microphones to make your sound as good as your pictures. This powerful professional miniature VHF wireless system has a range of over 300 feet. It allows you to shoot from a distance and pick up your subject's voice b clearly. Ithas 2 switchable frequencies, and itcomes with 2 mics (handheld and clip-on). The _ Headset with boom mic _ Full-size directional mic. Mini directional for adding narration as Allows you to zoom in _you shoot. Your voice _ mic forpalm-sized camcorders. Sli beco e dominant _ OF,use. 34 VIDEO DECEMBER 1992

LCD screen changes the “button” dis- Now!— CHARGE play to match the component you want YOUR CAMCORDER to control. This keeps the front panel BATTERY IN JUST simple and easy to see in the dark. In ad- dition to supplying a library of program 20 MINUTES codes for numerous devices, the Fox 800 can also learn codes from your own orig- Refreshes fast, on-the-spot...in your inal remotes. And if you still can’t get Car or in your home...eliminates battery memory problems too! the unit to work your equipment, you Compatible With ach AS ead can send the 800 in to Fox, and Fox will download the appropriate codes for you. 6v, 7.2v, 9.6v CHINON QUASAR NiCd Batteries | curtis RADIO AUDIOSOURCE HC-1 MATHES SHACK SURROUND-SOUND SYSTEM EMERSON RCA FISHER RICOH One of the biggest complaints about FUUIX SAMSUNG surround-sound systems is that they’re GE SANYO difficult to assemble. While we don’t GOLDSTAR SEARS LX! necessarily agree, we do feel that Audio- HITACHI SONY Source has come up with one of the J(C.PENNEY —SYLVANIA most complete solutions yet in the HC-1 JVC TOSHIBA MINOLTA —_VIVITAR system, priced at $1,299. Here’s an in- “ NIKON ZENITH stant surround-sound set—usimpply WEALSOSTOCK © A FULL LINE OF FITS MOST connect it to your existing stereo and CAMCORDER BATTERIES. CAMCORDER BATTERIES. the HC-1 does the rest. CALL FOR PRICES. YOURS NOT LISTED? The system includes the company’s -CALL US, SS Three/II Pro-Logic decoder, which features 30 watts per channel (that can Check these exclusive features: THIRTY DAY HOME TRIAL be configured for the center and rear); the Amp One power amplifier, which * Fully charges most batteries in Try it at home for thirty days. If at the 20 minutes end of that time, the item did not per- powers the SW Three subwoofer; two form to your expectations, return it and LS Ten rear-channel speakers and the * Automatically discharges battery your money will be refunded. shielded VS-One center-channel speak- before charging er. The company even throws in 200 To order your Charger/Conditioner, call feet of speaker cable to make life simple. * Totally eliminates memory effect this toll free number right now. Please * Use at home—AC or in the car—DC have your Visa or MasterCard ready. VIDIPAX CONVERSION SERVICE Pay only $59.95 plus $3.00 shipping Our last suggestion is really a serv- ¢ UL Listed adapter—plus a full (retail value, $79.95). Call Now: One Year Warranty ice. Few gifts are more personal than a 1-800-328-6459 homemade tape, but there’s no point in sending one to friends or relations who r jolie sense biases alah enema ena aie TO ORDER BY MAIL, USE THIS HANDY COUPON —=easi IS eens a live in countries where NTSC isn’t the local video language. The VidiPax mail- | DPP MARKETING, Dept. V, 4 North Main Street, Spring Valley, NY 10977 | er, available at photo and accessory dealers for $39.95, entitles you to an | Please send me the 20 Minute Charger Name l hour of converted video—from any TV yon your 30 day home trial guarantee. | Add I transmission standard (NTSC, PAL, i |have enclosed check or money order for SECAM, etc.) to any other standard, in $59.95 pplus $3.00 shipppping (Total $62.95) te I the tape format (VHS, 8mm, etc.) of I OrCharge It: Visa MasterCard your choice. Professional video conver- ; sion services are costly and hard to find. This one’s affordable and easy to find | Acct # ie: ] (call 914-557-3600 for a nearby dealer). m | Expiration Date ye State Zip | UsAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Battery boost To maximize camcorder battery life, technical editor Lancelot Braithwaite recommends disconnecting the battery from your camcorder when you’re not using it. Most camcorders use a slight amount of battery power even when turned off. This can drain your battery completely, which damages its nickel- cadmium chemistry and prevents it from accepting a full charge. PR aiagrea sae inoniaa sat inetwe nna's sete il Circle 61 on Reader Service Card. DECEMBER 1992 VIDEO 35

