- Balance Home Theater Speakers Like A Pro- $2.95 e SEPTEMBER 1994 m|agazin® e Home Theater For Tight Spaces- What Works & How To Do It COCO HOSEOHO HEHE EEE HEHE EEEHHEEEE HES SEE H EEO EEEOEE We Test 20 Top Multi-Product Universal Remotes SCOTCH HEHEHE HEE OEE ESET ESE HEE SE EE OEE EOEB OREO SOHC HE HEHEHE HHH HEHEHE SESE SESE EEO EEE EE EEE EOS LCD Projector, VHS VCR, Windows Video Editor, Hi8 & S-VHS-C Camcorders
No matter how much you spent on your Because DIRECTV gives you more sound through the TV you already have home entertainment system, you could entertainment to choose from than ever O First, you get tons of movies to choose get a lot more out of it with DIRECTV™ | before, with a better picture and CD from. Hit movies. The latest releases, DOESN'T YOUR GREAT HOME ENTERTAINAE! DIRECTV is completely digital, your can also choose from hundreds lar cable networks. CNN, ESPN, home entertainment system can now be of pro and college sports events, 5 ¢ USA, The Discovery Channel, everything you expected it to be. LJ You and the newest and most popu- The Disney Channel, Court TY, © 1994 DIRECTV Inc., a unit of GM Hughes Electronics. DIRECTVa™nd DSS™are registered trademarks of DIRECTY, Inc.
well before they're on the premium cable out of stock. For just $2.99 each, you You also get classics and independent movie channels. C1 It's like a video store get the Hollywood hit movies you want, films which can be hard to find on in your own living room, that never runs starting as often as every 30 minutes. most cable systems. LI And because SYSTEM DESERVE GREAT ENTERTAINMENT! Sci-Fi Channel, and a lot more. Probably and DIRECTV at your Consumer Elec- |-800-331-4388 for the dealer nearest you. for less than you pay now. L] Check out tronics or Satellite TV dealer. Equipment DIRECTY. the tiny 18-inch RCA brand DSS™ dish availability is limited until late fall, 1994. Call IT'S PERSONALIZED TV Circle 1 on Reader Service Card.
HITACHI @ Jey) RATED #1 JBUY SATLEGAODITNGEVCOENNSUBMEETRTEMRA.GA.Z.INE ND HERE’S WHY “closer to the action.” This year 270,000 PIXEL CCD A To achieve true engineering they have extended the lens to a This extremely dense 12X optical system. Digital zoom CCD enabled the engineers excellence, a camcorder must further extends the range of the to employ an E.I.S. system combine the most important and optical zoom system to an that does not degrade popular features with a sleek, incredible 24X, while the instant picture quality when in use. attractive, ergonomic design at an zoom button magnifies any scene Unlike other E.I.S. systems affordable price. The engineers at instantly an additional 1.5 times. the engineers at Hitachi Hitachi faced up to this challenge And even with the more powerful developed their CCD so that and were determined to deliver a optical lens system Hitachi whether E.I.S. is engaged or not definitive package at a price of engineers have been able to keep the image remains sharp. under $1,000. The result is a true the minimum illumination breakthrough — the VM-E58A. requirements at 1 lux. So even in ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE low light situations the VM-E58A The VM-E58A’s autofocus Here’s the inside story on how will perform flawlessly. system uses a foolproof the engineers at Hitachi created through-the-lens approach and its this extraordinary camcorder. DIGITAL ELECTRONIC IMAGE white balance and auto iris are STABILIZATION both controlled by a highly- COLOR LCD VIEWFINDER Last year Hitachi introduced sophisticated artificial The engineers at Hitachi intelligence circuit. Its digitally determined through their research the first Electronic Image Stabilizer that camcorder users desire the with “angular motion sensors” in programmed autoexposure system accuracy of a color viewfinder. They the number 1 rated VM-E55A provides perfect pictures with increased the number of pixels to camcorder. This year, Hitachi pinpoint accuracy. create a sharp vivid picture that engineers have improved the allows you to see what you are system by applying new engineering The VM-E58A’s superlative shooting exactly as it is. This advancements to make our digital performance is built into its chips, eliminates the need to keep looking EIS even better. Hitachi’s digital transport, electronic circuitry and over the viewfinder to check what EIS can improve picture quality optical system. This is Hitachi — you are recording. whenever you are walking, riding Excellence in Engineering. in an automobile, using high 24X 200M powered zoom or any other activity For more information Hitachi’s engineers have been that causes your camcorder to on the Hitachi VM-E58A, pioneers in developing longer zoom be unstable. please call 1-800-HITACHI ranges in order to allow you to get
AP a “The chips, the transport, Cer faU.E} OU the electronic ; : : oF ye pS ay, | circuitry, and AWA the optics are Se oe oo Hitachi’s excellence in engineering.” Circle 2 on Reader Service Card.
[ D f 0magazine Panasonic FEATURES LET’S GET SMALL 46 How to give tight spaces home theater sound, pictures, drama. By Joe Wiesenfelder 50 54 UNIVERSAL TRUTHS 58 We challenge 20 top remote controls to a multi-product A/V shootout. By Tom Heald VIDEO JOINS THE CLUB How video is fixing golfers’ swings—and how you can use it to fix yours. By Scott Wasser COMBI NATION What's new in laser players? Lots of models, prices & karaoke—our buyer’s guide tells all. By Jonathan Takiff TAPES % pistes REVIEWS / Four Weddings and a Funeral, Price Interactive, It's All True, The Stand, 66 Guns of Navarone, more 67 72 EDITOR’S CHOICE / Coppola’s Rumble Fish. By Kenneth Korman DIRECTORY / The latest releases on tape and disc VIDEOTESTS VIDIKRON LCD PROJECTOR, A are DEPARTMENTS Canon ES-1000 Hi8 camcorder, Studio Magic for Windows, Thevart of squeezin JVC GR-SZ7 S-VHS-C camcorder, Panasonic PV-4464 VHS VCR homerihanter a By Brent Butterworth, Stewart Applegath and Timothy Liebe; tests by Berger-Braithwaite Labs and picture into small rooms. Pictured are At- © CHANNEL ONE / Video bashing in an age of PCs 8 slaynstitcemTec2h5n0olsougryr'osund FEEDBACK /Lette sO toni 2 <A at spon, Sony 12 KV-27V55 TV, Pan- FAST FORWARD / G's pal Joey, restoring the time machine, desktop HDTV, aasnodnicL’Xs-60P0V-4c4o6m4bi VCR Late Breaking News, more NEW PRODUCTS / Big LCDs, tiny speakers, flatter tubes, more 18 player, and Harmon HANDS-ON TEST / Atlantic Technology’s system 250 home theater speakers 22 =Kardon’s AVR20 A/V HOME THEATER / Using an SPL meter to set surround sound levels 24 ie es CAMCORNER / Cutting class: the basics of video editing 26 graph by Les Morsillo Q & A/ Technical queries answered 28 COLLECTOR’S CLEARINGHOUSE / Searching for Lucy and Le Carre 29 Video Magazine OFF THE AIR / Health care for your VCR 114 Volume xvii Number 6 VIDEO Magazine (ISSN 1044-7288) is published monthly by Reese Communications, Inc., 460 W. 34 St., New York, NY 10001. Second-class postage paid at New York, NY and additional mailing office. © 1994 Reese Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. © under Universal, International, and Pan American Copyright Conventions. Reproduction of editorial or pictorial content in any manner is prohibited. 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 international publication permit #546488. Address subscription orders, change of address, correspondence and inquiries to: VIDEO, Box 56293, Boulder, CO 80322-6293, or call toll-free 800-365-1008. Change of address takes 60 days The magazine is subject to manufacturer's change without notice, and publisher assumes.no responsibility for such change. to process: send old address label, new address, and zip code. All material listed in this Audit For microform copies of issues or articles, write to: Serials Acquisition Dept., University Microfilms, Inc., 300 North Zeeb Bureau POSTMASTER: Send address changes to VIDEO, Box 56293, Boulder, CO 80322-6293. Rd., Ann Arbor, Mi 48106. 6 VIDEO SEPTEMBER 1994
Cat People (1982) * 0211003 Dragon: The * 1150705 Falling Down * 1134006 BruceLee Story * 0599308 The Bear * 1188903 Beetlejuice ___.0633008 Indochine Forbidden Planet ____* 0844407 Manhattan Murder * 1189505 Mystery eas ___ 0162503 Caddyshack __ 0602300 * 1189109 Sommersby sé * 1120906 _* 0077008 * 0847103 On the Waterfront __0361501 Plus 1 More At Great Savings! The Prince Of Tides — Poetic Justice __* 1189406 Fatal Attraction _ ___ 0439307 __ 0073502 Rollerball * 1179001 Forever Young * 1104306 A Room with a View * 0055707 Hamlet(1990) —————S—S—«<0 9700608 Runaway Train Arsenic And * Letterbox Big __0367409 Dangerous Liaisons * 0638700 Old Lace CLINT EASTWOOD Logan’s Run _ ______* 0250704 Coneheads = The Hunger_ _* 0255505 History of the World: Coo! World _* 1084706 Part 1 Single White Female ————* 1061407 CLUB FAVORITES Death Becomes Her _ * 1071505 * 1102805 HowardsEnd > _* 1071604 Cliffhanger * 1149301 Sneakers The Firm * 1154400 Deliverance 0607606 ___* 0645200 Rising Sun * 1174804 Dead Calm #0489104 Sleepless in Born On The Fourth Of July Seattle * 1154905 | Army Of Darkness * 1121201 Bram Stroker’s DEMOLITION ‘MAN § Jaws ____ *0844605 Dracula * 1102904 Terminator 2: The Color Purple *0630103 Looney Tunes After Judgment Day * 0233205 Dark: Ghoul, ———_—'1060607 Top Gun 0426908 GhostandGoblin Unforgiven (1992) * 1084003 Robocop _ fie _0235002 Blazing Saddles ___0001206 Die Hard * 0367607 The Exorcist _-=—————(0600304 Robotech 1 & 2 1146604 Monty Python's The Meaning OfLife (0523902 Highlander 0382309 The Haunting s 0268607 * 1193101 Judgment Night * 0104208 Heart Of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Home Alone __* 1104900 _1002500 Home Alone 2: 0029108 Apocalypse _ 1176809 Lost in New York The Bodyguard * 1105907 * 1142009 Hot Shots is * 1179803 Star Wars * 0056408 A Few Good Men _* 1106301 NEW RELEASES * 1147008 Hot Shots Part Deux __ _* 1033208 Return Of The Jedi + 0354704 The Abyss * 0881102 Indecent Proposal * 0258004 Striking Distance 1200708 Batman (1989) * 0642504 Addams Family Values * 1232701 * 0844308 * 0559005 Batman Returns Rookie Of The Year * 0364901 Backdraft Bugs Bunny ___* 1029909 Batman: Mask Of * 0104307 a0000208 =Alien Chinatown j* az | age otimaconce + 1207307The Phantasm Sliver * 0805309 * 1127109 * 1238906 Point Of No Return *0202507 Basic Instinct * 0041806 * 0976803 :Bronelnis pre= Pink Floyd: The Wall Robin Hood: 0001404 _* 0203505 * 1207108 2001: A Space Prince OfThieves * 0826008 Far And Away * 1046507 eariess 1198803 Odyssey _* 0201301 The Wizard Of Oz * 0825000 The Empire Of The Good Son 1190909 Predator * 0201608 Ghost SUIER Oe The Man Without The Hunt For The Sun : * 0633206 1208701 Predator 2 _ * 0430603 Red October 1038405 ALeague Of ea BYE00S A Face —-* 1154086 The Silence Of SErciecnCtloarpntonW: oman * 0969808 Thelr own 0734905 The Lambs * 0448605 Unplugged Parca Much Ado EGoTo:dfellas * 0681106 About Nothing ae > Die Hard 2: pit The Extra-Terrestrial AFineilmdalOf HDoruesaems e09e20e306 Las: t ActionHero e* spero * 1001007 * 1051309 Wizards § Die Harder * 0150003 Patriiot Games 1014505 Lethal Weapon 0630806 + 1071406 £ Star Trek-The Lawnmower Man eae, * 1188804 * 0211409 LLeetthhaall WWeeaappoonn 23 ___** 01604521750027 c;p vapcy 8 Motion Picture BBaacckk TToo TThhee Future ** 11002773777992000885 Future Il * 0921304 ‘isiaébh Q Star Trek Il- Back To The Man Who Would * 0085803 us ON 3 The Wrath Of Khan s* 11e023036e190093 __10126 WMaey'urCelouBsaicnk Vinny * 1149400 Be Kin i} MThoehicLaasnts O(f19T9h2e) Star Trek ill-The Dave reer a La+* O000N116E851515470000545on * 1179605 * 1207208 ‘Q Search For Spock _ Hard Target Groundhog Day * 1108406 nAePdeeerrfeSciSti eWgoer_lfde Conan The * 0220509 * 1221407 § Star Trek IV-The Barbarian 3 8 Voyage Home 2 Star Trek V-The Fried Green petal \"foea - Final Frontier Tomatoes 1005404 eu eEL * 0854307 TWBBhalueteeeTrWHsiulhdniTphduOenndDreeorswn = TL = StarTrek Vi-The— PRHaoagosiksinegngeBrul5l7___ ** 01005807700095 M. Butterfly = © Undiscovered Country King Kong © MidnightExpress The Secret Garden (1993) 60th Anniversary Edition 1021005 Visions Of Light Here’s a great way to build a have 14 days to decide; if not, you HIST ASA SMT Rec 18)523)=Ppeireotin satirist & , SIGED & AH To Et collection of your favorite movies — may return the selection at our ; Columbia House Laserdisc Club i on laserdisc! Just write in the expense. 1 Dept. J2Q, P.O. Box 1112, Terre Haute, Indiana 47811-1112 numbers of the 3 laserdiscs you ; Yes, please enroll me under the terms outlined in this advertisement. As a member, | need buy only 1 want for $1.00 each, plus shipping Money-Saving Bonus Plan. If you ; 4 more selections, at regular Club prices, in the next 2 years. : continue your membership after i and handling. In exchange, you simply agree to buy four more fulfilling your obligation, you'll be L Send me these 3 laserdiscs for $1.00 each-plus $1.50 each shipping and handling {total $7.50). 1 laserdiscs in the next two years, at regular Club prices (currently as low eligible for our generous bonus ' L as $29.95, plus shipping/handling) plan. It enables you to enjoy great ; i —and you may cancel membership at any time after doing so. savings on the movies you want-for | Buy YOUR FIRST SELECTION NOW—AND HAVE LESS TO BUY LATER! ' Free Magazine sent every four ie i you decide to remain a 1 © Also, send me my first selection for$19.95, plus $1.50 shipping/handling, which I'm adding to I weeks (up to 13 times a year) I reviewing our Director's Selection— member! : : 1 my $7.50 payment {total $28.95). |then need buy only3more (instead of 4) in the next 2 years. plus scores of alternate choices, including many lower-priced laser- 10-Day Risk-Free Trial. We Hl send . Please Check How Paying: OC My check is enclosed A35/A37 . discs. And you may also receive details of the Club's operation with A36/A38 1 Special Selection mailings up to j Charge my introductory laserdiscs and future club purchases to: four times a year. (That's up to 17 Syaotuirsfiiend,troredtuucrtnoreyverpyathciknaggew.ithiInf no1t0 0 Discover II buying opportunities a year.) days at our expense for a full refund || MasterCard 2 Diners Club AMEX VISA - and no further obligation. | Acct. No. H Buy only what you want! If you 1 Signature Exp. Date. want the Director’s Selection, do nothing-it will be sent auto- For fastest service, use your creditcard | Name ; matically. If you prefer an alternate and call us toll-free 24 hoursaday: selection, or none at all, just mail the I response card always provided by 1-800-538-2233 ist|1 Address Apt. I the date specified. And you'll always J2Q 4 City State H ly, Entertaionsing | Zi(p Phone No. ( ) ;I America... ! Do any of the following apply to you? (41) ! L Ol own a Personal Computer (1) 1 |own a PC witha CD-ROM (2) | plan to buy a PC with a CDROM (3) ‘ e One Person REcEen aeene one retry mance Oh ied ia eel WierdaI Noes i acres applies t9he peright stetoLasreejercdtisc Club spembersPoly, ip.bene iimpiteadLiyetogitestcontiSnentaleeU.S. rea in | LASERDISC CLUB ata Time, ®
CHANNEL ONE VIDEO Video bashing in an age of PCs PC proselytizers seem to be taking bolder swipes than ever at the sup- President and Managing Director, posed obsolescence of television sets. We don’t mean PC as in Jay Rosenfield politically correct, but PC as in the personal computers they predict will soon satisfy all our needs for entertainment. Just recently, Intel Editor, Stan Pinkwas President Andy Grove used his keynote speech at a New York PC ex- Senior Editor, Brent Butterworth position to wax poetic about the possibilities for computers. Fair the Technical Editor, Lancelot Braithwaite enough, but full-page newspaper ads flogging Grove’s comments in Assistant Editors, Josef Krebs, that followed scorned those who think the info highway “will Stewart Applegath days Contributing Editors: Bob Angus, Bob through their TV” (even as they found it prudent to offer free Barlow, Frank Beacham, Bruce Eder, M. come Faust, Corey Greenberg, Ty Harrington, copies of the speech on videocassette.) Kenneth Korman, David Lachenbruch, George Gilder, a Reagan-era supply sider turned techno-pundit, Timothy Liebe, George Mannes, Marianne takes an even harsher view in his provocative new book Telecosm. Ac- Meyer, Cliff Roth, Tom Soter, Jonathan Takiff, Rich Warren, Stewart Wolpin, cording to Gilder: “Computers will soon blow away the broadcast Roderick Woodcock television industry.” Video rental and game giants like Blockbuster and Art Director, Marshall Moseley Nintendo are “ballast from the past” whose businesses are only good Assistant Art Director, Nadira Abdul-Kadir “for the moment.” The Grand Alliance, the coalition of companies Art Assistant, Gary French Production Manager, Gary M. Krystofiak struggling to establish an HDTV standard, is pursuing a wrong-headed Production Assistant, Kim Lau Typesetting, Janet M. Holland approach that represents a capitulation to “foreign TV interests” and a betrayal of the American computer and newspaper industries (Gilder’s Group Publisher, Eric C. Schwartz big on newspapers). Associate Publisher, Linda DeRogatis Computer makers, and their advocates, have a lot to be proud, Vice President, Business Development, even smug about. But all this video bashing is more smoke than nico- Alan Deitch tine. The underlying assumption that television and home video are Editor, Video Pro, Tim Wetmore about to wither under an onslaught of chip-powered muscle machines National Advertising Director, Video Pro, is bunk. Will stronger, smaller, cheaper computers morph familiar pro- Annette Schnur grams into new modes of amusement? Probably. The fallacy is that Circulation Director, Rodney Bell Circulation Assistant, Rosemary Y. Paver they will displace televisions. Newsstand Sales Director, Gerald Levine Marketing Director, Luanne Rao We've probably said it before, but here it is: New technologies Financial Officer, Mark C. Spector, C.P.A. don’t usually kill off older technologies, they settle in beside them to Business Manager, Janette Evans create independent markets and industries. People don’t stop liking Assistant Business Manager, Lily Schwartzberg television or renting videos just because they’ve learned how to swap Advertising Coordinator, Karen Pellino Assistant to the President, So Hee Kim emoticons. Sure, TVs will acquire deepening layers of silicon, and computers will increase their video friendliness. But the family set— Corporate Offices, Editorial & Sales: Linda whether it’s a tube, a flat panel or a projector; whether it’s in a living Futterman, Christine Barbieri, 460 West 34 St., New York, NY 10001; room, a bedroom or a home thater; whether it’s programs come off-air 212-947-6500, 212-947-6727 (fax) or from a cable, a phone line or a satelli—tweill outlive us all as the West Coast Sales Office: Linda DeRogatis, central engine of home entertainment. Susan Kay Moses, Feta 1453 Third Street, Suite 490, Santa }CoA LS Monica, CA 90401; 310-393-5057, 310-393-5538 (fax) Stan Pinkwas Chicago Sales Office: Milton Gerber, Editor Kristene Richardson, Media Plus, 135 N. Arlington Heights Road, Suite 106, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089; 708-913-5400, 708-913-5403 (fax) Editor-in-Chief, Art Levis (1936-1991) CREOEMSMEUNICATIONS @ incorPorseD PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. 8 VIDEO SEPTEMBER 1994
Video f Goldstar ‘as Goldstar tiara eahowatvatnurses GVR-DD1: VH8 8mm/VHS video cassette recorder Introducing The Goldstar VH8\" | The Ultimate Deck For 8mm camcorder owners, the Goldstar VH8 is a match made in heaven. Because it’s an 8mm tape player and a 4 head VHS video cassette recorder. But we ares the Goldstar VH8 to be more than a two-decks-in-one. It copies 8mm tapes onto 7 economical VHS cassettes. It lets you edit out unwanted footage. And its flying erase heads eliminate noise for crisp, clean transitions. What's more, 8mm tape playback with the Goldstar VH8 reduces wear on expensive cam- corder heads, saving them to record more of life’s special moments. Quasi Hi8 DA 4 head VHS video cassette recorder So if you play 8mm and VHS tapes, take a plays all 8mm formats. with 181 channel tuner. look at the Goldstar VH8 video cassette recorder — it’s more than just a case of simple addition. GoldStar All The Qualities You’re Looking For See Your Local Goldstar Retailer. Circle 3 on Reader Service Card.
