Sony Unveils Its Video Walkman

Sony Corp., one of the world’s most innovative electronics companies, Tuesday unveiled the video Walkman--a combination video recorder and television about the size of a fat paperback book.

The machine is equipped with a three-inch liquid crystal display, or LCD, screen and an eight-millimeter videotape recorder that the company is still fighting to establish as the standard mini-videocassette format.

Sony introduced the audio Walkman in 1979 and has sold more than 35 million, the spokesman said.

Commuters Targeted

The 2.4-pound machine, designated the GV-8, will be sold in Japan for 128,000 yen ($1,000) beginning Aug. 21 and in the United States and Canada by year-end, although prices have not been set. Sales in Europe will follow.

A spokesman said commuters in cars and on trains are seen as the main customers for the GV-8.

Sony also hopes the machine will spur sales of video magazines and help popularize the company’s format, which competes with the VHS-C compact system developed by Japanese competitor JVC, he said.

One cassette, slightly larger than a conventional audiocassette, can play for up to four hours. A set of rechargeable batteries lasts about one hour and 40 minutes.

Sony Corp. also unveiled its first VHS-format videocassette recorders, virtually putting an end to the “video war” between Sony’s Beta format and the rival VHS.

The VHS format, developed by JVC, has become the dominant video format worldwide, beating out Sony’s Betamax models.