Three's a Crowd in Videodiscs

Betting millions on something new for the family TV

The television set has long since evolved from a rare electronic marvel into a household appliance that is as ubiquitous as the kitchen stove. Now, a host of video products is appearing on the market that can transform the home TV from a passive machine capable of receiving broadcast programs into a versatile instrument permitting viewers to watch whatever programs they want, when they want. The latest entry in this market is videodiscs, machines that reproduce recorded programs or movies from a record-like platter onto the screen of any home television set. Next week, RCA Corp. will unleash an avalanche of advertising to launch its version, called Selecta Vision. RCA has spent more than $150 million during the past 15 years to develop Selecta Vision, and it will invest another $20 million more before the end of the year to promote it.

RCA, 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.

The 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, a viewer could jump from a picture of Rembrandt's Self-Portrait to Degas's Ballet Scene in a matter of seconds. Sound for the program can also be reproduced in stereo.

Industry sources say the laser system got off to a bumpy start. By the end of 1980, only about 35,000 of the expensive machines (cost: up to $779) had been sold. Although both of them are now nationally advertised, they were sparingly promoted at first. Only a limited number of programs had been available, and early discs sometimes stuck while being played.

RCA's SelectaVision is a simpler system that works more like a conventional record player. The viewer slips the disc, including the dust cover, into the front of the machine and then pulls the cover back out before the feature starts. A cartridge with a diamond stylus tracks 27,000 incredibly tiny grooves on the record to reproduce the picture. Unlike the laser system, the RCA device cannot find scenes at random or freeze a frame.