Video: On the shopping list of equipment are a new video-disk system and an electronic video still camera

A plethora of video home-entertainment products went to market last year to compete for the shrinking consumer dollar. Among the more significant developments were the following: • Sony demonstrated a prototype of a filmless video 3S-millimeter camera that takes still pictures for viewing on a conventional televisionscreen. • A new video-disktechnologymaterializedin a system from the VietorCo. of Japan. in sophistication it fallsbetweenlaser-based systems, from such companies as Magnavox, and RCA's capacitance electronicdisk, which uses a stylus. • More video-tape recorders were introduced in the equally popular Beta and VHS formats. The recorders offer an array of ancillary features including remote control and in at least one ease a variable-speedoption in the playback mode. • Videocamerasand recordersbecamesmaller. In somecasesthe recorder cannowbeenclosedin the cameracase, thusmakingthe unit evenmore portable. • A number of companies introduced advanced projection televisionsystems, with fine-tuning of color convergence circuits producing a clearer picture. One entry from the Zenith Radio Corp. solvesthe convergence problem through innovativedesign of the color tubes [see Spectrum, November 1981, pp 40-45].