European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 8, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 a the stars and stripes wednesday january 8, 1992 videophone tomake debut this Spring Katie Wagner York talks by videophone to her film Star parents Robert Wagner and Jill St John los Angeles. By Anthony Ramirez the York times York a the picture phone that tomorrow Lance Marvel of Disneyland in the 1960s, is Here a Well almost. At amp to announced monday that in May it plans to Start Selling a mass Market videophone for $1,500, about one twentieth the Cost of equipment meant for big corporations. The phone takes advantage of the latest signal processing techniques called compression technology which edit out All but the essential features of a television picture. But the phone still suffers from the big limitation of previous attempts at picture phones a trying to Force an Ocean of information through the drinking Straw of Copper Telephone wire. The phone networks tiny carrying capacity makes callers look As if they were slowly moving underwater their lips opening and closing eth really. Still at amp to the worlds biggest Telephone company has big Hopes for its product the at amp to videophone 2500. A this May be As profound a change As sound motion pictures or color television a Robert m. Kavner group executive for at amp to communications products said at a  conference monday in Manhattan. But at amp to Hopes to Appeal to More than video buffs obsessed with the latest equipment. Company officials repeatedly said the phone was aimed at a mass Market which implied an eventual sales goal of hundreds of thousands of units a year. The phone will he available in May at at amp to phone Center retail stores and by Midsummer at department stores and other mass Market retail outlets. In addition the at amp to phone centers will operate videophones that Consumers can use for an still undetermined charge to Call other at amp to videophones. At amp to also plans to place versions of the videophone in hotel lobbies and airports As Well As Short term rental for under $30 a Day. The videophone resembles a typical multilane Telephone except that it has a tiny screen a bit larger than a deck of playing cards and a miniature Lens smaller than that found in the most compact Polaroid camera. Like a regular Telephone the product needs no special installation plugging into a typical Wall Jack. And because the system uses existing Telephone lines rather than expensive dedicated lines video Calls will Cost the same As voice Only Calls. In the last year especially since the persian Gulf War chilled International travel Large corporations have been making increasing use of videoconferencing where executives can see and talk to one another through use of special cameras. But the equipment can Cost As much As $25,000, and the transmission fees can run nearly that High for an hour of a full motion video a the 30-frames-a-second format that is indistinguishable from a color television picture at Home. Slower versions Are considerably cheaper but the rates for the special Telephone lines arc still a minimum of $25 an hour far too expensive for a consumer product. The engineers who designed the at amp to product faced a formidable Challenge in compressing the video signal into a usable size. Each second of a typical color television signal can contain up to 92 million bits of information As expressed in the code of ones and zeros used by computers. The audio signal carriers an additional 200,000 bits or so each second. Fiber optic cables the most advanced kinds of Telephone lines can carry 2 billion bits of information a second or nearly 22 times the necessary capacity. But currently nearly All of the nation s Telephone network especially local service still consists of Copper wiring. A household Copper Telephone wire can carry Only about 20,000 bits a second it would take about 5,000 such Cir Cuits to carry a television signal. What to do at amp to hired compression labs inc. Of san Jose Calif to use the latest in signal compression. Quot we had to strike a balance Between what was Nice and what was necessary a said John j. Walsh compression labs senior vice president for planning. Signal compression is like removing most of the water from Orange juice to make Frozen concentrate. By reducing the number of frames a second from 30 to 10, the information was reduced by two thirds. So far so Good but that still left the engineers with 30 million bits a second. Still More information was edited out by displaying the picture on the tiny 3.3-Inch-Square screen that required less detail. Through additional squeezing and wringing techniques compression labs engineers were Able to Render a picture with just 19,200 bits of information a second. In other words they had taken out 99.9998 percent of the information and still obtained a picture. Investors guide Banks must toe line on Check hold by Bill Doyle q. 1 recall you writing about a relatively Law prohibiting Banks from putting Iong holds on deposited checks and limiting those holds to two Days for local checks and five Days for non local checks. I deposited a $12,915.62 Cheek in my Money Market Deposit account at a local savings and loan association. The Check was drawn on a Bank headquartered in this state which has local branches. The Teller put a hold of six business Days on it. With weekends and a Holiday added that made the hold 11 Days. When 1 protested the Branch manager said the Law allows the Bank to do this on deposits Over $5,000. Mow can this be Correct i can to believed it takes six business Days for a local Check to Clear. A. It does no to. That a amp a fractured the rules Laid Down by the Federal expedited funds availability act. The hold should have been on $7,915.62, making $5,000 of that Check available to you within two business Days. The regulation paring Back holds to two business Days for local checks and five business Days for non local checks has been in effect since sept. I 1990. For two years prior to that shortly after the Law was passed the maximum holds were three business Days for local checks and seven business Days for non local checks. Also Cash deposits wire transfers and funds from . Treasury checks and Cashiers checks must be made available the next business Day. However there Are exceptions to these Rule All aimed at protecting Banks from rubber checks. Checks used to open accounts can be put on hold for up to 30 Calendar Days. When a local Check is for More than $5,000, the excess amount can be put on hold but $100 must be made available the next business Day and $4,900 the second business Day. A local Check is defined As one deposited in the same Federal Reserve Check processing Region As the Bank on which the Check was written. There Are 48 such regions in this nation. The rules apply to All depository institutions be they commercial Banks savings Banks savings and loan association credit unions or anything else. Based on your statement that you deposited the $12,915.62 Check in an account you already had established that hold was Way out of line. My suggestion is to go Back to the a amp a and insist that your account record be straightened out so that interest is credited for the Days it should have been but Wasny to. If you get no cooperation Tell that Branch manager you will file a complaint with the office of Thrift supervision 1700 c Street n.w., Washington . 20552. Q. My credit Union recently changed its share and Deposit insurance to the National credit Union share insurance fund which is administered by the National credit Union administration an Independent Agency of the Federal government. What Are your comments on the Security offered by this insurance a. That insurance coverage a ecu Sif for Short a is excellent. The Federal government guarantee is the same As Federal Deposit insurance corp. Coverage a of Dlce a savings association insurance fund at a amp is. Actually ncus1f is in better financial shape than fd1c. The people running your cd did the Wise thing by obtaining that Federal insurance coverage. C King feature Northwest unveils fun amp games los Angeles up1 Northwest airlines unveiled monday a $70 million in flight entertainment and communications system that it called the most advanced Ever designed for commercial airliners. The world link system to be installed starting this summer on the carriers Fleet of Boeing 747s, will offer passengers Access to movies television programs video games flight information shopping and pre processing of passport data. A two things about this system raise it head and shoulders above even the most advanced personal video systems on other airlines a said Don Washburn senior vice president. A first this system is the first interactive passenger communications system. Second world link will be installed at every seat in our planes nose to