Second Wave of CD-Video Discs to Arrive

CD-Video isn’t a mirage after all.

For more than a year, technophiles and music fans have wondered what happened to this new format, which combines the sound of compact discs with the visuals of laser disc. CD-Video was announced with a big splash at the 1987 Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. And CD-V discs were supposed to hit record stores that fall. It didn’t happen.

Finally, though, a trickle of CD-Vs from PolyGram and Warner Bros. made the stores in late June. Now PolyGram has announced that it will follow up with an impressive second wave of discs in mid-September--including both 5-inch pop music CD-Vs and 12-inch classical music releases. MCA and A&M; are also expected to debut their entries around that time.

But why the delay? “There were technical difficulties on the mastering and replication side,” said Emiel Petrone, executive vice president of marketing at PolyGram. “But those things have been rectified, and now several companies in the United States and Japan are capable of manufacturing the discs.”

So more CD-Vs are coming, but will the public want them? The most typical CD-V format is a 5-inch disc that plays approximately 25 minutes of music and five minutes of video. There’s been a lot of skepticism in the music industry over whether people will buy the discs--and the equipment needed to play them. CD-V “combi-players” that handle everything from 3-inch mini-CDs to 5-, 8- and 12-inch CD-Vs, as well as regular CDs and laser discs, sell for $500 up. However, a renewal of interest in laser discs has encouraged CD-V supporters.

For those who haven’t seen CD-Video yet, PolyGram has supplied about 200 retailers across the country with demonstration players. In the Los Angeles area, Tower Records on the Sunset Strip has had one of these players for about two weeks, while Music Plus marketing executive Mitch Perliss says his company will install four players in about a week--probably at stores in Hollywood (on Vine Street), Marina Del Rey, Studio City and Pasadena.

For consumers who already have players, here’s a partial list of the CD-Vs PolyGram plans to release in September:

Five-inch--John Cougar Mellencamp’s “Check It Out,” Cinderella’s “Gypsy Road,” Moody Blues’ “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere,” Vanessa Williams’ “The Right Stuff,” Yngwie Malmsteen’s “Heaven Tonight,” Kingdom Come’s “What Love Can Be.”

Eight-inch--Kiss’ “Crazy Nights.”

Twelve-inch--Fifteen classical releases plus pop CD-Vs by the Who, Def Leppard and Tina Turner.