Community Video Report (Autumn 1974)

By Ray Popkin More Complete Color Systems While we have been seeing numerous portable color cameras and systems at trade shows the number actually available has been small. Finally some companies are actually filling orders and systems are reaching the streets. The two systems most readily available are the Akai quarter inch system and the JVC half inch system. Orders for the Sony three quarter inch portable cassette recorder are being filled but there are delays in delivery on their lowest priced color Trinicon camera. The latest and most amazingly priced addition to the color scene is the Concord color camera priced at $1,995.00 with an optical viewfinder and $2,244.00 with an electronic viewfinder. Add another $240 for a 5:1 zoon lens. A complete package with camera, power supply, Vtr (model 460C which is the same as the Panasonic 3082 porta-pak manufactured by Matsushita) and carrying case is about $4,500. That would make this system about the cheapest on the market. We have seen the camera only under ideal conditions and found the picture to be of good quality, especially as compared to other cameras at the same show. (We have heard that the camera has the same Trinacon tube that is in the Sony camera which is the best of the inexpensive color camera tubes but as yet this is unsubstantiated). The camera is manufactured by Toshiba of Japan. CTL electronics of New York is developing ‘a package combining the Magnavox color camera and the Sony 8400 color porta-pak. They plan to mount all the Vtr controls on the camera itself to provide for remote operation and a digital footage counter in the viewfinder so that the camera operator will know how much tape has been shot. Panasonic Updates Systems The latest entry to the color market is slated to be the Panasonic portable camera being shown at the NAEB conference in Las Vegas. In the meantime they have already started marketing their updated porta-pak model 3085 which is replacing the 3082. The innards of both the camera and the Vtr are about the same as the old one except they have eliminated the motor noise problems which were previously one of the main drawbacks of the system. They have also changed some of the power circuitry so that battery life is now one hour instead of 45 minutes. Other changes include a sturdier case, uhf output connector for video so that you can monitor the picture while recording without having to use the RF, an improved battery meter and pause control on the deck which allows you to freeze the picture. One Panasonic area rep claims that the new color camera can be plugged directly into the deck without going through a color adaptor. We have also heard that Panasonic’s updated editing deck will also be previewed in Las Vegas. When buying color equipment a lot more caré should be taken than with black and white equipment. For one thing color pick “up tubes do not respond to changes in light as rapidly as black and white tubes, thus when panning from areas of different light levels picture quality can fluctuate rapidly or look as if it is smearing. Another consideration is the range of operating temperatures for the cameras, example the Panasonic por table black and white camera will operate: down to 14 degrees while the new Concord camera will only operate down to 32 degrees. The best thing to do is carefully compare the specifications, make sure you try any camera you plan to buy outdoors and ask several peo hardware notes ple who are already using various cameras. For feedback on the Sony and JVC systems, as well as technical problems with porta-paks and time base correction, see the TVTV article in this issue, Consumer Market Headaches The next Alka Seltzer commercials should show someone trying to figure out what’s happening in the consumer video market. Rumors are more rampant than fact, and facts seem to turn out not to be facts after all. For three years’ various manufacturers have been promising to come out with consumer video systems, most of them have never appeared. Those that have come out have met with marketing disasters. Problems seem to be lack of software available to complement systems, incompatability problems, technical failures and low consumer demand. The first system to appear in the United States, Cartravision, after many delays, appeared in time for last year’s Christmas rush and did poorly in sales. However manufacturers seem to be heartened by recent consumer sales in Japan and it seems many manufacturers are gearing up for the consumer market. In fact many people are claiming that the reason production equipment is so slow coming into this country from such manufacturers as Sony is because they are tooling up for the consumer market and placing less emphasis on institutional users. There are two major technologies in the consumer market, Video cassette and video disc. Some Disc manufacturers claim they -will hit the market in late ’75 but this is very doubtful. Cassette manufacturers claim they will also hit the market soon and this is _more likely. It is also ae that many of the cassette formats will t 1¢ ngcables C derabdle — peObleris. The Cassette Market It seemed to us all that the thrust of the whole cassette business was going to be three-quarter inch, the joke may be on us. It now seems that most of the new systems aimed at the consumer will be half inch. Leading the way will be believe it or not Sony with a system branded by rumor the SLX series, coming out in summer °75 and being marketed by RCA. This is surprising because RCA _ has been putting out brochures on its own home entertainment system, called Selectrovision. Supposedly RCA was going to push their system combined with a big software package some time this winter. The light-weight hand held camera that goes with the system has been in evidence but we have not seen the player. Several other companies have been marketing cassette machines on a trial basis in Japan and intend to bring them into the U.S. market right away. Mitsubishi will soon be marketing its half inch eiaj standard cartridge machine under the name Melvision through Melco Sales, Inc., Los Angeles; prices will be 12-1400 