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IT'S THE COLOR THAT GRABS HIM. AN EXPLOSION OF
emerald green and golden sunshine fills the screen as the camera clos
es in on a lone yellow crocus sipping the morning dew. It's the clarity
that makes him stay. The delicate veins of the crocus' leaves mesmer
ize him, as if he has only now come to see the complex biology of plants.
"It is a great picture," says the middle-aged man as he stands inside a Manhattan
electronics store, captivated by the display of high-definition television sets.
Like many people who pass through the store on a daily basis, the man in the pinstriped suit is drawn to the two-hour nature tape demonstrating the next generation of television.
"They attract a lot of attention," a salesman says later. "But [customers] want to know if they hook it to cable, will they get the same picture they see here? And they won't." Not yet.
Although 31 commercial stations (and one Public Broadcasting Service affiliate) are now transmitting in digital, the business remains in the experimental phase. According to the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association, manufacturers shipped 13,176 digital sets to retailers in 1998. Only a tiny number have been sold.
As the National Association of Broadcasters holds its annual convention in Las Vegas this week, the subject of television's digital future looms large. Station executives continue to debate the most fundamental questions of the new era: Should they go all the way with 1080i? Or broadcast in lower-resolution 720p or 480p and use the extra bandwidth to multicast? Will cable operators carry broadcasters' digital signals, regardless of spectrum? Or will...