BY APRIL P. BERNARD Great Performances: Along with “Have Your- self a Merry Little Christmas,” Judy Gar- land sings “The Trolley Song” in Meet Me in St. Louis. Holiday viewin that still surprises. t’s beginning to look a lot like Christ- = rage around the neighborhood. mas — in other words, 12 airings of It’s On Christmas Eve, only minutes af- a Wonderful Life, 11 A Christmas Car- Duck and Cover: Bonnie Bedelia and Bruce Willis ols, 10 Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Rein- share a non-peaceful Christmas Eve in Die Hard. ter an ecstatic moment—the Avon deers... They’re the same tidings of lady’s daughter Kim (Winona Ryder) re- comfort and joy you've seen year after Christmas dinner— spaghetti, bachelor- vels in the shavings falling from the ice year, and maybe through repetition strained through a tennis racke—tthe sculpture Edward is fashion—itnhegir they’ve lost a little of the wonder and underlying sense of a fresh start for both world falls apart. A misunderstanding magic of the season. So what are the al- is uplifting. And even though a wrench turns the narrow-minded neighbors ternatives for a December evening’s en- is suddenly thrown into the works, by against him, and he returns to his exile. New Year’s Eve, all’s well with the world. tertainment? How about a movie you At first glance a bitter conclusion, there never thought of as a Christmas movie — A master director of today, Tim Bur- is a glimmer of optimism: Edward has one whose novelty brings fresh holiday ton (Batman Returns), lends his skewed brought snow —something never seen inspiration? Here’s a seasonal guide to vision to a suburban holiday in Edward before —to this cold-hearted town. As classic and recent films that don’t need Scissorhands (FoxVideo tape and disc). for Kim, as an elderly woman, she poig- two full hours of snow and Santa to sub- Johnny Depp is the title character, nantly confides, “Sometimes you can due any Scrooge-like feelings. whose inventor died before he could still catch me dancing in it.” give his creation a Christmas present— One of the best is Billy Wilder’s The hands to replace the blades at the ends If you want more dancing, try the Apartment (MGM/UA tape and letter- of his wrists. Brought into “civilization” charming 1944 musical Meet Me in St. boxed disc), a 1960 journey up the cor- y a well-meaning Avon lady, Edward is Louis (MGM/UA tape and disc). A nos- porate ladder that’s propelled by the at first courted; his imaginative clipped talgic look at an all-American family in one-bedroom home of C.C. Baxter (Jack hedges and cockeyed coiffures are all the turn-of-the-century St. Louis, the Vin- Lemmon). One of 31,529 employees at cente Minnelli film celebrates Christmas an insurance company, Baxter lands Eve with a ball full of lavish gowns, promotions by lending his apartment to dance cards and courtly gentlemen. executives for their dalliances— until “The Boy Next Door” proposes marriage one of the “lady friends,” an elevator op- to young Esther Smith: (Judy Garland at erator (Shirley MacLaine) Baxter’s her most luminous), and before the eve- sweet on, takes an overdose of pills there on Christmas Eve. ning is out sister Rose is engaged too. Yet the highlight is Esther's “lullaby”— The director, still on the same cre- “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christ- ative high that produced Some Like It mas” —to little sister Tootie (Margaret O’Brien), fretful because the family will Hot, infuses what should be a tragedy soon uproot itself to New York City. with a wonderful sense of hope. As Bax- Christmas magic, however, is at work: ter and the recovering Fran share a Even though Esther promises Tootie, 36 VIDEO DECEMBER 1992

“We can be happy anywhere as long as voice breaks in with a jubilant version of we're together,” Father reconsiders and “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow.” cancels the move. It’s a shining example Charlie Chaplin’s masterpiece The of pre-politicized “family values.” Gold Rush (CBS/Fox tape, Voyager/ Killiam disc) promises a quieter eve- For those with a less sentimental ning’s viewing. In this 1925 silent, The. streak, there’s holiday merriment to be Little Tramp braves the freezing tem- peratures and hard life of the Yukon as a found in the action-adventure Die Hard prospector. The object of his affections, (FoxVideo tape and letterboxed disc). a brash dance hall hostess (Georgia After all, it’s Christmas Eve with the Hale), agrees to bring her friends to a Nakatomi Corporation’s office party in New Year’s Eve dinner. Unaware she is full swing when thieves masquerading as terrorists take over the building. New only feigning admiration as a joke, Chaplin feverishly prepares for the big York cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) event —shoveling snow to earn money eludes the hostage-takers and manages for holiday presents for his guests, fuss- to off a few of the bad guys, prompting ing over a lavish dinner, decorating the him to send this greeting: “Now I have a cabin right down to a pathetic little machine gun. Ho-ho-ho.” Our hero even has a roll of gift-packaging tape to continued on page 43 thank for his ultimate victory! Not sur- ptisingly, Die Hard’s soft side emerges at the end: The ordeal reunites McClane with his estranged wife (Bonnie Be- delia), and as they cement their new- found relationship, Vaughn Monroe’s Winter Wonders: Choices for a cold eve- ning in front of the TV set include (top to bot- tom) Frank Capra’s Meet John Doe, Tim Burton's Edward Scis- sorhands, the White Christmas predecessor Holiday Inn, and Jack Lemmon and Fred MacMurray in The Apartment.

BY MARTIN BROCHSTEIN GAME HUNI Stalking 92’s top titles & action CDs. ideogamers may feel like they’re in- Daring Duo: The new TurboDuo CD drive for the ler and no game cartridges. side a game themselves when they TurboGrafx-16, the first game system to use CDs. Why buy one instead of the other? go hunting for a system this season. Never have so many products, me- The two hottest games machines The answer generally comes down to a dia and configurations fought for their right now are the Super Nintendo En- single factor: Who has the great games? hearts and minds. Be it eight-bit or 16- tertainment System (SNES) and the Sega expects to have more than 350 bit, Sega or Nintendo, cartridges or Sega Genesis. A third contender, the discs, one gamer’s conundrum is likely to TurboGrafx-16 system, is trying to keep Genesis titles by Christmas, from itself be another’s heaven. The holiday season pace with the help of its new TurboDuo and nearly 40 other publishers. Ninten- this year offers any number of ways to that integrates a CD drive into the main do says more than 125 SNES cartridges console. Both SNES and Sega feverishly will soon be on store shelves. play, most of which deliver entertain- quote surveys and articles that “prove” ment experiences only the most power- it has the winner. They’re also priced But it’s not just a matter of numbers, ful mainframes could have created a few about the same. In most areas, each can short years ago. be bought for $99 with a single control- or titles, since an increasing number of game publishers are making cartridges The main gaming action is to be Winter Winners: for both major systems. Each system will Olympic Gold (left) and found in the 16-bit arena, bearing in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 have its own honor roll of hits. Here are mind that eight-bit systems by Ninten- (top) for Genesis, and the key new titles to look for: do, Sega and others are still available Team USA Basketball and less costly, and that more advanced (above) for SNES. Two new SNES titles take the Mario 32-bit systems are still at least a year Brothers out of their normal environs. In away. However, state-of-the-arters will also get a chance this season to sample Super Mario Paint, Nintendo ventures from pure game play into computer-style CD-based gaming. play with an enjoyable drawing and mu- sic program that’s controlled by an in- cluded mouse. Mario Bros. characters appear as icons to help children fill in drawings or create their own, animate sequences and compose music. The pro- gram includes a fast fly-swatting game designed to familiarize first-time mouse users with rodent maneuvering. Similarly, Super Mario Kart plops the Mario characters into go-carts in a game that can show split-screen racing from two players and 360-degree perspectives from the drivers. Look also for the SNES version of an NCAA Basketball Game that has the unique ability to constantly shift the viewer's perspective so it’s al- ways behind the player with the ball. Acclaim Entertainment’s accent is on licensed properties. Bart’s Nightmare leverages the popularity of The Simpsons TV show, while, under its LJN label, it has Spiderman/X-Men: Arcade’s Revenge with a host of Marvel Comics charac- ters. Konami is also mining characters 38 VIDEO DECEMBER 1992

