Electronics 1985
RCA
Presenting Dimensia with “one touch” intelligence.
FROM THE PRINTED PAGEOriginal ad copy
OCR transcription from the archived page. Scanning and reading-order errors may remain.
DIMENSIA SYSTEM PRESENTING DIMENSIA WITH “ONE TOUCH” INTELLIGENCE. THE NEXT DIMENSION IN SIGHT AND SOUND. NOW WITH 40 INCH SCREEN PROJECTION MONITOR. There’s nothing even remotely like Dimensia—the remarkable seven component audio/video system controlled by microcomputers with 32K and operated by a single remote control. With the push of a button—say the “VCR PLAY” button for example—Dimensia’s computer turns on the VCR, Stereo Amp, and the new 40 inch Projection Monitor. On-screen displays will then pop up on the Monitor to confirm your command. You control all important functions of Dimensia’s interactive components—again—with just the push of a button. You control audio levels, recording levels, source selections, and on and on. DIMENSIA Intelligent Audio Video RCA TV · VCR · VID2 · AUX AM/FM · PHON · TAPE · CD PROGRAM · PLAY · RECORD · STOP REVERSE · FAST FWD · REPEAT · PAUSE · MUTE · PREV CH BAND · PAGE · F.ADV · AUDIO B SEEK · SLOW · MEMORY · VOL/TRACK · CHANNEL CLEAR · SCAN · STATUS · ANT · OFF 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 NO OTHER AUDIO/VIDEO SYSTEM ON EARTH CAN TOUCH IT. THE BUILDING BLOCK FACTOR: IT’S YOUR KEY TO TOTAL FLEXIBILITY. While Dimensia is a total system, it’s also totally flexible. So you can purchase the entire system, or add components as you desire. For starters, there’s Dimensia’s 40 Inch Projection Video Monitor with computer controlled interlinks to other components, on-screen display capability, and Full Stereo Sound. An identically featured 26 Inch Square Cornered Monitor is also available. With your Dimensia Monitor as the center of your system you can then add the following components piece by piece. 1. INTEGRATED SYSTEM-AMPLIFIER: Low distortion, 100 watts per channel, features automatic system switching, dynamic loudness compensation. 2. AM/FM STEREO TUNER: 16 AM/FM presets, quartz-synthesized tuning system, signal strength indicator. 3. PROGRAMMABLE FRONT LOAD TURNTABLE: Direct drive, linear tracking, remote control programmability. 4. 10 BAND PER CHANNEL EQUALIZER: Lighted channel band, slide controls, tape monitor with “defeat” control. 5. VHS HI-FI STEREO VCR: 5 head, remote programmable, front loading, 133-channel tuning, forward/reverse search, single frame advance. 6. COMPACT AUDIO DISC PLAYER: Drawer loading, 3-beam laser with random access programming, index search, digital track display. 7. AUDIO CASSETTE DECK: Metal capable w/auto reverse, music search, programmable random access memory, noise reduction systems. Discover the superiority of Dimensia at your RCA dealer. Or, for more information, write: RCA Dimensia, Dept. 32-312 HH, P.O. Box 7036, Indianapolis, IN 46207-7036. Or call 1-800-32VIDEO and ask for the Dimensia Operator. Dimensia ONLY FROM RCA TECHNOLOGY THAT EXCITES THE SENSES.
Commentary
I counted the buttons before I read the promise of simplicity. RCA’s remote fills the foreground, held in two hands like a control desk, while a television and stacked components occupy the cabinet above. “One touch” has arrived with a remarkable number of possible touches. The apparent contradiction is the point: ownership may be elaborate, but coordination is supposed to be easy.
The copy makes that claim concrete. Press VCR play and the system switches on the recorder, amplifier and projection monitor; an on-screen message confirms the command. The benefit is not merely remaining seated. It is being spared the sequence of decisions needed to make several boxes cooperate. The ad gives its microcomputers a domestic job rather than leaving “32K” to carry the argument alone.
Across the spread, seven numbered components turn the spectacle into a shopping plan. A turntable, cassette deck and compact disc player coexist; the future has not yet asked the buyer to surrender the past. “Piece by piece” also softens the commitment. Yet this flexibility is pictured within one coordinated RCA system. The promise of expanding choice and the attraction of buying a matching family reinforce each other.
The physical scale makes a useful comparison with present-day interfaces. Here, switching among media means surveying cabinets, decks and labeled buttons. A screen menu can compress that selection into less space, but the underlying wish remains recognizable: press once and have the necessary parts understand what you meant. That is the human problem the spread reveals beneath its formidable inventory.
For a new copywriter, the phrase “nothing even remotely like” is a lesson in relevant wordplay: the joke names the feature. “Can touch it” on the facing page repeats the same physical vocabulary as a superiority claim. More persuasive than either flourish is the worked example of VCR play. Demonstrating a sequence lets the reader imagine a benefit that an adjective such as “intelligent” cannot establish by itself.
RCA began in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America and became a major name in radio and television, as its brand history records. The current RCA catalog spans entertainment products, appliances and other categories; that surviving brand should not be mistaken for an unchanged Dimensia business.
The promise that equipment should cooperate still feels current. The particular architecture—projection monitor, separate media decks, dedicated controller—belongs to this system and its moment. What survives most clearly is the selling method: exhibit impressive complexity, then offer the customer relief from operating it.