Conference cookie::notes$archive:cd_v1

1051.0. "88 Consumer Electronics Show" by MEMORY::SLATER () Wed Jan 13 1988 14:26

	excerpted from Electronic Engineering Times, Monday January 11, 1988

			By Richard Doherty

		Las Vegas, Nev -- Digital signal processing was the thread
	that tied together dozens of audio-visual systems and gadgets
	introduced at last week's Winter Consumer Electronics Show here.


	........


		Digital audio, in the proven form of CD laser players and
	the emerging Digital Audio Tape decks were everywhere. Citizen
	introduced a $129 CD player, while Sony Corp. rolled out an $1,800
	CD Reference Standard.

		Sony's system samples its digital platter at eight times the
	normal 44.1 kHz writing rate. Digital decoding is done using seperate
	18-bit D/A converters for each channel. The result is CD played back
	with a quality of sound better than Sony and N.V. Philips engineers
	(the developers of the CD standard) dreamed of five years ago.

		Other CD player makers added dual, quad, and octa sampling to
	their products. and 18-bit D/As debuted in equipment from Yamaha,
	Panasonic, Technics, Akai and others.

		Sony introduced the 3-inch CD, mastered at its Digital Audio
	Disk subsidiary in Terre Haute, Ind. This disk packs 20 minutes of
	audio onto a pocket-sized platter. Sony indicated that a companion
	player for the CD3 format is in the works.

	In another Sony first, the company showed the $349 D-15 DiscMan
	portable player. Twenty percent smaller than its predecessor, the
	system uses a new lead-acid battery that provides two hours of playing
	time and recharges in less than an hour.

		Last year, Sony predicted the industry would ship 3 million
	CD players. The EIA says Sony's estimate figure was on target. That
	means that 7.5 percent of American homes now own a CD player, 20
	percent of all hi-fi homes. CD has grown three times faster than
	VCRs did a decade ago. This year, Sony managers predict 3.6 million
	in sales.

	.......