[{"text": "Eastman Kodak Co., seeking to position itself in the potentially huge high-definition television market, unveiled a converter that can transform conventional motion-picture film into high-definition video."}, {"text": "The move also helps the Rochester, N.Y., photographic giant ensure that its motion-picture film business -- for which it holds a virtual monopoly, supplying every Hollywood movie company -- isn't made obsolete by the upstart HDTV business."}, {"text": "While the prototype converter is costly, it's being lauded by the infant HDTV industry as a way of increasing the number of high-quality shows that can be seen on the new medium."}, {"text": "'The industry has been waiting with bated breath for the machines to come along,' says David Niles, president of Eleven Twenty Five Productions Inc., a New York pioneer in high-definition programming."}, {"text": "He notes that industry executives have until now worried that they would face a severe shortage of programs once consumers begin replacing their TV sets with HDTVs."}, {"text": "Japanese electronic giants, such as Sony Corp. and Hitachi Ltd., have focused almost entirely on HDTV hardware, and virtually ignored software or programs shot in high-definition."}, {"text": "And only a handful of small U.S. companies are engaged in high-definition software development."}, {"text": "It's estimated that just about 250 hours of HD programming is currently available for airing."}, {"text": "Kodak says its new CCD HDTV converter will help alleviate the problem by allowing programmers and broadcasters to convert movies and television programs shot in 35mm motion-picture film into high-definition video."}, {"text": "Consumers will be able to switch on their HDTV sets and get all the viewing benefits the high-tech medium offers."}, {"text": "Otherwise, they'd be watching programs that are no different in quality from what they currently view on color TVs."}, {"text": "It would be like 'watching a black and white movie on a color TV set,' says Malcolm G. Saull, chairman of the film and video department at the Rochester Institute of Technology."}, {"text": "The new converters are 'a critical link between film and the television domain,' says Joerg D. Agin, vice president and general manager of Kodak's Motion Picture and Audiovisual Products division."}, {"text": "Kodak won't disclose the cost or when its converter will be on the market, but it's estimated the machine may be available within two years."}, {"text": "A similar machine already on the market, made by Rank Sintel Ltd., a unit of Rank Organisation, costs about $500,000."}, {"text": "And the potential market is tremendous, industry experts say."}, {"text": "If HDTV takes off in the U.S., there will be demand for some 4,000 to 5,000 HDTV converters, known in the industry as telecines."}, {"text": "Demand will come first from programming production companies and then from television stations."}, {"text": "'The converter is head and shoulders above anything else I've seen,' says Richard J. Stumpf, vice president-engineering and development at MCA Inc. 's Universal City Studios."}, {"text": "And Mr. Niles, the program producer, contends that Kodak's move is 'a sound marketing decision."}, {"text": "They can't afford to stay out of HDTV.'"}, {"text": "Indeed, the stakes are high."}, {"text": "The U.S. electronics industry estimates that the HDTV market will total about $150 billion over the next two decades, with an additional $400 billion expected to go for related products."}, {"text": "HDTVs break down images into more than 1,100 lines, compared with 525 for today's televisions, providing considerably sharper detail."}, {"text": "And the sets are wider, resembling the dimensions of a movie screen."}, {"text": "But the financial rewards aren't expected soon, nor are they guaranteed."}, {"text": "Experts estimate the first sets of HDTVs won't be available for another five to 10 years, and will probably retail for more than $3,000 each in today's dollars."}, {"text": "Some critics say they won't be quickly embraced by consumers because of the high price."}, {"text": "Nevertheless, Kodak couldn't risk letting HDTV turn its motion-picture film business into a dinosaur. 'Kodak understands HDTV is where everybody is going,' says RIT's Mr. Spaull."}]