dollars. Toshiba has introduced a 4 inch color cassette entertainment system in Japan that includes the color camera being marketed here by Concord. The Toshiba system will use a tape transport system-similar to that in the Sanyo cassette machine so that cartridges might be interchangeable. Hitachi and Matsushita already have half inch cassette machines on the market. While all of these machines use the eiaj format, the cassettes themselves, will not necessarily be compatible, that is they might come in different shapes or sizes or have different loading mechanisms. To further complicate things Norelco is marketing a cassette machine which does not use the eiaj format but the Phillips European VCR format. While this machine has done poorly on the institutional market it will probably be placed on the consumer market soon. Norelco has a small 3 lb. black and white camera to go with the system. Thus witht catravision also employing a completely different system we might well have a com-_ patability catastrophe. At any rate we can a expect to see all these new system as well as the systems which have been around, advertised in consumer publications soon. One is being advertised on the T.V. magazine carried by the Washington Post right now. In the literature for the new Panasonic 3085, “home recording of family” is listed as one of its many uses. One big question that sticks in my mind is, who is the world is going to repair all this stuff, it’s almost impossible to get anything repaired now. Video » Magnetic Heads Urethane |. Coated Capsta The Video Disk On the disc scene despite announcements that some systems will be out soon it is doubtful that anything significant will happen in the next year. One of the major contendors MCA-Phillips claims it will start mass producing its machines in 1975, but this is unlikely. The most interesting thing about the disc market is the alliances that are shaping up between companies. American owned MCA has joined efforts with Dutch company Phillips, and Phillips is trying to buy Magnavox. MCA owns eleven ‘and Magnavox has both the color camera and a good domestic marketing apparatus in the U.S. British Decca (the record people) have combined with Telefunken to form TelDec which is pushing a system called Teds. Zenith is working separately but in cooperation with CSF Thompson a French company, on yet another system. The companies which are combining hardware and ‘software cababilities have commanding lead in the market as they can control format by releasing materials in their own formats and ‘also because they will reap profits from both ends of the business. Also these companies will control timing as companies without software will not market systems until software is on the market. Basically there are three types of disc technologies which are magnetic, capacitance and laser. Let’s divide the manufacturers into categories and look at what is happening under each. Magnetic: Currently only one company has demonstrated a magnetic system, BogenRabe which calls it MDR for magnetic disc recording. Inventor Eric Rabe converted a standard Dual turntable so that it could handle both video discs and standard LPs. The turntable speed had to be increased to 150 rpm and a whole new stylus and cartridge system installed. Senses magnetic impulses. With this system you can erase programming and re-record, price will be about $400. thousand software titles, Phillips is in the best position to manufacture the machines Capacitance: (RCA, TELDAC) In a capacitonal machine the implement which picks up the information makes direct contact with the disc. This can cause problems with dust and other surface noise. RCA is considered one of the most advanced in disc technology and may have one of the first systems on the market. RCA claims that their technology is simpler and less expensive than laser technology and therefore will allow them to come on the market with a cheaper machine. The TelDec machine was originally supposed to be launched some time-ago but problems cropped up in mass producing acceptable quality discs and in bringing the picture produced by the machine up to par. Many feel that the TelDec system will never be launched because of the fact that laser system manufacturers are going to standardize their systems on a laser format, and because of the investment capital needed for full scale marketing. Laser Systems. (MCA-Phillips, Zenith, Matsushita, CSF Thompson, Robert Bosch, 1/O Metrics, Syndor Barnett.) These systems, with the exception of Matsushita’s, use laser beams to read the signals encoded on the discs. All the systems use laser technology to transcribe the discs in the first place. The most advanced are MCA-Phillips which claims their system will be out soon and CSF Thompson, a French company, . says it will go as soon as it gets support from another. company. (Zenith has been cooperating with CSF leading to speculation that they might combine efforts.) The latest breakthrough in the laser system market is that CSF Thompson has developed a solid state laser circuit that. will greatly bring down the cost of manufacturing the machines. Another encouraging development is that CSF Thompson, Zenith, and Phillips are reportedly hammering out agreements to standardize their discs. This might give these companies an edge. One problem remains, in the United States all fifty states have laws regulating home use of lasers and it will probably take an act of Congress to allow for the use of these systems. Matsushita on the other hand developed a a reader to read the < discs, thus making it the only one of these systems which currently complies with the law. It’s a tight race at this point and impossible to predict which system will come out on top. Early purchasers will probably suffer some knocks with systems appearing and then disappearing in much the same way portable video formats came and went. The safest systems for now would be cassette machines put out by manufacturers such as Sony and Panasonic but they will cost more than discs will in the future. Best bet would be not to buy anything for a good four _ years. C.T.L. 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