GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY
When Compact Disc first appeared about four years ago, Philips, its co-inventor, proclaimed it to be the "pure and perfect" audio medium. There was a bit of skepticism, nay-saying, and golden-ears griping, but the biggest problem CD encountered was lack of software to sell. It soon became obvious that Philips' optimism for their new optical medium was justified; the public flocked to record stores and started buying music again. One shudders to think what the music industry would be like today without CD.
Now, Philips is again proclaiming another "pure and perfect" medium.
But this time the veneration involves video, a medium already so successful with the public that one may wonder how any kind of advance in technical quality or convenience could possibly improve things. Thus, once again, Philips' enthusiasm is being greeted with some skepticism. Yet when a company has just helped to revolutionize one industry, there's always the chance they might revolutionize another.
Let's take a look at this newest technology treat so that you, the deciding factor, can start forming an opinion prior to passing judgment in the market place.
At a recent press conference held in Amsterdam, attention was focused on CD-Video, a combination not only of audio and video, but of Compact Disc and laser videodisc. CD and laser videodisc are similar in that they are both optical storage formats providing high quality playback, but they differ radically in their success. The CD is a Wunderkind product, whereas the videodisc's potential has remained unfulfilled. On one level, CD-V is an attempt, through marriage, to bring recognition and success to videodisc. If the CD's coattails don't do it, nothing will.
But CD-V also promotes CD-Audio by bringing the dimension of full-motion video to the CD family. (CD-ROM and CD-I have already broken ground in this area.) This will increase the CD's clout by expanding its applications base, thus making CD more immune to threats from DAT and other media that are more limited in their applications horizons.
So, what is CD-V? It is a new kind of player, a new kind of optical disc, and a new retail market as well. Importantly, Philips has managed to achieve all this newness with a large measure of compatibility, that elusive element which often influences acceptance. A CD-V player (Philips calls it a "combi player") will play all audio CDs, all 8 and 12-inch laser videodiscs, and one new format (described later in this column). The combi-player looks similar to an audio CD player except that the front-loading drawer is 12 inches across instead of 5 inches. The disc tray itself will accommodate any of the three disc sizes automatically. Of course, in addition to a hookup to your audio system, the player will require connection to your TV.
The digital audio portion of a combi player will be identical to that of a CD player. (There's also circuitry to play the analog tracks of videodiscs.) The Philips players will use the 16-bit, four-times oversampling, dual-D/A chip set that is found in Philips (alias Magnavox) CD players. Philips has licensed Yamaha and Matsushita to produce hardware too, and those companies will choose their own favorite chips. At any rate, the audio quality of CD-V will match that of an audio-only CD player.
Already on the drawing board is a portable CD-V player with a fold-up LCD screen. (I can already see high school kids smuggling these babies into the classroom to catch up on the latest music videos. Boom boxes should be the next to appear. I hope they'll draw the line at car CD-V players.) The 8-inch disc, called the CDV-EP, and the 12-inch disc, called the CDV LP, are actually just new names for existing formats of laser videodiscs. In normal, CLV (constant linear velocity) form, they play for up to 20 and 60 minutes per side, respectively. A few CAV (constant angular velocity) discs are also available, with half as much playing time per side but with more capability for slow motion, reverse play, and still-framing. The audio emphasis will be digital, with soundtracks encoded according to the CD Standard, whereas the video signal will use the laser videodisc's Standard. In the NTSC video format, CD-V discs may be encoded with both analog and digital audio; thus, CD-V discs will be us able on existing laser videodisc players, many of which can read only the analog audio tracks.
above: The combi-player handles audio CDs, and laser videodiscs.
The mention of NTSC raises an un fortunate issue. When Philips developed the CD with Sony, they were free to start from scratch and to design universality. into the product. Thus, any
and new CDV-Single discs. CD may be played on any CD player.
Not so with video. Two primary world standards exist: NTSC and PAL. CD-V players and discs must be configured for one standard or another. If you buy a CD-V disc in Europe (PAL), its video section won't play on your CD-V player back home in the States (NTSC).
Because of their long playing times, the CDV-LP discs will be able to contain material such as concert videos, classical music videos, and feature films. This is an exploratory marketing move. In the past, the public has not shown a great desire to purchase video material, preferring to rent. Philips hopes that people's willingness to purchase and collect Compact Discs will carry over to CD-V. The hypothesis is that the extremely high quality of these discs will encourage ownership.
There are already combination machines that play videodiscs and CDs.
But a CD-V machine will also play a new kind of disc, the CDV-Single. The size of an audio CD, it contains approximately five minutes of video (en coded as an analog signal) with a digital audio soundtrack, as well as an extra 20 minutes of digital audio alone.
This audio-only portion of the CDV-Single starts at the disc's innermost diameter, so it may be read by a regular CD player. The portion with video added, on the outer diameter, can be read only by CD-V players. (A CD-V player could read the inner initialization tracks, skip to the outer diameter to play the video, then skip back to the inner audio tracks.) To help distinguish a CDV-Single from an audio-only CD, the substrate and top lacquer of the CD-V disc is gold-tinted. It's an effective means of identification and also pretty nifty-looking.
Who will buy the CDV-Single? This question has occurred to Philips, and their answer is the younger set. They envision the CDV-Single as an ideal medium for music videos, along with a few other audio cuts, perhaps alternate mixes or extended-play versions from an album. This is an appealing idea for several reasons. First, it attracts the younger buyer to CD. Moreover, it al lows record companies to broaden the market for music videos. Today, those videos are mostly considered promotional material, though many are re tailed on videocassette. The improved sound, greater convenience, and lower cost of CDV-Singles should increase sales. Not only would this promote the album, but the public would be paying for the record companies' promotion costs too. Nice.
From many standpoints, CD-V is a dream product: It capitalizes on a boom market, enhances that market, opens up entirely new ones, and offers a high degree of compatibility with for mats developed earlier. You sure don't see that very often.
Initially, CD-V combi-players should go for $750 or so. That's not too bad, considering that you're getting a full blown Compact Disc and laser video disc player together. Dedicated CD Audio/CDV-Single players may cost $500. Of course, prices should drop after a while. The price of a CDV-Single should be $8 or so (again, not too bad). Laser videodiscs-CDV-LP and CDV-EP in all but name-now cost about $19.95 to $59.95 (usually $34.95) for the 12-inch size and $10.99 to $16.95 for the 8-inch.
So, if you still haven't bought a CD player, you might want to wait a few months until combi-players arrive. On the other hand, you could wait just a while longer for the CD-VI "omni-player"; it will play the complete family of CD-Audio, CD-Video, and CD-Interactive. That's total versatility ... until yet another kind of CD comes along!
(by KEN POHLMANN; adapted from Audio magazine, Jul. 1987)
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