HDTV
Buyers await video recorders and game consoles
Consumers don't, of course, use TVs just for live TV. They record and play back shows they don't want to miss. They rent and buy movies and use TVs to watch them. And some use TVs to play video games.
HD sets can handle all those tasks. But mainstream VCRs and personal video recorders can't record in HD format. DVDs look nice on HD screens, but they're not truly high-definition. And video-game consoles don't take advantage of the better image quality.
Yet.
Manufacturers have begun introducing products that fit into the HD world. TiVo Inc., for instance, has introduced a model of its popular video recorder for the DirecTV satellite service that can store up to 30 hours of HD programming.
At $1,000, it's still expensive, but expect prices for digital video recorders to come down quickly as more manufacturers get in the game and the cost of digital memory continues to fall.
Movie players will be next. Electronics makers are still debating the format for movie discs designed for HD images, and consumers may have to deal with two rival standards, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Players and recorders for both kinds of discs are making their way onto the market.
Like TiVo's HD model, the next generation of movie players will probably be expensive at first.
Many consumers also prefer to get big sound whooshing around them, along with their new TVs and fancy furniture to hold all that flashy equipment.
"It's going to be maybe a $6,000 purchase, and only $2,000 of that might be the TV," said Bart Weiss, the artistic director of the Dallas Video Festival and an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. "But all of those things will come down."
Games for Microsoft Corp.'s upcoming version of the XBox will be playable in HD, the software giant has announced. And there are rumors that Sony Corp.'s next PlayStation will have HD capability, too.
TV SETS
The more prices slide, the more consumers buy
Is there another electronic product that looks as cool as a flat TV hanging on a wall?
As prices have plummeted, consumers have snapped up plasma screens and their slightly smaller cousins, liquid crystal displays, with increasing fervor. Sales of both kinds of TVs have quintupled in the last three years.
Even traditional, rear-projection TV sets are enjoying a huge boost in popularity.
A new generation of rear-projection TVs replaces the old cathode-ray tube with silicon technology, producing models that aren't as skinny as plasma models – but still look pretty sleek compared with their predecessors.
Sales of these chip-based TVs rose to $4.7 billion last year, about 13 times their total in 2002, according to Quixel Research. The TVs include models based on Texas Instruments Inc.'s Digital Light Processing technology and others using LCDs or liquid crystal on silicon.
Not all of the flat and chip-based TVs are capable of displaying wide-screen, high-definition images. Some manufacturers, such as Gateway Inc., have made a mint on models known as EDTV, or enhanced-definition television.
But the burst of success in each category shows how eager consumers are to have fancy TVs in their homes. Many of the sets are made for HD, and each purchase adds another household to the market of potential viewers.
The sets remain relatively expensive. Though some units capable of showing HD can be found for $700 or even lower, they're relatively small and don't include high-def tuners. The big sets – 26 inches and above – still cost just under $1,000 without tuners.
Prices keep going in the right direction. Plasma sets measuring more than 40 inches diagonally are sneaking in under $2,500. Rear-projection, chip-based sets of the same size are beginning to slip toward $2,000. With every price drop, the TVs make their way into another viewer's budget.
About 40 percent of HDTV owners make less than $50,000 a year, said Josh Bernoff, a vice president at Forrester Research.
"This is already reaching people well beyond what are normally considered the affluent early adopters," he said. "It looks as if this is an extremely attractive technology to a lot of consumers."
Mark Cuban, who owns the Dallas Mavericks and the HDNet high-definition networks, believes HDTVs will go totally mainstream when plasma and LCD displays fall under $500 and manufacturers stop making analog TVs bigger than 13 inches.
"I think it's less than five years," he said in an e-mail.
PROGRAMMING
Viewers aren't tuned in to what they can watch
If Americans are snapping up HD sets, why are so few watching high-definition shows?
