Electronics Switching to Digital
Friday, 1 January 1999
S A N J O S E , C A L I F . (AP)
THE COOL new high tech gadget everyone's talking about these days is
something we've been watching in our living rooms for almost 60 years.
But in 1999, say consumer electronics aficionados, television gets a whole
new look.
"This new digital television is not your grandfather's television," said Jeff
Joseph, vice president of the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers
Association in Arlington, Va. "It's amazing. It has an enormous 'Wow!'
factor. Anytime consumers see it, their eyes pop out."
Television viewers may think that their football game, soap opera or
science show looks fine as it is. But when a show is broadcasted digitally
onto a high definition television, the action appears disturbingly lifelike,
nearly three dimensional.
A football kicked in the direction of the camera makes couch potatoes
flinch. A Sunday evening tearjerker calls for an extra box of tissues. And
those medical science shows, which were always a bit nauseating, are
downright knee tremblers.
Although the high definition digital television debuted Nov. 1, its
introduction as a mainstream consumer item comes Jan. 7 to Jan. 10 at the
1999 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
There, among the 90,000 product developers, financiers, investors,
venture capitalists, reporters, exhibitors and actual consumers, the crisp
and clear digital televisions and their makers are expected to be the
darlings of the world's largest annual trade event.
"A lot of people may have heard of digital television, but at CES they're
finally going to see it," said Kevin Hause, analyst with International Data
Corp. of Framingham, Mass. "It's finally time for consumers to get a really
good look at them."
Television stations in more than 40 cities are now airing high-definition
broadcasts, but most Americans are missing the show because they haven't
been willing to shell out the $5,000 to $12,000 for a new set and tuner that
show the brighter, crystal-clear images. Prices, though, are expected to
drop 10 to 20 percent in 1999.
Those who have bought the new sets can now only watch a handful of
shows because broadcasters are also only slowly making the shift.
But that's going to change in 1999, says Sony Corp. chairman Howard
Stringer, who will open the electronics show with a discussion about how
consumer technology and the entertainment industry are irrevocably joined
in the marketplace.
Stringer will also be helping present a digital television mega session - a
plethora of booths, speeches and demonstrations where people who make
and sell the new televisions can present their newest ideas and products.
While televisions are the biggest item making the high-tech shift, technology
is also making a leap in other consumer goods such as telephones and
VCRs.
"It appears we're going to go through an evolution from analog to digital,"
said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, Inc. in Campbell, Calif.
"It's a fascinating change, and certainly the buzz of industry."
Electricity travels through either analog or digital signals. Analog signals are
generated directly, like a light hitting a camera picture tube. They can be
converted through converters into digital signals that are composed entirely
of ones and zeros. A lot more can be done with digital information because
it can be manipulated by computers and is more immune to noise.
For example, digital VCRs can now record on a hard drive instead of
cassettes, a function that allows television watchers to set up their own
instant replays and pauses during broadcasts.
Digital video discs play both music and movies on a five-inch disc with
CD-quality sound. And digital telephones can package Caller ID and an
answering machine.
With the touch of a button, users of digital camcorders can create special
effects including fade, dissolve and scroll up or down. And digital audio is
bringing movie theater-like surround sound into the living room.
The new technologies are expected to help the electronics industry
continue its strong and steady growth. In 1998, consumer electronics
companies sold $76 billion of products to retailers, up $4 billion from
1997, according to the consumer electronics association. |