Games on Disc: Sega's new CD game drive (left) with screens from two CD games, Joe Montana’s NFL ‘Football (above) and Night Trap, which includes video segments. Nintendo’s Newest: Super Mario Paint for SNES it 19:10 ACCESS Jehomstetemeene, HALLI enlists Mario icons to help users draw and animate. Streets of Rage II, a follow-up to last ie = year’s popular action title, and expand- Captured from other media with Teenage Mutant ing its strength in sports titles with such sa Ninja Turtles 4— Turtles in Time (and is games as NFL Sportstalk Football 93 and Possible 7s also publishing its first Turtles title for Evander Holyfield Real Deal Boxing. Genesis). In a non-licensed mode, check launched the $299 Sega CD in a few out Konami’s Axelay, an intergalactic On the third-party shelf for Genesis, shoot-’em-up. Electronic Arts continues don’t overlook Tengen’s RBI-4 baseball USS. cities, although a version has been to build its sports franchise by adding game, U.S. Gold’s Olympic Gold —Bar- on the market in Japan for several Team USA Basketball to its Electronic celona 92, Flying Edge’s Krusty’s Fun months. At presstime, Sega expected to Arts Sports Network series. House with Simpsons characters, and have a few CD games on the market in Arena Entertainment’s Alien 3 and Ter- time for Christmas. For Genesis, Sega is putting most of minator 2. its oomph behind Sonic the Hedgehog 2 — Nintendo, which earlier this year a much-anticipated sequel to last year’s The biggest buzz comes from CD- megahit. The new version is on an eight- based games, though the real CD gam- contionn puageed104 megabyte cart that delivers more speed, ing revolution probably won’t kick in for twice as many boards and a cohort fox at least another year. Sega recently with two tails. Sega is also publishing TWO WAYS TO TARE THE MULTIMEDIA PLUNGE A few years ago, the electronics buzzword of the day was software, including at least one music video, and cost digital. Now it’s multimedi—as in the two leading mul- about $200. Though plans for using the video capability timedia systems vying for a place in your expanding home entertainment center. Each of the two systems— haven’t been made public, many industry watchers as- Compact Disc-Interactive and Video Information Sys- sume the company will eventually try to put feature films tem—will cost you about $600 and can be found in many electronics and department stores. Each uses CD- on CD-I. like discs to let you play games, learn how to do things and access vast amounts of information. VIS, which was developed by Tandy Corp. and Mi- Philips, CD-I’s originator and champion, has been crosoft, can be purchased under either the Memorex or steadily expanding the format’s software library since it came on the market a little more than a year ago, and Zenith brands. Like the CD-I player, a VIS console re- expanding its capabilities. In Escape From CyberCity, for example, the player assumes the perspective of the hero sembles an upscale CD player with a slide-out tray. Many in an animated adventure, destroying demons as the sto- ty moves forward. Another new disc, Mystic Midway: Rest of the first 100-plus VIS programs are similar to ones al- in Pieces, is a shooting gallery game that includes syn- chronized introductions and commentary from a video ready developed for personal computers, and that’s no actor. accident. The VIS operating system is an offshoot of Mi- crosoft’s popular Windows system, so software developers CD-I will add a new twist early next year with a plug-in cartridge that lets it display full-screen, full-mo- find it relatively easy to tion video. Future CD-I players will have the capability create versions of pro- built in. The cartridge is expected to come with some grams for both. The VIS comes with an infrared remote that resembles a videogame controller more than a TV remote, plus a special version of Compton's Multimedia En- cyclopedia. —MB DECEMBER 1992 VIDEO 39

BY BRENT BUTTERWORTH HOME THEATER ee ah ke Cet eT SEALY The $200,000 Cello Music and Film System may be the world’s best home theater. o Christmas list would be complete warns me, “Strap yourself in!” and I ee. without an impossible dream, a gift smile politely, feeling jaded after seeing mae prea 8 you wish for but never dare expect. this scene on several THX systems. For car buffs, it might be an original As Good as It Gets: ja, Theta and Pioneer Shelby Cobra. For baseball card collec- Suddenly, SLAM! The robot’s foot (Top) Cello founder tors, maybe a Honus Wagner. For hard- crunches down, smashing a skull to bits, Mark Levinson demon- equipment. (Bottom) core audio/video nuts like me, it’s the and I yell and jump out of my chair. I strates the Audio Detail showing the Cello Music and Film System. know exactly when the crash will occur, Palette equalizer. (Cen- costly discrete circuitry but I’m not prepared for the effects of that makes the Audio I could start by describing all the re- the Cello system’s 127-decibel dynamic ter) A Cello system Palette so effective. ally cool hardware that makes up the rack packed with state- Cello system, or by breaking down its range. It sounds like an 18-wheeler of-the-art Cello, Faroud- breathtaking $200,000 price tag. But af- dropped through the ceiling. ter an afternoon at a Cello showroom, you no longer care what the Cello sys- We skip to the first encounter be- tem is. You fall in love with what it does. tween the two Terminators, amazed that when Arnold gets thrown through a We're watching the opening of the glass wall, it doesn’t sound close to real, Terminator 2 laserdisc. Every detail in it sounds absolutely real. I had no idea la- the skull-littered, apocalyptic landscape serdisc digital audio was capable of such stands out, without the flicker, scan high performance. Home THX systems lines or rainbowed “chroma crawl” ef- sound almost like movie theater sys- fects that mar NTSC pictures. Linda tems. But the Cello system doesn’—tit Hamilton’s calm but troubled voice sounds better than a movie theater! sounds perfectly clear and fully imaged, as if she were standing in front of us. We switch to Andres Segovia: The Cello vice president Franco Fellah Song of the Guitar, a laserdisc documen- tary on the life and music of the father of classical guitar. Every nuance of Sego- 40 VIDEO DECEMBER 1992

