Business screen magazine (1946)

EVR Moves from Promise to Reality EVR is here and available now. CBS believes it w/ill emerge and remain as the "dominant if not only (cassette) system of choice." By ROBERT E. BROCKWAY President, CBS EVR Division In its February. 196V issue BusiM ss Sc RiFN covered the first public demonstration of monochrome E\'R at the New York Hilton. The article, titled, "ENR— Promise of the Future?", described the CBS laboratory prototype model seen in action in December. 1968 for the first time. Businf.ss Screen approved — but wound up its summary on EVR with this observation: "There are still many questions to be answered by the potential EVR user, when it becomes available sometime in 1970." The article then asked four questions which I should like to answer now, based on what has taken place in these intervening months. Question #1: FVR qualit> is \en Kood. hul is it better than \ TR quality? Comparing all the demonstrated as well as announced target standards in this new video field, only one system can deliver 625 lines of horizontal resolution. EVR. Only EVR. printed on actual film, protected from handling and wear in its hard round container, has chalked up actual performance records of 1.500 repeat plays with no appreciable wear. Is FVR qualitv as good as VTR' Its image quality surpasses all VTR's here seen to date except perhaps TV studio equipment in the $75-$ 1 00.000 price range, operated by professionals. Question #2: Which will he llie most convenient? Ue are confident thai F.VR will prove to be the most convenient system for millions who will embrace pre-recorded video for cultural pursuits, for training and education, for instructions in everything from golf to how to install and oper ate niodern appliances, and tor entertainment and enrichment of every kind, displayed on their television sets at times they choose. Convenience begins with ease of acquiring cartridges, either by rental or purchase. Convenience requires ease of operation. EVR will be available wherever people shop; also in public and private libraries. in theatre lobbies, record shops, through cartridge clubs and probably super markets. Ease of installation? EVR hooks up to the antenna terminals of any television set. You can use a dime as your screwdriver. Question #3: Which >vill be ultimately cheaper? Our firm conviction, based on electronic realities, is that EVR players, when they are built into television sets, will leave all other hardware well behind in cost. On software prices, there are several answers. EVR becomes economically viable, both for the CBS Electronic Video Recording Division to process and for customers, at fifty duplications. ,.\t that number and higher, combined economy and quality will favor FVR by a wide margin. EVR being highly price-volume sensitive, the more cartridges needed, the lower the per cartridge cost. People who require only one copy, or a few. will find greater economy in a \'\R. In the same way. those who need to record their own product for immediate playback will turn to V'IR. I-VR is interested exclusively in high quality prerecorded viileo applications. Question #4: Present videotape reeordinc ei(ui|»iueiit is inipri»ing sleadilv and will undoubtedly Ik letter in 197(1 (when INK is comnureially available) than it Is todav. How will the two compare then? Like \1 R. I A K |,;is als,. hcen in continuous development over the last year and a half. By gain ing a full year on the original timetable for introduction of color F\R, EVR chalked up developmental progress more dramatic by far than any technological advances re\ealed in VTR. Continuous research and development will keep E\'R the quality leader and make it increasingly, not decreasingly, the economy leader. After posing these four questions, Bi'siMss ScRFEN summcd up with the observation, "As of this vvriting (February, 1969). F\R appears to have several inherent adxaiila^es, hul its ultimate success or failure rests in the hands of the potential users of the svstem. v^hether their use Ik for business, co^ernnient. education or home. The> are the ones who will have to decide if EVR will do the job thev want it to better and or cheaper than whatever else is available." A progress report on this subject is very much in order. When Bi'siNESS Screen went to press with its February. 1969 issue, we had announced only a single EVR customer. Bi'siness Screen well wondered what additional reception FVR would have in the marketplace. The following month The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the I'nited States announced that its training and conmiunications programs would go on E\R cartridges, and that 1.200 telepla.vers had been ordered from .Motorola. .Across the country, a wide variety of commitments to EVR began coming in. signed contracts covering many educational and industrial training applications. Notable among them has been an ambitious new educational program created by Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, eventually intended to instruct and enrich all ages from pre-schoolers to the aged. The University of California. Los .Angeles decided to convert Ci>urses in small business administration to FVR. While all this has been happening, the l-\R Partnership ( 50^^ ens. .^0', Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd.. 20'r CIBA Ltd.), based in London, announced and progressed hanlware anil software agreements affecting Ihe Cnited BUSINESS SCREEN