THE BATTALION Page 13
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1979
;he nation
ew Haven adopts Entertainment battle nears
rict handgun law jj ome video systems replacing normal viewing
dealers who comnlv with all state
/'PL'mS
United Press International
K'EW HAVEN, Conn. — A local
|w has been passed banning hand-
sales between private indi-
duals.
|Now, the citizens group that led
J victorious fight says it will cam-
Ign now for state approval and a
|er-ranging law.
the New Haven law, believed to
Ithe first of its kind in the nation,
(is approved by the city’s Board of
lermen with an 18-4 vote
Inday.
fteve Masters, spokesman for the
hnecticut Committee for Hand-
Control Inc., said Tuesday the
lup will try to get the ordinance
iroved in nearby suburbs to put
! pressure on the Legislature to
ipt it statewide.
1c said the committee also would
■tosee the state adopt a system of
(types of handgun licenses — for
led and unloaded guns — and
uire proficiency tests for those
lying for the licenses.
We feel much stronger standards
e to be imposed before a person,
jgetthat kind of permit, he said.
The New Haven law restricts the
; of pistols and revolvers to retail
dealers who comply with all state
and federal gun laws and bars private
individuals from selling handguns
among themselves. It also allows the
city to enforce state and federal gun
laws.
“Without a doubt, it’s nothing but
another emotional and nom
enforceable ordinance, ” said Aider-
man Robert Silverman, who voted
against the proposal. “Guns will con
tinue to change hands in New Haven
legally and illegally.”
Silverman said people wanting to
buy or sell handguns can simply go to
a neighboring town to avoid the new
city restriction.
“It doesn’t serve any purpose.
Something like this should not be on
the municipal level. This is a state
issue where it could be enforced by
the agencies that could handle it, ” he
said.
New Haven Police Chief Edward
Morrone called the law a small step
in the right direction.”
Violators of the ordinance can be
fined $100 or jailed for 60 days. The
ordinance does not affect the com
mon practice of pistol clubs to loan or
rent out handguns on their pre
mises.
ourt denies suit over
gality of income tax
aced. I
Wednesi I . ,
United Press International
b> ClayCocH EW ORLEANS — The 5th U.S.
i pit Court of Appeals has denied
lit by a Texas man claiming the
Lirement to file a federal income
[return is unconstitutional.
[he federal appeals court Tuesday
[eld a lower court ruling saying
S~y/I ii« ce Hanson had no grounds on
# l|IBch to state a valid claim against
v » '■tax return.
■anson had asked the 5th Circuit
twojunioriiljyle the tax return unconstitution-
dn Bolandpteause it violated United Nations
linst the pn
ghey, deso® m run
list, worked® il.... 1
with t ravelers checks
the Cabinet®
ikingtriuii:® a ] nearly
he largest in® '
resolutions concerning the protec
tion of human rights and access to
the courts.
The appeals court said, however,
Hanson never made that contention
before U.S. district court, and so it
did not have to consider the argu
ment on appeal.
“Furthermore, a United Nations
resolution does not confer rights on
United States citizens that are en
forceable in court in the absence of
implementing legislation,” the 5th
Circuit said.
United Press International
Remember the “45” record
player?
Its fat spindle now shares a shelf
with the Edsel, but for people decid
ing which video cassette recorder to
buy, the memory is indelible.
Compact and economical, in 1948
the 45 was touted as the brave new
home entertainment system by the
folks who developed it at RCA. After
all, transferring the strains of Glenn
Miller from those hefty 78’s to a
featherweight finegroove vinylite
platter was revolutionary enough to
serve up a special machine.
The 12-inch, long playing disc
made its debut the same year. Like
the 45, the idea was to decrease the
revolutions and increase the playing
time — but Columbia’s version spun
at 33 1-3 rpm’s. With a smaller spin
dle and a larger disc, it bore little
resemblance to the 45.
The two gizmos marked the dawn
of high fidelity. Consumers went
wild over the quality and longer
playing time. But, because neither
company wanted to back down and
agree on one speed, both machines
were rushed into the marketplace.
The battle began.