‘|The Big Picture: The Cello Music and Film System includes a Stewart Filmscreen, towering Stradivarius Grand speakers and an Ampro Esprit 4000 projector. via’s delicate playing comes through. laserdiscs from Robocop to Casablanca— tional rush.” The sound is better than with any and you get the full emotional impact. tweaked-up audiophile system I can re- Levinson began Cello after years of member. You can hear Segovia’s left The end is all-important; the means dis- appear. running Mark Levinson Ltd., a high-end hand move across the guitar neck, and audio company that built its reputation the notes emanating from the sound It may seem strange to spend hun- by building some of the world’s best hole slightly to the left. The speakers dreds of thousands of dollars on equip- amps and preamps. Instead of simply ment designed to be ignored, but as manufacturing a new hardware line, seem to vanis—iht’s just you, Segovia Cello founder Mark Levinson puts it, though, Levinson decided to create no- and the scenic countryside of his An- “People who buy Cello are interested in compromise systems that would allow dalusian home. soul, not technology. With Cello, you audio/videophiles to concentrate on forget about video, you forget about au- program content instead of equipment. That’s the magic of the Cello Music dio, and you start experiencing music This focus on musical and visual con- and Film System. Put on any program and film. You get this incredible emo- tent stems both from Levinson’s years as MPHAOHTDOAmSV:IaANteri—aClDs from Nirvana to Bartok, DECEMBER 1992 VIDEO 41

a jazz bassist and trumpeter, playing with the need for future upgrades. travels to an Ampro Esprit 4000 graph- such greats as Sonny Rollins and Paul Several Cello systems are available, ics-grade projector, capable of an 81-ki- Bley, and his longtime involvement in lohertz scan rate (compared to 15.75 from $24,000 audio-only systems to the kHz for NTSC). After seeing the Fa- music and film production. roudja work in several systems, I Cello customers get a personal audi- complete Music and Film System, devel- thought it was perfect, but the Ampro oped in conjunction with Audio/Video projector is so good, it reveals even the tion in Cello’s Manhattan or Los An- Interiors, a Millburn, New Jersey, cus- tom installation firm. The system we au- Faroudja’s few flaws. geles showroom; system specifications ditioned includes a Pioneer CLD-95 Senior editor Ken Korman and I drawn to their needs by Levinson or his combi player, which feeds a $15,000 Fa- Los Angeles counterpart, Joe Cali; and roudja line doubler that doubles the ap- agree — the combination of the Faroudja professional installation tailored to their parent vertical resolution of the picture. and the Ampro Esprit 4000 produces homes. The state-of-the-art perfor- The RGB signal from the line doubler the best big-screen picture we've seen mance of Cello gear largely eliminates from an NTSC laserdisc. The filmlike detail and stability of the picture are just aMite amazing, even on the screen Levinson uses, which is almost as large as those in “The Sey rate among aN dealer for the camcorder batteries is alarming. small multiplex movie theaters. The cause of this untimely demise? .-Lenmar oMEM Battery. The “Memory.” A phenomenon which video you save may be your own. The sound system uses two 500- pound Stradivarius Grand speakers reduces a nicad’s capacity every natn. tei (each with 18 separate drivers), two Per- formance amplifiers (each rated at 6,000 time it’s recharged before it’s been | ACCESSORIES For the name watts of power), an Audio Palette, an fully drained. | CAMCORDER ee en e of your nearest Audio Suite preamp and two Strad Pre- Lenmar Battery miere speakers in the rear, each powered Lenmar has the cure. ee | dealer, anda by a 50-watt mono amp. The Toslink The new NoMEM™ Battery. digital output of the Pioneer CLD-95 The first camcorder battery aesi NBOATMTEERMY\" catalog of our feeds a modified Theta DS Pro Genera- memory-for a long, full life of ser- other camcorder tion III digital-to-analog converter. A Lexicon CP-3 surround-sound decoder vice, charge after charge. And it accessories, separates the rear-channel sound using a call toll free; works with your current charger. 800/424-2703 surround program designed for Cello by Lexicon. The real stroke of genius is the Au- dio Palette equalizer. Levinson created the $16,000 Audio Palette (and its brother, the $6,500 Palette Preamp) to correct for the imbalances found in many recordings due to the lack of standardization among professional au- dio monitoring systems. In other words, a recording mixed on a bright-sounding system may sound dull on most other systems. With six bands of super-clean equalization, the Audio Palette lets a user adjust for these tonal imbalances without degrading the sound as most equalizers do. For easy access, it sits on a stand in front of the listener. Levinson demonstrated the Audio Palette’s capabilities on everything from action movies to Ella Fitzgerald, switch- ing in and out to let us hear the differ- ence. In every case, we felt the Audio Palette made the unequalized sound al- most unlistenable in comparison. The results of Levinson’s efforts are so far beyond what we’ve come to ex- pect from home entertainment, it sad- dens us that more people can’t exper- ience them. Levinson is enthusiastic about the idea of working with consum- er electronics companies to make afford- able, high-quality systems, but has no firm plans to do so. However, you'll soon be able to experience a taste of the Cello magic for the price of a laserdisc—Image Entertainment recently purchased a Cello system for use in disc mastering. = 42 VIDEO DECEMBER 1992 Circle 15 on Reader Service Card.