0 etailer near yo a 800-422-80 estiva ellige e der $2,000 by Harman Kardo A Harma ernational Compa
FEEDBACK Cable angst, test signals and skydiving Harman Kardon’s Festival 500 Intelligent Music System Last best hope average person to learn.” So before I Music is in our soul. strap on a parachute and jump out of a I just finished reading July’s “Off the perfectly good airplane, I need to know, Harman Kardon is one of the Air” about the things that drive people is the sport easy to learn or not? many worldwide companies which crazy, and noted the complaints about forms Harman International. cable. Common sense says cable com- David L. Miller, panies exist because we subscribe. As Naperville, Illinois Our distinctive companies long as we complain and send money, they will do what they please. The only Reality bites include Harman Kardon, JBL, Infinity, AKG, way to stop them is to stop subscribing for a month or two. They'll get the mes- Kevin Miller’s advice (“Home Theater,” Lexicon and Soundcraft. They share a sage. A disconnect is our only hope. June) about setting up your TV for the single, compelling passion. Music. best picture overlooks the fact that the It is the soul of each. Brian Nichols best setting for test signals may not al- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma ways produce the best picture with real- And each of our companies world source material. I find that laser- is equally passionate about making What about privacy? discs and broadcasts require distinctly that music more available and different contrast and black level set- more accurate. That’s why we’ve One aspect of the 500-channel future I tings. A truly advanced television set created high quality, intuitive never hear about is the millions of tele- would automatically memorize (and re- sound systems — easy to set up — vision sets that will be monitored by store) your settings for each input and even easier to use. central computer systems. They will, in for each channel. effect, be bugged. Will the information Festival is one such product. gleaned from the information highway’s William Sommerwerck, SoundEffects by JBL and Epsilon toll booths be the property of operator Bellevue, Washington by Infinity are other products companies or available to the public? which reflect the same perspective, The Greenberg cure although each does a different job. James Leatham, Chester, New York I enjoyed the April and May stories Harman Kardon, JBL, Infinity, AKG, about THX and home theater. You Just do it ought to give Corey Greenberg a promo- Lexicon and Soundcraft share the pas- tion or a raise. His irreverent attitude is sion and share the fundamental In “Born to be Wild” (May) Darlene an antidote to the standard too-serious- objective of all Harman compa- Kellnerisquoted by Scott Wasser as say- to-be-funny audio reviewer. I also liked nies: to reproduce music flawlessly, ing “Skydiving is not an easy sport to your blunt assessments of THX and sur- to make the products easy to use learn because you only get, at most, a round sound processors; they are a and lovely to look at. minute of practice time each jump.” Yet, counterpoint to what we read in other the following paragraph states, “Accord- magazines. The reference to the home Music and the soul. A great ing to Kellner, skydiving is easy for the theater amplifier that can’t clip due to way to make a living. the limitations of current household wir- How to Jump: ing made me laugh. Intrigued? Then please call us The camcorder is at 1-800-422-8027. William A. Mendoza, optional, the Tallahassee, Florida harman international chute is not For the record “Call of the Wide” (June) incorrectly at- tributed two cinema modes to Pioneer’s SD-P5071K and SD-P4571K widescreen TVs. While both sets expand 4:3 pic- tures to fill the screen, neither has the Cinema I and II modes that enlarge let- terboxed prints to fill the screen. . Video Magazine welcomes ‘your comments. Address queries to Feedback, Video Magazine, 460 West 34 Street, New York, NY 10001. SEPTEMBER 1994 VIDEO 11
Pr Back to the Future: Rod Taylor, Alan Young and the restored Time Machine. Fast >> FORWARD Pr |a HDTV goes desktop ONCE UPON A TIME MACHINE After nearly a decade’s research im e.was clearly not on the into HDTV by some the world’s largest labs, a tiny company may be about to steal side of the Time Ma- chine, the legendary their thunder. The Duck Corp., based in New York City, recently demonstrated film prop used in what it says is the world’s first HDTV pic- i George Pal’s 1960 ture displayed by a plain, off-the-shelf per- sci-fi adventure of sonal computer. It also demonstrated the the same name, first full-motion, broadcast-quality video based on the H.G. on a standard PC running Microsoft Win- Wells book. dows and Video for Windows. The fantastic in- Both demos looked as impressive as vention—a Victo- Duck promised. They were conducted rian-era concoction with software only and required no special combining a barber’s chair, a large revolv- computer hardware, other than a Pentium PC costing less than $2,000. The HDTV ing disk, a crystal demo ran video at about 800 lines of TV control lever and a resolution in a progressive scan mode. But toboggan-like a spokesman said the resolution could be bas—ewas sold at auction with other MGM heirlooms for $10,000 in 1970. increased with a more powerful computer. the back of a truck and traveled around the country, char- Its image quality was comparable to recent The buyer put it in it. A few years later, it mysteriously appeared, in shabby HDTV demonstrations on special equip- ging people to see condition, at an Orange County thrift shop. Bob Burns, a makeup man, mem- ment costing thousands of dollars more. orabilia collector and friend of the late Pal, brought it to his Burbank home Duck President Stanley Marder boasted and, with the help of industry associates, restored the machine to pristine that June 23, the day of Duck’s debut, “will go down in the annals of computing form. history” as the day a computer first bested The Time Machine: The Journey Back is a loving, 48-minute tribute to Pal, the prop’s reconstruction and the film. It’s hosted by Time Machine star Rod a TV set in video quality. Taylor who also appears in a new scene with costar Alan Young that’s sure to The key to Duck’s breakthrough is a draw goosebumps from The Time Machine’s legions of fans. The Time Machine: The Journey Back is available for $19.95 from 7th Voy- new compression algorithm called True- age Productions; phone 818-890-0307 for further info. —Irv Slifkin Motion S, written by Duck partners Dan Miller and Victor Yurkovsky over a four- year period. The compression scheme is sine transform) algorithm that offers bet- ter quality and editable video. Every frame scalable across major platforms, including the company, surpasses the capabilities of is complete —there are no predicted DOS, Windows, Sega and 3DO. A Mac- MPEG-2 compression and costs less to im- plement. Its key feature, said Duck, is a frames. intosh version is scheduled for release at unique intraframe non-DCT (discrete co- Media Player -ESL_DUK4.AVI (stopped Duck also has a new interactive me- dia engine that lets developers create vid- eos with advanced interactivity. Duck demonstrated video images of products that could be turned full circle and exam- ined in close-ups by viewers manipulating a computer mouse. Such technology could be used for anything from interac- tive shopping to video games. In fact, game giant Sega has said it will incorpo- tate Duck’s technologies into future Sega gear, and Crystal Dynamics, another gamemaker, also plans to use Duck com- pression in its game and multimedia titles. —Frank Beacham Why a Duck? High resolution video images on a PC using Duck Corp.'s TrueMotion compression. 12 VIDEO SEPTEMBER 1994
TIMESHIFT TEN YEARS AGO IN VIDEO MAGAZINE “In Chicago, McCormick exhibition Pal Joey: Gl’s new hall exuded conspicuous consump- interactive cable box tion. Yes, we're talking digital dy- namics. Overheard on day one: ‘We just don’t get involved with an- alog’...Videocassette recorders are selling in Moscow electronics stores, according to West German tourists. We’re not sure what format it is, but it's Russian built and has the trade- mark Electronika WM 12. The VCR sells for about 4,200 rubles, approx- imately seven months wages for the average Soviet citizen...Panasonic reportedly has consumers will be the projected cost. been quietly de- That’s right, the consum—enrot the ca- The set-top battle begins veloping a large ble compa—nywill have to shell out the flat-screen TV The battlefield in the war for con- bucks for this box. (LSFT, you heard a GI's idea is that Joey’s flexibility will Preston HORY, trol of the information superhighway will it here first) in its Lange Serman ty, allow the box to be quickly reconfigured research labora- A Bian eqn! be the top of your TV set. Whoever suc- to accommodate any programming ceeds in creating and broadly distribut- services the consumer wants, thus sav- ie ing a set-top box that receives digital ing the expense and hassle of swapping video and audio signals and sends inter- tory. The screen Aacritoonnetcatsent ENancewr of a working active commands back should enjoy out cable boxes, switching between mul- prototype is said staggering profits and considerable clout. tiple set-top boxes, and buying a new to measure 10 And the first salvo has just been TV just to get the latest features. Will it feet across (di- fired. At the Summer Consumer Elec- work? We'll find out if and when GI actu- agonally)... tronics Show in Chicago, cable-box and ally markets Joey. Michael Jackson —Brent Butterworth satellite-receiver giant General Instru- goes Japanese, SEPTEMBER 1984 ment unveiled Joey, which GI calls a at least on the Thriller tape. The “set-top modular television concept.” Highway fever tape has sold 750,000 copies world- Joey—a box the size of aVCR— tunes in wide....Fisher prepares itself for the cable and broadcast video signals, and oncoming age of stereo broadcast sends and receives data through tele- Video’s lanes on the informa- television with two new TVs that are phone lines and serial ports. It can in- tion highway keep widening. Here are corporate a descrambler for pay cable three projects that have been launched genuinely stereo-ready, with the channels, or decompression hardware just since last month’s feature on the broadcast stereo decoder built for receiving compressed digital signals. subject, “Hope, Hype and Reality.” in,..Pioneer may offer its Laser If Joey takes off, it could revolutio- e AT&T and Silicon Graphics will Video Jukebox as early as this nize the TV business. Because Joey in- jointly develop products to deliver inter- month. The most unusual feature is cludes a tuner and all the whiz-bang active TV services to homes. Allied as the Karaoke option, a favorite with features offered by today’s high-end Interactive Digital Solutions, the com- the Japanese. B TVs —like pic- panies hope to ture-in-picture QUOTE OF , make it easier for to see pictures of products they want to and onscreen THE MONTH phone, cable and order will need their own slow-speed menus —all you other networked digital phone lines, businesses will be the first to employ the service. need is a bare- systems to offer e American Telecasting, the coun- bones video mon- movies-on-de- try’s largest wireless cable TV company, Zenith Electronics and a quartet of oth- itor. (TV manu- mand, shopping er wireless cable companies have joined forces in the race to build digital video facturers we services and vid- networks. A key goal of the new Wire- less Cable Digital Alliance is to develop spoke to at CES eogrames. technology that will let consumers re- ceive up to 300 channels of video on were predictably e ATST will wireless devices, like handheld cellular cynical about also soon begin receivers. Joey, citing their offering video own failed at- services to com- tempts to market panies that run component TV —REED HUNDT, toll-free 800 num- back in the ’80s.) FCC chairman, at hearing about bers. Since con- One hurdle for the ag eaagta sumers who wish SEPTEMBER 1994 VIDEO 13
WHY BUY HOLLY- 20-inch TV set. It plans to sell the unit HIGH-PERFORMANCE wood’s most re- in Europe this year, and may bring it to SPEAKERS? quested video the U.S. next year. “Great loudspeakers make great sys- tems come alive. The loudspeaker is the release has fi- Second, Digital Interactive Sys- only component that actually produces nally been giv- tems showed a CD-ROM player with the sound we hear. Given the quality of digital sources and available amplifica- en the green an integral sound board and a VGA- tion, increasing the loudspeaker budget light, 63 years to-NTSC convertor. The company nearly always provides the most after its pre- says it will play PC-compatible CD- demonstrably audible improvement.” mier: Snow ROMs, audio CDs, Photo CDs and Chris Browder, B&W Loudspeakers, President of AAHEA White and the Video CDs on any standard TV set. “High performance loudspeakers Seven Dwarfs will make its historic de- The device is essentially a TV-top reveal so much more of the sound- but on videocassette and laserdiscon computer —inside are a 486 processor track’s detail, dynamics, and impact with four megabytes of RAM and a that the listening experience becomes October 28. much more lifelike, involving, and Disney’s first feature cartoon, 200-MB hard drive. The company enjoyable. It’s like bringing the per- which has had nine big-screen releases plans to ship the product by late sum- formers into your home.” seen by six generations, and has re- mer this year, for $1,600. Jim Thiel, THIEL ° cently been fully restored, will come “In their pursuit of perfection, dedicat- ed audio manufacturers have devel- out in both standard and limited-edi- HDTV VCRs are now available in the oped high-fidelity loudspeakers with performance capabilities far beyond tion collector's sets. The latter will add U.S. But unless you just have to be the movie theater standards. We believe that the accuracy and realism of these a documentary on the making of the first on your block to have one, don’t speakers can significantly improve A/V film, an illustrated book and 10 litho- run for your checkbo—oykou probably systems. Speakers that realistically graphs of original theatrical posters. won't find much use for the VCRs, be- reproduce an orchestra and a singer will also realistically reproduce film Standard editions will be priced at cause they’re designed to record and effects and dialog.” play the MUSE an- Richard Vandersteen, alog HDTV signals Vandersteen Audio, Inc. now being broadcast THE ACADEMY FOR THE in Japan. The decks ADVANCEMENT use JVC’s W-VHS for- This column is presented by The Academy for the Ad- mat, an HDTV ver- vancement of High End Audio (AAHEA), an organiza- tion dedicated to the recognition of excellence and the Sion Of S- Virlo. promotion of greater awareness of high end audio. They’re being sold by CONTACT AAHEA AT TEL: 207-929-5505¢ FAX: 207-929-5506 Captain of America, a New York-based HDTV production company, for $10,000 each. Right now, there are not many uses for an HDTV VCR in the U.S. Since HDTV Seventh Heaven: Snow White is finally out on tape and disc. broadcasts, laserdiscs $26.99 for VHS and $29.99 for CAV and camcorders are not yet available here, buyers of W-VHS machines laserdiscs; collector’s editions at probably won’t be able to do much $79.99 for VHS and $99.99 for CAV HDTV recording for a while. And of course, you can't watch an HDTV pic- laserdiscs. e GoldStar appears poised to join Pan- ture on a normal set—you need at asonic in marketing 3DO machines. least a data-grade video monitor. How- The company showed a prototype at ever, the decks also record NTSC pro- the Summer Consumer Electronics grams and play VHS and S-VHS tapes. Show in Chicago, and says it plans to Captain says it will sell prerecorded introduce the player in the U.S. this W-VHS cassettes at $50 and up. year. Sanyo also showed its prototype, e but has not announced any marketing Bell Atlantic has become the first plans. But don’t expect the increase in phone company to win a green-light 3DO manufacturers to bring new ca- from Washington for the right to offer pabilities to the system. A 3DO repre- cable TV. Over fierce cable industry sentative told us that all 3DO opposition, the Federal Communica- | | machines will be functionally identi- tions Commision approved a Bell plan cal—only the styling and prices will to wire 38,000 homes in Toms River, differ. e New Jersey for interactive TV services. CES also saw the exhibit of two new Bell says it will offer up to 80 channels ways to watch CD-based interactive software. First, Philips showed a proto- at prices significantly less than compa- type of a combination CD-I player and rable cable charges. Dozens of other TV projects by phone companies are still pending before the FCC. a 14 VIDEO SEPTEMBER 1994 i
