[Opinion] Digital TV

Korea’s televisions have evolved from black-and-white to color and now they are digitalized. TV viewers will be able to start enjoying broadcasts five to six times clearer than that of the existing analog TVs, coupled with CD-quality sounds, within this month. The length and width ratio of the screen will also be enlarged from 4:3 to the ratio of a movie-screen, 16:9. The metropolitan area and the five major cities across the nation will be able to view the Olympic Games from Athens through High-density (HD) broadcasts in August. It is exciting just to imagine watching our players trying their best with others from around the world. With the new system, we will be able to witness not only them putting on a good fight but also see their sweat and tears as well as hear the sound of their breathing.

Unlike analog TVs, Digital TV (DTV) enables two-way data broadcasting. DTV allows viewers to browse the web to find information on an actor or a singer while watching a show or a soap opera. Also, one can buy stuff online and search the web for other information. Simply put, it is like having a personal computer inside the TV. However, on the other hand, there may be some unlikely victims because of this new advent of digital technology. For example, now the celebrities will have to pay much closer attention to their make-up. DTV may capture those little skin troubles under the foundation not to mention those zits or scars from repeated plastic surgeries.

Global digital industry is now at war over standardization. No matter how stupendous the technology might be, the technology might as well be thrown into a gutter if it is not chosen as a standard technology in the field. Until the 1980s, Japan was ahead of the United States in terms of HDTV technology, but Japan started to fall behind in the race by failing to have its technology chosen as a global standard. Some analysis suggested that the United States, which lost the home appliance market to Japan at home and abroad, has succeeded in bringing out the cooperation of academia and industry to isolate Japan in order to take hold of the global digital market. The United States has already dominated most parts of the world with its language and is out to further its dominance with technological standards.

The global DTV market is expected to grow to $22 billion by 2005, $33 billion by 2006, and $50 billion by 2007. Korea currently remains a technological powerhouse with 3,462 DTV related licensed technologies, 33 percent of global licensed technologies which total up to 10,632 cases. With that in mind, it is a great national loss for Korea to have wasted so many hours and money over the last four years on data transfer methods because of difference of opinions between the government and broadcasters. There was a valuable lesson learned: a great deal of consultation among parties involved is needed in choosing a new technology. However, the lesson was not worth the price.

Editorial writer Oh Myung-chul oscar@donga.com