Digital TV Being Channeled Into New PC Models
Monitor and PC Vendors jumping at Digital Television
D
igital TV is coming to a PC near you. Consumers now can
watch the enhanced video and audio quality of digital
television only on a handful of megabuck high-definition TV
sets.

But computer companies exhibiting at the
Comdex computer show announced plans to
rush out products with digital televisions built
in to personal computers.

High-tech giants — including Compaq
Computer, Panasonic, Intel and Philips — are
hoping consumers and businesses will see the
new technology they're calling PC-DTV as a
cheap alternative to high-definition television
sets.

Right now, the high-definition TV sets start at an astronomical
$5,000.

"As you look at digital TV emerging, it enables a whole new set of
services," said Trey Smith, vice president of advanced consumer
products at Compaq.

Imagine being able to shop directly off the television, get a concert
listing while watching a music video or get sports stats while
watching a game — all potential features of the digital TV-PC
marriage, computer executives said.

Compaq plans to ship some versions of its Presario line of
desktop PCs with built-in high-definition tuner cards that will let
users receive the digital TV signals. The cards are manufactured
by Panasonic.

Prices for the new Presarios have not been set, but insiders said
the tuner card alone costs $800 to $1,000.

Along the same vein, Panasonic also yesterday announced a
partnership with Microsoft to deliver the next generation of circuit
boards that will allow digital TV viewing on PCs with Windows
2000 — the company's next-generation operating system, yet to
be released.

Exploring yet another avenue of joining TVs with PCs, Panasonic
announced a new wireless device — the MicroCast.

A computer user could transmit information on a PC screen to a
television screen — even if the PC were in another room.

While there are yet few digital broadcasts on television — the
format was launched just weeks ago — companies such as
Panasonic, Compaq and others are planning for the time when all
television programs will be broadcast in high definition, signaling
the end of conventional broadcasts.

Some industry analysts said the new PC technology may be
jumping the gun, since digital television is years away from being
the industry standard.

Despite all the hoopla over the new digital TV technology for
computers, experts at the trade show said sales of tuner cards
allowing users to tap into traditional TV have been slow in the past
year, even though Microsoft embraced them in its Windows 98
software.

-- Ken Li - 11/18/98