Decisions, Decisions

By Richard Stengel

Choosing a VCR can be a daunting venture. Currently, retail electronics shelves teem with some 40 different brand names affixed to about 150 models. Innovations seem to happen overnight, and a wide array of options is available, from remote-control devices to one-touch recording buttons. Prices start at a bargain-basement $240 for the older, simpler models and go as high as $1,500 for the newer, more elaborate ones.

The first decision for the bewildered consumer is whether to purchase a Beta (from Sony's Betamax) or VMS (from Video Home System) format machine. Both use half-inch tape, but they are incompatible: Beta programs cannot be played on VHS machines and vice versa. Sony markets only Beta machines; RCA, GE and Panasonic, among others, market only VHS. Sears sells both. Many videophiles insist that Beta produces a slightly sharper image, but most people cannot see any difference in technical quality. Although Beta was introduced first, VHS has been far more successfully marketed: three out of every four machines now sold are VHS. The major disadvantage of buying Beta is that video rental stores often stock smaller inventories of prerecorded Beta cassettes.

The next question is whether to buy a so-called cable-ready machine. Cable-ready, or cable-capable, as it is now called, describes VCRs that have electronic tuners capable of receiving more than 100 channels directly from a cable-TV system. Buying a cable-capable machine, however, does not mean that the VCR will automatically receive cable programs, only that it may not need an extra cable box or a complicated switching system once cable has been installed. Actually, this feature will eventually become a thing of the past. As more and more basic-cable operators scramble their signal to prevent video piracy, virtually all VCRS will require a decoding box. To clear up consumer confusion, the National Cable Television Association recommends that those contemplating the purchase of cable-capable equipment consult their local cable company.

Before buying a machine, consumers might do well to figure out whether they want a VCR primarily to record television programs or to play prerecorded movies. If the latter, a VCR with "multievent programmability" is unnecessary. If the primary use is to be time shifting (recording a television program at one time for viewing at another), then multi-event programmability is desirable. The most advanced machines will record as many as eight programs over a 21-day period. RCA has a couple of models that will even program up to a year in advance. As a rule, the fewer the features, the lower the price.

Another option is a remote-control device. It generally allows a viewer, without leaving the LaZBoy, to stop and start the tape, pause, fast-scan in forward and reverse, or watch in "double speed," which is slower than fast-scan but faster than normal. Two types are available: those connected to the VCR by a long wire and the detached, infrared devices, which are less cumbersome and more expensive.

As of last year, high-fidelity stereo came to the VCR in the form of Beta hifi. The VHS version followed this year. Both are capable of extraordinary sound and their prices are accordingly high (list prices usually start at $1,000). Moreover, now that TV stations are beginning to broadcast programs in stereo, the machines can record in stereo as well.

VCRS come in nonportable tabletop models or portables. With the portables, the recorder can be detached from the tuner and carried on a shoulder strap. Together, the recorder and a small video camera enable the user to take "movies" at the Little League ball park, the beach or anywhere.

But if being an at-home auteur is one's fantasy, then the camera-cum-portable recorder cannot compare with the new generation of color video cameras containing built-in recorders. Dubbed camcorders, these new contraptions are lightweight (between 4 Ibs. and 7 Ibs.) and hand held. Once again, there are Beta and VHS versions. The VHS will record up to 20 minutes of video and sound on a single, tiny cassette. To watch the minimovie, the viewer can plug the camcorder directly into a television set or slip the miniature tape into an adapter that will play it back on a conventional VHS recorder. In contrast, the Beta version will record up to two hours on a standard Beta tape, but it cannot be used to play back the cassette. The chief advantage of the VHS camcorder, sold by Zenith and JVC, is that it comes equipped with an electronic view finder that is actually a tiny (one-inch-square) black-and-white TV mounted on the side of the camera. This setup allows the user to instantly review what has just been taped. It also has a fade control, so that amateur directors can end shots artistically by fading to black.

Last October, Eastman Kodak introduced still another format: an 8-mm video camcorder whose 30-, 60-or 90-minute videotapes are roughly the same size as a standard audio cassette. The 8-mm format is as light as other camcorders, is easy to use and can be attached to a tuner to record television programs. Kodak is clearly banking on acceptance of its format as a third home-video alternative.

Whatever VCR equipment the consumer buys, a final challenge must be faced before the machine is hooked up and ready for use: the instructions. Many VCR manuals read as if written in a difficult foreign language. Printed in Japan, where most of the VCRS sold in the U.S. are manufactured, and replete with technical jargon, these booklets often contain such impenetrable prose as the following: "Never connect the output of the [recorder] to an antenna or make simultaneous (parallel) antenna and [recorder] connections at the antenna terminals of your receiver."

Notes Jim Coleman, owner of New York City's Audio Salon: "Many customers think all they have to do is buy a VCR, take it home, and plug it in." In truth, several complicated steps may be involved in installing it and even more in figuring out how to program it. As a result, stores that sell VCRs sometimes receive as many as 20 calls a day from confused owners and many do a healthy business in house calls. But help is on the way. Sony is already marketing a VCR with a synthesized voice that guides the user through correct operating procedures. Akai includes an instruction videocassette with some of its models. The cassette fails to answer one key question: how customers will learn to install the VCR in order to play the instruction tape. --By Richard Stengel.

Reported by Peter Ainslie/New York

With reporting by Peter Ainslie