CABLE VIEW LARGER THAN TELEVISION TECHNOLOGY SET TO EXPAND REACH OF THE REMOTE.

Byline: Jesse Hiestand Staff Writer

For all the talk of convergence and interactivity, the real aim of the Western Show, the cable TV convention that arrived at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Wednesday, is to deliver the couch potato's dream.

Some manufacturers did just that, showing set-top boxes that let viewers order pizza, select a movie and check e-mail in less than a minute using a remote control - flat on their backs.

Stay tuned and these once-simple cable boxes will be automating your heating, air conditioning and other home appliances while networking your computers and tuning in high-definition TV, manufacturers promise.

``Every year they've been saying, This is the year of interactivity, but this is the first time there's proof to show it,'' said Stephen M. Brown, spokesman for equipment maker Scientific Atlanta. ``All of the major operators are showing some ability to do it.''

The stakes couldn't be higher for the cable industry, which sees itself in a do-or-die race with other technology to not only hold viewers' attention but be their gateway to the emerging world of two-way entertainment and information.

``I think cable is a better mousetrap if you can get to the customer first,'' Liberty Media Chairman John C. Malone told more than 2,000 cable programmers and equipment makers at a panel discussion. ``If not, it's going to see the marketplace heavily divided between the two other entities.''

Those entities are direct broadcast satellite, which has alarmed the cable industry with its quick acceptance by consumers, and high-speed DSL Internet service, a telephone-based alternative to cable modems.

The cable industry believes it can match or beat the rival technologies by upgrading aging analog systems to digital ones that offer better picture and sound quality as well as fast Internet and other interactivity on the TV screen - without a need for a computer.

For most of the cable channels attending the show, including Court TV and C-SPAN, the only interactivity offered is on their companion Web sites. Some shows offer a greater degree of interaction through hybrid set-top boxes like WebTV and its alliance with America Online.

Still, viewer habits and ingrained attitudes toward television pose serious challenges to public acceptance of these advances, said industry veteran Barry Diller, chairman of USA Networks Inc.

``Basically it's still passive viewing with relatively little interactivity and relatively little storage because few people figured out the VCR,'' Diller said in the panel talk.

In the frenzied convention halls, where an estimated 30,000 convention goers will preview the latest gear through Friday, there was no shortage of companies hoping people do more than simply stare at the boob tube.

ReplayTV announced it would begin licensing its technology, which records TV shows in computer memory instead of tape, to major set-top box makers to quicken the acceptance of the popular VCR alternative.

``Now consumers won't have to go buy a $300 or $400 box because it will be available as part of your regular cable service,'' said ReplayTV Senior Vice President Thomas W. Carhart.

Japanese electronics giant Panasonic plans to put ReplayTV-type recording, along with high-definition decoders and even DVD players, in future set-top boxes that consumers will buy at retail outlets instead of having to lease whatever model is offered by their local cable company.

This move, part of a larger industry trend, is aimed at lowering costs and universalizing standards for cable companies while giving viewers more choices, said Dick Strabel, vice president of Panasonic's cable group.

``If you combine all the features into one box it will lower the cost for consumers and you won't have piles of boxes stacked up next to your TV,'' Strabel said.

Under this scenario, cable subscribers will be leased a credit-card-size chip that would descramble the digital signal and identify them as authorized viewers no matter which cable box or system is used.

The Scientific Atlanta system that lets people order pizza (currently available only on a trial basis in Hawaii, where it has reported spiked sales for Pizza Hut) is not yet available in Los Angeles but is being used by 6 million people across the nation, Brown said.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) A Pioneer high-definition TV shows viewers a picture of the future Wednesday at the Western Show cable television convention downtown.

(2 -- color) Henry Schleiff, CEO of Court TV, has some fun at his station's display at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer