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<p>This year's Healthcare Videodisc Directory contains 229 entries, only 10 of them new. Nearly all of the new titles are intended for the nursing market, due in large part to the number of interactive videodisc systems placed in nursing schools Helene Fuld Health Trust grants. However, with full-motion digital video now being delivered on CD-ROM, it appears that the number of new videodisc releases will remain low. <br><br>The reason for the drop in titles from 494 in last year's directory to 229 this year is the removal of titles intended for the consumer and for the K-12 school audience. These titles now appear in the new Healthcare Patient Education/Health Promotion Directory. What remains arc titles designed for use by students and professionals in the health sciences.<br><br>Indices. The 1996 Videodisc Directory contains three indices: Hardware, Audience (Medicine/Nursing), and Producer/Distributor. 'Hie Hardware Index lists titles by the type of hardware system required: Info Window and Compatible Systems, Two-Screen PC, Two-Screen Macintosh, and Level One Systems (player-only). The Audience index lists titles suitable for medical audiences and nursing audiences. The Producer/Distributor Index lists all titles by distributor. <br><br>Videodisc Hardware Systems. There are several configurations with which videodisc programs are delivered. They can be "generic" or Level I, which can be played on any videodisc player and can be used with LaserBarcode workbooks. When connected to a computer, videodisc systems take two forms: Two-Screen and One-Screen. Two-screen systems have a separate monitor for the computer image and the videodisc image. In One-screen systems, a special board in the computer combines the images and presents both on the computer monitor. The following is a brief description of each hardware configuration.<br><br>One-Screen Systems: InfoWindow is the interactive video hardware configuration developed by IBM in 1986 which uses graphic overlay to combine the videodisc image and computer image onto a single screen. Usually used with a touchscreen monitor, it became the industry standard for one-screen systems and spawned several clones. Only two systems being sold today are InfoWindow-xompatible: those by FITNE (614/592-2511) and CompuVid (305/885-9155).<br><br>Two-Screen PC Systems consist of an IBM PC-compatible computer connected to a videodisc player with an RS-232 cable. The name comes from the fact that the computer text and graphics are displayed on one monitor, while the image from the videodisc player is seen on another monitor. Less expensive than the one-screen systems, two-screen systems are used primarily in subject areas where there is a large number of still images, such as radiology and pathology. Two-Screen Macintosh Systems are simply two-screen systems using a Macintosh computer rather than a IBM PC-compatible. The advent of HyperCard led to the development of a fair number of interactive video programs for this type of hardware configuration. In medical schools, Two-Screen Macintosh systems seem to equal or exceed the Two-Screen PC systems in popularity.<br><br>Level II Pioneer Players are videodisc players (LD-V6000 and LD-V8000) which have a microprocessor built in. This allows a certain amount of  programming to be included in the program without the use of an external computer (as with the two-screen systems). The programming usually is encoded on the videodisc itself, and is loaded when the disc begins to spin.<br><br>Pioneer Laser/barcode Reader was introduced in 1990 and is elegant in its simplicity. The user can call up any pre-selected image or motion sequence on a videodisc by passing the LaserBarcodc Reader (a hand-held wand) across barcodes which arc-imbedded (using word processing) in workbooks or printed indices. The system is inexpensive, flexible, and easy to use, all features which lead me to believe that it will continue to grow in popularity. Laser Barcode 2 was introduced in July 1992 and extend the I,ascrBarcode capabilities to include controls for CLV videodiscs as <br>well as CAV multispccd playback.<br><br>Level One Programs are simply videodiscs which may be played on any videodisc player and do not require any programming, whether it be computer controlled or barcode. In most cases, these programs may be played from beginning to end, as you would a videotape. Those discs listed as CAV discs also may be played with "special effects" such as still frame, slow-motion, fast-motion, and random-access. CLV discs, though not able to perform the aforementioned effects, can hold up to one hour of video per side, versus 30 minutes for CAV discs. <br><br>Submissions. As always, there inevitable will be omissions in this edition of the Videodisc Directory. If you have a videodisc title which you wish to have included, please contact us with the relevant information.<br></p>
<br>Subjects: training; education</div>
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Stewart, Scott Alan</div>
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