Many TV stations already air digital programming, and most will continue to provide analog programming until Feb. 17. After that, full-power TV stations will cease broadcasting on analog channels.

Digital television offers improved picture and sound, as well as multiple programming choices (multicasting) and interactive capabilities. Another plus is conversion to DTV will make more of the now-strained broadcast spectrum available for police and fire departments, emergency rescue and advanced wireless services.

While hotel chains and individual properties are replacing their old TVs with high-definition-capable flat panels, a few are stopping short of adding high-definition service. But when these new flat screens display the old analog signal, the picture may be worse than it was on the old TV.

MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL

To date, Marriott has installed about 139,000 hi-def LCDs worldwide. It expects 100-percent installation in its full-service brands in the U.S. and Canada by mid-2010. For full-service, extended-stay and select-service hotels, 124,000 LCDs have been installed and 61,500 guest rooms offer HD content. Screen size varies from 32 to 42 inches, depending on the hotel and brand.

Using plug-in panels, guests can connect laptops, camcorders, and video games to the flat-panel, hi-def TV screens. They can also listen to their MP3 players and iPods over 25-watt stereo speakers, sans headphones.

If that weren't enough, the screen splits so guests can watch TV while checking their e-mail or surfing the web.

RITZ-CARLTON HOTELS

Barry Shuler, SVP and CIO for Ritz-Carlton Hotels, says the only thing that would keep one of its conversions from installing HDTV service is lack of capital on the part of the owner. Digital TV is a standard for Ritz-Carlton, but the brand allows time for such capital-intensive improvements. “We're a luxury brand; we have to have this capability,” says Shuler.

HYATT

Forty percent of Hyatt's guestrooms have flat-panel sets, with 15,000 on order. The size of its sets has increased from 32 to 37 inches, with 42-inch plasma TVs in the suites. By 2011, the brand says all rooms will have flat-panel TVs. Hyatt Place and Hyatt Summerfield Suites offer only flat-panel TVs and HDTV service, but Hyatt has no plans to install HDTV in the rest of its properties, even the more expensive properties.

THIRD-PARTY PROVIDERS

Hotels often buy TV programming through a third party such as LodgeNet Interactive, which services 1.8 million hotel rooms in the U.S., about 40 percent of the total. The company already offers high-definition service in 130,000 hotel rooms, with plans to expand it to another 500,000 rooms this year.

With standard definition TV service, LodgeNet typically paid the hardware costs and shared the video-on-demand revenue with the hotel. But demand for HD is so high, LodgeNet is considering reducing its fee and charging the hotel for the equipment.

TIVO TALKS AT MONDRIAN SOUTH BEACH

Morgans Hotel Group Co. offers TiVo service in all guestrooms in its recently opened Mondrian in South Beach. Guests can use the TiVo user interface to record, pause and rewind live TV, as well as record their favorite shows. And WishList, a TiVo service, lets guests search for programs with their favorite actors or directors. Guests can also record two shows at the same time, while watching a third pre-recorded show. TiVo Inc., which developed the first commercially available digital video recorder (DVR), integrates its DVR service into the set-top boxes of mass distributors.