Video CD

Tuesday, follows two years of losses for the home improvement chain, which was hard-hit by California's recession. Builders Emporium, founded in 1946, was purchased in the 1980s by New York-based Collins & Aikman, formerly known as Wickes Cos. Collins & Aikman put the chain up for sale last spring, but no buyer was found Electronics makers agree on CD video standard Four Japanese electronics companies today announced a common standard for compact discs that will store videos of movies and educational material. The companies are Victor Co. of Japan Ltd. and the world's three biggest consumer electronics makers Japan's Sony Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd and Philips Electronics NV of the Netherlands. They said the standard was based on one called Karaoke CD, established this year by Philips and Victor, which sells karaoke-playing compact discs machines for bars and night clubs. The four eletronics giants planned a number of other products based on the standard, and Sony would probably have models available sometime in 1994, a Sony spokesman said. A 12-centimer (five-inch) compact disc will store 74 minutes of motion video. In addition to the features offered by Karaoke CD, Video CD will also offer still pictures at two levels of resolution and more sophisticated playback control, the companies said. Video CD discs will be playable on a range of audio and video CD products that are designed to handle the new format