A Clearer Technological Picture : U.S. teamwork may win the day in TV-picture race

Get ready, couch potatoes. Imagine a television picture with the clarity, detail and sharpness of films in movie theaters, and with CD-quality sound. That would be home entertainment at its finest--or at least clearest.

High-definition television (HDTV) holds exactly that promise. Now that three groups competing to develop the HDTV technology are joining forces, the realization of that promise may not be far off. The new system will usher in the biggest change in TV technology since the development of color television in the 1960s.

The accord, first disclosed by Times staff writer Jube Shiver Jr., means that computer-compatible HDTV sets could be available to consumers within five years. But they would be pricey in the beginning--about $1,000 to $2,000 more than conventional TVs.

The Federal Communications Commission had encouraged an alliance among the three competing groups: General Instruments Corp. and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Zenith Electronics Corp. and AT&T; and a consortium made up of Philips Electronics of the Netherlands, Thomson of France and the U.S. corporations Compression Labs and NBC. Each was working on a variation of an HDTV standard using a digital format to transmit images. The digital format allows for easy exchange of information between computers and HDTVs, opening the way for interactive, multimedia systems.

HDTV could mean revival of the U.S. consumer electronics industry. The proposed American HDTV standard would be cutting-edge technology, superior to Japan’s HDTV analog systems. Studies have estimated HDTV could generate as many as 100,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs. In addition, the nation’s 1,600 TV stations would each spend more than $1 million to convert transmitters and studio equipment for HDTV broadcasts.

Americans in the HDTV race were once far behind their competitors. Now, by working with their counterparts in other nations, they could become a powerhouse in the TV revolution.