You don't know the names of Ed and Kathy Davis, but you might want to file their names away in your brain's trivia folder. Ed and Kathy bought the first HDTV set ever sold and you can bet your sweet bippy they paid well over $5,000 to be what the industry calls an "early adopter." The funny part--for envious me and you--is that the Davises have spent megabucks on a big, fancy warehouse (the TV) with little or no inventory (digital programming). But that will change as soon as the NFL starts broadcasting games ("Bobby Joe, that ball did not cross the plane of the goal line; lookee there, that's a dirt clod on the ball, ain't no pigskin crossed that line, and that's a digitally televised, 1,000-plus lines of resolution fact, son. Now, cough up that five spot.") Host Robert X. Cringeley takes viewers on a guided tour of the digital TV landscape, offering a brief television history, a (very) general explanation of how digital TV works, and checking in with PBS alumni Julia Child, Mister Rogers and Ken Burns for their thoughts on the pluses and minuses of digital television. Digital TV's biggest advantage is not, as most people think, a sharper picture; far more important is the extra information which can be carried on the digital signal--downloadable articles, extra multimedia, active web links and more. Which also, in Ken Burns' mind, raises a serious question for the filmmaker: How do you maintain narrative control over a story when at every stage in the tale numerous branches offer viewers the opportunity to, as they say, choose their own adventures? Ironically, Digital Television is a digital program, though most viewers will see it on analog sets, and while it's not a great discourse on the topic, it is just about the only title on the subject and affordably priced to boot. Recommended. Aud: J, H, P. (R. Pitman)
Digital Television
(1998) 30 min. $14.98. PBS Video. Color cover. Closed captioned. ISBN: 0-7806-2519-6. Vol. 14, Issue 3
Digital Television
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