CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES SHO NO SIGN OF SLOWING DOWN

"Where do you want to go today?" computer colossus Microsoft queries us.

Ask area technology connoisseurs to enumerate what's in store for this year, and you're likely to hear something similar.

"We could spend about 30 minutes talking about that," John Selby, president of Stereo One Inc. in Cape Girardeau, said with a laugh.

"There are all kinds of things. What train do you want to go down?" asked Rich Comeau, one of a select few who were chosen by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates to test the Windows 98 computer operating system, one of this year's most anticipated offerings.

Advances in consumer electronics show no signs of slowing, as evidenced by all of the new acronyms in our vernacular -- like HDTV and DVD.

According to Comeau, who is director of research and development for Horizon Music Inc. in Cape Girardeau, DVD, or digital video disc, will be "the next major thing on the horizon." Comeau said the DVD will eventually make the compact disc obsolete, just as the CD did to the record.

While consumers never wholly accepted the smaller mini-discs or the larger laserdiscs, Comeau said the DVD will be successful because it looks familiar.

DVDs are the same size as CDs. While CDs don't have the capacity to store full-length movies, DVDs can store them at high resolutions. While a CD can hold 660 megabytes of computer data, a DVD can store up to 19 gigabytes, Comeau said -- nearly 30 times more.

While CD-ROM drives have been the standard in computers for years, DVD drives are now the choice on some higher end brands like Dell and Gateway 2000.

Something that won't look familiar is the quality of the picture of an HDTV, or high definition television. While a standard television has about 440 lines of resolution -- which determines the clarity of the picture -- HDTVs will have over 2,000 lines, and the screen will be in the letterbox, or theater screen-type, format, Comeau said.

"That's just an astounding looking picture," said Comeau, who saw the TVs at a recent national music merchandisers' convention. "If you go to Europe, even in the airports all of the televisions ... are actually already in that long-screen format. They're not square. So you actually see the way the director of a movie had planned you to visualize it."

HDTVs aren't available yet to consumers. But a high definition-ready set will soon be, Selby said. These first generation offerings have about 1,080 lines of resolution. While standard cable channels are broadcast at about 330 lines of resolution -- which ordinary TVs can accommodate -- DVD players with a line-doubler device attached to them can approach 1,000 lines. Also, some projection televisions can accommodate high definition.

Also, high definition broadcasts may be available through satellites by fall, Selby said.

The Federal Communications Commission mandated a year and a half ago that within the next 10 years all TV stations and cable companies must broadcast in high resolution, which will take full advantage of next generation HDTVs.

If you want to see how you might be watching reruns of Seinfeld in the future, take notice of the television that Dan Rather gazes into when he talks with a correspondent on the CBS Evening News. It's a liquid plasma TV.

"Liquid plasma is the George Jetson of televisions," Comeau said. "You literally put a screw in your wall and you hang it on there like a picture. You're talking two to three inches thick."

Major companies will begin shipping second generation plasma TVs this fall. They are 42-inch sets that are six inches wide and perfectly flat. The lines are perfectly straight and the picture will stay brighter longer.

Although the plasma sets will cost about $10,000, Selby said, "There is really a market out there for those."

Computers will continue to get faster and more powerful, and access to the Internet will get faster.

The Duchess chip, which is the new generation of the Intel Pentium II processor, will be available this summer. The first chips will allow a processing speed of 400 megahertz.

Also available this summer will be Windows 98. Comeau said that the new operating system is faster and more reliable than Windows 95.

"I can't imagine from just a speed standpoint alone why anyone wouldn't (upgrade)," Comeau said.

While conventional telephone lines restrict upload and download speeds on the Internet to about 53 kilobytes per second in the most ideal circumstances, some small home satellites that provide television channels can be used for downloads at 440 kilobytes per second, Comeau said.

In April, a personal computer for cars, developed jointly by Microsoft and car stereo manufacturer Clarion, that runs on the Windows CE operating system will be available.

The computer will feature text-to-voice technology that allows such things as electronic mail and pager messages to be read to you through your car's stereo. Also, all stereo controls and navigation systems will be voice-activated.