| ; : ‘ee;eeereeee4e0r4e4eeo4re)e ecLeeceeeeEeeteeiTeceaedAReecAenSsSeecAcytt‘eaoeSyrSs eIS or NO layate Saiund Swea.eknow of -VIDEO MAGAZINE, January, 1994 “Deep bass without the aid of big, expensive amplifiers. Sounds panned from side to side as smoothly as their corresponding tmages flew across the screen.” -SOUNDA IMAGE, Summer, 1993 il “We quickly discovered what a difference the right sound system can make! The subwoofers added tremendous HE excitement to the movie watching experience.” HT -POPULAR ELECTRONICS, January, 1993* ea? oa te3 tesese “Cerwin-Vega produces a powerful and taut sound. Petedegecesese2e The impact can be especially felt in the midrange, which will pound you with rotor blade sweeps from Apocalypse Now.” -SATELLITE ORBIT, June, 1993 AeAGINEEZ, Np SeTereTeTereseceresseeeeeeaede eTeSernpeeeeereePegeeetei eterever SENSURROUND! HOME THEATE CERWIN-VEGA Turnit up: ertay*eeet_LEtGeeEeeTeAErreNtesTsrTeTrteteeEeTTEeTVtEEeTEtT ete ‘iches veptak ©1994 Cerwin-Vega, Inc. SenSurround® is a registered trademark of MCA Systems, Inc. For more information SEFEEPTEsTESGSTETSTRETETETRGES or a full-color brochure, please write to us at Cerwin-Vega, 555 East Easy St., Simi Valley, CA 93065, or call SO5-584-9332 *Reprinted with permission from Popular Electronics Mag ze, January 1993 issue. © Gernsback Publications, Inc., 1993 aaeke! Ww >\"hy J ase!seeedek bRBPeEEPMBDMSEEPaEHEDLtELEhLELraese]er.| Ssee \" aeessn+ares betbteebtrtesettwerseesrses|
# IMAGINE How Easy ACAMCORDER WOULD BE IFfrWASN'T STUCKTOYOUR FACE. WAYNE AND TY GRETZKY j; | | f
VSIHEAWRCAPM ic Imagine a camcorder so innovative it has a big color LCD view screen, instead of a tiny black ie i der. imagine lee that pivots . instead ofbeing locked inone place. Imagine rder that you hold comfortably away from - your face, so you have the freedom to shoot and still be part of the action. You'd be able to do things you've never been able to with a camcorder before. You'd be able to shoot easier—from any position, any angle—even turn the view screen and put yourself in the picture. And you'd be able to get those shots you'd probably miss ifyou were squinting through a tiny viewfinder. The Sharp Viewcam is the first camcorder to let you to do all this and more. Then, with the view screen and the built-in speaker, you can instantly play back everything youve just shot. No matter where you are. All the 5 gory py jc! color, all the detail, and all the sound. signe y ANY What's more, no other line of camcorders com- bines such an incredible view screen with advanced features like digital image stabilization, snapshot and strobe effects, Hi-Fi stereo and more. Plus only | the Sharp Viewcam has an optional TV tuner to turn it into a personal, go anywhere TV and VCR. The Sharp Viewcam. It's the new movement in LCD 4 CAMCORDERS * LCD VIDEO PROJECTION SYSTEMS
EDITED BY STEWART APPLEGATH a Big LCD, tiny isE speakers, flatter B tubes VIDEO ANSWERING MACHINE JVC's GR-SV3 Systemax Entertainment System ($1,099) brings the concept of an LCD viewing screen to VHS-C. The three-inch color viewfinder can be left in place or raised to an upright position on top of the camcorder body. You can also use the LCD to leave video messages, indicated by a status light, that can be retrieved in the manner of an answering machine. The SV3 features a 3x zoom lens, Instant Reshoot and QwikPix, which lets you automatically shoot takes no longer than five seconds each. A clip-on TV tuner is available as an option. (For additional information info, circle 110 on your Reader Service Card.) POCKET PROTECTOR SONY’S PALETTE Sony's new KV-32XBR96S Trinitron ($2,599) is Photoco's LensPen ($10) is a lens cleaning sys- tem that incorporates a high-quality brush and a a 32-inch model featuring a dark-tint screen, a Digital Intelligent Color Pure Filter to minimize special cleaning pad. If you can't keep distortion, and Program Palette presets that your fingers off your lens, this is a control different categories of programs, like movies, sports, music, news and games. You product to consider. A twist- up brush whisks away loose can also divvy up viewing time with dual-tuner particles while the flexible, picture-in-picture—it allows you to watch an ad- chamois-leather pad cleans ditional show without using an external tuner or fingerprints from the lens. The cap contains a VCR. Another feature adjusts picture levels for ambient room lighting. (For additional info, cir- Pepin coe nnn oi manufac- cle 104 on the Reader Service Card) braid Salas Nasr epee electrostatic charges or the lens. (For additional info, circle 109 my ine Reader Service Card) KLOSS ACT : i The New Ensemble III by Cambridge SoundWorks ($329) is a less costly Ensemble subwoofer-satel- lite speaker system designed by Henry Kloss. It is an ultra-compact system consisting of a pair of 1/2-inch two-way satellite speakers (measuring 4-1/2 by 6-1/2 inches) and a small subwoofer. At this price Cambridge says there is but a small sacrifice in power handling, efficiency and deep bass reach and that it is a genuine two-way design. Hook-up wire and wire-cutters are thrown in free of charge. (For additional info, circle 102 on the Reader Service Card) HITACHI BRIGHT IDEA Hitachi's new VT-F482 ($449) is a four-head, hi-fi VCR that has VCR Plus and an illu- minated remote, which may make it a desirable addition for late-night TV junkies. A # remote jog/shuttle system can move the tape fast, slow or frame by frame. It also includes instruc- tional menus in English, French and Spanish. Audio/video dubbing, a synchro-edit jack and audio level meters complete the package. (For additional info, circle 103 on the Reader Service Card) 18 VIDEO SEPTEMBER 1994
P.nasonic introduces the WJ-AVE7 Digital Video Mixer. With Luminance Keying and over 100 special effects, it makes your videos especially effective. Think of the new Panasonic WJ-AVE7 Video Mixer as a way to turbo- charge your imagination. Dual PIP Its sophisticated technology lets you do almost anything you can imagine at a price that's so afforda- ble it's unimaginable. For instance, its Luminance Keying feature lets you alter reality by superimposing video images. Its auto take feature creates flawless transitions, auto- matically. Add dual picture-in-pic- ture, a color corrector, over 100 aN digital effects, a built-in audio eee Cay —— mixing board and the optional = video titler, WJ-TTL7, and this Panasonic Video panason Mixer lets you do almost anything you can conceive. And unlike other sys- tems, the WJ-AVE7’s digital synchronizer letsyou dissolve or wipe between any 2 NTSC signals. And our AV Mixer can do even more—to find out how much more, speak to your nearest Panasonic Dealer, at 1-800-365-1515, ext. 333. i nee simulated. IMIANGSITNEAADTIOOFNYWOIULRLaBUnDGET WJ-AVES Panasonic’ just slightly ahead of our time.®
SPEED OF LIGHT The Mongoose Analog Optical Transmitter and Re- ceiver for video ($369), with Cobra Fiber Optic Cable ($62.50 first meter, $5 each additional meter) is the first fiber optic cable system for conventional home A/V equipment. Using durable jacketting, the fiber optic eliminates the noise, interference and at- tenuation associated with wire cable. According to Mongoose, it eliminates the need for digital conver- sions, which introduce jitter and information loss. The transmitter plugs into components like CD players, VCRs and tape decks and converts their output to an optical signal. A receiver converts the signal back to an electrical impulse. (For additional info, circle 100 on the Reader Service Card) COMMANDING VIEW ADD SOME MUSCLE Sima’s Infrared Editor and Audio Mixer ($279) is intended to simplify home edit- The B.I.C. V-12 powered ing. By adding infrared sensors to functions controlling editing and source VCRs, subwoofer ($699) incorpo- it eliminates the need to control the decks manually. It also features two-touch tates a high-performance 12-inch long-throw woofer editing—touch it once and it lines the decks up, twice and it completes the edit. in a vented enclosure, and A built-in stereo audio mixer lets you add music and a microphone allows narra- comes with a companion tion. (For additional info, circle 106 on the Reader Service Card) amplifier. It is designed for home theater enthusiasts. Rated at 100 watts, it can be hooked up to the out- puts of any surround sound receiver. You can buy the amplifier separately ($399), and add some power to an existing system. (For addi- tional info, circle 105 on the Reader Service Card) PERFECTLY FLAT Toshiba's CX35D70 ($2,799) 35-inch TV offers four-channel Digital Sound Processing, Dolby surround Sound and a built- in Cyclone ABX sound system that Toshiba says enhances bass performance. A Color Temperature Selection control al- lows you to select the overall “warmth” of the image. Toshiba also says that the new FST Perfect picture tube gives the CX35D90 the flattest color picture tube in the industry and al- lows wider viewing angles and less distortion. (For additional info, circle 107 on the Reader Service Card) DRY EYE Sharp’s Sports Pack ($419) provides outdoor protection for your View- Cam. It can be used in all types of conditions, winter or summer, and is water resistant. Controls on the out- F side of the Pack F operate the ViewCam, y and a window provides a clear view ot the LCD screen. (For additional info, circle 108 on the Reader Service Card) VIDEO SEPTEMBER 1994
JVC TAKES TELEVISION TO THE MOVIES Introducing JVC Widescreen TV. Sit back, relax and enjoy the show. Whatever the source — from regular TV to letterbox laserdiscs — JVC's NV-55BX4 makes it look like, sound like, feel like you’re at the movies. How? With a huge 55\" 16:9 format super widescreen that shows movies the way they were meant to be seen; three widescreen display modes including JVC’s exclusive Panorama mode that lets even regular TV broadcasts fill the widescreen; Theater Status function that turns overly bright video into lush, soft, film-like pictures; and a Dolby” Pro Logic® sound system that thunders across the room and whispers in your ear. No other big screen, no other widescreen, no other television can do what the JVC NV-55BX4 can. Its not just television anymore. It’s television that takes you to the movies. JVC JVC DICVOISMIOPNANOFYUSOJFVCAMCOERRP.ICA Simulated television picture. Dolby Pro Logic is a registered trademark of Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation.
BY BRENT BUTTERWORTH Atlantic Technology’s 250 system—home theater speakers for movies & music These may be the golden days of home address complaints that movie sound a more theater-like sound —are well worth the compromise. (You can also theater. Check out any online consumer systems can’t sound good for music, and buy the 253C separately and use the electronics forum, and you'll see argu- vice versa. The company’s 150 system controls to approximately match your existing speakers.) ments about dipole surrounds vs. direct- (“Shootout in Surround,” Mar. 93) defi- Rolling off the highs in the center radiating types, bass in the surround nitely sounds great for both movies and accomplishes much of what THX-certi- channel, the upcoming digital surround music, but at only $899 list, it had little fied surround decoders do with their re- equalization circuits. But leaving, as At- format (or formats), and dozens of other serious competition. The new 250 sys- lantic does, all the highs in the 251LR front left and right speakers preserves topics. tem lists for about $1,45—0a price range more of the detail in ambient sounds and soundtrack music than the video- One day, we may have solid answers in which we've found plenty of attrac- oriented speakers I’ve tried, which tend for many of these questions, and home tive options, including speakers from to have recessed highs. Atlantic’s $299/pair 254SR surround theater won’t be nearly as much fun to Cambridge SoundWorks, NHT, Cerwin- speakers borrow one of the best parts of talk about. For now, though, inventive Vega and others. THX— the dipolar design that creates a diffuse, realistic soundfield. The 254SR manufacturers are coming up with their Can Atlantic Technology meet the design uses one driver for low frequen- cies, and two mid/high-frequency driv- own approaches to home theater competitive challenges of a higher price ers, which are wired out of phase. sound — approaches that may not be ex- bracket? To cut a long story short: Yeah. The 254SR speakers can be mounted on Atlantic’s $99/pair stands, actly “by the book,” but that solve the But the 250 system differs so much from but we liked them best when mounted five or six feet high on the wall. You can problems of more conventional systems. its competitors that you need a thorough even mount them in the wall, so that technical explanation only the grilles stick out. Like the stands and the 251LR speakers, they’re also to appreciate its ad- available in white. vantages. The $569 252PBM powered sub- The most unusual woofer ranks with Energy’s $550 AS90 and NHT’s $600 SW2P as one of my fa- aspect of the 250 sys- vorite affordable subs. I didn’t find it as punchy as the AS90, but I found its tem is its $279 253C somewhat fuller sound better suited to much of the program material I tried. It center speaker, which can be used in powered or passive modes. In the powered mode, the sub has its own set of gets all the juice from the integral 90- watt amp, and you power the satellites tone controls. These with a receiver or another amp. In the passive mode, 40 watts goes to the sub let you tailor the re- and 40 more to each 251LR, and you can take advantage of the front-mounted sponse of the center bass and treble contols. speaker to compare The 252PBM has low-pass crossover points at 80 and 120 Hertz, but use 80— or contrast with the 120 is lame because it makes the sub eas- ier to locate, and usually makes the bass main speakers. That’s tubbier. There’s no high-pass crossover for the satellites —they get a full-range right—contrast. At- signal. I’ve found this scheme usually lantic recommends helps sats blend better with subs. The drawback is that the satellites can’t han- rolling off the highs in dle as much power as if you high-passed them, but that’s no problem her—ethe the center speaker for two reasons: to coun- continued on page 112 ter the X-curve equalization (treble boost) used in many movie soundtracks and to expand the soundfield. Reducing the highs in the cen- ter draws the lis- tener’s attention toward the sides slightly, for a bigger,. more room-filling sound. This directly Acoustic Bubble: The 250 system—a subwoofer (center), a center speak- counters the home er (lower left), two square surround speakers and two main speakers. theater maxim that the front three speak- One such manufacturer is Atlantic ers should match. And yes, pans across Technology, which was one of the first to the front three Atlantic speakers don’t introduce a dedicated home theater sound as smooth as they would with a sound system, back in 1990. With all of matched system. But I think the bene- its systems, Atlantic has attempted to fits— more natural-sounding dialog, and MLOESRSILLO 22 VIDEO SEPTEMBER 1994
Nice Rear. cy — PREAMP OUTPUT —— 1 OUTPUT LEVEL ADJ. — IN TAPE2 OUT IN VeR1 OUT -O CentER FRONT CENTER FEAR -0—0—-0—0- --O—-0—0—-90—0—90—-0-—0-co TUNER ‘Oi -O es IN TAPE OUT IN. veR2 OUT ma --0—-0-0—-0-: -6—0—0—<¢ —¢ = —< a | ave M jm el >D er ye eANo ‘SUBWOOFER AMC Home Theater AV81HT aA > ‘’ 4O e c o oo WELTRONICS CORP. ear °o ) 2 ° OoSS LONDONIL.A. \"DESPIROGDNUECDED ATNOD AMECNGIINNTE'ELREQDUALIINTY LOSNTDDON/LOS ANGELES — CD, Tuner, 2Audio Tape Loops, 2 VCR Tape Loops, Laser Disc,Video Inputs, Sub woofer crossover, 6 Channels of output with individual adjustment. What a rear! Take a look at the rest... Designed from the REAR to the front, our product team 4, Dynamic Range Greater Than 100dB in Pro Logic combined with — our Dolby circuit's super low distortion (listen to the center channel speaker) the dynamics are immediately felt. RPA considered every simple and complex hook up needed 5. Distributed Power using two audiophile quality amplifiers deliver- H\\oAMmC.e. f:or a seri: ous Dolby Pro Logi:c pre-amplifiWeer. Actually ing 270 watts across your three front speakers with 45 watts for each EnteCretnatienrment we desi: gned ietofor ourselves, the most crietical com- surround speakers. ponent necessary to put together a great Home Theater. Then we 6. Low Distortion Bass delivered by our powered sub woofer using our unique Negative Output Impedance designed a remote control, so simple, that even your parents could Amplifier circuit produces clean bass use it. We took a look at those super theater systems and built in some of the same professional features like Sound Pressure Level (SPL) matching. We added specifically-designed amplifiers and a powered sub response down to 30Hz @ 102 dB, woofer, small yet powerful enough to rattle your windows. Together 7. Matching Sound Pressure Level Exactly these components are called System 2. We think our 25 years of for all six speakers is practically automatic passion and experience paid off. using our external microphone and built- Here are a few serious design reasons why our in SPL meter. ‘stn & System 2 should be your Home Theater choice.. There’s so much more to cover, why not go 1, System Building Flexibility so unusual it guarantees your long term down to your nearest AMC Dealer and bring entertainment needs are met no matter how many components you your favorite movie or give us a call direct, at buy. 1-800-321-6390. Find our for yourself what our System 2 is all about and 2. Exceptional Audiophile Circuits offering high resolution (clear Check out our rear. sound) with a dynamic range of greater than 115 dB (Enough to play the 1812 Overture loud). System 2 3. Dolby Time Link Technology recently patented plus newly devel- [elsBoacmareon oped micro processors for steering sound effects to your speakers. ™ Weltronics Corp. P.O. Box 80584 / San Marino, California 91108 TEL 818-799-6396 FAX 818-799-6541 AMC Home Entertainment Centers are a part of the AMC H.O.M.E. Automation Series Circle 8 on Reader Service Card. “Dolby” and the Did Symbol are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation.
