Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 27

Wilis' a ferae1 Ideas? Comments? Call us at 222-7837 Or write: Stephen Advokat 321 W. Lafayette Detroit 48231 liritish Made 6 Lace Curtains 4 DEPARTURES 1.V With Kvd 1 -Mitel lh' the Width Yard i Nov. 29 Dec. 03 Dec. 06 NON STOP DETROIT FREE PRESSTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1987 3B Ready to llanfi Machine Wash Machine Wash Dry Lace Calenders $7.00 "ft Curtain Rods Available, auableM 10 AY ruNinip cvrrw WED i i i Pav snn 4 Stephen fy I Advokat Fr.

ONLY 5727 Curtain tjop 3321C Grand Hivcr KRrminRton (I blork tail ol ormington floodj 10-C GET: $10 Food Credit YOUH NET s49 GET: $10 Future Credit GET: $10 Future Air Credit AIH AMERICA 11011 FR 17 .7 SX Berenguer puts boogie on tape Get out the rubber bricks. Juan Berenguer, the Minnesota Twins relief pitcher who angered Detroiters during the American League playoffs by ATTENTION: ARTHRITICS DIABETICS INTRODUCING An exciting new concept in lightweight flexible comfort footwear. doing a two-step on the mound as he struck out the Tigers, has made a video. Called "The Berenguer Boogie," the music video features Berenguer in a studio backed by dancing girls singing "The Berenguer Boogie." Throuehout the sev EXTRA VUI'IM I.MOI i A A -X, a Berenguer JOHN A. STANOOelroil Free Press 10 OFFV 111-31-87 v.n WIDTHS TO EEEEEY The four-inch TV screen shows a snapshot of Tim Beck, national sales manager for Mitsubishi Electric Sales America as he talks with sales representative Dino Pizzoferrato during a demonstration of the VisiTel Visual Telephone Display.

Dialing for smiles New phone option can send an image coast-to-coast Accommodates all foot conditions such as insensitive, hypersentive, edematous, or deformed feet. ROSS ALLEN ORTHOPEDIC FOOTWEAR 3882 DIX LINCOLN PK Ml 48146 (313)928-4390 29085 DEQUINDRE AT 12 MILE MADISON Ml 48071 (313)548-7224 APPOINTMENTS APPRECIA TED IlIIIIglllllWIllIttlllM) MADONNA GRIFFIN DUNNE tronic items, a successful debut would likely mean future models would be less expensive. Since it lacks a printer, there's no way to retain copies of the snapshots you send with VisiTel. However, the picture phone does include a small memory feature that can display the last three photos sent. There are no extra fees for sending pictures via VisiTel.

A normal transmission takes about five seconds, and since the video information is traveling through telephone lines, you're charged the going rate for the five-second transmission. Also, since you're using the phone lines to send your picture, you must stop talking to your party until the photo is transmitted. Unlike a conventional black-and-white television, the pictures you see on VisiTel are not made up of a series of horizontal lines but tiny dots of video information, called pixels. For greater contrast, the VisiTel is capable of 32 shades of gray. VISITEL, which will be available in early December in GTE phone stores, is the first consumer picture phone on the market.

But if holiday sales are strong, it likely will not be the last. Mitsubishi already has licensing agreements with Panasonic and NEC. And because those agreements are with Mitsubishi, any phone made by one company would be compatible with those from the others. In addition, Sony is considering its version of the picture phone. The electronics giant introduced a version in Japan last September for about $350 that is similar to the VisiTel.

And last month, Sony engineers were in this country testing out their version. So who would want to send a snapshot of themselves hair in curlers or face unshaven across state lines? Mitsubishi is hoping a lot of people. "We see this as getting a lot of usage by grandparents who want to see their grandkids more often," said Beck. "It would be very good for divorced families where the father or mother lives apart from the children. And it's going to be very good for teenagers to use as they talk to their friends." Now that's a scary thought.

By STEPHEN ADVOKAT Free Press Communications Writer Your worst fears may soon be realized. No, not taxes. Not even death. Picture phones. The electronics industry has been talking about, (threatening?) picture phones for more than 30 years, conjuring images of a ringing phone catching you at less than your best.

But they've been so expensive to implement that picture phones have been more easily found on the pages of science fiction novels than kitchen counters. Until now. MITSUBISHI, which last year introduced the first business desktop visual telephone, is coming out with a home version for less than $400. Think of the device, called the VisiTel Visual Telephone Display, as a small, 3 -pound, black-and-white television that, like an answering machine, comes with a standard modular plug for your conventional telephone and another plug for the electrical wall outlet. On the front is a four-inch television screen; inside is a small TV camera.

