Content area
Full Text
Even as the television industry focuses on the dramatic race to develop a means of broadcasting the high-tech TV known as high-definition television, a variety of companies are working to bring a different version of this new technology to the public much sooner, perhaps as early as this summer.
If these projects come to fruition, it may soon be possible to go to certain cinemas or specially equipped hotel lounges and enjoy sports, concerts, Broadway shows and other special events displayed with the exceptional clarity and brightness that characterizes HDTV. A system for broadcasting HDTV to homes, by contrast, won't be ready until mid-decade.
These special-event HDTV presentations would use the Japanese-developed HDTV technology, which has been rejected as unsuitable for broadcasting in the United States but is gradually gaining some acceptance as a video production medium. It is currently possible to buy high-definition television sets, video cameras and videotape recorders from Sony and other Japanese companies, though the equipment is extremely expensive.
John Messerschmitt, vice president for marketing at Scientific Atlanta, which produces transmission systems for satellite and cable television, said he has been in discussions with the United Artists cinema chain about setting up an HDTV special-event network. Messerchmitt predicted that between 20 and 100...