TRADITION song-and-dance team of Hanover & IanAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Hardy go their separate way— Hsardy continued from page 37 (Bing Crosby) to Connecticut to launch Light with lanterns an inn open only on holidays, Hanover (Fred Astaire) to a new show, with his ex-partner’s fiancee in tow. Hardy gets a When shooting outdoors at night, gas new partner and fiancee (Marjorie Rey- lanterns of the type popular with camp- Christmas tree. The women never show. nolds), then Hanover comes sniffing ers make excellent video lights. They're around... It’s a lightweight story, but the easy to move around, the color tempera- But the pathos in Chaplin’s work rarely Berlin tunes are a delight— and the final ture is high enough to work well with lasts: Soon the tramp and his partner strike gold, and as they journey to clinch comes, of course, as Christmas video, and they last a lot longer than America, he receives his gift— one stow- rolls around again. s most battery-powered lights. away, a lovestruck dance hall hostess named Georgia. Another case of sorrow transformed into joy occurs in Auntie Mame (Warner tape and letterboxed disc), the sparkling 1958 comedy chronicling the relation- ship between young Patrick and his flamboyant aunt, Mame Dennis (Oscar- nominated Rosalind Russell). As Time heralded, it’s got “Roz-zamatazz!” An eccentric socialite whose motto is “live, live, live,” Mame becomes a victim of the stock market crash—and is poor, FOR THE SERIOUS FOR THE poor, poor. She takes a job selling roller CONSUMER AND PROFESSIONAL EVENT VIDEOGRAPHER: THE skates at Macy’s, but, ill-equipped to VIDEOGRAPHER: NEW ALL METAL handle the holiday hustle and bustle (or THE NEW NADY TWo CHANNEL NADY any sale that isn’t C.O.D.), gets sacked. 351 VR SYSTEM! 551 VR SYSTEM! Once home, she decides an early Christ- mas celebration will raise spirits and, in an especially touching moment, finds that her loyal servants have paid some long-overdue bills. Then, to cap off this @BINADY HT-10 day of unexpected happiness, Beau- regarde Jackson Pickett Burnside (For- test Tucker), a Macy’s customer with a twinkle in his eye and a plantation in Georgia, arrives to sweep Mame off her feet. And sweep It’s a Wonderful Life aside for Frank Capra’s other Christmas sui- cide picture, 1941's Meet John Doe (pub- lic-domain tape, LVA Film Classics disc). When an enterprising reporter (Barbara Stanwyck) finds her job in Ultra compact VHF receiver and Rugged, all metal, compact body peril, she concocts a letter from “John body pack transmitter—both pack transmitter and receiver utilizing the latest Surface Mount feature SMT design and switch- Doe,” who threatens to jump from the Technology (SMT) able dual channels roof of city hall at midnight on Christ- Unparalleled 120 dB dynamic 120 dB dynamic range with com- mas Eve to protest the state of civiliza- range with state of the art com- pander noise reduction tion. The public latches onto the story, pander noise reduction so she hires a down-on-his-luck baseball All metal handheld microphone player (Gary Cooper) to play the part— Body pack transmitter with lava- with audio mute lier microphone and innovative and he is John Doe, idealistic and hon- battery compartment for super Body pack transmitter accepts all est, spurring just-plain-folks to form easy battery changes brands of lavalier mics with mini John Doe Clubs and help their neigh- XLR connector bors. But big business and politics sour All metal handheld microphone is small, rugged and attractive Receiver provides both balanced the John Doe movement, and Christmas with no external antenna and and unbalanced outputs and Eve finds a tiny assortment of people includes a convenient on-mic headphone jack with separate waiting for John on the roof of city hall. audio mute switch volume control for monitoring The final scene—one of at least seven Capra toyed with—is emotional, heart- Receiver can be worn with belt clip Optional AC powered felt and inspiring. A gayer touch comes from Holiday or shoe mounted on camcorder NADY SYSTEMS, INC. Inn (MCA/Universal tape and disc), the and features a headphone jack 6701 Bay Street 1942 musical that won an Oscar for Irv- with volume control for conve- Emeryville, CA 94608 ing Berlin’s holiday staple ‘““White nient monitoring 510/652-2411 Christmas.” On Christmas Eve, the Circle 14 on Reader Service Card. ah; DECEMBER 1992 VIDEO 43

BY GEORGE MANNES oe The $1 billion race to invent see most elusive product— g, thin, hang-on-the-wall TV. ven before peo- search. In recent years, companies here ple had televi- and in Japan have poured more than $1 sions, futurists billion into the effort to perfect flat- 5 dreamed of a screen technologies, and the spigot is large TV set flat still open. The money has not been wasted. Al- enough to hang on a wall, just like the though large color displays remain tan- one Arnold Schwar- talizingly elusive, companies are drama- zenegger enjoyed in tically improving the quality of small Total Recall. But in color screens and large monochromatic the real world, the screens. And significant developments large, flat TV has al- continue to be announced. For example, ways remained an Casio recently said it has developed a enticing prize just out of reach, the vid- new kind of LCD using a plastic film Monochrome Giant: eo industry's version of a holy grail. In only half a millimeter thick, setting a Flat plasma screen by 1970, for example, Show Magazine pre- new standard for thinness and lightness. Photonics Systems dicted flat, wall-sized TV sets would ar- It predicts the new LCD, now mono- measures 60 inches di- tive by 1978 “at the latest.” But that’s chromatic, will be able to handle color agonally, making it the recent history. In 1950, when Video Mag- in a few years and may make it possible world’s largest high- azine contributing editor David Lach- to create TV sets with folding screens. resolution, dot-matrix Giants like Casio, Sharp and Canon display. enbruch joined the industry newsletter Television Digest, one of his first assign- are being challenged by smaller, feisty ments was to look into the possibility of competitors. Firms like Photonics Sys- flat television. “I concluded it was 10 tems and Coloray Display, both based in, years off,” he recalls. “That has stood up the U.S., are pushing unconventional very well with time, because it’s always technologies to the limit in the search been 10 years off.” for better, bigger, less costly displays. It probably still is a decade away. But Government-supported entities are also the race has never been more furious, deeply involved. In Japan, NHK, the nor the promise more compelling. The country’s public broadcasting organiza- market for flat screens has never looked tion, conducts its own research, while larg—e$r16 billion by 1997, according to here in the U.S., the Defense Advanced one estimate —and more companies Research Projects Agency (DARPA) than ever are pursuing ingenious new has spent $150 million just in the past approaches. The boom in computers, four years to support flat-screen re- Enlargement of an the growing needs of the U.S. military search. LCD panel with thin- film transistors. and the advent of HDTV have all Where do we stand? The story starts helped to fuel a surge in advanced re- | with the bigger companies, in particular 44 VIDEO DECEMBER 1992

