High-tech airline appliances are making flying a whole lot more fun.

BY REBECCA DAY

It`s been a long day. You kick off your shoes, lean back in your recliner, punch a few buttons on the remote control and are soon immersed in the flick of your choice. Sound like a Friday night at home? Try again. It`s air travel on a growing number of international flights where the journey can be almost as enjoyable as the destination.

Noise-cancellation headphones, audio and video on demand, DVD, satellite TV and intranet access are among the in-flight services that are making the skies--if not friendlier--a lot more comfortable. As carriers compete for passengers` business, in-flight entertainment is getting better both in quality and variety.

``We`re always looking at the latest technology to keep passengers occupied and entertained,`` says James Boyd, a spokesperson for Singapore Airlines. The airline has pumped $1.3 million--at a cost of $18,500 per seat--into 15 of its 747-400 jets for the Matsushita AVOD 1.5 audio/video on-demand system. Installed in first- and business-class cabins, the on-demand system shifts the entertainment program from a channel approach to a library concept, according to Boyd. It`s part of the airline`s strategy to give passengers more control over in-flight entertainment.

Niche airlines with long-haul routes like Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and South African Airways are taking an aggressive approach to in-flight entertainment, offering the latest audio and video on-demand systems. US Airways and Air Canada are scheduled to add on-demand systems on widebody aircraft this year, while startup JetBlue Airways hopes to make its mark on hour-long flights within New York state with live in-flight TV programming from satellite provider DIRECTV. Smaller airlines are leading the charge in in-flight entertainment, but a few major airlines are stepping up service as well. ``Our research indicates that passengers don`t make air-travel choices based on entertainment options,`` says Mark Smith, director of in-flight entertainment for American Airlines, ``but we know we have to be competitive.`` The company has recently begun offering Panasonic L10 portable DVD systems to first- and business-class international travelers along with Bose noise-cancellation headphones.

The Panasonic L10 portable, with a built-in 5.8-in. display, had to be modified for airline use. That included disabling the internal speakers so that the audio can be heard only through headphones, and boosting the audio level for use in a noisy environment. DVD players for airplanes conform to the Region 8 coding system for DVD players, Hollywood`s geographical tracking system that prevents DVDs coded for the United States (Region 1) from playing on machines in other countries where movies are still in theaters.

Since airline DVD players are Region 8 machines, you can`t bring your own library of Region 1 discs on board, but American loads 20 DVD titles for each passenger.

Less Noise, More Fun

For years, military and commercial pilots have used noise-cancellation headphones to block the deafening roar of jet engines. More recently, headphone manufacturers have begun to make noise-cancellation headphones available for retail sale, and now Bose, one of the pioneers of noise-cancellation technology, is offering them for use on commercial airlines. Expect to see the Bose phones at retail stores soon, which means you won`t have to pony up for a premium-class ticket to enjoy a quieter ride.

Active noise-cancellation headphones like the 6-ounce Bose model work by using microphones in the earcups to monitor both the desired sound (music or movie soundtrack from a CD or DVD player or just silence if you don`t choose to connect a source) and the overall sound coming into your ear. The difference between the two is noise. Processing circuitry creates an out-of phase correction signal that`s the opposite of the noise signal, and then the speakers in the earcups reproduce the correction signal, which cancels the noise. The result is a 95 percent reduction in noise, according to Bob Maresca, general manager of Bose`s Noise Reduction Technology group.

Demand More

The next wave of in-flight entertainment is audio, video and intranet service on demand. Past video-on-demand systems have enabled passengers to select movies from a catalog of titles. The next wave gives you more control.

Video-on-demand systems such as those from Matsushita Avionics and Sony Trans Com are built around an A/V video server--as opposed to the racks of VCRs that feed most current in-flight video systems. The digital medium offers the same benefits you reap at home: better audio and video quality, the ability to pack more information into a smaller space and added durability.

The biggest plus is that you become the projectionist for your own personal screen. You can start, stop and pause a movie at will or repeat your favorite Metallica track as many times as you want. You can even build your own playlist and select only the tracks you want to hear.

