Camcorder Manufacturers Think Smaller and Smaller : Technology: Sony had a hit with its 8-millimeter model last year. Other companies are offering their own versions.
The war among the compact camcorders is intensifying. They keep getting smaller and lighter.
Product announcements at the Consumers Electronics Show, held here this week, indicate that the VHS-C camcorder (the compact version of VHS) is gearing up to offer a stronger challenge to the other mini-videotape format, 8-millimeter.
At the convention a year ago, Sony made a big hit with its 8mm CCD-TR5 model, then the world’s smallest camcorder, which weighs just under two pounds. It was such a big hit--despite criticisms about its autofocus system and the clarity of its picture--that other companies figured they had to offer pint-sized camcorders to stay competitive.
These new compact camcorders, many of which can fit into the palm of your hand,are due in the fall for prices ranging between $1,000 and $1,200:
* Sony, which dominates the 8mm market, announced a new CCD-TR4 model, which weighs just one pounds, nine ounces (4 3/8 W x 4 1/8 H x 6 5/8 D-inches).
* JVC is billing the GR-AXU, a VHS-C unit, as the world’s smallest and lightest VHS-C camcorder, weighing in at one pound, ten ounces.
* Panasonic announced three VHS-C “palmcorders,” all about one pound, eleven ounces.
The camcorder market is split roughly this way among the three formats: 57% for full-size VHS units (which weigh 5 to 6 pounds and employ the same size cassettes used in home-video rentals and sales), 33% for 8mm and 10% for VHS-C.
Two other new products are designed to ease two of the inconveniences of the VHS-C format--an extended play tape and a VHS videocassette player that doesn’t require an adapter to play the smaller VHS-C cassettes.
VHS-C blank tapes usually offer just 20 minutes of playing time in the SP mode--the fastest speed that results in the highest quality picture. A new JVC tape extends the recording time to 30 minutes in the SP mode and 90 minutes in the EP (slowest speed) mode. Reportedly due by the end of the year: blank tapes that extend the EP playing time to two hours.
The other aggravation of the VHS-C format is having to put the tape into an adapter to play on a standard VHS VCR. JVC is marketing a VCR that plays all four VHS formats--VHS, super VHS, VHS-C and super VHS-C. Its price, though, is steep--$1,200.
On the CD/laserdisc scene, Pioneer created quite a stir with the announcement of its new CD-980 combi-unit, which plays all laserdiscs and all sized CDs. The big news about this machine, due in September, is its price, $500, which means it will be discounted to under $400, which is several hundred dollars less than most combi-units.
Since you can already find CD-only players discounted down to $100, the attraction of the CD-980 is that it’s the cheapest laserdisc player on the market.
“It’s a very basic unit, without a lot of fancy features,” explained Mike Fidler, Pioneer’s senior marketing vice president. The lower price makes “the laserdisc market more accessible to the average consumer and to younger consumers,” he said.
Pioneer is still the major player in the expanding combi-player market. “Last year there were seven companies in the market,” Fidler said. “Now there are fifteen.”
The laserdisc market needs a hardware boost. The disc’s primary edge over videotape--far superior sound and picture--hasn’t been enough to compensate for its major drawback--lack of a recordable disc. Also, the fact that laserdiscs are rarely available for rent makes them less attractive to the average fan.
Other new products on display here:
* The dual-deck VCR. Known as VCR-2, the double-welled deck that Go Video has been promising for the last two years is finally coming to stores at the end of the month, at $995. In addition to standard VCR functions, it includes two wells--one for a blank tape and another for a prerecorded tape--making it possible to copy a videotape using just this one deck. In the past, two decks were needed to copy a tape.
* The CD turntable. From Sanyo/Fisher, this is a combination CD changer and turntable, available in stores now for $300. In addition to playing albums, it’s also a top-loading, five-disc carousel unit. This is for music fans with big album collections who also want a fancy, multi-disc, CD changer.
* The Nintendo piano teacher. So far the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) has been basically for fun and games for children--mainly boys between the ages of 7 and 14. But Software Toolworks has developed a piano instruction program for the system. Called the Miracle and geared to all ages, it includes a cartridge and an electronic keyboard. It’s due in September at $300.
* The electronic encyclopedia. This paperback-sized unit, including a keyboard and a small screen, computerizes the 920-page Concise Columbia Encyclopedia. Type in key words (a spelling corrector and a thesaurus are built in) and exhaustively cross-referenced information appears on screen in a second. It’s due late in the year at $300. By then, rival SelecTronics Inc. plans to have a $400 electronic version of the Random House Encyclopedia on the market.
* CD/laserdisc cleaner. This $14.99 kit, due in July from Memorex, removes scratches from CDs and laserdiscs. The demonstration at the exhibit was impressive.
* Double-coated videotape. Fuji unveiled its exclusive line of double-coated videotapes, which reportedly enhances both audio and video reproduction--and increases audio/video quality in the EP (slowest speed) mode, where sound and picture are generally of the lowest quality.