Please stand by: Digital TV still years away for most For now, price makes technology a difficult sell

Bob Latimer is an electronics retailer's dream customer. And it's not just because he enjoys being on the avant-garde of new technology. He's helping whip up enthusiasm for what retailers hope will become the consumer entertainment appliance of the next century: digital television. Latimer is the owner of a $ 5,500 Panasonic 56-inch high-definition TV set, which he bought at Continental Video, a family-owned store in Overland Park specializing in home theater systems. He's one of about 50 customers to invest in a television set that can receive the new digital signals, according to Steve McComas of Continental Video. The problem: Only one TV station in town, public broadcaster KCPT, broadcasts in digital. And to see the specially encoded digital signal (which transmits on Channel 18), customers such as Latimer would have to spend up to $ 3,000 for a decoder box. So instead, when KCPT is about to air a new program in the high-definition TV format (which it does about once a month), the store lends Latimer the box. He then invites over a roomful of friends to watch the program on the 56-incher. They are routinely astounded by what they see. "It's almost 3-dimensional," Latimer said. "The brightness of the colors just jumps out at you. And, of course, the clarity. It's unbelievable to watch a picture that's so big and so clear. "The friends that I had over said they thought it was better than a movie screen, and I tend to agree with them." Latimer supplies this feedback to the store - and a few more people in the Kansas City area are introduced to the miracle of digital TV. If this sounds more like an Amway presentation than the front lines of a video revolution, bear in mind that the nation's 1,570 television stations, seven broadcast networks and their program suppliers already are investing tens of billions of dollars to convert their operations to conform with the new digital format. The government expects every station to be broadcasting in digital by the year 2006. The problem is that not even a government decree can force consumers to go out and purchase expensive, new digital-ready sets. Prices for TV receivers capable of showing a digital picture run from $ 3,500 to more than three times that figure. The good news is that anyone considering a home theater will get a brilliant picture from a digital TV system purchased today that will be comparable with any model built in the future. And these high-end units come with video enhancements. Meanwhile, the two leading manufacturers of digital TV sets, Mitsubishi and Panasonic, have struck deals with the big three networks to speed up the digital conversion of prime-time programming. Panasonic is equipping ABC's "Monday Night Football" team with special high-definition cameras, while Mitsubishi will foot the bill to convert CBS' entire prime-time schedule next season to the high-definition format. But Kansas Citians won't see the results because neither ABC affiliate KMBC nor CBS affiliate KCTV plans to begin broadcasting in digital soon. The satellite dish companies - which aren't even subject to the government's digital mandate - may have the most affordable solution for Kansas Citians ready for the next generation of television. Later this year DirecTV, the leading small-dish satellite provider, will introduce a dish that will receive high-definition programs from HBO and other cable networks. In addition, it will be able to pull in any over-the-air signals, analog and digital, broadcast by local TV stations. And feed a second signal to another nondigital television set in your house. All for about $ 800, according to Bruce Bettinger of Brandsmart, a local DirecTV retailer that also sells digital-ready TV sets. Similar technology also will be unveiled for the Dish Network, the other leading small-dish satellite service. To reach Aaron Barnhart, television writer for The Star, call (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com