Mario Orazio

Good old analog NTSC is supposed to die one second after 11:59:59 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2006 (and, if the FCC had its way, it would be a year earlier than that). Will it?

You might not have noticed that you don't get asked the Two Questions at airline ticket counters anymore. And, if you're like me, maybe you feel a little more secure as a result.

Somewhere out there, you might not have noticed that audio exists. This is especially true if you are a producer, director, member of the lighting persuasion, or camera op.

Yeesh! It's tough enough covering 100 square miles of exhibits in four days and wading through 100,000 Applets hogging the Apple booth without having to deal with NAB's booth numbers.

You might not have noticed that we live on the third planet from the star in our solar system. I mention this because of the ultra-alien things that have been going on lately in TV-set pricing.

You might not have noticed that there's a word in every language for someone who makes predictions. That word is idiot.

You might not have noticed that HDTV is inevitable. Too bad we don't know where Evitable is.

You might not have noticed that HDTV is great, and that's a problem. I don't mean that it's a problem that you ain't noticed that HDTV is great.

You might not have noticed that not everything that everyone agrees on is correct.

You might not have noticed that HDTV has higher definition than standard-definition television. I am not making this up.

You might not have noticed that sometimes a purchase has more than you wanted.

You might not have noticed that, if you want recent commercial-free movies on video, there are better places to look than broadcast TV.

You might not have noticed, but my last blather was about a lack of labels on TVs. So on account of inertia being my favorite state, I decided to stay with the label theme in this here column.

You might not have noticed that numbers used to mean something. I mean you wouldn't say two is the same as one, would you? Hint: You might not want to answer this right away.

What I really want to rant about this month is good old high definition. The problem is defining definition and figuring out how high is high -- that and some other stuff.

You might not have noticed that a meal of a cheeseburger, fries and a milkshake with a Cheerio is about as heart-healthy as one without. Yes, I'm making a plea here for everyone to shoot HDTV.

You might not have noticed that it's been seven-and-a-half years since the U.S. digital television rules came out. Here are some of the reasons why you might not have noticed:

You might not have noticed that some words are more meaningful than others. For instance, take the word air, as in the famous Mediterranean-tourist phrase, 'The air is humid but the figs divine.'

You might not have noticed that this time all the technical rules have changed. Ayup, this is another rant on DTV - and its new "enhancements."