The new digital storage systems are also easier on the airlines for loading movies and music onto the planes. With videotape-based systems, thousands of videotapes have to be shuffled on and off planes each month, says Russ Johnson, director of strategic marketing and in-flight entertainment for Matsushita Avionics. Matsushita`s AVOD 1.5 system, currently in use on Singapore and Malaysia airlines, uses portable media loaders instead.

With new tape-based portable loaders, up to 110 hours of programming (about 22 movies, 50 CDs and 40 short features) can be uploaded to the server`s 72GB hard drive in less than an hour, Johnson says.

Sony`s new Passport audio/video on-demand system relies on a fiberoptic network throughout the plane to provide the bandwidth required for high-speed video distribution, according to spokesperson Lori Krans. Typically, in-flight entertainment systems use coaxial cable to transfer signals, but fiber can pass through 100 times more information than co-ax, Krans says.

Web In The Sky

VGA monitors allow the display of text-based information such as the Web pages that will be downloaded to the Sony and Matsushita servers in the future. The pages will be modified for display on smaller screens and chosen based on what the airlines want you to see. Initially, Web access will be of the canned variety rather than live. ``You won`t go live Internet right now because it`s not economically feasible,`` says Krans. Air-to-ground communication speed is the primary obstacle, with the fastest ground-to-air data speed available on aircraft currently being about 4800 bits per second.

Cathay Pacific announced plans to start testing e-mail and Internet service in January 2000 on 56 passenger jets. Customers will use their own laptop PCs, which can be powered independently at each seat. The plane`s data system will enable more than 200 passengers to access data simultaneously using the Inmarsat satellite communications network. The hardware and service for Cathay`s Internet service will be provided by Seattle-based Tenzing Communications, a global Internet service provider that will charge users $150 to $200 a year for e-mail and Internet access. Passengers will register with Tenzing prior to the flight to enable Web access. Each plane will be equipped with a proxy server that offers different levels of Internet access: pages with one-month and two-week shelf lives, for example, and then real-time information such as stock quotes, e-mail and news headlines that will be downloaded to the airplane`s server every 15 minutes. Server capacity will be 150,000 cached Web pages. Tenzing is currently setting up partner relationships with information and e-commerce Web sites.

As data speeds improve, so will passengers` options. Johnson of Matsushita Avionics believes entertainment will move more in the direction of interactivity. Matsushita`s digital System 3000, which will be introduced this year, will have the digital infrastructure required to handle Web access, Johnson says.

Beam Me Down

The other hot area of in-flight entertainment is live TV beamed down by satellite. Equipment from LiveTV, a joint venture between Harris Corp. and Sextant In-Flight systems, receives signals from three DIRECTV satellites via an antenna located in the top center of an aircraft`s fuselage and distributes them to individual monitors throughout the plane.

JetBlue Airways was scheduled to be the first commercial carrier to offer the LiveTV service when it opened for passenger business in February 2000, and Alaska Airlines and startup Legend Airlines plan to offer the service as well. At press time, JetBlue was on course to deliver 24 channels of DIRECTV Airborne to each of its Airbus A3-300 aircraft. The short segments of TV lend themselves well to domestic travel such as JetBlue`s short flights within New York state and from JFK International Airport to Florida. Among the channels slated for service are four ESPN channels, Travel Channel, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, The Weather Channel, CNNfn, The Learning Channel and Bloomberg Television.

Singapore Airlines is currently evaluating next-generation systems from Sony and Matsushita, according to Tengawong Yeoh, manager of in-flight entertainment. Whichever system the airline selects for its next fleet of Boeing 777 aircraft, due to be delivered in 2001, needs to be useful for seven years, he says. He envisions a future of high-speed Internet access and e-mail capability, but air-to-ground satellite communication needs to be available and affordable for that to be successful. Sending a simple e-mail now can take an hour because of the slow data transmission rate.

Matsushita`s Johnson foresees a shift in in-flight content from 90 percent audio and video to an even split with interactive information. ``It all depends on the quality of the entertainment,`` he says. ``As we find compelling Web sites and CD-ROM infotainment-type material, you`ll see that become more and more popular.``