Availability isn't a problem anymore. Cable operators now offer HD services in 92 million households, according to the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. Both major satellite providers, along with the smaller, HD-friendly Voom service, offer the format. And most metropolitan areas have at least some local stations broadcasting in HD.
Consumer confusion may be a factor. Some TVs, labeled "HD-ready," don't have built-in high-definition tuners, requiring the purchase of additional equipment to receive the picture.
Consumers may also balk at the extra costs that some pay-TV providers charge for HD service. And many simply feel their new TV looks good already without an HD image.
"They just like the fact that it's a better picture than they get with analog," said Michael Paxton, a senior researcher at In-Stat.
Still, the amount of HD programming is improving, with a wider mix of sports, movies, documentaries and traditional prime-time fare.
Cable and satellite providers are working to get more on the air, trying to outflank each other. They know that HD viewers are some of their most loyal and profitable customers.
Satellite providers, for instance, are adopting a compression technology that should allow them to add local HD broadcasts.
"HD's a very big part of that strategy for those guys to compete with each other," said Myra Moore, president of Dallas-based Digital Tech Consulting.
REGULATION
The big debate: When to pull analog's plug
The federal government wants HD to take off, mostly because it's eager to auction the broadcast spectrum now used for analog signals.
But politicians don't want to alienate their constituents by rendering their traditional TVs useless.
Broadcasters are supposed to stop using analog frequencies and return the spectrum by the end of next year, although the deadline is under debate.
Some officials are floating the idea of subsidizing converters that would allow viewers to get digital signals on their older TVs. Consumer electronics makers, broadcasters and pay-TV providers have differing positions on the issue.
The manufacturers like the idea of a firm deadline for broadcasters to cut off analog signals, knowing that would push consumers to upgrade their equipment.
Broadcasters don't like the idea of losing viewers when they shut down analog transmission. Even homes that subscribe to cable or satellite often have second and third TVs with rabbit ears that receive over-the-air signals, they say.
The cable industry wants to be able to convert broadcasters' digital signals so they'll work on older TVs.
Everyone agrees, in the end, on the need to balance consumers' interests with the desire to move to the digital format.
Whatever government decides, "it will drive more of the equipment in the home, it will drive more programming, and it will drive more services," said Myra Moore of Digital Tech Consulting.
HDTV FOR BEGINNERS
Take this cheat sheet on your next trip to the electronics store:
HDTV: High-definition television. Instead of the standard 480 lines of resolution, digital HDTV has up to 1,080 in a wide-screen format.
EDTV: Enhanced-definition television. It can display HDTV signals, but its picture is not as good as HDTV's.
DTV: Digital television. The term refers to digitally delivered TV signals, such as those used by HDTV.
1080i and 720p: The two main types of HDTV resolution. 1080i has more lines of resolution, but 720p uses progressive scan so pictures flow more smoothly.
1080p: A more recent, high-end format of HDTVs that offers high resolution with progressive-scan images. Broadcasters aren't using this format yet.
Wide-screen 480p: The resolution found in EDTV and DVDs.
LCD: Liquid crystal display. A chip-based technology used in flat-panel TVs, computer monitors and some rear-projection sets.
Plasma: Another technology used in flat-panel TVs.
DLP: Digital Light Processing, the trademark for a chip-based TV technology made by Texas Instruments.
SOURCE: The Dallas Morning News
WHAT'S NEXT?
Here are a few important dates in the march to HDTV. Some of these deadlines may change:
July 1, 2005: All TVs that measure 36 inches or more diagonally must be sold with digital tuners, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
Dec. 31, 2006: Broadcasters must take their old analog signals off the air and switch to digital broadcasts. There's some leeway in the law for broadcasters in communities where most viewers can't receive digital signals.
July 1, 2006: TVs 25 inches and up must have digital tuners.
July 1, 2007: The digital tuner requirement steps down to 13-inch sets and other devices, such as VCRs and personal video recorders.