This is not, however, a camera like those you're used to seeing. The VisiTel cannot take continuous pictures of you as you speak on the phone. Instead, the camera takes snapshots and transmits the Information across telephone lines to whomever you're talking to, provided they have a VisiTel at the other end. In this respect, the VisiTel is similar to its predecessor, the Luma. But when Mitsubishi introduced it last year, the Luma cost more than $1,400.

A companion printer, which would provide copies of the pictures you sent, cost $1,000. VisiTel has no printer. And its $399.95 suggested retail Is aimed at a broader, consumer market than the Luma. "A video printer would cost at least another $500," said Tim Beck, Mitsubishi national sales manager. "The printer would cost more than the VisiTel." Since it takes at least two VisiTels to work one to send and another to receive the actual cost is closer to $800.

But as with most first-generation consumer elec mat en-minute video are snippets from the playoffs. The 15-minute, $7.99 tape also includes footage from the making of "The Berenguer Boogie." For more information, write to Simitar Entertainment, 3650 Annapolis Lane, Plymouth, 55441. TRUTH IN ADVERTISING: "We carry stripped-down VCRs," declares a recent newspaper ad for Murphy's Video, with stores in Madison Heights and Ster-4 ling Heights. Murphy's describes stripped-down models as those under $250, with two video heads and very few features. "We don't recommend them," the ad says.

"They are intended as bait to bring you into the store and in most cases, do not deserve your attention." So, if they don't deserve your attention, why does Murphy's play that game? "We carry them because everyone else does," explained general manager Debbie Burr. "You don't make money on $200 VCRs." CABLE RATES: Cable rates could rise again. Tony Cox, ShowtimeThe Movie Channel chairman and chief executive officer, told a Washington, D.C., gathering recently that he thinks "the pay services should be raising their prices 10 percent a year." CDMATE: CD players have become portable, but where do you put all the discs? CDMate (P.O. Box 1480, Burbank, Calif. 91507) would like you to put them in its portable pouches.

The CD Ten-Pack has fleece-lined pockets and a black polyure-thane surface. Suggested retail: $14.95. FALLING MARKET: Even before the stock market fell more than 500 points, the Electronics Industries Association was starting to cut back on its earlier estimate of VCR and television sales this year. VCR sales are now expected to hit 11.8 million by year's end, under the 12 million the association earlier predicted and well under the 18.1 million sold in 1986. The average price of that VCR is about $300, down from $315.

The industry is expecting to sell 4.1 million stereo color TV sets, down from an earlier estimated .4.3 million. Projection televisions also are expected to fall short of earlier estimates. 'This year about 280,000 such sets will be compared to 304,000 in 1986. Analysts note the revised figures were set "before the stock market crash, which could depress sales further. PRO AND CON DAT: Artists are continuing to come out on both sides of the digital audio tape issue.

DAT is a new audio tape format that sounds as crisp and clear as compact disc so much so that the Recording Industry Association of America is concerned that consumers will record their discs onto DAT rather than buy pre-recorded versions. The association wants Congress to order electronics companies to include an anti-copying chip in the machines. The latest artists to come out for such a move are Tina Turner, Barry Manilow, Daryl Hall and John Oates. The Home Recording Rights Coalition, a lobbying group in favor of DAT, is organizing Musicians for DAT and Independent Record Labels for DAT as counter efforts. Stephen Advokat discusses home video at 1:45 p.m.

Thursdays with Pat Sweeting on WWJ-AM (950). i TII I Mm Arur)iiythinliaj))(H)d (HitixnvaylotlKibiisskition ft "Madonna is sexy and funny a very engaging comedienne." vmcDrrcANBY. nAfcrofna New system puts sound all around Vfl WWNER HOME VIDEO HiiitTffiviiiuiiviiiM Put on a set of headphones and listen to the frightening opening of "Smooth Criminal" from Michael Jackson's "Bad" album, and you'll hear something different. The song has a wicked left-right combination of a fast-thumping heart and heavy breathing, presumably from an approaching assailant. The sequence ends with Jackson shouting, "Yow!" If the sound effects make you feel like you're right in the middle of it all, Hugo Zuccarelli has done his job.

Zuccarelli, a 30-year-old Argentinian-born chemist, is the inventor of Holophonics, a recording system that he believes overcomes the audio gap between mechanical microphones and the function of the human ear. ZUCCARELLI wanted to make a device that matched not only the human ear's sensitivity to sound, but its ability to make distinctions about the location of sound. Just as the eye is fooled by a hologram into seeing a three-dimensional image from a flat surface, Zuccarelli looked for a way to fool the ear into hearing "a sphere of sound" from stereo speakers or headphones. He said his mathematical investigations convinced him that the ear Itself puts out an inaudible sound signal. The result of his studies is a head-shaped robotic noro than moviss recording device he has dubbed Ringo.

