A av COVE? WAUUUAWSRUE AuuEauae ace \vh \ yy \ \ CURRENT TRENDS 17 - Wednesday, October 26, 1988 - North Shore News SPECIAL FEATURE OF THE NORTH SHORE NEWS A KK 44 KXR VA IAAI LATA TAMAR COA seat arenes Consumer electronics constantly THE CONSUMER electronics industry may be many things, but static is not one of them. In this in- novative, fast-paced business, there are almost cons- tant developments in new technologies and improve- ments of existing products. As seen at a summer consumer electronics show in the U.S. last June, manufacturers are continuing to push forward by designing exciting new products as well as by making existing ones more convenient, easier to operate and in some cases more affordable. Television sets have come quite a long way since the first complete system was patented in 1884 by Paul Nipkow. Today, 94 per cent of households own at least one TV set and consumers are likely to purchase millions more TVs during 1988. The square-cornered picture tube dominates the television industry today and manufacturers are giving as much attention to sound quality as to pictures. Some of the new and improved developments in the TV market include built-in stereo decoders, universal remote control for both TV and VCR, surround- sound capability and advanced television. The new digital TV technology enables viewers to create special effects such as pictures-in-a-picture, split screens, still pictures from live broadcasts and slow motion, as well as providing improved picture quality. Second only to the television as the consumer elec- tronics industry’s largest revenue source, VCRs can be found in over 56 per cent of homes, surpassing even cable in terms of popularity. developin The newly available super VHS provides consumers with pictures of startling clarity and detail, and thanks to digital technology provides a wide range of special effects such as picture-in-a-picture — enabling viewers to watch a videotape and a television broadcast at the same time — and zoom function. Super VHS offers a wealth of other features to make using it easier, including automatic video index- ing and automatic index search, which eliminate the guesswork of finding the beginning of recorded sec- tions of tape. Sales of camcorders — camera/VCR combinations for family moviec-making — have been growing rapid- ly in recent years, and industry leaders see no signs of it stopping. This boom has created a whole new market for camcoftder accessories, ranging from tripods and car- rying cases, to make-your-own-movie kits complete with scripts and props, to computer-assisted editing systems to add special effects and refine home movies. The innovations in consumer electronics hardly stop with the video side of the business. The compact disc player is nothing less than the fastest growing product ever in the consumer elec- tronic industry’s history. Digital audio has made ultimate fidelity — a step up from hi-fidelity — available to millions of consumers at affordable prices. The next generation of audio tape decks, Digital Audio Tape (DAT), offers CD-quality audio cassettes for use in cars, portable systems and home stereos. AVS MAAK WAR AVN ANALOG 64 a AV AA (ALK sar Aey.02 oS arene OKAYAMA a 4 Y na .AVAY A KNX KORO anay.a’. AY XY eas SOK PAV O94 A SACS CX, We Make it Easy For Software Selection ... We have 1001 titles for 18M, Apple It series and Commodore 64 gnd 128 users. Products by PFS « Microsoft « Lotus * MicroPro + Migent ° WordPerfect THOUSANDS OF GAMES! For Hardware Selection ... The ideal computer systems for Business, Education and Entertainment are waiting for you at Friendlyware Computers. IBM Compatible Systems by AST ¢ Toshiba ¢ Comtex ¢ NEC etc... For Book Selection ... Vancouver’s best selection in magazines and books on computers.