Pixelated: Sharp, which has tied its fortunes to cell darkens. Install thousands of such In a thin-film transistor what is regarded as the leading technol- pixels on a video screen, manipulate LCD display (below), ogy in the race toward a hang-on-the- them in thirtieth-of-a-second incre- voltages applied to tiny wall TV set. The technology is based on ments and you can create a TV picture. the thin-film transistor, active-matrix transistors turn liquid liquid-crystal diode, and Sharp is its Today, the biggest flat-panel TV crystals on or off, illu- leading proponent. The company has Sharp sells in the U.S. using this tech- spent a bundle, earmarking more than nology is a wall-hanging 8.6-inch model, minating red, green and $700 million in a program begun in 1990 complete with designer frame, at a price to perfect large, color displays. of $4,795. However, Sharp recently dis- blue pixels, which form played a color screen for computers with Like all color TV displays, thin-film a flat 16.5-inch display, and it has devel- video images. LCDs do not transmit seamless pictures. oped an innovative line of LCD video They display arrays of red, green and blue dots that merge into continuous projectors. colors and shapes when viewed from a But if these results seem disappoint- distance. To visualize how such a picture works, imagine a single dot on an insu- ing given the size of Sharp's investment, lating window, the kind with two panes it's important to understand the extraor- of glass separated by a space. The panes dinary difficulties thin-film LCDs pre- of glass are polarized at right angles to sent. “A high-resolution LCD can have each other but, instead of air between up to six million transistors and miles of the panes, the space is filled by a twisted circuitry,” explains DARPA program liquid crystal. manager Marko M.G. Slusarczuk. If there’s even.a slight defect, “it’s going to A basic, white light radiates behind wreak havoc with picture quality,” he the glass, which the liquid crystal trans- explains. “You have to have a manufac- mits to the viewer in a color that corre- turing process that’s nominally perfect.” sponds to that of the dot. If voltage is applied, the crystal straightens and the CAUTION: LOW YIELDS The problem described by Slu- Glass sarczuk is known in the industry as yield. Color Filter The extreme difficulty of producing a pixel-perfect screen is one of the most Common formidable stumbling blocks to large, Electrode affordable, thin-film LCD TVs. Al- Liquid Crystal though exact numbers are closely guard- Thin-Film ed trade secrets, it’s believed that two- Transistor thirds of the larger thin-film LCD screens now produced don’t meet their Glass makers’ tough quality standards. Yields as low as 33 percent effectively mean Inching Upward: that most units have to be discarded. Prototype 16.5-inch flat color display by Sharp, To get around the yield problem, nearly twice as large as Commercial Research Laboratories, a the biggest model the subsidiary of Thorn EMI, the British company sells. electronics and entertainment conglom- erate, has spent nearly a decade devel- Magnified color TV oping a ferroelectric LCD, a type of LCD that doesn’t need an onscreen LCD panel shows red, transistor. The “horrific” yield losses green and blue pixels. other companies expetience reflect the difficulty of manufacturing the millions of perfect transistors large screens re- quire, explains Dr. Ashok Vaidya, CRL’s commercial manager. CRL’s approach simply bypasses a key stumbling block. To operate a com- plex LCD display, it’s important for each pixel to have a memory. In thin-film LCD displays, transistors serve as the memory. But CRL has developed a liq- uid crystal that has its own memory, meaning it doesn’t need a transistor to remain stable when it is either transmit- ting light or blocking light, the two states transistors usually exhibit. The ferroelectric LCD’s structure DECEMBER 1992 VIDEO 45

Plasma Power: Screen shots from a 19-inch flat plasma dis- play by Photonics Systems show rich col- ors and fine detail. The company expects to have a 40-inch flat HDTV display within two years. Phosphor Dots GFlaacsesplate Black Matrix light that travels through. But other Supporting Pillar _ promising flat-panel technologies use an emissive principle. Like conventional Transparent TV tubes, they generate the light that Conductor makes the picture. Microtip A leading technology using this ap- proach is the field-emission display, Emitter Base Plate which is an interesting variation on the cathode-ray tube that lies at the heart of Emission Control: also makes it much easier to manufac- conventional TV sets. Like a CRT, a Cross-section of a field- ture than thin-film LCDs, says Vaidya. field-emission display creates a picture emission display shows The problem is that ferroelectric LCDs by shooting electrons at a phosphor-cov- dozens of tiny electron cannot transmit the fine shades of gray ered faceplate. When each red, green or between black and white that are essen- blue phosphor is hit, it glows. A CRT emitters positioned be- tial for lifelike colors. In the meantime, generates the electrons it needs from a hind each phosphor the lab has demonstrated a 10.4-inch heated element inside a single long- color computer display using ferro- necked electron gun at the rear of the dot. If even a few emit- electric LCDs, and licensed the technol- tube. But in a field-emission display, the ters fail, plenty more ogy to an unnamed Japanese manufac- electrons are generated at room tem- turer. perature from millions of minute emit- are available to keep ters lining the rear of the flat-screen TV. each phosphor glowing, In addition, Canon, which is also in- vestigating ferroelectric LCDs, has built The emitters act like CRTs and look creating, say its propo- a 15-inch, high-resolution color proto- like Hershey’s Kisses, says Bob Young, type and is reportedly planning models director of operations for Coloray Dis- nents, a more reliable play Corp., a leading developer of field- flat display. 40 inches and larger that are designed emission displays. Only 1 micron high for digital TV systems. Next year, Canon and 1 micron wide at their bases, the plans to begin producing 24-inch color emitters are so tiny that 10,000 can be packed into a square millimeter of space. screens suitable for computers. This makes it possible to aim about 100 Canon's breakthroughs, according to emitters, which end in microtips, at each pixel on the screen’s surface. “Typ- a report in Television Digest, include a ically, if you have one short circuit, it technique that eliminates the need for a kills the whole pixel,” explains Young. thin-film transistor for every pixel, and a system that introduces color and gray “But we can lose 10 to 20 percent of scales to ferroelectric LCDs, which are those tips and never know the differ- typically either on or off. The system ence. The redundancy is very high.” uses four filters—red, green, blue and The largest field-emission display yet demonstrated is only a six-inch color whit—efor each pixel. unit constructed by Leti, a French com- pany. The obstacle to bigger displays, ac- LCD panel, magnified, LIT FROM WITHIN cording to Young, is that today’s of the type in Sharp semiconductor equipment is not large LCD projectors. Both thin-film and ferroelectric enough to build large panels full of mi- LCDs are transmissive technologies. They don’t create the light in the TV crotips. As a result, Coloray is exploring display —they modulate the amount of other ways to lay down microtips. Faced with the same hurdle, a re- search cooperative called the Micro- electronics and Computer Technology Corp. is investigating other ways to gen- erate field emissions. Its idea is to make the emitter out of thin film, not micro- tips, explains project director Elliott Schlam. Using these films, “we can 4 VIDEO DECEMBER 1992

