Test Tubes - digital TV; automobile video

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, July, 2000 by Ian Baldwin

Another caveat: Finding qualified service technicians for a new, exotic product such as high-definition television can be a hassle. Gene Cowan is in a running battle with Hitachi over picture-tube problems in the 36-inch HDTV set he bought a year ago. "The repair people they send say either `I don't know, find someone else,' or `I don't see anything wrong with it,'" he says.

I want my HDTV

WHAT LITTLE HDTV programming there is comes from scattered sources--mostly over-the-air broadcasts. That means you'll probably need a professionally installed outdoor antenna to pull in digital stations, depending on how strong the signal is where you live. The bright side: You'll have none of the snow, "ghosting" or other fuzziness you remember from trying to tune an analog TV. Digital signals come across crystal clear--or not at all.

So what's on? Since last fall, CBS has gone far beyond the other networks to broadcast most of its primetime lineup in HDTV. Don't thank CBS. It's set maker Mitsubishi that's bearing the additional postproduction costs, to boost sales of its sets. Big-ticket sporting events are emerging as an HDTV favorite, including this year's Super Bowl and the NCAA Final Four (NBC, however, won't be showing any Olympic events in HDTV). ABC showed Monday Night Football in high definition last year, thanks to support from Panasonic (the network hasn't decided if it will repeat the broadcasts in the fall). And public TV stations such as WRAL (Raleigh, N.C.), KCTS (Seattle) and WETA (Washington, D.C.) are producing their own documentaries in HDTV, some of which are shown on a loop sent to all PBS affiliates.

Keeping tabs on all this doesn't have to be difficult. For a one-time $35 charge, you can get a daily e-mail of high-definition program listings and reviews (sign up at hdtvmagazine.net).

Content discontent

THE EFFORTS OF ambitious broadcasters, however, are good only for viewers who live within range of their digital signals. For TV stations, going digital often means expensive upgrades like building a new broadcast tower. Of about 1,600 full-power TV stations in the country, only 99 have completed the transition to digital broadcasting, and those are mostly in the 30 largest cities.

Direct-satellite broadcasters EchoStar and DirecTV send the channels that HBO and Showtime use for HDTV programs (monthly packages that include these channels start at $31 for EchoStar and $48 for DirecTV). But to receive local stations in high definition, you'll still need an antenna.

Since nearly 70% of television viewers subscribe to cable, getting cable systems to broadcast in high definition is a make-or-break issue for HDTV. Most cable companies are converting to digital networks, but that's not the same as digital television--the systems are using the upgrades to squeeze in more analog channels and provide high-speed Internet access instead. Some systems, such as Cablevision and Time Warner in New York City and Cox in Omaha, are providing a few channels in HDTV, but most cable operators are taking a wait-and-see tack. And it will probably be late 2001 before cable-compatible HDTV sets hit retail floors, anyway.