i—_—n§_Biiiivia BY COREY GREENBERG Balancing Act: Using an SPL meter to set surround levels. If you’ve got a full surround-sound ing from either the right or left channels, cy—or even at several points along its speaker array —left, center and right rang—ecan often give subjectively bass- channel speakers up front, and a pair of the meter’s needle registers 0 dB. The heavy or bass-shy sound if you try to set surrounds to the sides of the listening pink noise should be going from speaker the sub with the meter to exactly the couch—you need to make sure all the to speaker —first the left, then center, same readout as the other speakers. Try speakers are exactly balanced in level to then right, then both surrounds, then listening to voices—Connie Chung is each other. If your speaker levels aren’t back to the left, etc., staying with each my personal fave, and it’s got nothing to calibrated for this, every movie sound- position long enough for you to get a do with daydreams involving sexy lin- track you hear will have its perspective reading of each speaker's individual level gerie and feather dusters—and turn the distorted —and you won’t be able to sub’s level up to the point where the hear all the care that went into creating and adjust it up or down. voice sounds too bassy. Back off just un- Most processors allow these level ad- til the voice sounds natural, and your the delicate balance of music, effects justments to be performed from the re- sub's level should be right on. and dialog. mote. The ones that don’t require either Once you calibrate your speakers’ Your surround receiver's or proc- a friend to help you or some kind of stand for the meter so you can adjust the levels, it’s a good idea to turn the sys- essor’s instruction manual probably said levels over at the processor. When the you could set these levels by ear. WRONG! That gets you into the ball- Level Best: z tern's volume down to the normal level park, but you’re still sitting with the i you'd listen at and measure the speaker bleacher bums. Instead, go to Radio Radio Shack’s sound- levels again. You'll probably have to set Shack and buy its $32 sound-pressure pressure level meter. the SPL meter’s range knob to a lower level meter (catalog number 33-2050). setting when you do this. If your speak- Every surround receiver/processor with ers are still matched in level, cool man | Dolby Pro-Logic capability has an inter- cool. But some surround processors and | nal test tone generator which sends a receivers don’t have very good tracking few seconds of pink noise through each MLEOSRSILLO between the channels as you raise and of your system’s speakers, one at a time. The Radio Shack meter will tell you lower the master volume, so if your sys- which speakers need to be turned up tem goes out of whack when you lower and which need to be turned down until the volume, you should calibrate it at they all play the pink noise at exactly the the level you’re most likely to use in- stead of the arbitrary 80 dB reference same level. Radio Shack also has a digital-read- level discussed earlier. There is a “correct” level for home out version of the SPL meter for 30 clams more that’s chock full 0’ cool fea- theater sound. It’s called Dolby refer- ence level. Some processors, including tures like peak hold. But us civilians all THX-certified models, have internal don’t need that, and most pros I know test tones set so that the SPL meter actually prefer the original model with should read 75 dB. If you're not sure the wigglin’ needle because it’s easier to what your receiver/processor’s test tone read at a distance than the squinty little LCD display. And if you have to adjust levels are, you can use the -20 dB test your processor's levels at the processor tone from a test CD, and calibrate your itself while the meter sits across the system to 85 dB. If you don’t have a test room at the listening seat, this’ll make CD, calibrate your system so that the all the difference in the world. loudest sounds in an action movie hit Here’s how to calibrate your speaker pink noise moves to the center and sut- about 105 dB. Although these methods levels. Start the test tone sequence and round speakers, adjust their levels up or give you the same levels used in movie go back to your couch (or wherever you down until the meter stays on 0 dB, no sound mixing, you may find the level too normally sit when you watch movies). It matter which speaker the noise is com- loud for your taste. Trust your ears— helps if you’re sitting dead center be- ing from. And that’s it—once all the here, the “right” level is the one that tween the left and right speakers. Set speakers play at 0 dB on the pink noise, lets you enjoy your system the most. the Radio Shack meter’s range to the they’re all precisely matched in level to 80-decibel position, the weighting each other. Once you correctly calibrate your switch to C, and the response to slow. If you’re running a subwoofer in your home theater’s speaker levels, the While holding the meter steady at arm's length in front of you with the mi- home theater, it needs to be balanced to soundfield should snap into focus, allow- crophone pointed straight up toward the the rest of the speakers as well. In this case, forget about using an SPL meter. ing you to hear the dialog, music and ceiling, adjust your system's master vol- ume so that when the pink noise is com- Listening rooms cause so many frequen- surround effects without difficulty. The cy response lumps in the bass range that measuring the sub’s level at one frequen- finest Steinway will sound like a toy pi- ano unless it’s tuned properly, and so will your home theater, so calibrate your speaker levels and get the best sound your system can deliver. 2 24 VIDEO SEPTEMBER 1994
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[ “i CAMCORNER BY TIMOTHY LIEBE Cutting class: The basics of video editing Basic editing, whether it’s for videotape, the next shot to begin. This is known as out of pause. Three seconds is justan es- film, audio or even articles and books, a paper cut. Paper cuts will be very use- timate, though—with some decks, it may be only one or two. You'll have to does more than just cut out the “bad ful once you actually sit down to edit try it on your deck and see. parts” from your material. It also shapes your tape, They serve as a written re- COMMON PROBLEMS material so it flows smoothly, and tells a minder of how you want to tell the story. As you edit your videotape, keep an story to the audience in a clear, enter- eye out for the following problems: @ Snow in mid-tape: This is the result taining fashion. By applying a few simple EDITING TERMS rules, you can make your videotapes a of trying to cut a new scene in on the pleasureto watch. In the editing process, the VCR or very last frame of an old one, or trying to camcorder that has the tape of raw foot- insert a scene in the middle of existing While edit controllers, video mixers age (the “camera original”) you want to footage without using insert edit. Both edit is called the source deck, while the will interrupt the control track. The and titlers help make your finished pro- VCR that contains the tape you’re edit- tape suddenly switches to snow for a few duction look more professional, they’re ing to (the “edited master”) is called the seconds, then reluctantly returns to the not necessary if all you need to do is a record deck. The point on your edited action. You can avoid this by prerolling. simple edit. If you have a camcorder, a master where you end one shot and start VCR with a flying erase head and a TV another is called an edit point. e Shots starting in the middle of the ac- set, and if you know how to set up for tion: This happens when your camera basic dubbing (your camcorder manual All videotape formats contain a sig- original starts up too late for the record has instructions), you have everything nal called the control track, which must deck to grab all the footage you want. you need for basic video editing. remain unbroken for your tape to gener- Again, prerolling your tapes will correct the problem. ate a clean, stable video signal. Glitches, @ Tape stretching glitches: A common PREPARATION like color shifts or scrambled signals at cause of glitches at your edit points is the edited master being stretched be- Before you start to edit, view all the the edit points, are often the result of cause it’s been in pause too long. Most VCRs circumvent this probl—ewhmich footage you intend to use in your final the control track being interrupted in usually appears as flagging at the top of the pictur—eby automatically shutting production. Jot down on a piece of paper some way. (In 8mm and Hi8, the control off after a few minutes in pause. But you shouldn’t rely on that alone. If it’s going the tape counter number where each track is part of the video track, and is to take you more than a minute or two to find the next shot, stop your editing shot on the tape begins, and where there much more difficult to damage.) VCR. are any problems or places where some- To minimize glitches, professional e Jump cuts: These usually occur thing important happens within the editing equipment generally rewinds when there’s footage in the middle of a shot. This list is known as a footage log. both the camera original and the edited shot that you want to cut out, but you want to keep the material on either end. Using your footage log as a refer- master for five seconds prior to an edit Simply cutting out the offending mate- tial, especially if you didn’t change the ence, write on a second sheet of paper point, then plays both tapes forward to camera angle significantly after the mis- take happened, causes a “jump” in the what shots you want to keep, in what or- give them a sort of running start called a action, which is jarring to the viewer. der you want them to appear, roughly preroll. Some consumer editing equip- To avoid jump cuts, find material how long you’d like them to run, and ment can do the same thing. that relates to what's being seen in your footage (like a shot from another angle, where you want Even if you're not or a reaction from someone else to what’s going on) that you can add to using an edit controller, cover the cut. These cover shots are called cutaways, and they’re frequently you can do something used in movies. similar to a preroll by “NOT THE TELLER, THE TALE” backing your camera A good editing job should simply original up 10 seconds “tell the story,” and not call attention to itself. 1don’t mean to denigrate the rap- behind the start of the continued on page 92 shot you want, then playing it for seven sec- onds before you take your record deck out of pause. Your edited mas- Protes of te eCaotvibebeaw ter, meanwhile, should be paused about three seconds before where you want the next shot to start, since it gener- ally takes that amount of time for your record deck to grab on to the signal once you take it Makin’ a List: A footage log.
Is This Your Juleyantew Matesivsvmbeyycireeats HR-VP710 You could have high performance tires, the best paint HR-VP710 you can have all the power and quality that JVC job and a fine leather interior, but if your engine is weak so has to offer. is your car. The same is true for your home theater system. So, don’t compromise your system with an under You have a great TV, and a great stereo but it’s not powered engine choose the HR-VP710 from JVC and complete without a good engine, the VCR. Now with the experience the true potential of your home theater. Technically Perfect. Perfectey e. = © Hi-Fi VHS Stereo with MTS © Flying Erase Head/Insert Edit/Audio Dub The Inventor of VHS © Hi-Spec Drive © Variable Audio Record Level Control the \\World CuVpidUeSoAof1994 ¢ Instant ReView © Dual Audio Level Meters © Jog/Shuttle on Multi-Brand Remote & VCR © Random Assemble Editing
ATT) BY RODERICK WOODCOCK | ey!ADVERTISER Flying erase heads, insert edits, laserdiscs [}:it possible to retrofit a VCR with and hi-fi audio comprise a sort of elec- a flying erase head? . Paul Ginther, President of The tronic sandwich, you can’t replace the Ginther Group, discusses video Paul Wilkinson, hi-fi audio without also affecting the Washington, D.C. video. accessories for 3M Black Watch. The easiest way to do what you want Why is it important to clean your VCR's video heads? ARS it’s not. Given the similarities in is by making a dub of the original tape, Like most items that we take for mounting hardware within a spe- mixing the master audio (be it linear or granted, we don’t react until we cific format, you certainly could add a hi-fi) into one signal and re-recording it have a problem. This is especially new video head assembly that contained as a hi-fi signal onto this second-genera- true of VCRs. Video head contamina- a flying erase head. But what would you tion tape. Obviously, you'll lose a video tion is insidious. Debris builds up connect it to? It’s not just the flying generation by doing so, but the resulting slowly and ultimately both the audio erase head that provides the seamless, tape will still contain a linear audio and video signals are no longer toler- noise-free edits between scenes. Sup- track of the same mixed signal. This can able. This can be avoided with peri- porting circuits would also have to be still be overdubbed if you wish (possibly odic head cleaning. added to control signal timing, tape adding narration), but the new hi-fi au- What is the best way to clean backspacing and (on most VHS cam- dio becomes embedded once again. video heads? corders and VCRs) synchronization The only variation on this process The best way is to have a quali- with the full-erase head. Full-erase came from JVC, which once offered the fied technician do a thorough heads aren’t found on any 8mm prod- ability to record a hi-fi audio signal be- cleaning. When that’s not possible, ucts made after about 1986. These rely fore adding the video, which was then we suggest that you use a “magnet- entirely on the flying erase head for tape recorded on top of the audio in a second ic based” video cleaning system. All erasure, as do a few newer VHS-C cam- pass. This feature is in its discontinued 3M Black Watch head cleaners work HR-S10000 VCR. But the feature had a on the principle of super impregnat- corders. dubious utility, since the usual practice ing a high intensity, aqueous head When you consider the difficulties, is to sync new audio to existing video, cleaning agent on a magnetic medi- not the reverse. um similar to videotape. It’s simple the task becomes so daunting, even for to use, safe, fast, and won’t damage an experienced technician, that the idea your equipment. Most hardware manufacturers that make a recom- of retrofitting becomes vastly impracti- mendation on user head cleaning recommend magnetic-based head cal. Buying a new VCR or camcorder al- [i]:friend told me to get rid of my la- cleaners. ready equipped with a flying erase head serdisc player because it is going to is more cost-effective in the long run. What separates high-end video- be discontinued. Is this true? tapes from standard-grade ones? I have two JVC HR-6700 VCRs. Antonio Patino, You get what you pay for holds When I perform insert edits, the Mexico City, Mexico true for most videotape. In a day when retailers are selling T-120s for normal audio track remains untouched, less than $2, you know that you're not getting the same high-quality tape but the hi-fi track is interrupted. Since I AG he was referring to laserdisc as a that was around just a few years ago. video format, your friend is seriously Most manufacturers have cut costs. To do music videos, is there any way I can cut costs, most have cut quality. Not misinformed. While laserdiscs don’t en- 3M. Black Watch products are quality add something to my system that would joy the broad popularity of VHS tape as controlled at the highest quality level a movie medium, it has a following of of- assurance that 3M has to offer. The allow me to keep my hi-fi track during ten zealous laserphiles who support it consumer should look for the process with disc purchases, not simply rentals. that the manufacturer uses to assure insert editing? Can the Panasonic Laserdisc is a minority format, but those quality. Test your current brand of choice with others. Always buy the AG-1970 VCR keep its hi-fi track during best tape your pocketbook can handle when you want to archive a tape. insert editing? Demetrius S. Butler, 28 VIDEO SEPTEMBER 1994 Woodbridge, Virginia who have seen the (laser) light recognize vs video and hi-fi audio signals that it’s currently the only viable medi- are both recorded using rotating um for serious movie buffs, since it deliv- video heads. The audio gets recorded ers better audio and video than tape. first, followed by the video, which over- Perhaps your friend was just suggest- lays this “depth audio” layer. The mon- ing that your particular laserdisc player aural audio track (which can be in might be discontinued. That’s certainly stereo on most professional and indus- possible, since new models come out all trial VHS decks, as well as on a few old- the time, often at prices comparable to er consumer VHS models) is recorded in VCRs. More people might embrace the a longitudinal stripe along the top edge format, if dealers would give them the of the tape. Only this linear audio signal chance to fairly evaluate it. Unfor- can be overdubbed on the original tape tunately, it’s rarely demonstrated to the without disturbing either the hi-fi audio best advantage at the bigger stores or track or the picture. But since the video | chains, which emphasize VCRs. ]
COLLECTOR'S CLEARINGHOUSE Searching for E Nt EVR-P Ro! ‘SE (Ss Lucy, Lucia and Le Carre, New Movies I’m sure there must be some Le Carre and the March 1993 telecast of Austin Old Movies fans out there who taped the BBC ver- sions of the three Smiley spy stories star- City Limits, both featuring Mary Chapin and all the ring Alec Guiness that played on PBS Capenter. I will supply tape and reim- Classics during the mid-’80s: Tinker, Tailor, Sol- dier, Spy, The Honorable Schoolboy and burse all expenses. Jeff Davis We Have Smiley's People. Also, one of my favorite 7 Haskells Road guilty pleasures of the ’70s is the movie Them All! Candy, written by Terry Southern. It Piseco NY 12139-9702 starred, among others, Ringo Starr and |LASERDISCS| Marlon Brando and has never been re- I am looking for a good quality VHS leased on video although it sometimes copy of Lucia Di Lamermoor live from ao filendly Se iY appears on late night TV. I would be the Metropolitan Opera (1993). happy to reimburse all expenses for good wy Free chipping VHS copies. John Mistretta DDS2135 Reon Wadsworth 66 Helen Avenue 2516 Cobb Parkway McLendon Avenue Blasdell NY 14219 Smyrna, GA 30080 Atlanta GA 30307 When I was a little kid, I remember lov- Ph 1-404-955-8909 Fx 1-404-984-2173 ing a show called The Banana Splits. I 24 HOUR FAX will gladly pay any expenses for a good 10:00-7:00EST MON-FRI VHS copy. Tony Pierce VISA - MASTERCARD - DISCOVER AMERICAN EXPRESS I'll cover expenses for a good quality 3300 Glenhurst Avenue C.0.D. - CHECKS VHS or Beta tape of any of the following Los Angeles CA 90039 * CONTINENTAL U.S. ONLY - UPS GROUND 1950s movies (Cameron Mitchell is in each): All Mine to Give (1957), The View I’m looking for any and all episodes of from Pompey’s Head (English title Secret the 1973-4 sitcoms The Diana Rigg Show, Interlude, 1955), Death of a Salesman the TV movie In This House of Brede and (1951 with Frederic March), Face of Fire any Diana Rigg guest appearance on (1959), Flight of Mars (1951), Garden of award shows, talk shows, etc. Will com- Evil (1954), House of Bamboo (1955), In- pensate expenses. Holly Kidder side the Mafia (1959), Monkey on my Back 8138 Tidal Road (1957), Outcasts of Poker Flat (1952), Norfolk VI 23518 Pony Soldier (1952), Pier 5, Havana (1959). Sandy Perkins I’m looking for a good VHS copy of the 1516 Prospect Boulevard TV movie In This House of Brede starring Waterloo IA 50701 Diana Rigg. It was on TV about 15 years For many years I’ve been searching for ago. It was the best movie I’ve ever seen the following: a Hedda Hopper Special on network television! Willing to pay all (1963 approx.) with Marion Davis, Tal- costs. Roz Robertshaw lulah Bankhead in a Lucy Show, a fine 49 Warren Avenue print of Letty Lynton (1932) with Joan Tiverton RI 02878 Crawford. I’m also looking for MGM's The man I love is desperately trying to buy a copy of The Beatles —Let it Be on Dawn of Sound and a color version of VHS. It isa documentary on the making of the album. Help me make a surprise Eddie Cantor’s Roman Scandals. I'll glad- gift for him. Will reimburse expenses. ly defray any cost. Fred Santon Wendy Rouech 6638 Griffore Drive 158 Kern Street 4 Saginaw MI 48604 Salinas CA 93905 Send those requests for hard-to-find tapes to I am searching for some hard-to-find Collector’s Clearinghouse, 460 West 34 Street, New York, NY 10001. Video Maga- tapes of the films of Maria Montez: Co- zine DOES NOT locate tapes; this is a reader-to-reader service only, so please do bra Woman, Arabian Nights, Tangiers, not send a self-addressed envelope. Requests for copyrighted material must be for person- Sudan, Pirates of Monterey, Sirens of At- al use only. You may offer to reimburse ex- penses, but the Clearinghouse is not open to lantis, Thief of Venice. Will reimburse ex- requests for the purchase or sale of tapes. penses. James Sheehan Myrtle Street, 7C Adams MA 01220 I am looking for good VHS copies of the 1992 Country Music Association Awards, plus the Sept. 15, 1993 telecast of Now SEPTEMBER 1994 VIDEO 29 Circle 11 on Reader Service Card.
