Refreshing The Vision: HDTV as Social Good and Personal Metaphor

by Dale E. Cripps
Thursday, May 6, 1999

Dick Green, now head of CableLabs, was likely the first to shoot a cultural program in the HDTV format when he was vice-president of PBS Engineering. Dick contends that Ballet and Opera (and all the great stage arts) are only brought to their potential for a television audience when produced and displayed in HD.

He is not alone in this view. If the little screen and the NTSC format filters away so much of the visual wealth and appeal of an artful production, can it do anything but diminish its impact upon the viewer? I think Dick would say the reason that such cultural treasures--like the program Mark shot last night--do not have a larger audience (and even commercial one) is due to this filtering by the limitations of NTSC. No wonder people turn off as they do. Of course, dedicated aficionados do accept limitations, and thanks to them we still have these programs.

Don't get me wrong. I think there are scads of programs that work well with the NTSC presentation. I have no complaints. Even here in the countryside in Oregon.with satellite I am hooked to the world. I deeply appreciate it.

But I know there is more. I saw it first in 1984 in Stamford, CT at the now defunct CBS Labs. From that one experience I knew I wanted "the rest of the picture"--that which is not in the old standard--to elevate my home experience.

.Is My View of The World Forever Limited By Poor Vision?

I know something about limits of vision. As I arrived home from the Canadian HDTV Colloquium in1992 I went blind in my left eye. Blood filled the vitreous from a broken vessel stressed by travel fatigue. A few days later the retina detached. Doctors decided on Thanksgiving eve that surgury was a must to avoid permanent damage. The operation took place Friday following the holiday. That one-day delay proved costly. A permanent vision impairment resulted. It's not a total loss, but it's not perfect.

I jokingly call the left eye my NTSC eye. My right eye is quite good. It is the HDTV eye. Together I see 3D, though, with aberrations.

I am constantly aware of this limitation. I find myself trying to overcome it unconsciously, and often consciously. I won't bore you with the psychological effects, but being in our business I have taken time to analyze them. The limitation still allows the recognition of larger items. I can drive using just the affected eye (though I notice people...well large people anyway...scattering and diving for safety). Sign reading is impossible. In ordinary life I struggle with that eye to see the finer things--the smaller print, the radiant beauty of nature, the fineness in a man-made creation. I end a session frustrated from that limitation. I know those visually-satisfying things are there--my right HD eye tells me so when I open it. But that left eye drives me nuts with frustration from that unresolvable limitation. Is this also the case with us watching low-vision NTSC programs? Does this frustrate anyone? Or are you content?

I don't know if this eye analogy is worth spit when it comes to discussing the differences between NTSC and HDTV. But trust me--vision counts a lot for how we "feel", and how we enjoy our lives. You, with good vision...protect it at all costs.

For years I thought that HDTV is not merely an economic fuss, or a technical achievement, but rather it is eventually a social good-a powerful driver for the betterment of the nation which uses it to its fullest. Is it too much of a stretch to link violent, course, and harsh standard television content--the thing seen even with a bad eye--with any of our social ills? A great deal is in the newspapers about this very charge. Mrs. Clinton raised it again following the Colorado incident. A full page ad ran recently in the NY Times, paid for by Steve Allen and friends, who are decrying the dismal state of affairs that television fosters. He wants a new departure or reform in television programming.

Many claim that people closer to the arts are somehow improved. Music lovers have said this for years. For this very reason the late noted conductor Von Kariajan (not sure of spelling) signed on with Sony Classical Records the instant he realized his music could be heard by millions of CD users with great fidelity. How much better was this for society than limiting the magical moments of his conducting to only a theaterful of witnesses?

We complain bitterly when exposed to terrible poverty. Ghettos of shabby archecture leave us saddened. We seldom complain, however, about time spent among splendid buildings or glorious pieces of art. We marvel, connecting them to a cosmos or some law found in nature and contemplate the greater meaning of it all. Who has visited the Vatican or gazed at Michelangelo's work and felt the worse off for it?

I don't have any real answers as to "when HDTV?".I may not have yet asked the right questions. Intuitively I believe that when any part of an environment is perfected, we have a place in that perfection. Something that is likely to inspire us seems to me better than something that can't. Since 1985 I thought that HDTV delivered an inspiring potential and a payoff definately worth working for. I continue to hope that is true. We get the benefits from its quality in many ways, not the least being from our personal enjoyment. Anyone hear of a society enjoying themselves that rose up with pitch forks?

Well, HD could be badly programmed too—made to look just like the old (did I say Jay Leno?)--and even do us irreparable harm. Seems to me that HDTV is not just better looking old television, but rather a brand new departure--one that takes advantage of all the adventure coming with new discovery.

