Audio Video News

Unlike the rabbit advance of DVD, high definition television has been pursuing the slow but steady crawl of the tortoise. More recent announcements are increasing that momentum.

In the good old days of over-the-air (OTA) broadcast TV, before the proliferation of cable and DBS, pointing your rooftop antenna was a common ritual when switching between channels. OTA HDTV has brought those days back, as viewers carefully orient their specialized HDTV antennas to lock in fussy signals.

Digital cinema has begun to pick up speed in movie houses (see <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?738">previous story</A>), but finding ways to deliver the huge datafiles needed to present theater-grade imaging has remained an obstacle. Hoping to provide a solution to the problem of digitally storing high-resolution feature-length films, <A HREF="http://www.c-3d.net">Constellation 3D</A> announced last week the impending demonstration of its Fluorescent Multilayer Disc (FMD) videodisc technology at a satellite-delivered digital cinema film premiere of the film <I>Bounce</I>, to be hosted by <A HREF="http://www.miramax.com">Miramax Films</A>.

On May 19, residents of Seattle, Washington, were treated to another HDTV first: Local ABC affiliate <A HREF="http://www.komotv.com/">KOMO</A> launched the dual broadcast of all its newscasts in analog standard-definition on channel 4 and high-definition on KOMO-DT channel 38, making history with its 5 o'clock broadcast. KOMO-DT says it will broadcast more than 30 hours of local HD news each week.

Last week, EchoStar Communications Corporation announced that, starting this week, its <A HREF="http://www.dishnetwork.com">Dish Network</A> will begin showing HDTV versions of popular motion pictures, beginning with the James Bond film <I>The World Is Not Enough</I>. EchoStar claims that the Dish Network currently serves more than 4.3 million customers.

Fire up your HD VCRs, <A HREF="http://www.NBCOlympics.com">NBC</A> and <A HREF="http://www.hd.net/olympics.html">HDNet</A> have managed to put together an impressive schedule of Winter Olympics coverage this year to broadcast in high-definition television on NBC's DTV affiliates and HDNet (channel 199 on DIRECTV). One important caveat however, all programming is delayed one day.

Testifying last week before the House Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection, <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> (CEA) president and CEO Gary Shapiro described what he called a "successful consumer transition" to digital television (DTV), this characterized by broad product offerings, increased programming from alternative media sources, steady sales, and high consumer satisfaction with DTV products. But all is not rosy: According to Shapiro, broadcast-industry delays in delivering significant HDTV programming and the industry's potential misuse of the DTV spectrum to provide subscription data services could seriously slow the transition's current momentum.