Hdtv

Despite talk of $300 TVs, the biggest rise in consumer TV purchases has been in the large-screen type. If many of them are not HDTVs, it is only because of the paucity of such sets (the prices of which are coming down rapidly) and the public's knowledge that their cable companies won't provide a high-definition signal for them to watch anyway ["Industry Standoff Has Delayed Digital TV's Market Momentum," April 23]. There is no doubt the American public wants a better picture. Just look at the extraordinary sales of DVDs as an example.

1080p, the maximum image resolution for high-definition television, used to be found only on big-screen models with price tags in the thousands. But 1080p resolution has become so commonplace that it's being offered on models in the low 20-inch range, with prices down to $300. "It has been a big trend over the last year," said Paul Gagnon, an analyst with Display Search. "You used to not see any sub-32-inch sets offered with 1080p resolution. Now about a third of them are. " That sounds great for TV watchers on a budget or with limited space for a set. But there's a catch: On a relatively small screen, the benefits of this resolution level -- which crams 1,080 lines of digital information onto the display -- are minuscule.

The excitement over high-definition television is taking the thumbs-up, thumbs-down course of many media-driven phenomena in our society. A few months ago opportunities abounded, as proponents of HDTV, which features sharper, movie-quality images, spoke of a product with U.S. sales potential of at least $10 billion annually early in the next century. More important, it was argued that HDTV's high demand for chips will ensure the survival of American makers of semiconductors. The American Electronics Assn.

It's not easy to find a silver lining to the economic meltdown, but here's one: cheap high-definition televisions. Bargains on consumer electronics goods, especially TVs, have become a tradition for the holiday shopping season. But this year prices for HDTVs are expected to plunge as fast as ratings for the new "Knight Rider."

Reflecting rising anger with the telecommunications industry, lawmakers threatened tough action Wednesday to ensure the widespread availability of high-definition television and to spur greater local telephone competition. At two rancorous Senate hearings, industry executives and government regulators were taken to task for failing to ensure that consumers get lower prices, greater choice and innovative technology that the Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996 was designed to foster.

A major group of U.S. electronics firms will urge Congress to help the industry develop a new generation of television technology through Pentagon grants of $100 million a year over the next three years and loan guarantees of as much as $1 billion, industry sources said Monday. The American Electronics Assn. plan for entering the high-definition television business, which will be presented to the Senate Commerce Committee today, has been long awaited because of the intense interest on Capitol Hill and within the Bush Administration over how to prevent U.S. companies from being shut out of a field now led by Japanese and European concerns.

In your April 17 cover story you refer to "World War II: When Lions Roar" (NBC) as the "first American drama to be produced in HDTV--High Definition Television." This is not accurate. The first American television drama produced in HDTV was made by CBS and was broadcast on April 23, 1989. It was called "The Littlest Victims" and told the story of Dr. James Oleske (played by Tim Matheson), a pioneer in the research and treatment of pediatric AIDS. Peter Levin, Los Angeles, director, "The Littlest Victims"

The Pentagon is spending $30 million over the next three years to develop high-definition video display technology, which it plans to use for surveillance systems, radar, computers, instrument displays and a variety of other purposes. Industry analysts say development of high-definition television, or HDTV, may be one of the most lucrative businesses of the 1990s. Although HDTV's potential for military applications is substantial, industry observers say the technology may prove more valuable in the consumer market.

I can't believe that I just purchased a $15,000 high-definition television screen that is about to become a dinosaur due to a new digital connection standard ["HDTV Device Gains Support," April 17]. I feel like such a fool to think that all HDTV technical issues had been addressed. I seriously doubt that I will be junking my equipment to support a new standard driven by copyright paranoia. I guess I will miss out on all of that "new" entertainment. Fred Williams Oceanside I see the consumer electronics industry has bowed to pressure from the major movie studios to implement a digital system in all HDTVs or digital televisions to not only limit the recording of programming off the air but to add a pay-per-quality feature for programs provided in high definition.

Your Aug. 29 editorial, "So Much for Promises," misses the most important point. That is, the public neither wants nor needs nor has demanded high-definition TV. This move to digital TV was created by the computer-oriented crowd as an extension of computer technology. Today's TV already does its job. We viewers watch for content, not picture sharpness. HDTV is a sneaky way to force millions of Americans to spend billions to replace that which they already have: a TV that displays information in an intelligible fashion.

Distraught over the results of cosmetic surgery on her nose, Katherine Chen did what many people do when they're unhappy with a doctor. She consulted a malpractice lawyer and filed a complaint with the Medical Board of California. But the 22-year-old college student didn't stop there. Chen logged onto her home computer and wrote a tearful review about her experience, posting it to a website that encourages consumers to rate their healthcare providers.

Glendale retiree Michael Thai loves to watch movies broadcast in high-definition format on his wide-screen plasma TV. "It gives me the same feeling I get at the cinema," Thai said. That's a problem for many in the consumer electronics industry -- because Thai's television is not a genuine HDTV. It's an enhanced-definition television, or EDTV -- a step down from the high-definition standards set by the industry. And it sells for far less.

The 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo embraced so many television innovations -- color, live satellite feeds and slow-motion replays -- that they are known to media historians as the TV Olympics. Forty years later, the backers of high-definition television would love the Athens Games to someday be known as the HDTV Olympics.

ABC hopes to make ratings magic with a night of television built around the network debut of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" -- and a sneak peek at the third Warner Bros. film in the franchise. The 2001 movie, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, will air on May 9 in an extended, high-definition version that includes previously unseen footage, the network said.

The moment the San Antonio Spurs and the New Jersey Nets stopped playing basketball Sunday night, people rose to their feet in raucous applause, confetti fell from the rafters and champagne corks popped all over the place. Free at last! Free at last! A once-cherished American pastime was free at last. It was touch and go for a long while, but the NBA survived its Finals.

Orange County's public television station is on track to go digital next month as required by federal mandate, but it could be stuck in television's stone age if it doesn't come up with the money to compete in a digital broadcast world. Station managers at KOCE-TV Channel 50 say they soon plan to flip the switch on a $4-million digital transmitter atop Mt. Wilson. The Federal Communications Commission is requiring all public television stations to add a digital signal by May or go off the air.

The loan of spectrum to broadcasters for the transition to high-definition television is no "giveaway" (editorial, March 28). After a transition period, the spectrum will be returned to the government and auctioned off to help reduce the federal deficit. Meanwhile the channels will be used in the public interest to smooth the transition for television viewers. The spectrum loan will allow each TV station to simultaneously broadcast both digital HDTV and its analog signals, so viewers can use their present receivers until they are ready to buy new digital sets.

Setting back hopes in Japan that its own technology for high-definition television studio equipment will be adopted as a world standard, the U.S. government has formally abandoned an earlier endorsement of it. U.S. negotiators attending an international standards conference in Geneva this week will argue for adopting no standard until 1994, on the grounds that agreement is not currently possible and that a superior system may have emerged by...

Hollywood studios urged federal regulators Friday not to outlaw two controversial anti-piracy techniques, even though those techniques could prevent millions of consumers from receiving some digital television programs. The filing by the Motion Picture Assn. of America indicates that a new battle over copy protection has begun among the studios, cable TV operators and set manufacturers.

Cable operators and TV manufacturers have struck a long-awaited agreement designed to make it easier for consumers to get high-definition television from cable, ensure their ability to record most digital programs and preserve the value of older HDTV sets. The deal, which is expected to be announced today, would open the door for cable-ready digital TV sets that could deliver HDTV without a separate set-top box.