For this reason I thought it wrong to give birth to HDTV in the old environment of broadcasting. There are too many "ghosts" there to permit a clean start. Temptation is everywhere to make it just wider and clearer mayhem (The HDTV Jerry Springer Show--is that next?). HD has enemies there also, who undermine its advances when it looks threatens to their position within the old order.

HDTV needs to stand apart from the old--to be a new thing on its own...and let's give it a fresh mission to reach for the stars.

We have a chance to change television for good. It is the only chance we will have. We can squander this rare opportunity easier than we can achieve it. If we grasp it as a nation and it make it the window upon renewed meanings--the medium of an enriched home experience, we may have delivered a timeless value. Do we gamble with such things?

It would not be out of character for us, of course, to get sloppy and slovenly and let this opportunity become nothing more than a new and expensive window on a boiling sewer.

I am convinced we can change television for the good (and please, I don't mean a prudish good, or some protection of the squeamish, or any other hidden agenda for censorship. Quite to the contrary. Life to me is a full and rich tapestry, inclusive of sex, violence, and rock and roll, as well as mystical reverence for great beauty and love of inspired expression. My aim is to see that the "dynamic range" of our viewing and living experience is wonderfully expanded, and certainly not strangled by anyone's private control over subject nor content. There can be a new freedom as we venture into unexplored territory. I personally see coming an explosion of fresh and deliciously creative visualizations and presentations. Gee, I can hardly wait for the real X files! I see this as the means to program reform more than Jerry Falwell scowling at the industry).

Well, having said this, I would lose credibility if I didn't recognize that content is not going to blossom anew overnight. The pervasive formula of shootum ups, killings, and mayhem that gratuitously reach our living room nightly may not fade into extinction quickly. We are familiar with the feelings from them. I personally don't expect any short term transformation of anything, but I do see a long term incline to new heights for our civilization with the arts leading an increasingly enlightened and spiritual era. With HDTV. the arts are given a most effective means for doing that. My greatest hope is that we will take this rich new pallet called HDTV (don't we need a better name for it yet?) and hand it to the inspired artists of our times, and let them bound up to the "stars"...and take us with them on their journey. George Lucas is the first in this group. I want to see new things and leave the rubble of the 20th Century behind as we move forward with what we treasure into what must be a fantastic new Millennium. How could this coming Millennium be anything but mind bogglingly fantastic considering the unbelievable array of new things sprouting from our terrain already? What good is there to mark the Millennium day on the calendar if the next holds no better promise than the one before it?

"Well," you say, "all this arm waving is just that. Human nature is a one way ticket to Hell, and everyone knows it. Why do you keep reaching for the intangible when the here-and-now is all you ever get. Pull down your pants and get as much as you can as fast as you can before it's too late!"

If that is all what is left, take my advice--dump HDTV as fast as you can. This is a heavy balloon when filled with pessimism. Lighten your load and use today's half-blind NTSC, and program it with any puff good enough for my poor left eye...and be done with it.

I just don't believe in this one-way ticket to hell business. I think we are fully capable of reaching beyond our current state and achieving new inner enrichment as individuals, and then as a society. If mankind is good, then let's set out to prove it with this movement to a new communications era.

You ask. "Who really cares about all these so-called fabulous qualities for the home?" I do. If I stand alone, I guess I have to. I have before for what I believe is the right Rx . I was drawn to HDTV for that reason. I could see a tool to create and display an era of greatness and deliver a sustainable stream of beauty from around the world--the best means for building a bridge of love for all our diverse cultures. Do I go so far as to say HDTV is an agent of peacemaking? Of course I do. But let me leave it to you to find the reason why.

Yes, I know that everyone cannot afford HDTV today. I know it has to start with those who can afford it today. I know it has to deliver the content that is pleasing to this first circle of consumers. But I also know that this first circle, when pleased, is the source of the second and third circles...and you now what they say--pleasure shared is... In other worlds, if we start at the top of the market, it will have only one way to go--downwards. That, coupled with people reaching upwards for it assures to me that this is a big deal with a lot of success in whatever way you describe success. I have always said in my public comments that the most important thing we can do is to understand and see the way to get it off to a vigorous start so it is not a pain to all who are involved, but rather a joy. Well, it is far from a joy now, so I ask you to consider again how this business should be started. The one clue I can offer is this: Increased cooperation and the submission to leadership.

I hope there are others who share my vision about HDTV. Can the world be worse off with this vision? I don't know. I certainly hope not.

These things articulated above make up the reason why I don't support compromises in quality for the new network I have proposed. All others do as your conscious guides you. In the end I don't want to be subverting with compromises any part of a potential cultural payoff. It's not about lights and wires, It's about us.

Thank you Mark for asking your question and opening up an important dialog--When HDTV? I wish I could have done better in my presentation here. I look forward to reading others who posses far more inspiration and talent to speak on this subject than myself.