Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 6, 1992 TAG: 9201040290
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BARRY MEIER THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
YOUR VCR SNOW YOU? HERE'S HELP
Americans love gadgets, particularly those that promise to save time.Take the videocassette recorder. For many people, it offers liberation from television schedules. All one has to do, VCR advertisements declare, is push a few buttons, record a show and watch it at a time that is convenient.
Trouble is, millions of people find VCRs difficult to use and never record any programs. Sometimes, the problem is that the instructions are confusing.
Or the obstacle might be the growing mountain of electronic devices associated with television sets: VCRs, cable boxes and countless remote control devices.
"Many people still don't know how to use their VCR," said Cynthia Upson, speaking for the Electronic Industries Association in Washington.
Now a new crop of electronic gadgets is appearing, all promising to make a VCR that was supposed to be easy to use.
Two recent entries are VCR Plus+, made by the Gemstar Development Corp. of Pasadena, Calif., and Program Director, made by Matsushita Electric of Japan, which produces VCRs distributed under such brand names as Panasonic. The devices work differently, but each is intended to help a VCR user over electronic hurdles by compressing the steps in programming a VCR.
For its part, VCR Plus+ is something of a consumer sensation. More than 2 million VCR Plus+ units, which have a list price of $59.95, were sold this year, said Louise Wannier, Gemstar's executive vice president.
The device, which looks like a remote control, is getting a big lift from dozens of magazines and newspapers. Those publications, which include The New York Times and the Roanoke Times & World-News, have agreed to carry the system of codes used by VCR Plus+ in their television listings. The numerical codes, each with up to eight digits, appear next to the names of the programs.
"The key is that without publication of the codes there isn't a system," said Bruce Allan, vice president of video products for Thomson Consumer Electronics in Indianapolis, which markets VCRs under the RCA and GE brand names. Several of its VCRs come with VCR Plus+ at an additional cost of $50, he said.
For the publications, the incentive is simple. A newspaper, for instance, typically has exclusive use of the VCR Plus+ codes for newspapers in a specified circulation area. As consumer use of VCR Plus+ increases, newspaper executives also hope to see circulation gains.
VCR Plus+ is certainly ingenious. All the data concerning a television show - its channel, date and time - are compressed into a single code. To record the program, all a viewer needs to do is enter that code into a VCR Plus+ unit and push a button; the device tells the VCR what to do.
But some consumers, already befuddled by their VCRs, also are finding VCR Plus+ something of a challenge. Because different municipalities have one or more different cable companies that broadcast various cable offerings over different channels, the VCR Plus+ unit has to be programmed the first time it is set up.
Gemstar has a staff of employees, sometimes numbering more than 50, answering questions from confused customers. And this consumer, who recently tried to use VCR Plus+, had some problems getting it to work.
It took about 45 minutes to set up a VCR Plus+ unit. That is somewhat longer than the 15 to 30 minutes typically needed to do the job, Wannier said. And after setting the device to record several programs on broadcast and cable stations, I returned home to find only electronic snow on the videotape. Part of the problem, it appeared, arose from a misreading of the instruction booklet.
Wannier said Gemstar is developing a new instruction booklet to resolve any customer confusion. The new booklet will probably be ready within two months, she said.
For those who like to record a lot of programs, VCR Plus+ has some advantages. For example, a viewer who wants to record the same program every day can do so by entering a single code and pushing one button.
Matsushita's Panasonic VCR programmer, which lists for $49, is less a technological breakthrough, like VCR Plus+, than a way of helping people overcome the panic they sometimes feel when faced with a VCR.
The Panasonic device has six windows, each with a liquid crystal display. Information about a program - its channel, time and so forth - is put into the windows by turning a small wheel. With the push of a button, the data are sent electronically to a VCR.
The system will work with most VCRs produced after 1987 by Matsushita. Along with Panasonic, the brands include Quasar, Magnavox and some Sylvania and J.C. Penney models, said Carl Laufer, Panasonic's national marketing manager for video products.
Several new models produced by Matsushita this year will come with the new system at no additional cost, Laufer said.