HDTV Paper

“DTV is a much bigger step for television than the change from black and white to color” (Epstein, 12/99). The idea of a “digital television” came about nearly a decade ago in the early 1990’s when scientists realized that much more data could be sent to televisions if it was in a digital format, or a long series of 0’s and 1’s. This is the same method that computers use to send data and this method is very efficient. In fact, the data stream going into the television would be so great that 5 or 6 different channels could be broadcasted at the same time on the same frequency, giving viewers more options. Not only will there be more channels, but some of the other benefits would include a crystal clear picture, cd-quality surround sound, 2-way data-transmission, stock quotes, the Internet, and maybe even telephone services one day. The last four things are possible; they just haven’t been tested to a great extent quite yet. However, researchers agree that all these things will be possible one day. It is just a matter of time. What it comes down to is that some higher power, in this case the government, needs to step in to help progress this whole transition along or it could be years before everyone has an HDTV in their family room.

There are only two main reasons for why the new high-definition television sets haven’t caught on yet. To understand the first reason, it must be viewed from the point of the consumer. Why spend all this money on a new television set when there is no programming for it? This is where the government steps in. By spring of 2002, all stations are required to broadcast shows digitally. Stations ABC and CBS are leading the pack by offering nearly all of their primetime shows in high definition (Takiff, 2001). NBC and FOX are lagging behind and have almost no shows broadcasting in digital (Takiff, 2001). However, by the year 2006, all analog broadcasts will be cut off and only digital broadcasting will remain. So if you think this whole digital television phenomenon won’t affect you… think again.

The second thing is price. A new 50” plasma screen HDTV ready television can cost upwards of $20,000 (www.tweeter.com). This is of course top of the line and it can be hung on a wall, but is a good example of how expensive these devices really are. A “cheap” one, or a regularly sized big screen goes for about $2,000 to $6,000 (www.tweeter.com). These prices are down a lot from when they first came out on the market in 1998 (Epstein, 1999), and they will most likely continue to drop as time goes on as with the prices of almost every technological device. As a comparison, in 1998, only about 20,000 units were sold (Booth, 1998). During the year 2000, consumers purchased 684,500 digital television components totaling $1.4 billion (Arland, 2001). It is estimated that this year those numbers will grow to 1.125 million units and $2.1 billion (Arland, 2001). As one can see, sales in units have increased pretty rapidly in the past 3 years and are expected to double by 2002. There is however, a more cost efficient solution, which includes simply buying a box that will accept the signal and project the shows in quality which is a little better than regular analog TV, but still not as good as the HDTV set, which has a built in box with the high resolution screen. It is estimated that by the year 2003, there will be approximately 10 million families with the HDTV sets. This may sound rather large, but with the decreases in price and the increases in programming, it is easily feasible.

One thing that is somewhat interesting regarding digital television is how this is the first new technology that is literally being forced upon people whether they want it or not. When the broadcasting stations stop analog broadcasts in 2006, people will have to decide how important television is to them. They can either shell out what should be by then a couple hundred dollars for a digital box, or they can choose not to upgrade

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