LIGHT VALVES &MIRRORS manufacture with fairly inexpensive equipment,” says Schlam and, in princi- ple, “scale it up to very large areas.” Schlam expects the company to com- While large flat panels could cut the TV set down to a plete its first working display within the fraction of its present bulk, advances in the small flat next two or three years. panels used in video projectors could prove equally revo- PLASMA POWER There are some large, flat prototypes lutionary. Most video buffs are already familiar with LCD around. Among the flashiest is a 40-inch projectors, thanks largely to the innovative sets devel- screen, only three inches thick, dis- oped by Sharp. But industry watchers are keeping an eye played earlier this year by NHK. It works by using another type of flat-panel tech- on two approaches using light valves and mirrors. nology known as plasma or gas-dis- charge display. NHK believes plasma The former is critical to a new joint effort by JVC displays can be turned into commercial products by 1997, and offer the only real and Hughes Aircraft to develop a liquid-crystal light way to create large (40 to 60 inches) flat screens suitable for HDTV. valve (LCLV) projector for consumers. The goal is a set NHK developed the screen, which that will project high-quality, ultrabright images up to 30 uses a direct-current system, with Mat- sushita, NEC, Dai Nippon Printing and feet wide, even under normal room light. Like conven- Oki Electric Industry. Another Japanese tional video projectors, the LCLV version would start company, Fujitsu, is working on a gas with light generated by three cathode-ray tubes, one for plasma screen using alternating current. Fujitsu says it has already developed a each primary color. But instead of projecting the light, it display that can run for 10,000 hours, about the life of a conventional TV would display the tubes’ images on the photosensitive tube. side of a liquid-crystal film sandwiched between two lay- Plasma displays are also being devel- ers of glass. Light from a powerful xenon arc lamp would oped in the U.S., chiefly by Photonics pass through the liquid crystal, bounce off the mirrored Systems of Northwood, Ohio. Photonics side of the sandwich and reflect back out for viewing. has sold 60-inch monochromatic plasma displays for about $150,000 and demon- A more advanced version plans to use a single slice strated a 19-inch, full-color VGA ver- of pure silicon crystal for the sandwich. It would help the sion. Its goal is to market an HDTV display at least 40 inches large, diag- light valve work so fast that only one CRT would be onally. “Within two years, we’ll have it,” promises Don Wedding, a Photonics needed. The projector is expected to have 10 times the consultant. brightness of conventional LCD models, according to Dr. To create a plasma display, a layer of neon or a related gas is sandwiched be- Bill Bleha, vice president of engineering at the joint ven- tween the clear screen of the monitor and a back panel. An electric current ture. Bleha says it will produce a sharper picture because sent to each pixel causes the gas at the pixel to discharge and glow. To make a the liquid-crystal film is continuous, not divided into res- color plasma display, the inside of the screen is coated with red, green and blue olution-limiting pixels. phosphors, according to Wedding. Using the same principle as a fluorescent light Hughes originally developed LCLV projectors in the bulb, the gas emits ultraviolet light that causes the phosphors to glow. 70s for the military, and present models cost from In Beaverton, Oregon, a company $50,000 to $500,000. JVC hopes to introduce the con- sumer version in 1994, for between $2,000 and $7,000. Meanwhile, Aura Systems, a California company based in El Segundo, is trying to do it with mirrors. Aura is developing front- and rear-projection TV sets using a technology it calls actuated mirror array. Separate sets of mirrors transmit red, green and blue light to the pixels. Each pixel of the display corresponds to one. specific mi- cromirror. The angle at which each mirror reflects its light source determines the brightness of the pixel. TV sets made this way should be brighter and have wider viewing angles than today’s rear-projection sets, ac- cording to Larry Shultz, president of Aura Distribution Systems, an Aura subsidiary. Shultz adds that Aura is working with Korea’s Daewoo Electronics to develop an NTSC prototype in about 18 months. The companies | —GM hope to start selling TV sets in three years. Aluminum Row Light Show: Electrode Cross-section of Plan- ar's electroluminescent Dielectric Layers display (left) and its use on a 19-inch com- * puter monitor. ‘me Liquid crystals for Transparent Column Electrode DECEMBER 1992 VIDEO 47 LCD screens, as seen by a microscope.

| Now! Professional wireless % Sound for your camcorder. WT e Outstanding sound is now easier than ever. New ATR45W wireless microphone uses professional VHF technology miniaturized specifically for camcorder use by ATR45W VHF Wireless Audio-Technica U.S. Camcorder Microphone Superior sound starts with a quality ultra-miniature condenser microphone complete System i with clothing clip and foam windscreen. Each wireless system is easily switched to either of two 170 MHz VHF frequencies (not the over-crowded 49 MHz band) for minimum interference. Earphone output provides real-time monitoring of the signal. Both transmitter and receiver operate from readily available QV batteries. The 2.8 oz. transmitter is easily hidden in clothing, while the receiver clips to the camera accessory shoe or mounts anywhere else with the supplied Velcro or foam tape. Flexible, swiveling receiver antenna reduces breakage. Enjoy impressive sound, full freedom of action, and reliable wireless operation with the new ATR45W VHF microphone system from Audio-Technica. Call (800) 933-9022 today or write for literature about this remarkable new wireless microphone. attuls AUDIO-TECHNICA U.S., Inc. 1221 Commerce Drive, Stow, OH 44224 (800) 933-9022 or (216) 686-2600 called Planar Systems is pursuing anoth- But the expense is fitting given the around. Using extensions between the er type of emissive disp—lelaecytro- mics and the camcorder will give you luminescence. The company sells a 19- stakes, and the payoff will be immense. more room to roam. inch monochrome computer monitor and says it is two-thirds of the way to- “Anyone who comes up with a cost-ef- Mic management ward full color. It’s perfected the neces- sary red and green pixels, but still needs fective product that can be sold in even When shooting two people side-by-side to double the brightness level of the blue with only one lavalier microphone, don’t a small part of the market is going to just attach it to one person. Instead, clip pixels, according to Jonathan Gilbert, it to one of the subject’s sleeves, on the Planar marketing manager. have a huge hit,” promises Pressley. A arm that is between the two subjects. The range of the mic should be more Which of these ideas is likely to promise we can expect to be fulfilled in than adequate to pick up both subjects’ make its way to your living room in a voices. Make sure you clip the mic so it decade or so? The answer’s not easy. abo—ustay —10 years. . can’t be seen in the picture. Each technology has advantages and in- herent problems. “There’s not a uniform AMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL Eddie Goldberger magic-bullet solution that does all Tucson, Arizona things,” says Bob Pressley, president of Music magic Silicon Video, a California company re- searching flat displays for DARPA. “Any To shoot roving-camera music videos Homemade of these technologies can still emerge as without sacrificing audio quality or hav- the leader,” adds Slusarczuk. ing to later synchronize the video with a widescreen TV separate audio recording, try connecting Moreover, the best ideas will need a pair of good tape recorder mics to the Movie screens are flanked by black cur- plenty of money to bring them to mar- tains that can be adjusted to match the ket. Don Wedding of Photonics says the camcorder’s mic input with a stereo-to- aspect ratio of the movie being shown. cost of establishing a large-scale electro- dual-mono adapter. Tape the mics to- You can achieve the same effect at home luminescence production facility would gether in a crossed pattern, and secure with two black pieces of cardboard and probably be about $500 million, and them to a tripod or a chair, facing the some Velcro fasteners. This way you're Canon is reportedly investing more than stage. You can also use a stereo mic, and not distracted by gray bars on the TV $700 million to build factories to mass- if the camcorder isn’t stereo, use a single set, and you get a picture that faithfully produce giant ferroelectric screens. By mic. Tape all the mic cable connections reproduces your letterboxed laserdiscs as one conservative account, it took $3 bil- together, then tape the mic cable to the they were meant to be viewed. lion to bring thin-film displays to their camcorder’s hand grip. This way, the present dominant position. ‘‘The Jean-Francois Boucher amount of money involved in this effort mic cable can’t pull out, and the sound Montreal, Quebec is just phenomenal,” says Slusarczuk. quality will be consistent as you move 48 VIDEO DECEMBER 1992