By 1950, a gaggle of high fidelity
players incorporating all three
speeds were on the market, although
audiophiles were beginning to agree
that Columbia’s choice of rpm’s gave
the best sound reproduction, as well
as 30 minutes of play. Even so, RCA
kept its marketing muscle behind
the 8-minute 45.
Then somewhere between the jit
terbug and the twist, alas for the 45,
the catch word changed to “stereo.
Recorded music took another evolu
tionary step and it took it at 33 1-3
revolutions per minute.
As it turned out, what one well-
known company advertised as the
final audio answer was merely a flash
in the pan.
And of those left holding the 45,
many vowed in the next format fra
cas, they would wait until the dust
settled and a clear winner emerged
i«rl i dortvH
SHARE THE MAGIC
ical histon
er all other
Parliament
oliticianonc
lacked
0 billion yearly
has makes a;
,” the
rring to the:
laxed premi
in,
cadershipofi
gle p ul J'
king softly ill
of creating your own handmade Christmas gifts
THE MSC CRAFT SHOP
United Press International
EW YORK — Some $30 billion
al success, th of travelers checks are issued
Id wide each year, one industry
ce estimates.
new entry into the travelers
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10-25% Entire Stock
the nation' apes to collar 10 percent of the
ket, some $3 billion worth, dur-
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(Excluding solder Gt stained glass)
/YOV. 29-DEC. JL4
ain 40 pet. within five years.
ever any
ong tuminf
of Lynch’s
lie late Pres
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10-5 Sat. 1-7 Sun.
Closed for Holidays Dec. 21,5 p.m.
FARMERS MARKET CATERING
A COMPLETE CATERING SERVICE
LET US CATER YOUR NEXT
BAR-B-QUE FUNCTION $ 2 95 per plate
WE CATER TO ALL CLUB
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We also cater wedding receptions up
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MSC ARTS AND TEXAS CIRCUIT
present
BOOKFAIR:
December 7 12:00-5:00
Main Concourse MSC
t
POETRY WORKSHOP:
Divi'i
OPSS
December 8 2:00
Cedarhouse Press
nd
Also — Poetry Readings by:
David Oliphant
Susan Bright
Joseph Colin Murphy
From 7:30 to 10:00
Cedarhouse Press
\l
i vu um
before laying out money for a poten
tially incompatible piece of hard
ware.
Well, round two is here and this
time, television spawned the di
lemma.
Wall Street has dubbed the future
of television “the emerging video en
vironment” and manufacturers are
calling a wide range of gadgets that
Video is simply information laid
down on tape in magnetic tracks
and translated into the sound
track and the lines of a television
image through tape heads read
ing the signals.
hook into the basic boob tube “home
video.”
Consumers are befuddled.
When they shop for the most en
ticing video offering — the machine
that can record the Dallas Cowboys
on a half-inch videocassette while
they are out for the evening or
watching the Rams on another chan
nel — they notice an ominous symp
tom. There are two incompatible
technologies for sale.
And although the videocassette
recorders (VCR’s) in the stores are
“Beta” or “VHS ”, a little research
turns up other half-inch tape formats
that once promised to do the same
job but are already extinct, such as
Wall Street has duhhed the fu
ture of television '‘the emerging
video environment'' and manu
facturers are calling a wide
range of gadgets that hook into
the basic booh tube “home
video."
Quasar’s “Good Time Machine.”
Even more confounding, there are
rumors of as many as five other VCR
formats, either cheaper or more
talented, on the horizon.
The problem? In this format war,
standardization may never come ab
out. Neither system is likely to dis
appear and although VHS owners
outnumbered Beta owners three to
one at last count, with more than a
million units sold, the minority con
sists of a whopping 250,000 Beta
fans.
Sony, who started the whole home
VCR sweepstakes with “Betamax,”
say they’ll continue to churn out
Beta designs, along with Sanyo,
Sears, Zenith and Toshiba. Every
one else, including RCA, JVC, Pana
sonic, Magnavox, Hitachi and
Quasar, is committed to VHS —
most manufactured by the Japanese
electronics giant, Matsushita.
There are 18 companies making at
least 50 different models of VCRs.
