Seeking to catch up to the United States and Europe, the Japanese government announced Monday that it would move up the introduction of digital television broadcasting by as much as a few years.
But the Japanese said Monday that they intended to use a different system for transmitting the digital signal than will be used in the United States. Japanese officials argue that their digital transmission system is superior to the American version.Europe is also planning to use a transmission system similar to Japan's, though not identical. As a result, different regions are expected to use different transmission systems for broadcasting digital television, which means that TVs made for one country will not work for some others - as is true today.
But in a move that American industry executives see as a victory for the United States, Japan is likely to use the same standard as the United States for producing and displaying digital video signals, which governs such characteristics as the shape of the screen and the number of lines in the picture.
With a common production standard, the same cameras, monitors, and related equipment can be used in TV studios worldwide. While European and Japanese companies are now dominant in production equipment, American companies - including Polaroid - are gearing up for the coming digital production market. Moreover, unlike today, videotapes made in the United States could play in VCRs around the world.