Word: videodiscs
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...however, faces stiff competition in the new market. One rival videodisc system has been on the market since December 1978, and a third one is due out around Christmas. Each product is backed by one or more major electronics companies, and the systems are incompatible: the discs of one will not play on any system but its own. Moreover, all the videodiscs will be battling for scarce consumer dollars against an ever increasing array of home-entertainment products that ranges from giant-screen home projection devices and videotape recorders to television games and home computers...
...most sophisticated videodisc players currently available are Magnavision, a joint venture of the Dutch electronics firm Philips and the American entertainment company MCA, and LaserDisc, a product of the Japanese electronics firm Pioneer. Both use playback machines that read pictures and sound from a metallic record via a laser beam that never physically touches the platter. With LaserDisc the viewer can select which of the up to 54,000 frames on the record he wants to see by pushing buttons on a keyboard; each frame has its own number. For instance, on a disc that contains images of art masterpieces...
...believes that it has four advantages in selling its videodisc system: lower price, easier operation, a vast selection of programs and marketing strength. The less complicated SelectaVision machines will sell for $499.95, or nearly $300 less than laser systems. RCA will immediately offer 100 programs that range from the movie Rocky to demonstrations on baby care narrated by Dr. Benjamin Spock. Finally, SelectaVision will be sold in 5,000 stores under the RCA label, and a compatible system is being marketed by Zenith, Sears, Radio Shack and Hitachi under their own brand names...
Next fall a third videodisc system, VHD, will be introduced by Japan Victor Co., a subsidiary of the giant Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., and other firms. Although it uses a diamond stylus, like the RCA system, it will have the random access features and stereo sound capability similar to the laser systems. These machines will be priced somewhere between SelectaVision and the laser systems and sold in the U.S. under the Panasonic, JVC, Quasar and General Electric brand names...
Studio executives may not be hurt as badly as theater owners; the studios can count on ancillary profitmakers: foreign sales, network and local TV, videocassette deals and, increasingly, cable TV outlets as well. But all those may decline during a weak economy, James says, and sales to the new videodisc systems may not be important for at least a decade. So put the Mercedes in the garage, unplug the hot tub-and get out the handkerchiefs...