SOURCE: Consumer Electronics Association
Buyers await video recorders and game consoles
Consumers don't, of course, use TVs just for live TV. They record and play back shows they don't want to miss. They rent and buy movies and use TVs to watch them. And some use TVs to play video games.
HD sets can handle all those tasks. But mainstream VCRs and personal video recorders can't record in HD format. DVDs look nice on HD screens, but they're not truly high-definition. And video-game consoles don't take advantage of the better image quality.
Yet.
Manufacturers have begun introducing products that fit into the HD world. TiVo Inc., for instance, has introduced a model of its popular video recorder for the DirecTV satellite service that can store up to 30 hours of HD programming.
At $1,000, it's still expensive, but expect prices for digital video recorders to come down quickly as more manufacturers get in the game and the cost of digital memory continues to fall.
Movie players will be next. Electronics makers are still debating the format for movie discs designed for HD images, and consumers may have to deal with two rival standards, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Players and recorders for both kinds of discs are making their way onto the market.
Like TiVo's HD model, the next generation of movie players will probably be expensive at first.
Many consumers also prefer to get big sound whooshing around them, along with their new TVs and fancy furniture to hold all that flashy equipment.
"It's going to be maybe a $6,000 purchase, and only $2,000 of that might be the TV," said Bart Weiss, the artistic director of the Dallas Video Festival and an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. "But all of those things will come down."
Games for Microsoft Corp.'s upcoming version of the XBox will be playable in HD, the software giant has announced. And there are rumors that Sony Corp.'s next PlayStation will have HD capability, too.
TV SETS
The more prices slide, the more consumers buy
Is there another electronic product that looks as cool as a flat TV hanging on a wall?
As prices have plummeted, consumers have snapped up plasma screens and their slightly smaller cousins, liquid crystal displays, with increasing fervor. Sales of both kinds of TVs have quintupled in the last three years.
Even traditional, rear-projection TV sets are enjoying a huge boost in popularity.
A new generation of rear-projection TVs replaces the old cathode-ray tube with silicon technology, producing models that aren't as skinny as plasma models – but still look pretty sleek compared with their predecessors.
Sales of these chip-based TVs rose to $4.7 billion last year, about 13 times their total in 2002, according to Quixel Research. The TVs include models based on Texas Instruments Inc.'s Digital Light Processing technology and others using LCDs or liquid crystal on silicon.
Not all of the flat and chip-based TVs are capable of displaying wide-screen, high-definition images. Some manufacturers, such as Gateway Inc., have made a mint on models known as EDTV, or enhanced-definition television.
But the burst of success in each category shows how eager consumers are to have fancy TVs in their homes. Many of the sets are made for HD, and each purchase adds another household to the market of potential viewers.
The sets remain relatively expensive. Though some units capable of showing HD can be found for $700 or even lower, they're relatively small and don't include high-def tuners. The big sets – 26 inches and above – still cost just under $1,000 without tuners.
Prices keep going in the right direction. Plasma sets measuring more than 40 inches diagonally are sneaking in under $2,500. Rear-projection, chip-based sets of the same size are beginning to slip toward $2,000. With every price drop, the TVs make their way into another viewer's budget.
About 40 percent of HDTV owners make less than $50,000 a year, said Josh Bernoff, a vice president at Forrester Research.
"This is already reaching people well beyond what are normally considered the affluent early adopters," he said. "It looks as if this is an extremely attractive technology to a lot of consumers."
Mark Cuban, who owns the Dallas Mavericks and the HDNet high-definition networks, believes HDTVs will go totally mainstream when plasma and LCD displays fall under $500 and manufacturers stop making analog TVs bigger than 13 inches.
"I think it's less than five years," he said in an e-mail.
PROGRAMMING
Viewers aren't tuned in to what they can watch
If Americans are snapping up HD sets, why are so few watching high-definition shows?
