Frank Beacham

It is difficult to comprehend how much, in only six years, the invention of the DVD has changed consumer television technology.

Think it's easy to get 5.1 audio with your HDTV? Think again

In our last New Year’s column we predicted a serious shakeout of over-hyped technologies. It happened all right... big time. Now what?

For years, writers and editors covering television technology have tried to corral the subject. What, we’ve asked and debated, exactly is TV technology and what is only peripheral to it?

In a frightening instant -- punctuated with an eerie funnel of black smoke on a clear September morning -- New York City's skyline changed forever and with it did the history of broadcasting.

Two significant developments early this year foretell the future of television.

Getting a firm grasp on DTV in the days before NAB2001 is a bit like trying to stab a mound of Jell-O with a fork. When you think you've got it, the darn thing slips away again.

In my memory, the first great public crack in the DTV wall of illusion came in early 1998 at Sony's pre-NAB press conference in New York City.

Observe the electronics industry long enough and you might note an interesting phenomenon: Failed high-tech products rarely die; they are just reintroduced ... again and again and again.

The public outrage over the FCC's action came in at hurricane force.

Attendees to the PC Expo tradeshow this summer in New York City were invited to bring for sacrifice an old VHS tape to "celebrate the VCR's impending retirement."

As broadcasters prepare to gather again for the annual NAB convention in Las Vegas, viewers are subscribing to new pay HDTV and video-on-demand (VOD) services at a brisk rate.

It's hard to imagine a greater "indecency" on broadcast television than faking the news or tricking viewers into believing commercials are genuine informational programs.

Live 8, the return of the space shuttle, and the London subway bombing each had an enormous impact on television technology in the summer of 2005. Then, Katrina paid a visit to the Gulf Coast.