NEW MACHINES : SUPER-VHS SOON ENLISTS IN THE VIDEO WAR

The battle between all those confusing video formats is as good as over. Look out, 8-millimeter. Beware, Beta. Super -VHS is here.

Well, almost here. The new VHS system is on its way, promises the Victor Company of Japan (JVC). Now VCR owners will have to figure out whether to cheer or weep at the announcement.

The good news . . . .

If Super-VHS (S-VHS) lives up to JVC’s boasts, it should end widespread aggravation over the quality of VHS recording. Even with the new HQ (high quality) circuits, current VHS machines provide images that many viewers find too grainy--and the quality deteriorates quickly when copies are made or when slower taping speeds are used. The “Super” machine, using a one-half-inch tape like conventional VHS machines, is supposed to deliver a taped picture “comparable to that of one-inch, broadcast-use video tape recorders.” It provides “more than 400 lines of resolution,” compared to the 240 lines on current VHS decks.

The bad news . . .

The development of Super-VHS means that anyone who wants the best possible video equipment will probably have to invest in yet another VCR--one that is almost sure to cost even more than the current high-price models.

Despite its announcement, JVC is being a bit cagey about Super-VHS details. Officials at the company’s U.S. headquarters would not comment on the development. However, The Times reached a Japanese spokesman at JVC’s Tokyo headquarters, and he confirmed that a demonstration of a prototype machine took place in Tokyo on Jan. 8.

“We are hoping to market the Super-VHS system in Japan by early summer,” said Masayuki Marakami, a public relations executive. The new machines and tape should be selling in the United States “not long after,” but Marakami would not pinpoint whether this was likely to be sometime this year.

“There are still many things to be studied and many points that cannot be disclosed,” Marakami noted. Though he would not provide details, there are indications that one thing to be worked out is a problem of compatibility with conventional VHS decks.

As of now, according to the trade publication Video Newsletter, existing VHS machines cannot play back cassettes recorded on a Super-VHS deck. The prototype Super-VHS machine has a switch making it possible to record in either the new format or the conventional one, and the new deck will play tapes recorded on current VHS models.

Murakami informed The Times that cassettes for the Super-VHS system use an “improved oxide magnetic material.” However, this new tape is “similar to that widely used” now and will work in conventional VHS machines when it appears.

The JVC spokesman also pointed out that the new system will be a special boon for owners of big screens, where more increased lines of resolution are most appreciated.

Potentially revolutionary, Super-VHS could deliver not only a terrific picture but also a decisive blow to chief JVC rival Sony, developer of 8mm and Beta. Murakami indicated that when Super-VHS is marketed, it will come in a wave of new equipment from the companies that JVC licenses for the VHS format. Super-VHS, he said, “is currently being studied in cooperation with” major Japanese manufacturers Hitachi, Matsushita, Mitsubishi and Sharp.

A Sony spokesman said that the company had nothing to say yet on the new JVC system. “We haven’t received enough information to comment,” said Koh Shinigu, manager of corporate communications. “Sony, of course, is also working on ways to improve picture quality. And we feel that it’s important that such developments offer compatibility with current formats.”

JVC has already overwhelmed Sony’s Beta format: Soon after Sony introduced an improved Beta format, SuperBeta, JVC installed a similar improvement, HQ, on its new VHS equipment. Then, when Sony began to market camcorders in its new 8mm format (predicting that small and lightweight 8mm would eventually overtake VHS as the dominant video system), JVC marketed its own reduced-size VHS-C (compact) camcorders.

Now Super-VHS seems to have the secret weapon to really attack Sony’s plans--and discourage potential competitors like Samsung, which plans to market a 4mm system late this year or in early ’88.

That is, unless one of those competitors comes up with its own Super- duper format. And that’s not at all unlikely in the topsy-turvy video world. In any case, the video-ized public had better prepare itself for more dizzying spins.

Progress, the video industry might say, is our most confusing product.