VIDIKRON LCD PROJECTOR | image. Vidikron includes a spare bulb, VIDE PROJE which you can install yourself. The met- PRICE: $7,995 By Brent Butterworth al-halide bulbs last 2,000 hours. V-RATING: We've only seen a couple Tube-type projectors need to be con- PICTURE of LCD projectors that verged regularly, so that the images from SOUND can compete with tube- the three tubes line up properly. You can FEATURES type projectors: a $12,000 make simple convergence adjustments VALUE data-grade model from Sharp, and Phi- yourself, but picky viewers need to call a 234 5 lips’ $6,500 LC-1000, which uses a dou- technician every year or so to get their RATINGS ARE RELATIVE TO THOSE FOR ble-line addressing system (which is tube projectors recalibrated. LCD pro- similar to a line doubler). Although we OTHER MONITOR/RECEIVERS. jectors don’t need to be converged be- tested an LC-1000 prototype three years cause the LCDs are fixed in place, but even so, some LCD projectors don’t ago, Philips was unable to bring the pro- jector to market until recently, as a continued on page 40 professional model. Now Vidikron has introduced a new version of the LC-1000 SPECS AND Method of Tuning: Outputs: BNC video/ster- Screen Brightness: called the Crystal One, which has cir- MEASUREMENTS programmable scan on eo audio (loop-through of varies with screen size cuit modifications to make it consumer- input 1), S-video (loop- set. scan plus direct through of S-video input), Color Temperature: 8,750 access on remote spring-loaded clips for Kelvin center-screen stereo speakers, 12 VDC friendly. Broadcast Tuning to operate screen, 1/4- Accuracy of Colors: 3 The Crystal One is unbelievably easy Range: 2 to 13, 14 to 69 inch front headphone jack (average) to set up. Just plop it down on a shelf or Weight & Size (h/w/d): Internal Audio Amplifier Audio Frequency Re- 44 Ibs., 8 x 22 x 15 Power: internal speaker— sponse: line out 20 Hz-20 a high stand, hook up a video source and inches Cable Tuning Range: 10 watts: external—stereo, kHz, +0.5/-0.2 dB; speaker connect an antenna or cable, and turn it 122 channels—2 to 13, 10 watts/channel out 200 Hz-1 kHz, +/-3 Power Consumption: 300 dB, -14.3 dB at 20 Hz, on. Use the remote control to zoom so A-1, A-2. A-6 to A-8, A to RESULTS +4.6 dB at 20 kHz that the picture fills the screen, adjust |, J to W, W+1 to W+84 Horizontal Resolution: 450 lines Audio S/N; line out 68 the feet at the projector's rear so that watts average, 350 watts RIRamwaitreelesCsontwirtohl; multi- dB, speaker out 42.3 dB the image lines up with the screen ver- peak; 100-140 volts AC brand control of VCRs Picture S/N Ratios (dB): tically, then use the remote again to fo- Screen Size: 40 to 140 luminance 54, video 54, Total Harmonic Distor- cus the lens. That’s it—a five-minute inches diagonal and cable boxes chroma AM 64, chroma tion: line 0.04%. speaker PM 63 0.2% procedure. Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Inputs: front—S-video/ video/stereo audio input: Like Sharp’s LCD projectors, the Speaker Size: rear—S-video/stereo audio Crystal One uses a high-powered bulb, one 3-1/2-inch input. BNC video/stereo three LCD panels (one each for red, Type of Tuning: audio input, BNC RGB/ green and blue) and dichroic (color- frequency synthesis sync/video/stereo audio in- put, RF input splitting) mirrors to create a color video | MLBVPEOYIHSRDOSETIOOLTGLEROSATP 30 VIDEO SEPTEMBER 1994
TESTS BY BERGER-BRAITHWAITE LABS CANON Hi8 CAMCORDER gains simplicity but loses versatility. At the same time, Canon made some of the Seem e eee s essere eressseseseesseseee controls maddeningly small, illegible or By Stewart Applegath hard to locate, and has further made some controls difficult to operate. More /48 When a new line of cam- about this later. corders appears, it is hard not to have high expecta- A sliding panel toward the back of the ES-1000 reveals more of the func- tions. When Canon ar- tions Canon has left to manual con- trol—buttons for shutter speed, a tived to show us the new ES-1000, I was character titler, tally light/remote con- trol sensor on/off, counter reset and au- initially quite taken with its sleek styling tofocus on/off. and simplified setup. It is intended to be Like Sony, Canon is going the way of exposure pres—estporsts, portrait, spot- the top end of a new line, and to replace light (for dramatic lighting situations) Multiburst pattern showing ES-1000 recorder sec- the UCS5 (‘Videotests,’’ Nov. ’93). and sand-and-snow, in addition to the tion frequency response, which is good for for Hi8. Canon seems to be trying to carve out a catch-all auto setting. These controls new place in the market for a high-end are on a large rotary control on the low- er side of the lens. Canon has given camcorder that is simple enough to at- shutter control more priori—ttyhe tract less affluent users. It both succeeds PRICE: $1,900 ES-1000 has manual settings up to and fails in this attempt. V-RATING: 1/10,000 of a second. Though Canon has included a backlight function, I would On the ES-1000, a Hi8 model, Can- PICTURE prefer a manual iris over shutter control. on goes with a shape reminiscent of SOUND Sony’s TR line of camcorders. There’s an FEATURES A pleasant surprise for me was the integral four-watt video light, which is VALUE autofocus. It’s probably the fastest I have becoming a common sight on small cam- use—dyou can hardly perceive any lens corders. The ES-1000 also includes a 1234 movement, there’s no hunting and the color viewfinder, four auto exposure pre- accuracy is exhilarating. I only no- sets, stereo sound and an optical image RATINGS ARE RELATIVE TO THOSE FOR ticed the autofocus working stabilizer. OTHER S-VHS/Hi8 CAMCORDERS when I moved from the near- It would seem Canon intended to continued on page 43 lay things out so that operating the cam- 5 corder would be intuitive. Some of the camera control buttons are large and easy to manipulate. Canon has dis- pensed with the viewfinder menu sys- tem, and as a result, the camcorder BTART/STOP: SEPTEMBER 1994 VIDEO 31
SPECS AND cable, Introduction to Stu- MEASUREMENTS | dio Magic videotape. Studio Magic software, manual STUDIO MAGIC DESKTOP Size: fits standard 16-bit RESULTS VIDEO PACKAGE expansion slot on PCs Horizontal Resolution: By Timothy Liebe Remote Control: comput- 560 lines er keyboard and mouse To date, desktop video’s Picture S/N Ratios (dB): biggest stumbling block Inputs: video, S-video unweighted video 57.7. has been the relatively Output: video weighted video 60.2. high cost of the compo- chroma AM 65.7, chroma nents. The least expensive of the “studio PM 49.9 on a card” systems, Matrox’s Personal Producer, lists for $1,995, and even The Studio Magic interface screen; showing pre- Accessories: S-video to | Accuracy of Colors: something as basic as a titler generally composite video adapter ' very good view windows, controls and the effects menu. deserves high marks for taking the terror ness video user. Studio Magic is intend- ed as an inexpensive, all-purpose desk- out of “cracking the hood” of your PC. top video device —it can grab frames from video, perform wipes and fades, Given its low cost, it should come as generate and overlay titles, create spe- no surprise that the Studio Magic is cial effects and perform simple keying. rather limited in its applications. For ex- The Studio Magic card, which fits ample, there’s no way to cut or mix be- into one 16-bit slot on your 386/25 or om PRICE: $499 better Windows computer, is extremely tween two external video sources, even V- RATING: V\\ though the Studio Magic card possesses easy to install—less difficult, in fact, than putting in an internal fax/modem. two video inputs. Also, the output of the A set of thorough, well-written instruc- card is composite only, although one of BETTER — tions (both in the manual and on an en- its inputs will accept S-video signals. It’s closed training videotape) takes you obvious from both the manual and the PICTURE through each step of installation, from FEATURES training tape that the Studio Magic card opening your computer to resetting the is intended to do a good deal more than VALUE card in case of a conflict, and copying 1 234 5 the Studio Magic software onto your it currently does. The beta version I re- RATINGS hard disk. Because it requires no addi- OTHER ARE RELATIVE TO THOSE FOR tional connections to your video card, ceived has a few software bugs, which VIDEO EDITING PRODUCTS. Studio Magic ensures ease of installation Barry Rubin of Studio Magic Corp. as- | and minimizes the potential for system- runs about $800, including genlock | halting setup errors. Studio Magic Corp. sures me are in the process of being fixed. (Anyone possessing an early ver- card. Seeing a market niche to be filled, sion of the Studio Magic software will Studio Magic Corp. has targeted its ini- receive the software upgrade in- ; tial product, the $499 Studio Magic for Windows, at the home and small-busi- continued on page 44 | VIDEO SEPTEMBER 1994
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VIDEOS Panasonic DaAT TR PRU CMEC nan sian Aad CN ER MENS TG PY ei PANASONIC VHS VCR The 4464 also offers VCR Plus with Other features that the 4464 offers cable box control. Virtually all brands of are slow-motion playback, manual over- By Timothy Liebe cable boxes can be programmed to ac- tide of the digital autotracking (which At first glance, Pan- cept commands from the 4464 through works both in play and still mode), re- asonic’s new VHS four- infrared transmitters built into the front head PV-4464 might be and top right side of the VCR. This fea- Multiburst pattern showing video frequency re- mistaken for an editing ture is extremely useful if your cable sponse of PV-4464, which is typical for VHS. VCR. With its shuttle dial, front-panel company uses the current generation of mote control of two separate Panasonic inputs and large, complicated-looking addressable cable boxes, which require VCRs, and a shuttle ring on both the remote, you might be forgiven for as- you to route all your channel switching unit itself and the remote. suming that it would also possess flying functions through the box instead of erase heads and audio/video dub capa- through your VCR. Like many Panasonic VCRs, the bility, which it doesn’t. But don’t be too 4464 also offers several different search disappointed— it might not be able to The 4464's remote control is, given features, such as zero search, where the edit tapes, but it does offer some of the machine stops at the point where the best VHS images we’ve seen. the unit’s rather basic features, more The 4464 is one of the higher-end than a little daunting. At 10 inches long continued on page 45 models in Panasonic’s VHS line, with a and possessing a flip-up panel with addi- street price of around $425. While lack- tional controls, it looks like it would be ing the editing features of its more ex- more at home on Star Trek than control- pensive cousin, the PV-4466, both share ling your VCR. the Dynamorphous heads and advanced noise reduction features that appear to To its credit, the remote does boast be responsible for the extremely sharp, limited universal capability, allowing you clear picture the 4464 offers. to operate many brands of TVs and ca- Both units also offer Panasonic’s ble boxes as well as your VCR. This is SQPB S-VHS quasi-playback feature. fortunate, since the 4464 (like some This allows you to view S-VHS tapes on other decks) doesn’t respond to the con- standard VHS machines at VHS resolu- trol signals of certain third-party univer- tion. While not quite as good as viewing sal remotes. S-VHS tapes on an S-VHS machine, SPECS AND Fast Forward/Rewind Channel Selectors: Picture S/N Ratios (dB): ‘VHS VCR MEASUREMENTS Time: 4-1/2 min. for 120- programmable scan on unweighted video 46.4 SP, minute tape VCR, scan plus direct 45.6 LP, 44.4 EP: weight- eccecece Weight & Size (h/w/d): access on remote ed video 51.2 SP, 50.8 9.7 Ibs., 3-1/2 x 16-7/8 x Edit Protocol: none LP, 49.8 EP, chroma AM PRICE: $549 11-1/2 inches Timer Backup: 4 hours Preset Method: 49.3 SP, 46.5 LP, 44.7 auto program and manual EP; chroma PM 42.2 SP, V-RATING: Power Use: 23 watts Remote Control: IR wire- add/delete 39 LP, 41.3 EP Jacks; front—video/stereo less with multibrand cable PICTURE 5 audio input; rear—video/ box and TV control Cable Tuning Range: 2 Audio Frequency SOUND stereo audio input and to 13, 5A, A-5 to A-1, A Response: hi-fi—20 FEATURES output, RF input and out- Program Start Locator/ to |. J to W. AA to EEE, Hz-20 kHz, +0.1/-2.8 dB; VALUE put Index/Cue: VISS index 65 to 94, 100-125 linear (-3 dB)—75 Hz-10 search with auto mark and kHz SP, 80 Hz-5 kHz LP, oO 1 2 3 4 Tape Speeds: SP, LP, EP bidirectional search for up Timer: 8-event/1-month 75 Hz-4 kHz EP Video Heads: 4 to 99 marks RATINGS ARE RELATIVE TO THOSE Cue & Review Search: Key Features: Hi-Fi Dynamic Range: FOR OTHER VHS VCRs locking/non-locking 9x SP, Audio; linear mono, hi-fi VCR Plus with cable box 85.7 dB 15x LP, 27x EP AFM stereo conrol, shuttle dial, frame the SQPB feature, coupled with the advance, slow motion, Linear Audio S/N: Tuning Method; speed play 42.3 dB 4464’s superior VHS picture, results in a frequency synthesis barely noticeable loss of quality. RESULTS Audio Distortion: hi-fi 0.3%, linear 0.9% Horizontal Resolution: 240 lines 34 VIDEO SEPTEMBER 1994
