New Products Create a Buzz at Show : Manufacturers hope to attract buyers with gizmos ranging from a commercial eliminator for TV taping to units that handle 8mm and VHS tapes at the same time.
At the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, new audio-video products were showcased that the industry is still buzzing about. Most were just introduced in the past few months or will debut this year:
* The commercial eliminator: Tired of fast-forwarding through commercials when you tape a TV show? Eliminate that headache with this pain reliever. Hook it up to your VCR (it’s compatible with all brands), tape the show and when you play it back . . . presto!--no commercials. Called the Commercial Brake Model 1000--because it’s shaped like a brake--the demonstration of this machine was very impressive. Costing about as much as a basic VCR, $200, it’s due in April from Arista Technologies Inc.
* Casio’s TV-clock-radio combo: The AV-100, a great gadget for the gadget-oriented, features a digital clock and a 2.5-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) color TV screen. The most fascinating feature is the full-month calender, which shows up on the screen at the push of a button. It’s available in June for $300.
* This will be the year that the 8mm/VHS decks finally arrive. These are dual-well units that accommodate both 8mm and VHS tapes at the same time, allowing you to edit 8mm camcorder tapes onto VHS cassettes for playback on standard VCRs. There’s a patent squabble going on, but now it looks as if Goldstar may introduce a unit in April and Go-Video--the chief dual-deck company--will launch one in the second half of the year. Prices aren’t available yet but they’ll probably be expensive--costing at least $700.
* In portable audio, Sony has a new MiniDisc player/recorder, the MZ-R2, that’s smaller and lighter (11 ounces) than any on the market. Battery life in the playback mode has increased to 2.5 hours. The MiniDisc (small recordable CD) format has yet to click with consumers. Since MiniDisc is geared to the portables market, Sony hopes this ultra-light unit will be more attractive to buyers.
* More companies are introducing headphone CD units this year equipped with anti-shock systems like those in MiniDisc players. With the anti-shock buffers, you won’t get as many interruptions in the music. Kenwood has three of these units and Panasonic is marketing two. This extra feature won’t be a huge extra expense. The prices of the new units--in the $200-$300 range--aren’t much different from portables already on the market.
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Earthquake Tapes: Don’t go to your video store looking for instructional tapes about quake survival and preparedness. In a spot check of 20 stores around the Southland, none had any in stock. It’s not that they were checked out--they were never stocked in the first place.
But don’t blame the retailers. They stock what rents and sells--which is movies, not instructional tapes. Small stores in particular have less room for tapes that generate little consumer interest.
The other problem is that are no new, high-profile, high-quality tapes from major companies about quake survival and preparedness. It’s time for one of the big companies to market such a tape. With Californians anxious about the next big one, the tape would be a big hit.
What’s New on Video
“Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday” (New Line, no set price). The final Jason flick? We should be so lucky. This homicidal maniac is seemingly bumped off but keeps coming back to life so he can orchestrate those gross gore-fests--massacring teens at Crystal Lake--that delight horror fans. Each film rates higher on the gore-meter. Can’t wait for “Jason 20.”
“Blood In . . . Blood Out: Bound by Honor” (Hollywood, no set price). Unfairly downgraded by many as “Boyz in the East L.A. Hood,” director Taylor Hackford’s sprawling movie is a gritty probe of the underbelly of Chicano culture, following three cousins raised as brothers from the early ‘70s to the early ‘80s. Yes, it’s too long (three hours) and too obviously borrows from classic gangster movies, but it’s fairly well-acted (by talented unknowns) and features some riveting moments--particularly the prison scenes.
Upcoming
Just announced: Hollywood’s “The Joy Luck Club” is due March 30.
Also: “Rookie of the Year,” “Hard Target,” “The Coneheads” and “Last Action Hero” (Wednesday); “Poetic Justice,” “Kalifornia” and “Indochine” (Feb. 2); “In the Line of Fire,” “The Meteor Man,” “Amongst Friends” and “That Night” (Feb. 9); “The Secret Garden” (Feb. 15); “Man Without a Face” and “The Program” (Feb. 16); “For Love or Money,” “Son of the Pink Panther,” “Dazed and Confused,” “Son-in-Law,” “Needful Things,” “Strictly Ballroom” and “Boxing Helena” (Feb. 23); “Much Ado About Nothing,” “The Good Son” and “Striking Distance” (March 2); “The Fox and the Hound” (March 4); “Manhattan Murder Mystery,” “Judgment Night” and “So I Married an Axe Murderer” (March 9); “Gettysburg” (March 16); “The Fugitive” (March 22); “Fatal Instinct” (March 23); “Malice” (April 13).
