Digital TV: Good looks & more
By J.N. Sbranti
Bee staff writer
ÿÿÿOh sure, the picture quality is to die for, but there's a lot more to digital television than good looks.
ÿÿÿ There's four-pictures-at-once versatility, click-of-a-button data downloading, and coming-at-you-from-every-angle sound. All for the price of a small car.
ÿÿÿ And it's almost here.
ÿÿÿ "Digital television is becoming a reality faster than many people realize," said Jud French, a Harris Corporation executive director.
ÿÿÿ Three of San Francisco's network affiliates, for example, will begin transmitting digital signals by Nov. 1. The rest of the city's commercial stations will join in by May 1999.
ÿÿÿ All of Sacramento's commercial stations must start digital broadcasts by November 1999. Those in Fresno and elsewhere throughout the nation must convert by May 2002, according to Federal Communication Commission requirements.
ÿÿÿ Digital TV sets will hit the stores this fall with price tags topping $7,000.
ÿÿÿ Couch potatoes best brace themselves for a brave new world.
ÿÿÿ "People have only been talking about the high-definition television (HDTV) part of it, but digital television is so much more than that," said French, who is traveling the country with the DTV Express digital demonstration show. "It's data-casting. It's multi-casting. It's surround sound. And it's high definition."
ÿÿÿ Here's what is coming:
ÿÿÿ - Horizontal shape -- For 50 years, TV screens have been more or less square with a 4-to-3 width-to-height ratio. Digital TVs will be much wider as screens switch to a 16-to-9 screen ratio.
ÿÿÿ "This is a much more like your natural field of vision," French said.
ÿÿÿ - HDTV -- Digital transmissions can carry 2 million pixels (bits of information) rather than the 300,000 allowed via analog broadcasts. That theoretically will enable high-definition digital broadcasts to be more than six times as clear.
ÿÿÿ - Surround sound -- Theater-like, six-channel sound will be broadcast rather than today's typical two-channel stereo sound.
ÿÿÿ - Multi-casting -- Rather than using all 2 million pixels on a single broadcast, TV stations will be able to divide them into four programs that air simultaneously over one channel.
ÿÿÿ "You could watch the same football game from four different angles," said Kelly Chmielewski, a spokesperson for DTV Express. TV viewers could watch small displays of all four views at once, or they could pick the angle they prefer and make it full screen.
ÿÿÿ The Public Broadcasting System has even grander plans for multi-casts.
ÿÿÿ "We could broadcast four programs at once, like a children's show, public affairs, an adult learning class and a documentary," said David Shaw, communications director for KQED in San Francisco.
ÿÿÿ PBS archives certainly are large enough to offer viewers such choices.
ÿÿÿ "PBS has been called a museum without enough gallery space," Shaw said. "We can't hang all the pictures we have."
ÿÿÿ Multi-casting could solve that problem and give viewers more choices.
ÿÿÿ - Data-casting -- Televisions will no longer be stand-alone appliances. They'll have built-in data ports to allow information broadcast over the air to be downloaded into computers or printers.
ÿÿÿ Besides the visual and audio broadcasts, text and graphic data also will pour through digital TVs. Sports fans who want game statistics, for instance, could click a button on the remote control to get those stats printed out or fed into their computer.
ÿÿÿ Advertisers could give viewers the option to print out coupons or the fine-print details of a new car model. Televised educational programs could data-cast homework assignments or course materials.
ÿÿÿ Only viewers who want the data would have to download it or read it on screen.
ÿÿÿ It's estimated that digital TVs will be able to deliver the equivalent of eight major newspapers worth of data to a home in just 60 seconds.
ÿÿÿ All these high-tech goodies come at a price, of course.
ÿÿÿ "The cheapest digital TVs I've seen so far cost $7,000 ... and $10,000 is typical," said Lisa Fasold, spokesperson for the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association. Those pricey TVs are all at least 40-inches-wide, and smaller versions aren't expected to be offered for a couple years.
ÿÿÿ Fasold is convinced costs will shrink: "Usually within five years all consumer electronics prices are cut in half."
ÿÿÿ Prices had better drop or few families in the Northern San Joaquin Valley will buy digital TVs, said several of the region's TV dealers.
ÿÿÿ "They're too expensive. We don't have that kind of customer in this area," said Robert Beitsayad, owner of Robert's Audio & Video in Modesto. "We haven't had even one person ask about them."
ÿÿÿ Pedro Perez, owner of Ceres TV, agreed only wealthy people will be able to afford digital sets very soon. He said his store won't stock them right away, but he predicts they'll be coming in for repairs.
ÿÿÿ "I expect to see a lot of them with problems in the beginning," said Perez, noting his staff is getting training on how to fix them.
ÿÿÿ But some people are bound to give them a try, no matter the price. That's why Modesto's Custom TV & Stereo is making room for digital models.
ÿÿÿ "There are people who invest a lot of money in big screen TVs and home theaters," said Custom TV's owner Steve Setzer. He said those people will want digital TVs to go with their laser disc, DVD players and elaborate sound systems.
ÿÿÿ Though the FCC has set digital broadcast standards for TV stations, Setzer warned that digital standards still are undecided for cable TV systems and satellite TV networks. He said that makes buying a digital TV this year a bit risky.
ÿÿÿ That's why Setzer said he plans to start stocking only one digital model -- a 50-inch Mitsubishi -- that he calls "high-definition ready." He said the $4,000 TV could be coupled with an external tuner -- which costs a couple thousand dollars extra -- to get HDTV via whatever standard is provided by broadcast, cable or satellite transmissions.
ÿÿÿ "That makes it future compatible," Setzer explained.
ÿÿÿ While the future of digital TV remains in flux, the FCC's goal is for virtually all Americans to give up their analog sets for new digital models by 2006.
ÿÿÿ That's the year TV stations are being told to plan to end their analog broadcasts. That won't happen, however, unless 85 percent or more of America's TVs have gone digital.
ÿÿÿ The FCC figures that since TV owners typically replace their sets every 9 years, most people will have digital capacity by 2006. And for those who can't afford new digital TVs, set-top converters that enable analog sets to receive digital signals are expected to be on the market within a couple years.
ÿÿÿ The Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association doubts digital TV will take over nearly as fast as the FCC predicts. Fasold said the association estimates only 30 percent of America's homes will have digital television capacity by 2006.
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