Wide Wide West. RCA Ceedecreen The Television Made for Movies. At last, A television that’s as big as all outdoors, With RCA CinemaScreen TY, the new state of the art 16 x 9 screen gives you the same panoramic view you used to find only in the theatre—or out on the lone prairie. And with Split Screen, you can even watch twoprog ams side-by-side. Plus, top features like Dolby* Pro Logic Surround, INVAR shadow mask and progressive scan deliver gill quality sound and images, ExperiencReCA CinemaScteen for yourself. And see what happens when the picture isn't fenced in. : iDialveimectielaelaelewatere nia Lt Ey] |
Jve Sys SSHNOATP ViSS ZOOM ANIM.@6[ LAPS!TIMER MBR SET bi i REC TIME INT, TIME iN ve )FOCUS SS oe gestape SsLaAcGk AisenTiON JVC S-VHS-C package, they are relatively easy to live mosaics, a cinema (letterbox) mode, a CAMCORDER with. classic film mode (which letterboxes with a flicker effect), sepia, video echo, By Stewart Applegath The GR-SZ7 has more manual con- trol than J have seen on any current slow shutter (at three speeds), strobe, When it comes to palm- camcorder. There are many, many spe- monotone (black-and-white) and more. sized camcorders, one might accuse some Video cial-effects possibilities: fades, dissolves, There are three main mode settings: Magazine editors — myself include—dof being Sony-wonks. Let’s SPECS AND Fader: to black, white, Fast Forward/Rewind finder 350 lines; recorder face it, Sony has produced some of the MEASUREMENTS mosaic or black-and-white, Time: 5-3/4 min. for 20- 390 lines S-VHS SP, 360 finest models of this type. However, plus wipe transitions for min. cassette S-VHS EP, 240 lines VHS JVC's new GR-SZ7 S-VHS-C camcord- Weight & Size (h/w/d): slide, door, scroll, shutter SP and EP er makes this much less a one-sided 1.8 Ibs. without battery corner, dissolve and auto Edit Protocol: R.A. Edit and cassette, 4-1/2 x select Picture S/N Ratios (dB): competition. 4-1/8 x 7-3/8 inches Remote Control; wired/ unweighted luminance At $1,599, the GR-SZ7 is loaded Shutter Speeds (sec.): wireless to camcorder and 47.7 SP, 49.3 EP: weight- Power Use: 6 volts DC. 8 1/60 (normal), 1, 1/6, wireless to multibrand ed luminance 50.8 SP, with features. Few of them are window- watts 1/15, 1/250-1/500 VCR 51.3 EP; unweighted dressing. In addition to the electronic video 37.5 SP, 36.9 EP; stabilizer and color viewfinder, it puts Image Sensor: 1/3-inch White Balance: auto with Program Start Locator/ weighted video 43.5 SP, CCD, 560,000 gross options for manual, sunny, Index/Cue: VISS auto 43 EP; chroma AM 42.9 CC, pixels cloudy and halogen manual marking, but no SP, 41.1 EP; chroma PM reading 36.4 SP, 35.2 EP PRICE: $1,599 Lens: {/1.2, 10x (5-50mm) Viewfinder: electronic 0.7- V-RATING: two-speed power zoom inch LCD Audio: linear mono, hi-fi Minimum Illumination: AFM stereo 6.5 lux for 50 IRE PICTURE 5 Filter Diameter: 46mm Viewfinder Controls: SOUND diopter focus and viewing Timer: delay 15, 30. 60 or Approx, Battery Life FEATURES Minimum Focusing angle 300 seconds: animation (man. focus/no zoom): VALUE Distance: 1 inch at wide- 1/4-, 1/2- or 1-second 40 min. angle, 33 inches at tele- Microphone: stereo elec- bursts: interval 1/4-, 1/2- 0 1 23 4 photo tret condenser with or 1-second bursts every Audio Frequency switchable wind noise filter 15, 30, 60 or 300 seconds Response: hi-fi 32 Hz-20 RATINGS ARE RELATIVE TO THOSE FOR Focus: contrast-type TTL kHz. +0.1/-3 dB, -4.6 at OTHER S-VHS/Hi8 CAMCORDERS. auto with auto macro, Jacks: S-video/video/ster- Key Features: electronic 20 Hz: linear (-3 dB) 100 switchable to manual with eo audio out. DC out for image stabilization, multi- Hz-10 kHz SP, 100 Hz-4 together a staggering number of produc- rotary knob control RF convertor. external ple auto exposure and kHz EP tion effects, transitions and utilities. mic, remote, edit special-effect modes, digi- Though it also has its share of flaws, Iris: auto switchable to tal zoom to 100x, frame Hi-Fi Dynamic Range: when considered in context of the whole manual with onscreen in- Tape Speeds: SP, EP advance, slow motion, au- 88.6 dB dicator. plus AE/effect dio dub, insert edit, flying modes for snapshot. mo- Video Heads: 4 (small erase head Linear Audio S/N; 42.3 tor drive. cinema, classic head drum) dB film, strobe, slow shutter, RESULTS video echo, monotone, Edit Search: 1x bidirec- Audio Distortion: hi-fi sepia, sports and twilight tional Horizontal Resolution: 0.3%. linear 0.9% camera 415 lines: view- Cue & Review Search: 3x SP. 7x/EP 36 VIDEO SEPTEMBER 1994
auto, preset and variable preset. Each effect/fade/wipe possiblilities. The cam- incrementally increases your control corder offers time-lapse and animation over recording functions and effects. It features, and comes with a double bat- does take time to become familiar with tery charger. all of the possibilities and the intercon- Another unusual option is that you nections among them. However, once can adjust the sharpness, tint, and color you break the complexity barrier, it of the image before shooting the picture. comes together pretty easily. It’s like having a built-in proc amp. Full auto is basically a point-and- Though these are subtle adjustments, I shoot mode. In preset mode, you have a wish I'd had this feature on my old Can- choice of two buttons or main catego- on Al, whose color always seemed too ries —P.AE/effect (special effects) and red. There is also a manual white bal- fade/wipe. When each is activated a ance, a feature that is becoming rare menu comes up — in the former, a choice Multiburst pattern showing frequency response of these days—the only current, compara- between cinema, sports, twilight, sepia GR-SZ7, which is very good for S-VHS-C. and monotone; under fade/wipe, you'll ble camcorder that offers this adjust- see white fader, mosaic, auto select, cor- completely customize the menu. On the ment is the Sony CCD-TR700. ner wipe and dissolve. fade/wipe menu you can choose auto se- Wisely, JVC has included a micro- lect, a nice feature which programs a se- phone jack, though it has dispensed with quence of eight fades or wipes. Each You can choose to wipe or dissolve time you go to pause and from pause to a headphone jack. Including both would be better, but I consider a mic jack far to or from a color, or from a live picture. record, a different effect is triggered: An internal picture memory stores the more important. last scene taped, then uses it to make corner box wipes, barn doors, side-to- JVC offers an electronic stablizer on side, and so on. This adds variety to your the transition into next scene. (Turning videos without the trouble of program- the GR-SZ7. In full auto mode the stabi- the camera off will erase the scene held ming each effect individually. lizer is on all the time. The electronic in memory.) The only thing that both- stabilizer offered on the GR-SZ7 is not ered me about all the choices is that as functional as I would have liked —it sound is not recorded during the wipe/ There's also a wind-noise reducer, an seems to err a bit on the side of under- fade process. alarm and a choice of zoom magnifica- compensation. This becomes especially On the preset setting, you are pre- tion—10x optical, and 20x and 100x dig- noticeable on the highter digital zoom sented with set menus of effects and ital. Variable preset adds a gain settings. Though the image didn’t drift Last year, 10 pro football gameswipes, while on variable preset you can function, and controls for choosing more at the end of a pan or tilt, the stabilizer went into sudden deafig Unfortunately, so 1,789,347 camcorder What agony, missing the thrill of victory because you The cause of this unfortunate event is called “m jou recharge your nicad battery before it’s fully drained, the more it “remembers” it’s taking less esulting in reduced capacity. So, just when you think it’s got plenty of power, it’s actually on its last — Ifyou want to be sure you’re not cut out he NoMEM™ Battery from Lenmar. The original memory free battery. A Ne Ilcharge every time, any time. Plus, it’s 100% compatible with your current b ger. For fresh power you can always coun sk your Lenmar dealer for NoMEM Batteries. And catch all the action without your battery suddenly calling “time out.” For your nearest Lenmar Battery dealer, and a catalog of our Camcorder Performance Products call: 800/424-2703 ©1994 Lenmar Enterprises, Inc. CAMCORDER PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS Circle 13 on Reader Service Card. SEPTEMBER 1994 VIDEO 37
OFANSIR oA SMe a = oe] DESCRAMBLERS didn’t take enough shake out. Iris control— available on preset and Best Prices in the U.S.A.! leTUETe-lalc-i:vem com ile)ae variable preset —is located on the lower WE WILL BEAT ANY PRICE! side of the camcorder in the form of plus/minus buttons. I would have pre- Jerrold, Scientific Atlanta ferred a control button that didn’t have Pioneer, FTB-3, SA3 to be pushed repeatedly for each incre- mental change. Hitting these buttons The Newest & the Latest results in camera jiggle if you want to Fragile Flap: The GR-SZ7’s latching playback con- adjust the setting while recording. (Oth- trol cover seems like it could break off easily. TVT-3K - Jerrold impulse & er setting changes on the GR-SZ7 can Starcom series be triggered by holding the button long- lower front. Even on full auto, you can er, rather than repeated pushes.) push a button on the end of the focus SA3-DFA - Scientific Atlantas wheel to switch to manual mode. This is Video snap mode offers a Polaroid much more convenient than most com- incl. 8536, 8536+, 8580, snapshot effect with live sound. The parable models, including the CCD- Drop-field button, located near the power on/off TR700, which set their manual focus PN-3A_ - Pioneer systems switch, triggers a white-bordered digital trigger buttons strangely far from the fo- still that looks and sounds like a still pic- cus wheel. The autofocus worked fairly Panasonic TZPC145G 99 Ch Converters ture being taken. A black door wipe is well, but had a slight tendency to hunt Zentek XL2100 99 Channel Converters also included to give a still camera shut- in the face of subtle distinctions of dis- ter effect, and there’s a motor-drive ef- tance. 30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE fect that gives you a series of brief FAST SHIPMENTS & FREE CATALOG Something I haven’t seen before is framed stills. Fortunately, sound the illuminated indigo LCD display on 1-800-772-6244 recording through the mic is not block- the side — it makes functions much more ed in this mode as it is when wipes and legible, day or night. In addition to dis- M-F: 9-6 EST effects are taking place. And with the playing functions, it also gives a graphic audio dubbing capability the GR-SZ7 of- readout of battery and tape status. With U.S. Cable TV, Inc. Dept..KVM094 me you can add commentary after the my Sony CCD-TRIOI, I had to buy an expensive LED-display battery for this act. The GR-SZ7 has a strong provision convenience. A random assemble editing feature for manual focus—a rotary wheel at allows you to program up to eight cuts or 4100 N. Powerline Rd, Bldg. F-4 Pompano Beach FL 33073 scenes for automated editing onto an- other VCR. A menu shows in/out points CRS1oi4eanrracdvdl.iecre NO FLORIDA SALES! as you program them. Aside from a few limitations (it requires a minimum one- HITACHI second shot and 15 seconds of preroll, VM-H39A and accuracy is limited to about plus or Berger Bros. Camera and Video Exchange minus one second), it is easy to use. The Specializes in both Photographic and Video remote is compatible with many brands Equipment. We carry the Largest Selection of of VCRs. Camcorders and Accessories in stock and at the lowest prices. We'll help you make the right JVC has put very few controls on the choice over the phone, that’s why we can offer a body of the camcorder— most are in the full money back guarantee. We could list all of menu system. Playback controls are un- our Equipment in our ads like everyone else. ..but der a plastic panel, which just about we Call that our 192-page Catalog. begs to be snapped off, in front of the viewfinder. We Compete With Any Legitimate Price & We Ship Anywhere I have one major compaint with the When Tomorrow Won't Do. Call Us Today. controls —in regular fast-forward mode, the tape moves slowly. You can speed it up by holding the fast-forward button for two seconds, but you then lose the tape counter, both in the viewfinder and on the indigo display. When it’s finished, the counter resets at zero. During an edit session, this feature alone would make the camcorder very inconvenient. The picture quality of the GR-SZ7 was generally good. The color rendition was very accurate and colors were well- (516)-264-4160 ° FAX (516)-264-1007 209 BROADWAY (ROUTE 110) AMITYVILLE, N.Y. 11701 38 VIDEO SEPTEMBER 1994
Yona In the theater of the mind, anything is possible. But in Energy's complete home- THE ENERGY HOME THEATER theater speaker system, only reality ! SURROUND SOUND SPEAKER SYSTEM counts. Two satellites in front and two : behind immerse you in refreshing sound. A dialogue speaker at front and center places you face to face with the actors on the screen. Radical dual subwoofers extend all the way down to 35Hz, the bass enveloping you in sonic swell. This _ is one heart-pounding ride. Catch it if | you can at your Energy showroom. ENERG> , LOUDSPEAKERS ENERGY LOUDSPEAKERS 3641 MCNICOLL AVE., SCARBOROONTU.,GCHAN,ADA MIX 1G5. (416) 321-1800 FAX (416) 321-1500 “MU S'CAb TRUTH Circle 15 on Reader Service Card.
