St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Missouri: Oct. 28--KTVI-TV (Fox 2) flipped on Channel 43, its new digital signal, last Thursday, but chief engineer Ernie Dachel wonders if more than a handful of viewers noticed.

"It's hard to find out how many (digital) sets are out there," Dachel said. "We've had a few calls from some folks that have sets -- including a couple of retail stores."

But the response has been underwhelming at best. St. Louis' network television stations are scrambling to beat next Monday's government deadline for bringing digital television to area airwaves. KMOV expects to start transmitting digital signals Friday on Channel 56, and KSDK is planning to get Channel 35 on the air sometime next week.

KDNL is waiting for a construction permit from the Federal Communications Commission and the shipment of several critical pieces of equipment, including an antenna. Operations director Jim Wright estimates that the ABC affiliate will begin transmitting digital television sometime after Jan. 1.

Today's analog TV sets cannot receive digital signals. Digital TV sets will need a special analog converter in order to also receive old-style signals.

With fewer than 100,000 digital sets sold nationwide -- and probably fewer than 500 here -- the advent of high-definition digital television is a classic chicken-or-egg dilemma.

"As long as the price of receivers is high, nobody is going to buy them, " said Jim Penhune, an analyst with The Yankee Group, a consulting firm in Boston that tracks communications trends. And with few stations offering true high-definition pictures, people who have plunked down $4,000 or more for a set have relatively little new to watch.

The difference between regular television and HDTV is the number of lines in an image. Regular television broadcast pictures have 532 lines. High-definition television has at least 720 lines, and it can have nearly 1,100. KMOV's high-definition broadcasts will have 1,080 lines, for example. HDTV also has higher-quality sound -- similar to the Dolby stereo "surround sound" used for some movies.

Most of the digital sets sold so far are "dual-mode" units that receive either regular broadcast or digital signals. To get high-definition pictures, most customers will need an additional tuner that costs $1,000 or more.

St. Louis stations will offer a mix of programs converted to the digital format and programs produced with true high-definition technology. For example:

-- CBS affiliate KMOV will offer 12 hours of HDTV programming a week -- mostly prime-time shows and sporting events -- with the rest of its offerings " up-converted" to digital format. Television set manufacturer Mitsubishi is bankrolling the CBS network's migration to HDTV.

-- ABC affiliate KDNL will broadcast "Monday Night Football" and three to five movies a month in HDTV format when the station turns on its digital channel next year. The rest of its digital signals will be converted from the regular format, known as analog.

-- NBC affiliate KSDK's only true HDTV show will be "The Tonight Show. " The rest of its programming will be converted from the station's regular format.

-- All of KTVI's digital signals will be converted from regular programming.
Nationwide, about 80 stations are broadcasting digital signals, said Dennis Wharton, senior vice president of the National Association of Broadcasting. The FCC required network stations in the top 10 markets to convert by Nov. 1 last year. The deadline for network stations in markets ranked down to 30 -- including St. Louis -- is Monday.

But many stations have been beating the deadlines, Wharton said, and he expects digital broadcasting to reach 120 markets by the end of the year.

"That's pretty exciting for consumers," Wharton said. "Once you see it, the question is not 'How much does it cost?', but 'How can we get one of those?'"

Allan Cohen, president and general manager of KMOV, calls the HDTV shows " breathtaking," but he doesn't expect consumers to flock to the new format anytime soon. "I think ultimately, it's going to be the future of television. But I think the transition will take a lot longer than experts have been predicting," he said.

"For over 10 years, people have been asking us, when am I going to get HDTV?" said David Young, president of the Sound Room, which has stores in Creve Coeur and Chesterfield. "It's so nice to be able to say: It's here, it's clean, it's clear. I can see all the details."

The area's two major cable TV systems -- Charter and AT&T (formerly TCI) -- say they have no plans for now to pass on these digital signals.

Some dealers are recommending that consumers hold off on buying the new sets.

Bob Heil, a consultant on high-tech gadgetry and owner of Heil Sound in Fairview Heights, said consumers should wait until more programming is available, prices drop, and the broadcast industry settles on which of 18 HDTV formats they will use.

"OK, so Fox 2 has gone digital," Heil said Wednesday. "What that means is that those who can receive a true digital signal will see Mandy Murphey a little better, without the visual noise -- snow, ghosts, lines -- of an analog signal. The picture is clearer, but it's not high-definition television."