Vhs C

Remember that old VHS-Beta format feud? Whatever your preference in VCRs, the debate made for lively video discussions. And the competition among manufacturers certainly played a part in sending prices to affordable levels in short order. JVC and other VHS adherents were the undisputed victors in the VCR wars, but now they're in another battle with Beta inventor Sony. This one involves camcorders, specifically the miniformats of Compact VHS (VHS-C) and 8mm, which are in turn in competition with full-size VHS camcorders.

Until this year, a special adaptor was required to play a compact VHS (a/k/ a VHS-C) tape in a standard VHS deck. No longer. Panasonic and JVC are now introducing "fully compatible" VCRs, capable of playing and recording in both the standard VHS and VHS-C formats. Inserting a cigarette-packed sized C tape into an adaptor and then stuffing that piece into the mouth of a VHS deck never struck this gadget lover as a big deal. But developers of the shrunk-down VHS format - JVC and its parent company Matsushita (a/k/a Panasonic/Quasar)

Video culture reigned in a big way at the just-concluded Summer Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. If you had taken all the television sets out of the cavernous McCormick convention center, 25,000 visitors (about half the house) would have been left scratching their heads, wondering what to do. All the sleek new laservideo disc players (from a growing hoard of makers) would have had no way to show off striking, widescreen and digital sound renderings of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Shopping for a camcorder this holiday season, to capture and replay home video memories of the family? The good news is that this $900-$1,500 product is one of the few hot consumer electronic commodities in ample supply - unlike TVs, VCRs and telephones, which some retailers believe are being "rationed" by manufacturers to jack up prices. The bad news is that salespeople do not always give you the straight scoop on camcorders. As I discovered recently on an undercover shopping spree through Philadelphia stores with a 10-year-old accomplice, customers are being steered away from several varieties of camcorders for reasons good, bad or indifferent.

After eight years of promoting the compact version of VHS known as VHS-C, JVC has the ultimate answer to the biggest complaint concerning its mini- format videotape. It's offering a VCR that can accept both standard size and compact videocassettes without the aid of an adapter. The difficulty - more perceived than real - of slipping the tiny cassette into a holder before inserting it in a VCR kept many consumers from appreciating VHS-C. Its size was touted, for example, as making it easier to mail home videos to distant relatives.

In the near future, your home-made videos will look much more realistic - if you shoot them with a stereoscopic camcorder. Just imagine the possibilities: "Mom's 3-D House of Thanksgiving Dinner!" "A Visit To the Dentist - 3-D" (a.k.a. "Jaws, Part XVIII"). And how about "Jim and Mary's Wedding Reception - Featuring 3-D Cake Smearing and Rice Toss. " Duck! Splat! Ugh! Like Count Floyd says on SCTV, "Ooooooh, that's scary stuff. " Inspiring such visions is news of the world's first VHS-C format camcorder designed for easy shooting of three-dimensional pictures.

If you're in the market for a camcorder this summer, you may have seen the ads: Recent reductions from major manufacturers such as Panasonic and JVC are bringing advertised prices for some full-size and Compact VHS (VHS-C) camcorders below $800. This price level traditionally has been the domain of the "point-and- shoot" style of video camera, characterized by small lenses, plastic housing, optical viewfinders, limited focusing ability and lack of an in- camera playback feature.

Three years after introducing the first 8mm video equipment, Eastman Kodak is dumping its inventory and leaving the battle of the camcorder formats to Japanese manufacturers. Kodak's entire stock of video hardware is being liquidated through Ritz Camera, a Baltimore-based retailer and mail-order marketer with stores in Philadelphia. A recent Ritz advertisment offered Kodak's deluxe, $3,000 list 8mm Modular Video System - including an auto-focus camera head, stereo deck with PCM digital recording capability, tuner-timer and accessories - for $889.

The VHS-owning public has every right to be pleased with the single-unit camera-recorders now available in their format. Two years after Sony Corp. showed that a Beta cassette and recording mechanism could be contained in a video camera's body, the VHS group has answered in kind, and the big brand names in VHS are elbowing their way through a field already crowded with competition. Camcorders are being sold by Panasonic, RCA, Quasar, Hitachi, Sylvania, Philco, Minolta, GE, Magnavox and many others.