__, Ihe . Animals | ]t’s time to stop wishing you were from the ’50s through the ’90s. (Shown with optional microphone.) Eric Burdon. The Pioneer After you've sung your heart out, ROSiWGof HAG OF Gl Nay LaserKaraoke” CLD-V820 Combi- relax with your favorite CDs or nation CD/LaserDisc” Player lets LaserDisc movies. With digital @) PIONEER’ you sing lead on classics like We sound and a 60% sharper picture Gotta Get Out Of This Place. And The Art of Entertainment then backs you up with the instru- than standard VHS, the CLD-V820 mentals, a music video, and on- is an ideal home theater component. screen lyrics. It even plays both sides of LaserDisc movies automatically. The CLD-V820 comes with Digi- tal Signal Processing to make your For more information or for living room sound like a Hall, a the dealer nearest you, call (800) Stage, or an Arena. And it plays a 421-1404 and ask for LaserKaraoke. constantly-growing library of over And get ready to launch the next 1,000 hits, including your favorites British invasion from the comfort of your own living room. ©1992 Pioneer Laser Entertainment, Inc., 2265 East 220th St., Long Beach, CA 90810 Circle 16 on Reader Service Card.

BY JAMES M. BARRY ADVENTURES INTHE hat Is Home Theater? TRADE that the store had “N.J.’s largest asked the big sign over the selection of color TVs—a”long entrance to the demon- with hundreds of VCRs, camcord- “stration room on the sec- ond floor of the Tweeter, etc. store ers, stereos, boom boxes, refrigera- tors, freezers, microwave ovens in Framingham, Massachusetts. A and kitchen ranges. It was indeed good question, I thought, since I a mega showroom, one of four the had embarked on an expedition to company operates in New Jersey. purchase a big-screen projection One shopper's odyssey, In television alone, Tops displayed television, considered by many to all the major brands, including be the centerpiece of the home som—elike RCA’s ProSc—atnhat theater experience. through a jungle of sets are theoretically to be found solely Projection has been a growth & thickets of salespeak, in high-end specialty shops. (And with good reason, since the Tops area for the consumer electronics salesman could tell me nothing industry ever since sales of smaller about the differences between TV sets and VCRs leveled off in the 1980s. Advances in projection RCA and ProScan, aside from not- ing some design elements.) to discover his ideal TV.technology, combined with design innovations and a heightened in- Tops’ high-impact, low-price terest in all things “home thea- approach is designed to get cus- ter,” have spurred both retail tomers into the store in this reces- promotions and sales. It also had me ume dealers. “Home theater is for RCA sionary era. The fine print accom- wondering what a typical consumer like Trinitron is for Sony,” explained one panying its ads often points out that ad- would find walking in cold to a store, salesman at Tops Mega Warehouse and vertised sets are one-of-a-kind display looking to make an informed big-screen Showroom in Secaucus, New Jersey. I models. But Tops also offers a $100 re- had asked about the “Home Theater” ward if a customer can get a better price, choice. My experience proved anew that re- designation on the face of a 35-inch which is its version of the now routine gardless of technology’s advances, caveat RCA direct-view set he was earnestly “lowest-price” policy prevalent in clec- emptor, or buyer be cautious, is still the trying to sell me in lieu of the projection tronics retailing. best advice before heading out. Over the sets I came to ask about. Tops is one of the most visible exam- course of several weeks of shopping at a I hadn’t been in the cavernous Tops ples of an electronics retail community variety of stores in the Northea—sfrtom showroom a minute when one of the in the process of a dramatic restructur- electronic specialty shops to warehouse- store’s legion of salesmen approached to ing. Traditional mass merchandisers, size volume outlet—swe heard sales ad- ask what had brought me there that day. catalog showrooms, mail-order firms— vice that ranged from reasoned and ex- I mentioned the ad I had seen for pro- even warehouse clubs that display prod- pert to disinformation worthy of the jection sets in the morning’s newspaper. ucts stacked in boxes—are vying with KGB. “Over 85 big-screens displayed,” includ- “power retailers” that were once high- Wacky definitions of home theater ing a “Panasonic 40” for $1,096, trum- volume dealers but that are now trying tripped easily from the tongues of engag- peted the copy. to become customer-service-oriented ing salespeople, particularly at high-vol- I had no reason to doubt Tops’ claim with the help of more knowledgeable RWOEBST 50 VIDEO DECEMBER 1992