Vegas Electronics Show Includes Wide-Screen TV : Consumers: Futuristic TV through goggles and an electronic checkbook also on display.
The annual Consumer Electronics Show, a four-day affair that ended here Sunday, showcased more unusual products than usual, including the first wide-screen TV, a TV viewed through goggles and an electronic checkbook.
The wide-screen TV, featuring a rectangular screen in a 16-to-9 ratio that is more like a movie screen, is due to be introduced this year, priced in the $4,000-$5,000 range. RCA and Sharp will be offering picture-tube sets while Panasonic will market a 50-inch rear-projection model.
The wide-screen is billed as an improvement over the standard TV screen that is nearly square, but it looks more impressive than it really is. Normal TV pictures initially appear square, with black bands on the side. The picture can then be enlarged to fill the rectangular screen, but in doing so part of the image at the top and bottom is lost and, overall, the picture is somewhat distorted.
Even when using a movie that has been letterboxed on laserdisc--a technique that employs black borders at the top and bottom of the screen to present the film in its theatrical, rectangular format--the picture gets clipped and distorted slightly in making it fit the wide-screen TV.
What are the chances of the wide-screen TV catching on with the American public?
“Nil,” said a candid representative of Goldstar, which will market such sets in Korea but not in the United States this year. “It’s too expensive for what you’re getting, which is just a different-shaped screen that also cuts off the picture.”
Then why bother? “The whole point of the wide-screen TVs is to get the people used to a rectangular screen,” he said, “which we’ll all be watching one day when (high-definition television) finally gets here. The wide-screen TV is just a transition item.”
Easily the most fascinating new gadget at the convention was the projection-TV goggles, due in April for $1,000 from Virtual Vision. Wearing these 5-ounce, sporty sunglasses, which are hooked up to a small TV tuner, you can see a picture as big as 60 inches floating in the distance, about 10-15 feet away.
The technology is called virtual imaging, and it uses an optical focusing system and a mirror. With a rechargeable battery pack, you can get about 10 hours of TV viewing.
The model at the exhibit didn’t have earphones, so visitors couldn’t judge the sound, but the picture was impressive. Since the “screen” occupies only part of your vision, you can see your surroundings quite well wearing the goggles.
The drawback could be the reception, which is notoriously bad on the little liquid crystal display TVs that are used.
Other interesting products:
* The calculator/checkbook printer. Panasonic’s KX-RC100, roughly the size of a checkbook, prints out checks and balances two checking accounts. Due in February at $350.
* Clock radios. Among part of Memorex’s new line of clock radios, most due in the spring, is one that features a CD player, allowing you to awake to the CD of your choice. Price: $170. Most impressive, though, is the CR3780, which has an instant weather button that you press to get local weather reports. Price: $40.
* Mini audio systems. Also from Memorex, the MD7400, a system that features a CD player, a dual cassette deck and a turntable, for those who still play albums. Available now at $300.
* Dual decks VCRs. Go Video dominates this market, offering two VCRs in one deck--an ideal unit for copying tapes. The product hasn’t caught on, partly because Go Video decks have been two-headed, mono units. But in six weeks, Go will introduce a four-headed, stereo model for $900.
Audio Debate: One of the hottest topics of debate was on which of the new digital formats--the digital compact disc (DCC) and the MiniDisc (MD)--would capture the consumer’s fancy and whether either will have a chance against the compact disc (CD).
Two dozen retailers surveyed here expressed caution about the formats. Launched late last year, both have struggled, in part because of the prices (MD, about $600-$800; DCC, roughly $800-$1,000). When the price comes down to less than $400, people might take a chance, the retailers said.
Most seemed to give the MiniDisc the inside track, because it’s a unique portable and may become affordable to the masses much quicker.
Right now Sony dominates the MD market, offering both play-only and play-record models. Sanyo and Sharp were among the companies that showed off play-only units here; they’re due out this year.