We really didn't expect the manufacturers of VHS videocassette recorders to sit back and watch the 8mm camp steal all the personal video thunder, did we? On the eve of introduction for Sony's 8mm Video Walkman - a perfectly charming, 2 1/2-pound, AC- or battery-powered VCR recorder with flip-up 3-inch color liquid crystal display screen - the folks at Matsushita (Panasonic/ Technics/Quasar to us) have unveiled an amazingly similar product that uses almost-as-tiny VHS-C cassettes.

The laurels earned by Schindler's List have renewed interest in the 1978 TV mini-series Holocaust, which was first released on video six years ago. The 7 1/2-hour program about Hitler's rise and the persecution of the Jews was extremely successful. It won eight Emmy Awards and gave impetus to the careers of Meryl Streep, James Woods and Michael Moriarty. Other actors who achieved recognition in the series included Sam Wanamaker, Fritz Weaver and Joseph Bottoms. The novel by Gerald Green, based on his original screenplay, became a bestseller.

Here's a look at what's hot in electronics for gift-giving this holiday season: VIDEO CAMCORDERS With product pipelines overloaded, electronics suppliers have slashed prices (or instituted dealer rebates) on even the most attractive "compact" 8mm and VHS-C camcorders. Full-featured, highly rated models such as the RCA Pro 850 have been price-quoted for as little as $599 from mail-order houses, the best deal going. (The only catch with these guys is that you must also buy a second battery and carrying case to get the low camcorder price.

The incredible shrinking video camcorder will be disappearing into pockets and palms this fall. A couple of weeks ago, Sony introduced the CCD-TR51, a 1.3-pound stereo- sound and color-picture shooter billed as "the smallest and lightest 8mm Handycam camcorder. " November deliveries are promised on this baby, which measures a scant 4 1/4 by 4 by 6 5/8 inches. Now reaching our shores is Sony's not-much-bigger CCD-TR81, the first travel model to exploit the sharper Hi8 picture-shooting technology, weighing in at 1 pound, 12 ounces.

On the eve of Nintendo's entry into the 16-bit videogame wars with its Super NES system, rival NEC has taken a strong offensive move - dropping the price of its TurboGrafx 16-video-game console to under $100 - half the original price. Sega's Genesis system, currently the U.S. market leader among higher- resolution 16-bit games, was recently reduced to $150. Nintendo has yet to announce the price tag for its Super 16 bit system, due in stores this fall, but electronics and toy trade magazines have speculated that it would fall close to the $200 mark.

Until this year, a special adaptor was required to play a compact VHS (a/k/ a VHS-C) tape in a standard VHS deck. No longer. Panasonic and JVC are now introducing "fully compatible" VCRs, capable of playing and recording in both the standard VHS and VHS-C formats. Inserting a cigarette-packed sized C tape into an adaptor and then stuffing that piece into the mouth of a VHS deck never struck this gadget lover as a big deal. But developers of the shrunk-down VHS format - JVC and its parent company Matsushita (a/k/a Panasonic/Quasar)

The Summer Consumer Electronics Show, held every June in Chicago, is like an immense shopping bazaar for the plugged-in age. It's where retailers of all kinds - department stores, TV and appliance chains, discount marts - make their buying decisions for fall and winter, with a hopeful eye on what will appeal to holiday gift-givers. Amid all the manufacturers' claims for new and improved TVs, VCRs, camcorders and the like, it can be difficult to sort out the truly newsworthy from the retreads.

Video culture reigned in a big way at the just-concluded Summer Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. If you had taken all the television sets out of the cavernous McCormick convention center, 25,000 visitors (about half the house) would have been left scratching their heads, wondering what to do. All the sleek new laservideo disc players (from a growing hoard of makers) would have had no way to show off striking, widescreen and digital sound renderings of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

After eight years of promoting the compact version of VHS known as VHS-C, JVC has the ultimate answer to the biggest complaint concerning its mini- format videotape. It's offering a VCR that can accept both standard size and compact videocassettes without the aid of an adapter. The difficulty - more perceived than real - of slipping the tiny cassette into a holder before inserting it in a VCR kept many consumers from appreciating VHS-C. Its size was touted, for example, as making it easier to mail home videos to distant relatives.

Gadget lovers will find the March issue of Consumer Reports magazine hard to resist. Published by the watchdog group Consumers Union, the magazine's pragmatic eye this month surveys the most popular home-entertainment electronics in a 29-page "Guide to the Gear. " Neophytes will pick up solid information on camcorders, VCRs, TVs, stereo receivers, loudspeakers, tape decks and CD players. Seasoned shoppers will see their brand prejudices confirmed or punctured. In either case, the articles make for enlightening reading.