New digital TV set shoppers should study before they buy

Jeannine Aversa

Wednesday, April 8, 1998 | 3:43 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - When pricey new digital TV sets hit the stores this fall, let the buyer beware: Just as with any new product, consumers will need to do their homework.

Initially, digital TV set owners who don't have cable television will need an indoor, and possibly, a rooftop antenna to receive and watch digital broadcasts provided by ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox and local TV stations. Some broadcasts will begin this fall.

Cable TV customers who buy digital sets must depend on their cable TV companies to give them new set-top boxes that not only receive broadcasters' digital signals but display them without degrading picture and sound quality.

Given that scenario, "I'm worried that consumers would be confused as to what constitutes cable-ready digital TV sets," Federal Communications Commission member Susan Ness told the National Association of Broadcasters convention here Wednesday.

"Will the true high definition sets that they just bought display the true high definition signal that the broadcaster has just transmitted if and when the set is hooked up to cable? The answer had better be yes," Ness said.

Until new set-top boxes are available, cable TV customers who buy new digital sets will have to rely on rabbit ears or outdoor antennas to receive broadcasters' digital signals. Cable customers can switch between cable and off-air reception, using existing a/b switches from their cable companies.

But Ness warned cable TV companies that their set-top boxes had better be compatible with broadcasters' signals. "I do not wish to see a bottleneck provider such as cable be able to defeat the choices that broadcasters and consumers have made ... by failing to pass through to a digital set the full resolution in the signal," she said.

Dan Brenner, vice president of law and regulatory policy at the National Cable Television Association, said the nation's more than 11,000 cable systems will do their best.

"We want to provide our customers with the best signals that we can," Brenner said, adding that the cable industry doesn't want government to dictate what cable should do.

Wide screen digital sets will cost from $2,000 to $10,000. All are big - 34 inches and larger. Most will be home theater style with projection screens. Prices are expected to drop over time.

Alan McCollough, president of Circuit City Stores Inc., said he thinks the new sets will be a hit, but it is critical for sales people to be trained about them and educate would-be buyers. "You need a degree to figure out how to hook up all this equipment," he said.

Given the cost, it will take some five years "before you start seeing essentially the K-Mart buyer who is trying to find a TV set for $300 to $400," said Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association.

New digital TV sets will be able to receive high definition TV signals, which offer the best picture quality and sound as well as standard definition signals. Those are less defined than high definition, but a big improvement over existing analog television. Most broadcasters are expected to offer viewers some programs in both high definition and standard.

ABC Network TV president Preston Padden said in an interview that the network this fall will broadcast the "Wonderful World of Disney" in high definition.