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Show Reflections, June new video THE By Joe Saltzman 7, 1984, Page 11 Crossword Edited by Herb Ettenson Who Buys Or Rents Videotapes -- And Why Prerecorded video is sweeping the ics Industries Assn, says that 14 million prere- corded tapes and 12 million videodiscs will be sold this year. Home video software sales are expected to reach $1 billion in 1984 and soar to $10 billion by 1990. The A. C. Nielsen Co., televisions major research firm, just finished a survey that comprehensive shows the number of videotape cassette recorder (VCR) owners who use prerecorded videocassettes is soaring. In 1982, when Nielsen asked VCR owners whether they had rented a cassette, only 49 percent said yes. The new survey this year shows that the number has jumped to 70 percent. Nielsen discovered that the average VCR household was urban, older, better educated and with a larger family than the national average. Nearly a home-vide- o quarter regularly buy prerecorded videocassettes. More than 70 percent rent them. The average household checks out five titles a month. What was the most frequently rented and bought prerecorded cassette? Paramount Home Video's Raiders of the Lost Ark (priced at a reasonable $40). That same family also records more than 20 different programs off the air every month. Despite the increase in renting and buying of prerecorded videotapes, VCR owners still say that the ability to tape TV programs and watch them at their convenience is the main reason they bought their VCR. What are all of these families recording? Nielsen found out that seven of the 10 most frequently taped programs on television are daytime soaps. All My Children," the ABC daytime soap, was the most recorded program followed by General Hospital," Days of Our Lives," and disc prices. Only a year ago, most tapes cost consumers between $60 and $80. Now most discs and tapes country. The Electron- As cost between $20 and $40 Every film company is now involved in selling old and new product because, for the first time, the home video market is expected to bring in more revenues than pay and cable TV. Videotapes and discs. "D.C. Cab" may be the perfect movie for your next party (MCA Beta i and VHS videocassettes; laserdisc stereo and CED videodiscs.) The story of a Washington, D.C. cab company struggling for survival is the kind of film that you can join anywhere in progress and still enjoy it (the performances are all ingratiating with Mr. T., Gary Busey, Adam Baldwin, Anne de Salvo, Charlie Barnett and others nicely Joel Schumacher cast). Director-write- r never pauses long enough for you to question the premise and there always seems to be one funny scene that stands by itself. The bouncing score highlighted by Irene Caras MTV singing, makes this movie soundtrack perfect dance music. i The Beta and laserdisc stereo sound are as good as any you will hear in a theater or nightclub. Homecomputers. This year, Americans will spend more than $65 billion on computers. But the big news is that they will also fork out more than $16 billion for the software that makes the machines go. At least 1,000 companies are making programs. (Microsoft in Washington State is the largest.) No one is sure just how many software programs exist; estimates range from as few as 8,000 to as many as 40,000. In fact, the field is so confusing and so cluttered with new and old products, that one entrepreneur has come up with a new quarterly magazine to help consumers keep up with whats available. Hi-F- Hi-F- (C) 1984 King Features Syndicate, Inc. SOLUTIONS OP WEEK'S PUZZLES UST the World Turns," "The Guiding Light," One Life To Live," then the first prime time shows, Hill St. Blues," Dallas," back to daytime's "The Young and the Restless, and finally nighttimes soap Dynasty." What was the biggest night so far for home tape recorders? Nov. 20, 1983. That was when ABC's drama on nuclear disaster, "The Day After," and the first episode of NBCs miniseries on Nielsen The Day After," and 14 percent taped Kennedy." Incidentally, the reason for the rise in prerecorded video sales is not only the rising number of American households owning VCRs, but also falling cassette Kennedy" went says 25 percent taped head-to-head- . Peanut puzzler -- how half pounds equal to measure unshelled nuts for a recipe. On and a a pound shelled or three and a quarter cups. |