Keith, here's an intersting overview of the current status of HDTV:
Dawning of High-Definition TV Stations Tuning In To the Digital Future
Source: WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON POST from Dialog via Individual Inc. : For years, high-definition television (HDTV) has generated lots of talk in Washington. Now, it's beginning to generate some actual doing.
Within the next several months, not one but two local stations -- WRC, Channel 4, and WETA, Channel 26 -- will begin construction of HDTV transmission facilities. One of these stations could lay claim to being the first in the world to broadcast digital HDTV signals on a regular basis -- unless, of course, the Public Broadcasting Service in Alexandria gets there first. PBS tentatively plans its own broadcasts of high-definition signals via satellite this summer.
In each case, viewers won't be able to pull in the super-sharp wide-screen images or compact disc-quality sound promised by HDTV on their living room sets. HDTV receivers aren't for sale yet. Each of the broadcasts will be for demonstration only, mainly to work out technical kinks and to fine-tune manufacturing and program-development efforts.
But all of the local activity does give the Washington area the distinction of being the world's center for digital TV development. Indeed -- shades of Menlo Park! -- much of the important developmental work for digital HDTV broadcasts was done at the Advanced Television Test Center, an unassuming two-story laboratory in Alexandria.
Despite all the energy being expended, the broadcast industry's welcome is something less than open-arms. HDTV will be costly, a substantial economic risk.
"HDTV is coming, and we have to welcome it as we would any technological enhancement of television," said Allan Horlick, WRC's general manager. "If we (the broadcast industry) don't develop it, and someone else does, we could lose a significant technological advantage."
PBS spokesman Stu Kantor adds that historically, public broadcasters "have been at the forefront of technical developments to expand our viewers' access to education and information." In that vein, PBS's proposed HDTV signal transmissions are much like public television's earlier pioneering of closed captioning for hearing-impaired viewers, descriptive video services for the blind or stereo broadcasting, he said.
Those technologies, however, may be simple compared with what's involved with HDTV. It's still not clear how fast or widely embraced it will be, by the TV industry or consumers. Nor are all the political and economic bugs out of the system.
For starters, there's a big chicken-and-egg question still surrounding HDTV: Since most viewers won't be able to receive digital broadcasts initially, will broadcasters have the desire to spend the millions of dollars required to upgrade their equipment to deliver the signals?
HD monitors are likely to cost about 50 percent more than conventional big-screen and projection-screen TVs now available, or anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000, says Peter Fannon, the outgoing head of the Advanced TV Test Center.
Fannon points out that is actually much cheaper than the projected prices of HDTV sets of even two years ago. And, he says, prices should drop further once production cranks up in earnest. What's more, microprocessor-packed HD receivers could emerge as something more than just bigger TV sets. They could be the all-in-one household data appliance, handling the duties of TV, VCR, stereo and personal computer simultaneously, he and others say.
Still, HDTV development is enough of a risk that PBS, WRC and WETA plan to rely on donations of equipment before plunging ahead. WRC's "model" HDTV station, for example, will be equipped by two major proponents of HDTV, the Consumer Electronic Manufacturers Association and the Maximum Service Television Association, a broadcasters organization; WRC will donate "the facilities and the expertise of our people," Horlick said.
Moreover, there are some political miles to go before HDTV becomes more than just an experimental service.
The Federal Communications Commission still has to finish some major technical spadework on "advanced TV" issues, such as assigning additional broadcast frequencies to TV stations and figuring out how to make an orderly transition from the current system of "analog" broadcasting to the digital, high-definition future.
There also remains some question about whether the FCC ultimately will adopt as the official national standard the digital TV system developed by a "grand alliance" of broadcasters and manufacturers, or simply allow the market to determine its own standard.
Several major computer companies, such as Compaq Computer Corp. and Apple Computer Inc., have complained to the agency that the grand alliance system doesn't easily allow computers to display HDTV images on their screens, thus thwarting the notion of "convergence" of computer and television technology.
FCC officials say their work won't be done until early next year -- unless Congress intervenes with alternative plans on how to manage the move to HDTV or its lesser-quality cousin, digital broadcasting. One idea has been to auction the airwaves instead of handing them out to incumbent station owners, though this idea seems to have lost momentum in Congress with the departure of Sen. Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.), the key proponent of auctions.
As these issues play out, some in the HDTV world are getting impatient. "It's time to get on with it," said Howard Miller, the incoming chairman of the Advanced Television Test Center, the industry-funded lab. "The rest of the world has learned from our pioneering work and is building the hardware. Meanwhile, we in the U.S. are still arguing about it. Let's get going." |