Availability isn't a problem anymore. Cable operators now offer HD services in 92 million households, according to the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. Both major satellite providers, along with the smaller, HD-friendly Voom service, offer the format. And most metropolitan areas have at least some local stations broadcasting in HD.
Consumer confusion may be a factor. Some TVs, labeled "HD-ready," don't have built-in high-definition tuners, requiring the purchase of additional equipment to receive the picture.
Consumers may also balk at the extra costs that some pay-TV providers charge for HD service. And many simply feel their new TV looks good already without an HD image.
"They just like the fact that it's a better picture than they get with analog," said Michael Paxton, a senior researcher at In-Stat.
Still, the amount of HD programming is improving, with a wider mix of sports, movies, documentaries and traditional prime-time fare.
Cable and satellite providers are working to get more on the air, trying to outflank each other. They know that HD viewers are some of their most loyal and profitable customers.
Satellite providers, for instance, are adopting a compression technology that should allow them to add local HD broadcasts.
"HD's a very big part of that strategy for those guys to compete with each other," said Myra Moore, president of Dallas-based Digital Tech Consulting.
REGULATION
The big debate: When to pull analog's plug
The federal government wants HD to take off, mostly because it's eager to auction the broadcast spectrum now used for analog signals.
But politicians don't want to alienate their constituents by rendering their traditional TVs useless.
Broadcasters are supposed to stop using analog frequencies and return the spectrum by the end of next year, although the deadline is under debate.
Some officials are floating the idea of subsidizing converters that would allow viewers to get digital signals on their older TVs. Consumer electronics makers, broadcasters and pay-TV providers have differing positions on the issue.
The manufacturers like the idea of a firm deadline for broadcasters to cut off analog signals, knowing that would push consumers to upgrade their equipment.
Broadcasters don't like the idea of losing viewers when they shut down analog transmission. Even homes that subscribe to cable or satellite often have second and third TVs with rabbit ears that receive over-the-air signals, they say.
The cable industry wants to be able to convert broadcasters' digital signals so they'll work on older TVs.
Everyone agrees, in the end, on the need to balance consumers' interests with the desire to move to the digital format.
Whatever government decides, "it will drive more of the equipment in the home, it will drive more programming, and it will drive more services," said Myra Moore of Digital Tech Consulting.
HDTV FOR BEGINNERS
Take this cheat sheet on your next trip to the electronics store:
HDTV: High-definition television. Instead of the standard 480 lines of resolution, digital HDTV has up to 1,080 in a wide-screen format.
EDTV: Enhanced-definition television. It can display HDTV signals, but its picture is not as good as HDTV's.
DTV: Digital television. The term refers to digitally delivered TV signals, such as those used by HDTV.
1080i and 720p: The two main types of HDTV resolution. 1080i has more lines of resolution, but 720p uses progressive scan so pictures flow more smoothly.
1080p: A more recent, high-end format of HDTVs that offers high resolution with progressive-scan images. Broadcasters aren't using this format yet.
Wide-screen 480p: The resolution found in EDTV and DVDs.
LCD: Liquid crystal display. A chip-based technology used in flat-panel TVs, computer monitors and some rear-projection sets.
Plasma: Another technology used in flat-panel TVs.
DLP: Digital Light Processing, the trademark for a chip-based TV technology made by Texas Instruments.
SOURCE: The Dallas Morning News
WHAT'S NEXT?
Here are a few important dates in the march to HDTV. Some of these deadlines may change:
July 1, 2005: All TVs that measure 36 inches or more diagonally must be sold with digital tuners, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
Dec. 31, 2006: Broadcasters must take their old analog signals off the air and switch to digital broadcasts. There's some leeway in the law for broadcasters in communities where most viewers can't receive digital signals.
July 1, 2006: TVs 25 inches and up must have digital tuners.
July 1, 2007: The digital tuner requirement steps down to 13-inch sets and other devices, such as VCRs and personal video recorders.
SOURCE: Consumer Electronics Association
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