In Brief : Sony Claims Better Videotape

Japan’s Sony Corp. today announced video equipment that uses 8-millimeter tape but has the same sharpness as the bigger Super VHS format.

Sony said the new EV-S900 video tape recorder will be priced at $1,850 and the CCD-V900 combined camera-recorder at $1,880. Both will be available in Japan in April and in the United States in May or June, it said. Release in Europe is planned for later in the year.

As with Super VHS, new 8-mm. Hi-Band equipment can record and play back older 8-mm. tapes, but without an improvement in picture quality. However, old equipment cannot play tapes made with the new systems.

The 8-mm. Hi-Band equipment uses tapes made with a newly developed process. The tapes will have a list price of $21 for a 120-minute tape, or about twice the price of current 8-mm. tapes, Sony said.