Inside Report (3)

The next race between US, Japanese, and European TV makers may be in putting powerful digital circuits to work in television sets. Japan's Sony and Sharp have received word that West Germany's ITT Semiconductors has developed the circuits needed to commercialize digital TV. Instead of the complex circuits TV sets now use, digital TV will need about 10 "chips." Manufacturers envision digital TV as the focal point of home computer systems controlling everything from air conditioning and investments to recipes.

Sony and Sharp hope to have digital TV's on sale within two years.m