Rast Forward Wau 33 1/3s BECOME 78s or 45s? That's the first question audio/ video observers have had to face with the burgeoning popularity of the digital Compact Disc. The sec- ond question? Whether CDs them- selves have to face the first ques- tion. Speculation over CD’s place in the a/v meltin i (CD/LY) player. Initially sold only by Pioneer as its $1,200 model CLD- 900; Pioneer-built CD/LV players have been announced or put to mar- ket now by at least five other firms: Harman/Kardon, Luxman, NAD, Sansui and Teac. Moreover, the ar- rival of digitally encoded videodisks means that CD has competition as a digital audio delivery system. Al- ready, hardware and software sources say that hybrid disks are on the drawing board. One reason for this rapid evolu- tion is that all current laserdisk players—whether CD, LV or any combination of letters—work essen- tially the same w: Audio/video emb ctive s face. A laser beam, firing through a non-contact stylus, seans the micro- pits and begins the process of con- verting raw data into audio and vid- eo signals. To generate the laser beam, early laser videodisk players used a heli- (Continued on page 34) SSF VO 9-7 eprrommerenmeereereee right 1985, Billboard Publications, inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any al system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, ling, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. /IDEODISKS diled from a national sample of retail store sales reports. $3 Copyright Owner, Principal s2 Distributor, Catalog Number Performers > RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video Ralph Macchio ia 30406 Pat Morita RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video Jetf Bridges 1984 6-20412 Karen Allen | Roy Scheider MGM/UA Home Video 800591 John Lithgow 1984 Universal City Studios Sissy Spacek 1984 MCA Dist. Corp. 80160 Me! Gibson Universal City Studios Kyle MacLachlan ia MCA Dist. Corp. 80161 Sting Wait Disney Home Video 239 Animated 1940 RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video. Adolph Caesar 1984 6-20408 Howard E. Rollins Jr. Cannon Films Inc. 7 MGM/UA Home Video 100557 Cisict Gene i= Tri-Star Pictures Tom Selleck 1984 RCA/Columbia Pictures 6-20469 Cynthia Rhodes. =z Warner Brothers Pictures se Warner Home Video 11434 Goldie Hawn 1984 | PG] Laser | 34.98 ication, sales of 50,000 units or suggested list price income of $2 million (20,000 or $800,000 for ion for platinum, sales of 100,000 units or suggested list price income of $4 million (40,000 or $1.6 Certified prior to Oct. 1, 1984 were certified under different criteria.) @ International ‘Tape Disc Assn. sturns or stock balancing. BILLBOARD. SEPTEMBER 21, 1985eee a FAST FORWARD (Continued from page 30) um-neon tube somewhat resembling a miniature neon lamp. As hap- pened with audio components, where transistors eventually re- placed tubes, these helium-neon tubes were eventually replaced by solid-state, laser-emitting diodes— similar to the familiar light-emitting diodes (LEDs) found on much con- sumer electronics gear. Just how similar does this make CD players and laser videodisk play- ers? Very. According to one Pioneer engineer, the company’s top-of-the- line laser videodisk player (model LD-700) can in fact retrieve digital audio signals. It can’t decode them, however, but decoding circuitry and a separate spindle motor (to accom- modate a CD’s slower r.p.m.) are the only fundamental differences between a high-end videodisk player and a CD/LV player. Yet while CD and LV electronic technology is similar, combination CD/LV players have to account for obvious physical differences. Laser videodisks are either 12 or eight inches in diameter; CDs are about five inches. Laser videodisks are 2.5mm thick; CDs are about half that. CDs’ center holes are much smaller than laser videodisks’ as well. And CDs spin more slowly than laser videodisks, ranging from 200-500 r.p.m., compared to the videodisk’s 600-1,800. Obviously, none of these differ- ences are insurmountable. A CD/ LV player accommodates each of appropriately sized circular ridges. It also has two spindle motors rath- er than one, to clamp and to spin each of the two types of disk. For these and other reasons, CDs and videodisks can be inserted inter- changably; the player “senses” the type of disk and makes the appro- priate internal adjustments. The natural compatibility be- tween CD and laser videodisk tech- nology has already led to a merging of the hardware. Not surprisingly, there are already strong indications that the software may be merging as well. Warner and PolyGram Records have already pacted in a CD venture currently titled The Record Group. Using specification standards being developed by Matsushita, Philips and Sony, the companies are work- ing on a system called CV (for “Compact Video”) which could place video still pictures and animation se- quences as well as music on CDs. New CV hardware, envisioned for 1987, is needed to take full advan- tage of such capabilities. As plans now stand, however, CV disks could also be played as simple audiodisks in existing CD or CD/LV players. Closer to home and seemingly much more practical is a software based on existing technology and under development by Pioneer, with input from many of the major rec- ord companies. If successful, it could conceivably relegate audio- only CDs to second-class status. The new software—currently known as “Compact LaserDise”— would be marketed as “true” audio/ video albums. New album releases, according to the plan, would be not only on conventional black vinyl and/or on CD, but on 12-inch laser videodisks having, along with digi- tal audio, two or three videos and possibly on-screen “print” informa- tion. The consumer could choose whether to utilize the video portions or just treat the disk as an audio al- bum. While digital videodisks contain only 55 minutes per side, compared with CDs’ 60, the two-side total of 110 minutes would be adequate even for most double-album sets. The disks also allow retailers to use - existing record racks. Whether the plan is blue-sky or Blue Note, it forms an inevitable conceptual link. The hybrid hard- ware has proven successful enough among high-end consumers. Tradi- tionally, software follows. VTR Plans More Seminars Distributor Meeting With Dealers BY MOIRA McCORMICK CHICAGO A series of dealer semi- nars held in Pittsburgh by VTR Dis- tributing of Carnegie, Pa. will be ex- panding to the East Coast and Flori- da this fall, according to VTR VTR, which services some 3,500 accounts and operates offices in Pittsburgh, New York, Boston and Orlando, Fla., hosted a pair of semi- nars in Pittsburgh over the sum- mer. According to Kairey, the firm is holding similar programs in New York and selected Florida cities dur- ing September, as well as in “the Boston market and all of New En- gland” in October. The theme of each seminar is tied in with a new video movie release, according to Kairey. “The ‘Break- fast Club’ Seminar,” held July 23 at Pittsburgh’s Marriott Hotel, began with brunch for the 175 dealers in attendance. Kairey says items on the agenda included “how to set an advertising budget, what co-op dol- lars are available and how to use them, how to stimulate sales of both new and used tapes, and other sales ideas.” VTR also sponsored special written that day. om The second program, “A Passage To Profits,” tied in with the video release of “A Passage To India,” and was held on the Allegheny Riv- er cruise boat the Gateway Party Liner. Kairey says 450 dealers turned out for the event, in which VTR debuted a new company pro- motional tape as well as a budget line of videocassettes priced at $4.95. In addition, prizes worth up to $500 were raffled off. “All seminars,” says Kairey, “are backed up with plenty of point-of-pur- chase and advertising materials.” A major goal of the seminars, he