Changeover to HDTV painful and slow in some continents

September 27, 2004

According to president of the George Waters,
president of the International Academy of Broadcasting at the Nederlands
Displayforum, consumers are getting more conscious about TV picture
quality. HDTV aims to offer consumers much higher picture quality with up
to a resolution of 1920 x 1080, but there are many reasons for slowing down its
migration.

North America, Japan and Europe all have different
standards. The North American standard is fully established with many
satellite, cable and terrestrial operators now offering HDTV content. They
expect to switch off analogue terrestrial TV either by 2006 or when 85% of the
population own a HDTV set. Europe on the other hand is still making considerations on the HDTV
standard and only a few broadcast operators are even testing HDTV such as Euro1080 on
satellite.

Also, many countries are just starting to migrate
terrestrial broadcasts to Digital TV, let alone making plans for HDTV.
Most of Germany has Digital TV coverage while half of Italy has coverage.
Some other countries such as Ireland do not have any sort of digital terrestrial
TV. In this case, it would be a big step to migrate to HDTV rather than
standard definition Digital TV first. GristyMcFisty submitted
the following news via our news submit:

GEORGE WATERS, president of the International Academy of Broadcasting, opened the Displayforum here in the Netherlands by talking about high definition TV. He said that viewers have become more quality conscious about displays '“ expectations are high and they must be met by those in the industry.

Although the uptake may be slow in the
beginning he said, the ultimate demand is inevitable. He said HDTV has
been with us for many years. Hankey when he reported on the 405 line
system on TVs suggested 1000 lines would be better.

High definition is a moving target and it
depends on the supporting technology at any given moment in time. Japanese
researchers are working on 4000 x 3000 pixels and the ultimate target is
7000 x 4000 pixels, although these are not practical as
yet.

The format most realizable is a million
pixels, around four times the resolution of standard television. Standards
bodies have settled on 1920 x 1080 as one suitable standard.

There's general agreement worldwide that HDTV will
displace current systems, but the process of moving to it will be slow and
sometimes painful, he said. That's because there are different standards
for North America, for Japan and for Europe.

The North American standard is fully established.
Japan uses a system called ISDB which is very like the DVBT. Europe will
adopt DVBT but the rollout is constrained by spectrum and other
considerations, while the switch off for analogue services remains, at
best uncertain.

North America appears to be the most advanced. He said
that there a switch off date for analogue has been decided for 2006, or
when 85% of the population has HDTVs.

The situation is much more patchy in Europe. Gernany
has extensive plans and has switched off analogue TV in one area. Italy's
coverage is currently 50%, and aims for 70% coverage by 2007, Britain is
targeting 2012 as the date for switchoff of analogue TV.

Acceptance of HDTV is not the same thing as coverage,
however, Waters pointed out.

Two likely reasons for North America's push to HDTV include both much
superior picture quality and the controversial broadcast flag. While HDTV is much superior
to both PAL and NTSC quality wise, NTSC has around 100 less lines in the picture
than PAL, thus resulting in a grainier picture. This means that the
consumer demand for HDTV is likely to be greater for NTSC viewers. I did
not realise how much even 100 lines difference made until I
visited relatives in the US and could not believe now much more 'pixely' the TV
picture looks (even with watching DVD) to that in Ireland.

Finally, while many consumers are against the broadcast flag, it offers an
extra measure to broadcasters to control how their content is recorded and played back.
Flagged content can be controlled anywhere from having no recording/playback
restrictions all the way to being restricted to only pause live TV up to 30
minutes in the worst case. However, analogue broadcasts do not support the
broadcast and this is one more reason why the entertainment industry is getting
anxious to eliminate analogue TV transmissions.

GristyMcFisty wrote:
It would appear The Inquirer have a reporter or reporters at the DisplayForum
2004. And there are some articles which visitors to the "Satellite,
HD-TV, Blu-ray and HD-DVD" & "Stand Alone
Devices & Home Entertainment" forums here at CDFreaks will be interested
in I'm sure.

Source: The Inquirer