saturated. There was very little noise LED PROJECTOR present. Horizontal recorded resolution continued from page 30 in SP is 390 lines, 340 in EP. Even at the have perfect convergence. However, the convergence on the Crystal One we EP speed, image quality is quite good, tested was dead on. making it possible to exploit the two- The Crystal One is just as easy to use as a TV set, because it is a TV set— hour maximum recording capability of there’s a built-in tuner with closed cap- tioning, three video/audio inputs (one JVC’s new 40-minute S-VHS-C on front), parental control and timer features, and even a mono speaker, a cassette. stereo audio amplifier and a headphone jack. All that’s missing is picture-in-pic- Sy BO aeect al The LCD color viewfinder’s resolu- ture. Because the Crystal One has a 15.75-megahertz RGB/sync input, you CAV Reg. $74.98 . . Sale $56.25 tion was average— usable, but not spec- can connect a computer with a CGA CLV Reg. $44.98 . . Sale $33.75 video card. Vidikron also offers an ac- tacular. The viewfinder has some very cessory that lets you connect VGA- equipped computers. Offer expires 9/30/94 + Due mid-October, 1994 common sense readouts, such as tape re- Blow off the tiny internal speaker— y Slow ww maining (in minutes),-so there’s no instead, connect two good speakers to the Crystal One’s stereo amp and set up 15% Of guesswork. The pause indicator is very the speakers so they straddle the screen. (Better yet, get a surround-sound sys- Ale visible, appearing boldly in the upper tem.) We rate the audio at two; add good speakers and we'd give it a four. middle of the screen so you’re never un- Take a careful look at your room be- Both available in CAV & CLV Versions... certain about whether you’re actually fore you consider a Crystal One—its CLV Versions are ONLY $25.49 each! mounting requirements are unusual. recording or not. Typically, it needs to be at least 15 feet (Aladdin CAV Version is THX® Widescreen) from the screen— much farther than a Audio performance was quite good, tube-type projector—and five to eight Offer Expires 8/30/94 » Due September/October, 1994 feet off the floor. At first, I thought this with a dip in frequency response only in inconvenient, but soon realized it’s per- fect for most living rooms. Put the pro- Just Announced! the extreme low bass. Additionally, jector on a shelf or bookcase behind you, The Crow 15% Off there was no noise leakage from the tape Just Like A TV Set: Although the Crystal (THX® Widescreen) « Due in mid-September, 1994 carrier or zoom mechanism — a welcome One is a front projec- — Free Gift of Cleaning Fluid (a $19.95 value) change from the norm. tor, it has a tuner when you order 3 or more Titles — and a remote control Though the GR-SZ7 has slight flaws, (left) that make it op- LASERDISC FAN CLUB INC it is a great package overall. For a rea- erate like a typical sonable price, JVC has put together an high-end TV set. + Free Membership & Monthly Catalog! unreasonably good camcorder. For both * Every Title Available, including Karaoke! shooting and editing, no other camcord- U92BJ“1}OdPe91lp1eAe1dIe9+*EyS Up to 40% off! er that I can think of offers this kind of Free Shipping! Open 7 days a week! value. . Call or write: (800)801-DISC(3472) Dept. V94 1058 E. 230th St. + Carson, CA 90745 ADVICE PHONE CALL CAMCORDER EYE PIECE MAGNIFIER STEREO NARRATION HEADSET Calli for our free catalog Audio - Video -Canxorder - Telep-hCoomnpueter - Compact Dis - Cellular and it’s completely unobtrusive. Of course, like all front projectors, the == HAVEN Crystal One must be used in a dark or INDUSTRIES very dimly lit room. 46-23 Crane Street, LIC, NY 11101 The remote control offers buttons Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back. for volume and channel, input selection, * Mention this ad with your next purchase of $150 or more and get the Magnifier closed captioning and the menu system. It also controls many brands of VCRs or the Headset absolutely FREE! ($29.95 value) and cable boxes. The front panel also Circle 17 on Reader Service Card. 40 VIDEO SEPTEMBER 1994
Its What Which scares you more, a horror film with the sound turned off, or a horror show on the radio? The answer is easy because it is the movie’s sound- track which carries the pathos and emotion. You can enjoy sound without pictures, but who wants pictures without sound? You Don't See That Counts. It doesn’t cost Itjust so happens that cables are the part more to do it right! of your system which can help or hurt the AudioQuest offers performance the most... and for the least money. Whether you have two-channel stereo or multi- a full range of channel stereo, you have to have cables. You cables, but the can’t completely fix a bad system with good cables, biggest improve- but you can seriously degrade a good system with badly designed cables. ment you'll hear is going from big You won’t see the cables and you won’t see the fat stranded cable to the sound — but you will experience the difference! least expensive cables from AudioQuest. For the aqudioquest. complete story, please call or write for our Cable Design booklet — or better yet, visit an AudioQuest dealer and listen for yourself. P.O, Box 3060 San Clemente, CA 92674 USA TEL (714) 498-2770 FAX (714) 498-5112 Distributed in Canada by Audio Products International, 3641 McNicoll Ave., Scarborough, Ontario, M1X 1G5 Tel: 416-321-1800
has a full set of controls. AUK UAT UT TTT Interesting Inputs: Technical editor Lancelot Braith- The Crystal One has the usual video waite and I both enjoyed watching the Crystal One. At a viewing distance of 16 and audio inputs, feet and an image size of eight feet diag- plus an RGB/sync onal, I noticed pixels only on a few shots. (I couldn’t identify a particular input for CGA pattern or subject matter that made graphics. them more apparent.) The pixels are easy to see if you move close to the on the left side, 8,750 in the center, and fer the Crystal One to most video-grade, screen, but at a practical viewing dis- 8,050 on the right. tube-type projectors. Why? Because of tance, they didn’t bother me or Lance. Further measurements from Lance revealed about a 10-percent variation in the double-line addressing system. As with other LCD projectors, the brightness from top to bottom and side Crystal One’s contrast ratio (the ratio of to side. However, I didn’t notice a “hot Video-grade projectors produce images the brightest parts of the picture to the spot,” a common malady with LCDs darkest) is less than that of a tube-type caused by the center of the picture being broken up into horizontal scan lines that projector—I couldn’t achieve deep brighter than the edges. (Note that Lan- blacks while maintaining a good average many viewers consider totally unaccept- picture level. The overall effect is a ce’s signal-to-noise ratio measurements slight washing-out of the picture — the are based on comparisons with able. But the Crystal One produces a Crystal One’s Achilles’ heel. If you can measured direct-view TVs, because we deal with the low contrast, you'll proba- know of no way to measure S/N directly very smooth picture with no scan lines, from LCDs.) The projector's comb filter and none of the motion artifacts and bly like this projector; if you can’t, you was quite good —it produced very little won't. I found that in a totally dark dot crawl, even on demanding material. smeared look many line doublers create. room, I could live with it. Despite these criticisms, I'd still pre- The Crystal One reminds me of my I was also bothered by a slight shift in color from right to left —as a subject's beloved Conrad-Johnson PV-2a tube face moved across the screen, its hue changed. Lance's measurements squared preamp, which has no controls except with my subjective impressions: The col- or temperature was about 9,000 Kelvin for source selectors, volume and bal- ance. Its simplicity and pleasing perfor- mance makes it easy to live with. Don’t worry about tweaking, just enjoy. a MAKING A GREAT VIDEO After using your camcorder the first time, you realize that the INCLUDES QUALITY SOUND TOO! »=-:built-in \" picks up sounds from all directions, including those you 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 A professional VHF handheld Lapel microphone system. New 7\" long directional VHF wireless system has a range of mic. Allows you to zoom ' over 300 feet. It allows you to shoot microphone system with no Same receiver as wires. All the same features, WMS-PRO. in on subject’s voice, _ from a distance and pick up your and receiver as the WMS-PRO. reducing saide noises. subject's voice clearly. It has 2 Range 35-40 feet. switchable frequencies, and it comes | with 2 mics (handheld and clip-on). The transmitter clips to the subject’s belt, and the mini receiver can attach to the camera (shoe mount & velcro included) or be kept in your breast pocket. A mini 3 channel mic mixer for recording Headset with boom mic sound from 2 add-on mics and a personal for adding narration as stereo, while you're shooting. Only 2 you shoot. Your voice becomes the dominant 1/8'x3 1/4\" itcan be attached to your sound recorded. Or, use camera or clipped to the handstrap. itto monitor sound Cables included, needs no batteries. you're recording. Write or call for full line literature Distributed in Canada by GENTEC AZDEN aun YOU CAN HEAR 147 New Hyde Park Road, Franklin Square, NY 11010 (516) 328-7500 42 VIDEO SEPTEMBER 1994 Circle 18 on Reader Service Card.
did the job pretty well, although all of ImagingScience our editors would prefer more LCD reso- lution. F. OSL UN OATS I OP INTL” AS continued from page 31 The four-watt video light provides Joe Kane adequate illumination for basic needs. It est possible object (touching the lens) to has about a 12-degree horizontal cover- has trained the following one across the room. Though the age, which is relatively narrow for video video professionals to use ES-1000 offers a manual focus override, I lights—good enough for one or two sub- wasn’t comfortable with the thumb- jects at close range. test patterns and/or wheel control or its position. instrumentation to calibrate Any camcorder combines features YOUR television on delivery. The optical stabilizer works well— and omissions, strengths and weak- there is none of the image degradation nesses. In the case of ES-1000, it is not WHAT DID YOUR or size loss that often accompanies elec- clear that this calculus has been com- tronic stabilizers. What bothered me pletely thought out. Although the per- DEALER DO WHEN was the operation of the stabilizer formance is acceptable, the camcorder switch. Canon has made it difficult to has several operational problems. If this YOU GOT YOUR were a midpriced unit, we could let turn it on and off easily. Granted, once some of these problems slide. However, TELEVISION? the stabilizer is turned on, it can be left on. Nevertheless, I would have preferred this will be the high end of Canon’s line @eeeeeaeeeoeaeceaeaeoo eeoeeeo 80 something on the switch to give my fin- (except for the very expensive L1 and L2 ger purchase in turning it on and off. models), so we have some bones to pick. Ambrosia Audio & Video (310) 440-5522, CA The recorded picture is average for More thought needs to go into the Architectural Electronics Inc.™ (713) 465-6333 1X Hi8. Color rendition is pleasing and de- placement of controls, especially the tail is good. However, there is noticeable playback buttons. Located under a small Audio & Video Specialists Inc. (205) 8716328 flip-up panel on the top front of the video noise, more than we found on the camcorder, these controls are tiny and Audio Consultants (708) 864-9565 UCSS5. Casual users — the market Canon difficult to use. It is hard to distinguish Better Sounds, Inc. (407) 338-8898 apparently wishes to woo with the them because they’re marked in relief, Bradford Wells & Associates (310) 575-4895 ES-1000— will certainly find the picture rather than with contrasting-color la- acceptable, but serious users will find it bels. They are virtually illegible in aver- Busch Home Theater (707) 573-9170 noticeably noisy compared to the Sony age lighting. And the VTR record CCD-TR700. button is difficult to operate, tucked into Electrodes, Inc. (708) 916-6645 a cranny. Audio performance is average from a Electronic Home Consultants (305) 229-5177 measurement standpoint, although the It’s not much of a leap to assume mic produced an unusually clear stereo that Canon wants to discourage us from Encore! Cinema & Sound, Inc. (800) 362-6730 effect. Some tape transport and zoom using these buttons altogether, so we will motor noise is picked up by the onboard use the remote alone. There are, how- Evolution Audio & Video (818) 879-1312 mic —it will be readily apparent when ever, a significant number of people who the ambient sound level is low or mod- still use the camcorder playback con- erate. trols. Perhaps Canon could compromise here The color viewfinder looks fine —I didn’t have as much trouble discerning 1 feel the eject button should be fine focus on the ES-1000 as I did on the Sony CCD-TR700. It looks like color moved, and that it should also be la- beled. It is too easy to eject accidentally viewfinders are here to stay, and this one SPECS AND Focus: TTL auto with Jacks: S-video/video/ster- RESULTS First Impressions, Inc. \\ (305) 891-6121 MEASUREMENTS auto macro, switchable to Future Home (310) 274-9393 manual with thumbwheel eo audio input and output, Horizontal Resolution: Weight & Size (h/w/d): control DC out for optional RF camera 425 lines; view- Louis Carliner (301) 340-6120 2 Ibs. with battery and convertor finder 325 lines; recorder cassette, 4-5/8 x 4-3/4 x Iris: auto with switchable 7-3/4 inches AE modes for portrait, Tape Speed: SP only | 400 lines Hi8, 250 lines Mark Risi (914) 997-1831 Power Use: 6 volts DC, Sports, spotlight and sand 7.5 watts & snow, plus backlight Video Heads: 2 8mm Precision Audio/Video (805) 523-3005 Image Sensor: compensator 1/3-incn CCD, 410,000 Cue & Review Search: | Picture S/N Ratlos (dB): Prestige Audio Video (305) 781-1557 gross pixels Fader: to black, hold- forward 9x/19x, reverse unweighted luminance Lens: {/1.8, 12x down type, approx. 4 45.3 ME, 43.9 MP; (5.2-62.4mm) mulispeed secs, weighted luminance 49.5 Projection Systems Inc. (415) 461-3553 power zoom ME, 48.3 MP; unweighted Filter Diameter: 49mm, Shutter Speeds (sec.): Fast Forward/Rewind Russell McMurtray (213) 655-8860 but 55mm filters with step- 1/60. (normal), 1/100, Time: 6/7 min. for 120- up ting recommended 1/250, 1/500, 1/1,000, min. tape video 40.3, weighted video Salon One Audio (715) 421-5910 Minimum Focusing 1/2,000, 1/4,000, 1/10,000 48.3; chroma AM 43.8, Distance: 0.4 inches at wide-angle, 32 inches at White Balance: 64-zone Edit Protocol: LANC chroma PM 39.4 telephoto white extraction method, auto only—2,800-8,000 Remote Control: IR wire- Minimum Iilumination: Savant Audio (800) 628-0627 Kelvin 8.7 lux for 50 IRE. less with camera and Approx. Battery Life Sound By Singer Ltd. (212) 924.8600 Viewfinder: electronic 0.7- (man. focus/no zoom): inch color LCD with playback contro!s Sound Productions (317) 844-1103 140,000 pixels Audio: hi-fi AFM stereo — 40 min. light off, 20 min. Theater Design Associates Inc. (800) 786-6832 Viewfinder Controls: diopter focus, positioning Titles/Graphics: 2 lines, light on (516) 424-5957 Microphone: stereo elec- each 16 characters Audio Frequency Total Media Systems tret condenser Response: 20 Hz-10 kHz, Video Calibration (612) 894-3161 - Special Features: optical +0.03/-3 dB, down -6.3 dB image stabilizer, four auto at 20 kHz Widescreen Review™ (909) 677-0335 exposure modes plus Hi-Fi Dynamic Range: Woodbridge Stereo/Video (908) 636-7777 backlight compensator, fly- 75.9 dB ing erase head, character Audio Distortion: 0.4% titler, built-in light For ISF training call (407) 997-9073 SEPTEMBER 1994 VIDEO 43 Circle 19 on Reader Service Card.
when getting my hand into a comfort- over a computer-generated graphic or era are rock-solid, as are titles over foot- able shooting position—the tape carrier solid-color background, Studio Magic age passed through a video mixer. can at present only key titles over live unit was inadvertently forced out into video or black. Also, while tape and The titling feature in and of itself manual mention the ability to capture my palm a number of times. Technical live video frames in color to your com- has a lot to recommend it. Although you can’t scroll titles like you can with editor Lancelot Braithwaite also feels puter (useful not only for desktop video stand-alone character generators like purposes, but for print graphics as well), Videonics’ TitleMaker 2000, Studio the location of the record search control you can currently capture only black- Magic can use any Windows TrueType and-white images. typeface for titles, allowing users a great is inconvenient. deal of flexibility in both fonts and sizes. In light of the ES-1000’s position as a Although these problems should be taken care of in the software upgrade, You're given 16 title colors to choose top-end model, all here feel that the there’s another problem with the frame from, and a duplicate feature for the cre- capture. As it stands, Studio Magic re- ation of drop shadows (the training tape omission of mic and headphone jacks is clearly explains what they are and how quires that you pause your video source they work). There is a slight software a major flaw, especially since noise leak- deck so that the capture can take place. bug—the cursor appears onscreen at the Unless your input VCR possesses a rock- end of each line of title — but this can be age from the transport and zoom motors solid digital still and the tape you’re easily worked around by spacing past the is evident. We hope this will be address- pausing is in excellent shape (or you use edge of the screen after the title line has been typed. Although there are a few ed on future versions. a video camera as a source), your frame conveniences I would like to see includ- capture will frequently come out with ed—like automatic centering and line In attempting to make a simple-to- wavy lines and/or glitches. Using the spacing— the titling feature, together use package, Canon has given us some digital still on a Panasonic WJ-AVE5 with the genlock/overlay, is alone worth the cost of the Studio Magic card. strong feature—sa terrific autofocus, a video mixer, however, resulted in ex- tremely good frame captures. Another useful and fun feature is the color viewfinder and a solid image stabi- collection of 21 image effects that you The overlay/genlock function is also can use to modify your external video lizer. There seems to be a lot of unre- less than ideally stable. Keying in titles source, including black-and-white, sep- over taped video often resulted in jumpy ia, color negative, black-and-white neg- alized potential in this camcorder. text, a problem caused by the inherently ative, and Terminator (which may not unstable sync of most VCRs. However, Canon should go further to make the titles keyed over live video from a cam- ES-1000 a true high-end model. ] STUDIO MAGIC continued from page 32 corporating these fixes free of charge.) For example, although both the tape and the manual discuss keying in a title PANASONIC PB50 Orig. PAN.......... RAPID CHARGERS PANASONIC PB80/88 Orig.PAN........ 39.00 SONY NP77H 2400 mah.. CAMCORDER CHARGER/DISCHARGER SONY 8mm 1500 mah. 6V, 7.2V, 9.6V runs from house or auto. CANON 8mm 2000 mah... 1 hr. time for Sony, Canon, PALMCORDER 2000 mah Panasonic, RCA/Hitachi JVC GR-C9 Type C........ & most other brands f SHARP BT 21/22.......... SHARP BT 70/80 2400 mal “| Charges 1 battery $44 RCA/HITACHI 8 mm 2400 mah... tae. 2 batteries $69 NEW External ‘Power pac+ 5 to 7 hours of recording time. Powerpac+ includes: Summer Sale =6volt @ 10 amps — sealed lead acid battery. New lower prices on Chargers =Heavy duty pouch and belt. Sharp ViewCam =A charger for charging at home / BT70-BT80 2400 mah $36.00 Charger for ViewCam $39.00 (optional charging cord for car). =An adaptor of your choice. =12 volt @ 7 amps $95 $85 BATTERY TECH, INC. BPPSIS Tanita: .\\e aRARE Ee FAX-718-631-51 17 800-442-4275 AMEERXPIRCEASNS e|MasteerCard} == Circle 20 on Reader Service Card. 44 VIDEO SEPTEMBER 1994