For the prospective buyer, the
trick is to determine what each sys
tem does, how well it does it, and for
how much money.
First, both formats use half-inch
tape packaged in cassettes, but Beta
cassettes don’t fit VHS machines and
VHS tapes don’t fit Beta machines.
Beta’s “Omega wrap” tape path is
particularly resistant to twisting.
VHS cassettes have an “M-wrap” de
sign — simpler than Beta, but more
stressful to the tape. And when stop
ping a VHS tape, it is impossible to
start up at exactly the same point in
the program. Tape cassettes come in
varying lengths, but time capacity
depends ultimately on the machine.
Beta VCRs can tape 3 hours or 4 1 /2
hours and a new cassette with more
tape in it can increase recording time
to 5 hours. VHS machines record 2
hours; 2 and 4 hours; 2, 4 and 6 hours
or 2 and 6 hours. A VHS cartridge
loaded with enough tape to preserve
9 consecutive hours of television is in
the works and should be for sale
soon.
Both systems can also play back
thousands of major movies that are
sold for $40 to $100 nationwide in
cassettes for either format. Pre
programmed tapes run 2 hours.
To decide the best format, you
must decide what you plan to do with
the machine. For some, recording
hours and hours of network televi
sion may not be important.
Setting the machine in advance
may be useless to others. But for
consumers who want the time-shift
function, both species of VCR’s bris
tle with timers. Many have preprog
rammers that can be instructed up to
a week in advance to record football
on two channels Sunday and a pre
dawn Fred Astaire movie Tuesday,
or other combinations of selections.
VHS units generally have more
program choices built in — as many
as seven in one week on Sharp’s
newest VCR — but a special Sony
tuner can add more than the basic
three or four choices to the Betamax
and Sanyo builds five selections into
its latest “Betacord
In at least one way. Beta and VHS
are alike. Both evolved from com
mercial video recording.
TV studios use 2-inch tape moving
at 15 feet a second on a huge machine
with four rotating heads — two for
each half of the picture.
Sony pared down the professional
machine for home use by incorporat
ing only two tape heads — 58 mic
rons. Then they developed less ex
pensive, half-inch tape and laid the
tracks down diagonally and closer
together. And in 1975, Sony intro
duced the result of their tinkering:
the 1-hour Betamax.
Video is simply information laid
down on tape in magnetic tracks and
translated into the soundtrack and
the lines of a television image
through tape heads reading the sig
nals. The heads (at least one to trace
each half of the picture) are attached
to a drum that travels over the tape
surface at a fixed speed. To achieve
the speed, you can either have fast-
moving tape, fast moving tape heads
or more tape heads.
^1
nf^
<5\ O
ip ..v^v
BUY ONE
PIZZA-GET
THE NEXT
SMALLER
FREE!
With this coupon
buy any giant, large
or medium pizza at regular menu price and
get second pizza of the next smaller size
with equal ingredients up to 3 FREE.
One coupon per visit
Coupon not valid with gourmet pizzas
1803 Greenfield Plaza
(Next to Bryan High)
846-1784
413 S. Texas Ave.
(Across from Ramada Inn)
846-6164
Valid thru 12-12
I
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Christmas Special
All regular list 6.98 albums and
tapes NOW ONLY 5 57
All regular list 7.98 albums and
tapes NOW ONLY 6 66
Large Selection of LP’s
and Tapes Only
2" and 3 49
All Novelty and Gift Items
20/ OFF
>
Fleetwood Mac
Magnavox
“Tusk” on Sale
Color T.V. —
...‘ii 97
Special Christ
mas discounts
Woodstone Shopping Center
913 Harvey Rd.
j
DISCOUNT CENTIR
1420 TEXAS AVE.
COLLEGE STA.
SALE ENDS SAT.
Bordens
Golden
Vanilla
Vz gal.
1.09
Kraft
Macaroni
and Cheese
7 oz.
3 for
99C
Palmolive
Gold ^
Bath Soap
^ 4 for
1.00
Rainbow
Jumbo
Paper Towels
J 2f ”
851
(limit 4)
6pac 1.39
Dr. Pepper
6 pac
12 pac
3.29
_ 026-12
| 010-12