Seeks Delay Until ’94 : U.S. Won’t Back Japan on High-Definition TV

Setting back hopes in Japan that its own technology for high-definition television studio equipment will be adopted as a world standard, the U.S. government has formally abandoned an earlier endorsement of it.

U.S. negotiators attending an international standards conference in Geneva this week will argue for adopting no standard until 1994, on the grounds that agreement is not currently possible and that a superior system may have emerged by then.

The shift, announced by the State Department, had been expected, as the international debate was stalemated, and Congress and the U.S. electronics industry had been urging the United States to chart its own course in development of HDTV, an emerging generation of television that has picture and sound quality comparable to those in theaters.

Studio Standards

The standard in question involves cameras and other equipment used by television studios in producing HDTV programs. Some experts expect that it will eventually become the principal production medium in studios. Even movies may be shot on the tape and then transferred to film for showing in theaters.

The standard does not apply directly to transmission systems, which to date have received the major share of attention in the U.S. debate over HDTV.

In the 1970s and early ‘80s, Japan developed its studio standard, known as 1125-60, in consultation with the United States, which won a number of changes in it. Japan has since begun production of the equipment, which is being used by four U.S. television production studios.

In 1985, the U.S. government formally endorsed world adoption of 1125-60, based on recommendations from the Advanced Television Systems Committee, an advisory group that includes companies from the U.S. broadcasting, film and consumer electronics industry.

The rationale was that early agreement on a standard would facilitate exchange of programming between countries, in the same way that the near universal use of 35-millimeter film does. This in turn would aid foreign sales by the U.S. film and video industry, which generate a trade surplus of roughly $3 billion annually.

Criticized as Shortsighted

But as the development of HDTV has emerged on Capitol Hill and in the U.S. electronics industry as a major issue of international competitiveness, that stance has been criticized as shortsighted, on the grounds that it would give Japanese companies a leg up in producing HDTV equipment. Last month, the advisory committee revised its position, leading the State Department to follow suit. Some members of the U.S. entertainment industry, however, still hope that the Japanese standard will eventually be adopted.

Europe, meanwhile, has devised its own studio standard, known as 1250-50, and, like Japan, has been pressing for worldwide adoption of it. Equipment based on it exists only as prototypes. U.S. work on studio standards remains in the research stage.