At the close of this month, The Young and the Restless will become the first daytime television program to broadcast in high-definition.

The change, will becomes effective on June 27th, will improve the quality of the picture and sound of the program. There are more lines of sharpness in HDTV format than in the traditional broadcast format. Therefore, the pictures look crisper and clearer. From an audio standpoint, HDTV offers CD-quality sound.

Unfortunately, only televisions equipped with the new hi-def format will be able to take full advantage of the new format. It is unclear what changes -- if any -- viewers with conventional television will see.

According to a technician handling a service call on some of Soap Central's many television sets, regular viewers might not notice any changes whatsoever. It is, however, possible that the show will be broadcast in "letterbox" format, where there are black bars across the top and bottom of the viewing field.

A recent poll showed that 74% of those asked said that they do not own an HD-capable television set.