He insists on calling the device a robot because it recreates the human unction of hearing, rather than mimics it. RINGO CAN BE hooked up to standard studio recording systems, or even a cassette player. How it uses the auditory reference level to recreate the sounds of the original event is Zuccarelli's secret. However, he noted, a sophisticated sound system is not needed to reproduce the Holophonics sound. "The difference between Holophonics and the other types of recording systems is clear," Zuccarelli said.

"For film, microphones make it apparent the sound is artificially done, they never make you believe the sound is really related to the picture. "In Holophonics, if you point the camera at a fireplace, the sound of the fire stays with you, but it is subordinated. The brain has the ability to subordinate sounds you want to hear from those you do not." Associated Press video QSA U.S. previous week U.S. previous week U.S.

current week U.S. current week ivery nieht his aeony begins TOP RENTALS TOP SALES Based on his needs and evaluation, a variety of medical and surgical solutions are -possible. And in conjuction with Crittenton and Oakland General Hospitals, the Center offers support group sessions before, during and after treatment to help ease the fear and uncertainty. So stop facing the day's end with fear and doubt. Encourage the one you love to come to the Impotence Center of Rochester.

again. The doubts. The fears. The feelings of inadequacy that impotence can bring. One out of 10 men experience it.

And so do their partners. But help is available, and it's here. Permanent help. At the Impotence Center of Rochester. Directed by physicians who specialize in the field, the Center's staff will evaluate the reason for your spouse's sexual LLady and the Tramp 1 (Disney) 2.

Star Trek IV 2 (Paramount) 3. An American Tall 3 (MCA) 4. Crocodile Dundee 4 (Paramount) 5. Fonda's Low-Impact Workout 7 (Karl-Lorlmar Home Video) 6. The Godfather 5 (Paramount) 7.

Callanetlcs 6 Which VCR tapes are best? Should we use high-quality or extra-high grade tapes? A.J., Warren A Various video publications run tape surveys with various results. Lab tests may reveal which brands have the brightest color, or which produce the fewest dropouts (little flecks of white that develop when part of the tape deteriorates and drops outs). But even armed with laboratory reports, you may prefer one brand to another. I've always recommended that people buy a brand name tape. But which brand name depends on what looks best to you and whether it's on sale.

Stay away from "no name" tapes. With high-grade tapes, you get what you pay for. If you're taping an' Irreplaceable home movie, buy the best tape you can afford. If you're just taping TV shows, a brand-name standard-grade tape should work fine. The following films are available this week on home video: "Whistle Blower" (1987; Nelson; PG; Michael Caine stars as a former pilot and loyal British citizen who slowly begins to believe his government Is hiding something in Its explanation of his son's death.

"Deadline" (1987; Virgin Vision; Christopher Walken, a journalist covering the war In Lebanon, Is offered an exclusive Interview with the leader of the PLO. But he soon finds he's been set up, the leader Is a fake and the information in the Interview Is false. So he sets out to find the truth. "Outrageous Fortune" (1987; Touchstone; Bette Midler and Shelley Long have each found the perfect man. Unfortunately, It's the same man.

And when they discover that, they decide to track him down and make him choose between them. "Million Dollar Mystery" (1987; HBO Video; PG; Twenty-two people race around the Southwest In search of a missing $4 million. 1. Lethal Weapon (Warner Home Video) 2. Angel Heart 2 (IVE) 3.

Star Trek IV 1 (Paramount) 4. Lady and the Tramp 3 (Disney) 5. Mannequin 4 (Media Home Entertainment) 6. Blind Date 6 (RCA-Columbia) 7. Raising Arizona 5 (CBS-Fox) 8.

Burglar 7 (Warner) 9. Project (CBS-Fox) 10. Hooslers 9 (HBO) Most popular videocassette rentals, in BETA and VHS formats, compiled from a survey of U.S. retailers and wholesalers. dysfunction using the most sophisticated medical and psychological diagnostic tools available.

And have a good night. Call 652-4466 now for a free informational consult. (MCA) 8. Sleeping Beauty 10 (Disney) 9. Star Trek III 9 (Paramount) 10.

Tod Gun 8 Impotence Center of Rochester (Paramount) "There is help, and it's here. 134 W. University Dr. Suite 316 Rochester, MI 48063 (313) 652-4466 These are the best selling vldeocassettes, compiled from U.S. retail sales.

Including releases In BETA and VHS formats..