look exactly like what Schwarzenegger forecast” setting, by contrast, places a While I wouldn’t consider Studio saw, but looks great nonetheless). These computer-generated graphic in any effects can also be edited fairly easily, ex- white area of your video. There is also a Magic for Windows a viable replace- cept for the overreliance on one color or control for adjusting the whiteness of an the blacking out of another. area before keying. ment for a video mixer like Panasonic’s The lumikey is one of six different From a picture quality standpoint, WJ-AVE5/7 or Videonics’ MX-l, I do means by which you can place titles or Studio Magic is very clean, with less images over or behind external video. recommend it highly as a means to aug- The default setting is a straight down- noise than most video mixers, and a stream keyer (like on the WJ-AVE5), ment either. Its street price of around which throws out the black in a stored respectable horizontal resolution of 560 image or title and replaces it with video lines. Our picture rating of three refers to $400 and large number of features more the frame store and jitter problems. than make up for its limitations, and Studio Magic Corp.’s desire to create powerful, low-cost desktop video tools is to be commended. This is a product— and a compan—yto watch. . continued from page 34 VANDERSTEEN AUDIO tape time counter is set to zero; book In its pursuit of perfection, mark search, which stops at the end of high-end audio has established the recorded portion of your videotape lofty standards that only the best so you can continue taping from there; speakers can reach. Now your and VHS Index Search System (VISS), family entertainment system which puts a signal on the tape that you can meet these same standards. can tell the VCR to find at a later date. Experience open natural voices, astonishing definition, powerful As mentioned above, the 4464's pic- bass and vivid imaging with ture is extraordinary, with very little lu- legendary VANDERSTEEN boxless speakers. ' Panasonic “Superior on both Overgrown Control: film and music, VANDERSTEEN's The PV-4464's re- full-range speakers mote is strangely dispel the myth that large, given that the video requires VCR has no editing unique main speakers.\" features. | \"Ultimate realism!\" minance or chrominance noise. Like the For almost 20 years, VANDERSTEEN AUDIO has built affordable loudspeakers true to both other top VHS decks we've tested (the science and music. If you are looking for Ma speakers that accurately reproduce the JVC HR-VP600 comes to mind) the pic- entire frequency range and dimensions “Amazing of the original sound, we can direct definition, ture is very clean and smooth-looking, you to your nearest carefully selected rocks the VANDERSTEEN dealer. foundation!\" with no distracting artifacts. While not Please write or call for a brochure as impressive as the picture, the hi-fi and and name of your nearest dealer. monaural sound both are also very good. Though not an editing VCR, the PV-4464 is an extremely good unit for W/IDN)PoNsi st\\ V0 |B) Oe home theater and timeshifting. It’s a bit 116 West Fourth St, Hanford, CA 93230 more expensive than most comparable (209) 582-0324 | Three driver, 300 watt amplified — VHS VCRs, but its superb picture and ibwoofer — oe solid sound quality make the additional investment worthwhile. If you’re looking Models available from $495. for a reasonably-priced VCR to set up a home theater around, the 4464 should definitely be on your short list. ] Circle 21 on Reader Service Card. SEPTEMBER 1994 VIDEO 45
BY JOE WIESENFELDER LETSEETHow to give tight spaces home theater sound, pictures, drama There’s something about home theater: restricted in his or her budget. If you can are pretty intuitive. How large you're Everybody seems to like it. And unlike afford to put home theater in every willing to go depends on how far you can audio or video taken alone, home thea- small room of the mansion, you can also sit from the monitor, what fits in the ter is something that average folks don’t afford a certified installer, who would be room, and what you want to pay. As a just like —it’s something they want. In delighted to help you choose high-mar- their own homes. Now. gin equipment. practical minimum for screen size, insist on 27 inches. Home theater design is an art of Any home theater—no matter how compromise, regardless of the size or lay- large or small—needs a few basics: a Direct-view TVs are available in out of the room. But small rooms carry good-sized TV, a hi-fi stereo VCR (and/ sizes up to 40 inches, and rear-projection special hurdles, and if we’re to bring or a laserdisc player), a Dolby Pro-Logic sets start as small as 41 inches, like home theater to the masses, we have to receiver (or separate Pro-Logic proc- Sony’s KPR-41EXR95. There’s also Mit- clear those hurdles—or at least find a essor and amps) and at least five speak- subishi’s VS-4553, a 45-inch “tabletop” way to run around them without getting ers (left, center, right and two caught. unit. Many rear-projection TV suppliers surrounds). But as we'll see, in a have chiseled their products down to In this guide to small-room home small room, the way about 20 inches in depth, bringing the theater, I'll lean toward frugality, presup- you set up the sys- room-encroachment factor close to that posing that anyone who's restricted to a tem and prepare the of a conventional tube. Moving closer to room is as important the set increases the viewing angle, but Reflected Glory: Dipole as the equipment one can get too close, effectively collaps- surround speakers like NHT’s you choose. ing the perception of three-dimen- HDP-1 reflect sound off walls. sionality we’re able to trick our minds God bless video. into from farther away, or turning the If environment had picture’s scan lines into venetian blinds. as profound an ef- fect on monitor per- Regardless of the viewing distance, formance as it does on speakers, home you may run into picture/sound discon- theater would be tinuity while using a smaller screen. The about as popular as problem is that movie soundtracks are The Last Action Hero. The benefits mixed for theaters, in which the left and of different screen tight speakers are directly behind the sizes and locations extreme ends of the screen. As a result, unless you have your main speakers very close to the TV, the sound of a motorcy- cle speeding outward from the center of the picture will jump to the side speaker even when its image is still visible at the edge of the screen. The many Dolby-encoded TV broadcasts you can receive nowadays weight the soundtrack toward the cen- ter, saving the left and right channels for off-screen sounds, like music or applause during Letterman. Thankfully, dialog is seldom panned across the soundstage in 46 VIDEO SEPTEMBER 1994
movies anymore, so most people Cy spread their speakers out for a © wide soundstage and put up with CO) the occasional errant sound effect. = = Personally, I'd rather spend happy SS hour with the guys from the Zima ‘eas commercials. — ron We'll address all the pros and ws ® i = cons of small rooms, but first you have to come to terms with the fact that the choices you make in audio equipment and placement will be dictated by your room— Sonic Surprise: Though it costs only $370, Sherwood’s RV-5030R is a great-sounding, full-featured receiver. particularly its size, shape and tex- ture —as well as by your sensibilities re- three dB louder than a 50-watt amp, tion called clipping. Somehow, enlight- garding sound and decor. Only enment seems to end there, because clearly the difference between a 50- and many people believe that if they clip experimentation will lead to success. If 60-watt amp is probably negligible. their amplifiers, Satan himself—a true phantom imag—ewill emerge through you're looking for easy answers, try 2) At comfortable listening levels, an the floor and direct fire to spring forth stamp collecting. amp is putting out far less power than one from their loudspeakers, igniting any would think. Many TVs have five-watt amps. They’re not hi-fi, but they’re loud Once you've secured a hi-fi VCR or and clear enough to hear, for sure. thing and anyone that happens to be in a laserdisc player, the driving force be- 3) Usually, not much really happens the sweet spot. This just isn’t the case. hind the small home theater is an A/V receiver. These include a Pro-Logic when you don't have enough power. People What does happen is far less dramat- processor, amps for all five speakers, and that have a passing interest in audio ic, but equally repugnant when you audio/video switching. Many solid ones usually know that pushing an amplifier know what to listen for. Most receivers past its limits results in a type of distor- incorporate protection circuitry that are available for about $400 list price (see “Power for Pennypinchers,” July 94). To help you choose a receiver for a small room, there are five important things to know about power in an audio system: 1) Doubling amplifier power does not double volume capability. Doubling ampli- fier power increases the maximum possi- ble sound level by three decibels—a significant but not extreme difference. (You’d have to come up one dB before average folks would even notice a change.) If a 100-watt amp can play Shrunken Surround: Atlantic Technology's System 250 speakers and subwoofer, and from the top, Sony's KV-27V55 27-inch TV, Panasonic's PV-4464 VHS VCR, Harmon-Kardon’s AVR20 A/V receiver and Pan- asonic’s LX-600 combi player, all in a RoomTunes TV stand.
shuts them down when clipping reaches a certain . If the room’s small, the | speakers probably should be level, but there’s no telling | too. One of the best ways to what percentage of “accept- do home theater in a small room is to use five good able” distortion you're put- bookshelf speakers of the same model. You heard me ting up with at volumes tight. A speaker’s job is to reproduce sound faithfully, below the shutoff point. and a good speaker is a good speaker. The advantages Fact is, you’ve probably are many: All will match in timbre, or tonal quality— been in Hell and not even one of the most important attributes; small two-way known it. What many peo- speakers tend to image well; and many have decent bass ple write off as loudness is output down to about 60 actually just distortion. The Hertz, so they'll do the ba- sic job fine until you get cleanest systems I’ve heard your income tax refund and add a subwoofer. What’s just don’t sound “‘loud” more, you can always find a | use for bookshelf speakers even when they are. | in the future if you upgrade | to a bigger home theater. Speakers vary in their The Paradigm Titan, distortion levels, so the best | PSB Alpha, B&W 2001 and way to familiarize oneself KEF KEF-120 all deliver amazing performance for with clipping is by driving under $200 a pair; the Phase Technology 335ES is the same speakers— prefer- also a winner at less than $240/pair. Boston Acous- ably your own—with differ- tics’ HD5 goes for under $150 a pair. The B&W is shielded for use ent amounts of power. The near direct-view TVs, and shielded ver- effect of clipping is often sions of the Paradigm, Phase Tech, and Boston sell for about $20 more per pair called a “sheen,” appropri- (fortunately, some manufacturers sell this type of speaker singly). Some com- ate because the distortion panies even make complete systems of small home theater speakers, like the adds a high-frequency Atlantic Technology system featured in this month’s “Hands On.” brightness. ‘‘Hard’’ and After narrowing your speaker “edgy” work, too. That choices by listening, pick the one with the smoothest off-axis response. Listen high-frequency distortion is for tonal changes when you step from the center of the speaker to its side. hell on tweeters (paradox- Drive just one speaker with pink noise (inter-station FM radio static will do in a ically, underpowered amps pinch, but you may have to turn off the tuner’s muting circuit) and listen for blow more speakers than sound that is consistent in tone across a wide area. It’s okay if the off-axis sound overpowered ones), so you is lower in level, but if the response is shouldn’t push your luck in ragged, early reflections off the side wal—lwhsich will be strong in a small acquainting yourself with Slim Big-Screen: room if it has reflective wall—wsill clipping —a couple seconds Sony's 20-inch-deep KPR-41EXR96. is usually enough. When you know what different wattages will sensitivity (remember, a three-dB-higher get you, and what you really get when spec means half the power is needed), you don’t have enough, you'll be better especially since Pro-Logic diverts the able to judge your needs. power-hungry bass signals to the side 4) Theoretically, a speaker will sound speakers in this type of arrangement. six dB louder ifyou halve its distance from 5) Don't get too hung up on power rat- you. That means the closer speaker ings, because they’re often not reliable. Un- would need one quarter the amp power less the manufacturer rates power to produce the same level at the listen- ing position as the far speaker. So you output with all channels driven, from 20 Hz to 20 kHz (the full audible spectrum) can see that a low-powered A/V re- at less than 0.5 percent distortion, you ceiver should be able to work in a small don’t know what you’re getting. This room. Sony and Technics have models underscores the truism that you really that sell for less than $300 street price, must listen for yourself, preferably in and a new one from Kenwood sells for your own room and with your own speakers. If you deal with a specialty au- around $300. Know that entry-level units do not dio/video retailer, as we always recom- have preamp outputs that would allow mend, you should be able to trade for the addition of power amps in the fu- other equipment if there’s a problem— ture. The big push at retail is for equal especially if you trade up. When in power to the front three channels. In theory, this is a good idea if you plan to doubt, it’s usually a good idea to go with hook up three identical speakers, a la the higher-priced model. The difference THX. It may not be necessary for a in price is negligible if you think of the receiver, a long-lasting component, as smaller center speaker with a higher an investment. 48 VIDEO SEPTEMBER 1994
wreak havoc on timbre. not that simple. There are too many THE BIG BOUNCE One can easily kill a season monkey- If your speakers are too close to the variables. Regardless, you should be able ing with surround speaker placement. In walls, even smooth early reflections can to get by with a smaller sub in a small a small room, maybe two seasons. Small rooms may be the best environment for mess with your imaging as well, behav- room, especially if the entrances have Pint-Sized Projection: ing almost like another speaker and doors that can help trap bass energy in- Mitsubishi's VS-4553 “tabletop” rear-projection TV. drawing the image outward. The cure is side. Most good powered subs start at dipole surrounds like THX uses, as they to not spread the speakers out too far, or around $500. Check out Klipsch and reflect most of their sound. If your bud- get doesn’t support even the cheapest to use some acoustic treatment, which the tall, narrow units from JBL, which THX system, and you like the concept, affordable dipole and bipole surrounds I'll address shortly. may be easier to hide. Models from MB are available from Atlantic Technology, Cambridge SoundWorks, NHT and De- NHT sells two small shielded speak- Quart and NHT that match well with finitive Technology. ers, the Models 1.1 ($380/pair) and 1.3A the satellites mentioned above ring up It is possible to achieve similar ends ($500/pair), that angle the front baffle just $400 to $500. with direct-radiator speakers, like our bookshelf units, by bouncing the output inward to reduce sidewall reflections. A Buying these babies will be easier off the walls and ceiling so you don’t lo- calize on them. Aiming the speakers up- bonus to these speakers is that they are than placing them in a small room. The ward and/or back at the rear corners will create a diffuse soundfield, so only re- timbre-matched to the Model 1.1C cen- corner is tempting, but there boominess flected sound reaches the ears (here’s where smooth off-axis response really ter speaker ($185), one of the best you usually prevails. You may want to start matters). can buy. Its advantage is its design— out there to energize the room’s stand- Mounting surround speakers can be tough. Pivoting brackets distance them that of a two-way bookshelf speaker. ing waves, or room modes, so you can from the wall a bit (a plus) and allow for experimentation. Dolby has recently Like the other products I’ve mentioned, hear what you're dealing with. The ef- recommended mounting the speakers high on the walls to either side of the lis- it may look a little dorky standing up- fect of standing waves, for our purposes, tening position, as you would dipoles, facing each other. If they’re high enough right on a TV, but its radiation pattern is is a non-uniformity of bass sounds at dif- (at least higher than a standing person’s head), and the side walls are reflective, better than that of most horizontally ori- ferent points of the room as a function of this should set up a lateral reverberant field which will be diffuse and will elimi- ented center speakers, the response of the distance between the walls (or the nate the sensation that the sound is coming only from behind you, a problem which roughen off-center. floor and ceiling) relative to the wave- with the other arrangement. MB Quart’s $230 QL CTR is anoth- length of sounds. continued on page 102 er two-way center speaker, said to match Small rooms are especially prone to the small QL Point Five satellites ($300 bad room modes because they're often a pair) as well as larger Quart speakers. cube-shaped (unless they’re long and If you go for floor-standing speakers, narrow, in which case it’s really a hall, check out narrow cabinet designs like and you should pitch in the extra rent those from JBL, a/d/s/ and others. One for a real room and worry about home of the first companies to produce speak- entertainment some other time). In ers for video applications, NHT (once cube-shaped rooms, the room modes be- again) has column loudspeakers with a tween all the opposing walls and the footprint 5.5 inches square. A switch on floor and ceiling occur at the same fre- the front of the $725/pair VT-10 lets you quencies and reinforce each other; the optimize its directivity for movie or mu- closer the room is to a being a cube, the sic sound. worse the problem. Though you cannot redis- tribute sub-bass modes in a room (a common misconcep- tion), you can alter the way the subwoofer couples to the modes — and improve matters — by moving it around. A good starting point is to put the sub where you most want to sit, walk around until you find the smoothest (not the loudest) bass sound, and put the sub in that place. An assistant makes further experimentation easier. Wheth- er you insist on hiding the sub- woofer in a corner or not, an equalizer might be worth the in- Front And Center: MB Quart’s QL CTR center speaker. vestment. Use it to knock the response peaks down; leave the GETTING DOWN dips alone. Check out AudioControl’s I wish there were a formula for the Richter Scale crossover/equalizer diameter or sensitivity of subwoofer ($350). Its six half-octave bands are in needed in a room of a given size, but it’s the bass region only. SEPTEMBER 1994 VIDEO 49
[BY TOM HEALD AOe wyraTCc@ye0BC@0eCH00SC8GD We challenge 20 CONTROL top remote controls to a multi-product @-e@- AUDIO AUK =AUK2 A/V shootout MuTe/ here was a day when remote pD60<--e,00:d REC VNC STOP/| controls were expensive extras “<< that operated only basic func- saO@5:6oEd@oiy:mte1e0s:-o@°@-@-@~ tions. Today remote controls are B0 <dP<_ necessary for almost everything @0@:00-: 0-@- except basic functions, although they'll run those too. Remotes are essential and so numerous they seem to multiply like lem- mings. The top of my TV usu- ally looks like it’s been invaded by small beings. Typically, the only remote not present is the one I happen to need at a particular moment. That one’s invaria- bly disappeared, or playing hide-and- seek under a cushion. I even found a re- mote in my refrigerator one morning, as if it had wandered in looking for a snack after a movie. What's the answer to too many re- motes? Why another remote of course, a universal one able to replace several originals while still satisfying the video- phile’s desire for unlimited access to ev- ery component's full menu of functions. There’s certainly no shortage of univer- sals vying for your attention. We exam- ined 20 models spread across 10 brands — Fox Electronics, Gemini, Gem- star, Jasco, Magnavox, One for All, RCA, Recoton, Sole Control and Sony —to find out which offer the best performance and the best values. In the process, we turned up a few winners and found some room for improvement. The remotes we looked at were uni- versals that come programmed with the device and function codes for virtually all major-brand video and audio compo- nents you're likely to own. They differ from learning remotes in that learners require you to transfer the infrared codes from your own remote, a time- consuming process that doesn’t always work right the first time it’s attempted. The universals we examined were all capable of controlling at least three components. A couple also offer unique features, notably Gemstar’s Control Tower, which can be programmed by new codes over the phone, and Magna- vox’s SmartTalk, which responds to vo- cal instructions. Otherwise, they fall Control Central: Left to right, top: Universal Electron- ic’s One For All VCRPRO8, the One For All 5 Upgradable and Jasco's Control 1 4 Device Big Button; bottom: three Control 1 models, the 6 Device Remote, the VCR Easy and the 8 Device Mega Memory. 50 VIDEO SEPTEMBER 1994
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