I Want My HD TV

HD TV has become the hi-fi of the '00s, the CD for the next generation. Got the DVD player? Good. Got TiVo? Great. Now the new must-need demands your attention. Try comparison shopping, and the difference is immediately apparent. HD TV allows you to spot the sweat flying off the boxer's face, the tiniest ripple in a Busby Berkeley water number. Two-thirds of American stations use HD TV-compatible formats. The difference between HD TV and the everyday set is most comparable to the gap that separates CD and cassette. And it's so…HD. And TV junkies everywhere have taken on a new credo: "I want my HD TV!"

You may be surprised, however, at how old HD TV technology is and how complex the road today's toy took to sit in your living room. As far back as 1963, the Japan Broadcasting Company (NHK) began developing the technology and by the early 1980s had began broadcasting in HD TV format, much to the consternation of American technological interests.

By the mid-80s, Motorola had made decent strides in the HD TV field and pressured via lobbying efforts for more of the bandwidth spectrum, cutting into frequencies then-used in two-way communication. Though the National Association of Broadcasters attempted to fight Motorola's push, 1986 saw the FCC make major changes in favor of HD TV broadcasting. Early in the Bush Administration, the president's men urged the FCC to close the HD TV gap, plunking billions into various related projects.

NHK, meanwhile, attempted to corner the market. Showing the new HD TV technology to the American powers-that-be did not succeed, scuttling Japanese efforts to set international standards for broadcast, and therefore prices, worldwide. It cannot be said for certain whether FCC officials poo-pooed HD TV because the NHK still used an awkward two-channel system or as a bluff to buy more time for American HD TV manufacturers.

General Instruments helped advance the HD TV cause in 1990, when their researchers created an all-digital system that would do away with clunky analog systems. In 1993, after lengthy research and numerous demonstrations by six would-be HD TV manufacturers (including NHK), the government called for final work. Earlier in the year, the so-called "Great Alliance" was formed, combining the efforts of seven multi-billion dollar corporations that represented most electronic advances in America. Japan would soon be squeezed out of the American HD TV race.

By 1995, all standards had been set and the most important step of all for HD TV was taken in 1996, when the FCC passed an act requiring nearly all American television stations to broadcast in HD TV format by the end of 2006. Wait a minute…that's this year! Better start saving. In the meantime, remember the mantra… "I want my HD TV…I want my HD TV…"