DIGITAL L.A. : NETAID TO GET OUT MUSIC, MESSAGE.

Byline: David Bloom

NetAid - an ambitious attempt to use the Internet to link Web users with social-change organizations around the world dealing with hunger, poverty, human rights and other issues - gets a bully pulpit today with high-profile concerts in New York, London and Geneva.

You can catch the performances online in several places, including the NetAid site (www.netaid.org), MTV.com, VH1.com and SonicNet, beginning at 9 a.m. Pacific time and running through 8 p.m. It's also being broadcast on Riverside radio station KCXX-FM (103.9) among many TV and radio stations around the world.

Among the performers at various venues covering a wide swath of pop music are David Bowie, Sheryl Crow, Puff Daddy, Jewel, Sting and South Africa's Ladysmith Black Mombazo.

The high-wattage performers have led some observers to wonder whether organizers will face a Net meltdown similar to last winter's Victoria's Secret Netcast, where more than 1 million viewers logged on more or less simultaneously to watch models in skivvies. An untold number of people couldn't get on, however, because the servers were overwhelmed.

This time around, it may be different, given that the companies helping put the show on include router kings Cisco, load distributors Akamai and streaming specialists RealNetworks.

We're guessing they'll do whatever is necessary to avoid a Vickie's repeat performance, but maybe you ought to consider doing what the smart ones did last winter: Wait till the show's over and watch it when no one else is jamming the servers. This is the Internet after all. Time shifting is supposed to be a virtue.

Digital TV marches on

The DTV Summit last week yielded an update on the digital-television revolution. For people who have bought a digital-ready television and HDTV tuner, there was plenty of good news.

For instance, CBS recently put most of its prime-time schedule broadcasting in high-def, mostly by converting shows shot in 35mm film into high-definition video, said Bob Seidel, a CBS vice president overseeing the network's digital efforts.

Only a handful of prime-time shows during the week - including ``48 Hours,'' ``60 Minutes II'' and ``Now & Again'' - aren't being simulcast in high-definition digital format, Seidel said. And soon, CBS plans to cut out the interim conversion step and shoot most of its shows here in Los Angeles in HD video.

The company also plans to expand the interactive content it will transmit to homes in the unused bandwidth of its digital broadcasts, including Internet pages, electronic coupons and more, Seidel said.

HBO is already showing 60 percent of its movies in HDTV format on separate channels available free to regular subscribers through satellite broadcasters Echostar and DirecTV and, so far, a couple of New York cable operators, said Bob Zitter, the company's vice president for technology.

The new, still pricey technology has drawn quite a lot of consumer interest, according to research by the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association. Through August, 50,000 digital television sets have been sold, said CEMA president Gary Shapiro.

``That's pretty phenomenal considering the lack of programming that's been available,'' Shapiro said. Not to mention - and Shapiro sure didn't - the eye-popping prices for most of the available digital sets.

`Matrix' mania

Want another reason to go out and plunk down a few thousand dollars on a digital television set? Bruce Apar, editor of Video Business magazine and featured speaker at the DTV Summit in Los Angeles last week, has a nominee: the DVD version of ``The Matrix.''

``DVD is the first successful DTV product as far as I can tell,'' Apar said. ``And I'd go so far as to say `The Matrix' is the first killer app on DVD, even compared to (the DVD version of) `Titanic.' ''

Though the two titles were the first DVDs to ship 1 million units, Apar gives the nod to ``The Matrix'' because `Titanic' director/control freak Jim Cameron didn't want to add lots of extras to his product's digital version.

There were no such limitations for the folks putting together the ``The Matrix'' DVD, which is loaded with goodies detailing how its drop-dead special effects were done. Combine that with the DVD's great picture and sound on a truly wonderful ride of movie, and you have a red hot property (though charging about $25 for the DVD and $110 for the VHS tape may have made a difference, too).

Apar isn't totally knocked out by the DVD medium in its current state, however.

``We're in the winter of our digital content,'' Apar said. ``DVD is 21st-century technology using 20th-century content. How long is this going to last? It can't even do what a CD or VCR can do. For instance, there's a lot of music on DVDs, but you can't program it out of sequence. And there's no ``last play'' feature, or a very limited one, so it can remember where you stopped watching if you change discs.''

Apar also would like to see more DVDs closely linked to companion Web sites, because DVDs need more interactivity and Web sites need better-quality pictures and sound. That mix has been done on titles such as ``Ronin,'' ``Lost in Space'' and, yes, ``The Matrix.'' But not in most others.

Without more interactivity and control, ``DTV is DOA,'' Apar said. ``Teen-agers are the future tastemakers, and they're doing five things at once. Inevitably, people are going to be watching a movie and changing it in midstream with a five-disc DVD changer. They'll be playing video jockey.''

For Oscars' sake

PBS thought it had a hot little addition to its HDTV programming next month with the digital broadcast of Wim Wenders' much-acclaimed documentary about Ry Cooder's ventures into Cuban music, ``Buena Vista Social Club.''

But the Oscar eligibility rules for documentaries - which require a six-month interval between theatrical and TV debuts - left Artisan Entertainment asking out of the Nov. 3 broadcast date, said KCET spokeswoman Laurel Lambert.

PBS officials are now trying to figure out when they can reschedule the film's presentation, probably sometime in the spring, Lambert said.

`Three Kings' of online

In something of a first, the soundtrack from Warner Bros.' new Gulf War action adventure movie, ``Three Kings,'' is only available online, at music seller CDNOW (www.cdnow.com) and at MP3.com (www.mp3.com).

The two companies will offer slightly different versions of the soundtrack, oddly enough in physical rather than virtual form, though MP3.com will also offer a free, downloadable MP3 version of a song by the film's composer, Carter Burwell.

The MP3.com version will cost $13.99, and come with two movie trailers and a video interview of star Ice Cube. The CDNOW version will only have music on it, and costs $11.99.

What's perhaps most revolutionary about the whole deal is that the CDs will be manufactured only as orders come in, eliminating the up-front manufacturing, shipping and storage costs that typically swell the price of CDs. Such an approach will be more and more common in the future as labels and artists try to save money.