High Definition Television
(HDTV): The picture is like
looking through a clear glass window on a bright sunny day. The high
resolution digital picture is so detailed that many will
forget they are looking at a television screen.
Digital Television,
The Formats
High Definition Television
(HDTV) is actually a subset of the Digital Television (DTV)
family of formats, as defined by the Advanced Television Systems
Committee (ATSC). DTV uses digital data (1's and
0's) transmission of the picture and sound information, as
opposed of the traditional analog signals used for what
we know as analog television, devised by the National
Television System Committee (NTSC). The relatively new
DTV picture formats are generally characterized by the horizontal
and vertical resolutions, aspect
ratio, interlaced
or progressive scanning, and refresh
rate (24, 30, 60 times per second).
Vertical and Horizontal
Resolution. How many pixels (picture elements) each
dimension of the picture holds. For example, 480 lines
of vertical resolution means there are 480 horizontal lines of
information in the vertical axis. Each horizontal line
consists of 640 or 704 pixels lined up.
Aspect Ratio.
The ratio of the picture's width to height is expressed as
“width:height”. For example, “4:3” aspect ratio means
that the picture width is 4 units wide by 3 units high.
Another way to express this aspect ratio is “1.33:1”, meaning
it is 1.33 times wider than it is high. This traditional
aspect ratio is commonly called “full screen”, since it fills
the traditional TV screen. In contrast, “16:9” aspect
ratio calls for a picture that is 16 units wide by 9 units
high, or 1.78 times wider than it is high, or “1.78:1” aspect
ratio. This new aspect ratio used by some DTV formats,
and by all HDTV formats, is usually called “widescreen” or “16
x 9”. The widescreen format is closer to the movie
aspect ratios of 1.78:1 and 2.35:1. Widescreen aspect
ratios take advantage of the physiological fact that our eyes
have wider horizontal field-of-view than in the vertical
direction. By filling more of our natural vision,
directors and content producers can better draw us into the
action. That's why movie screen have gone to the 1.78:1
and 2.35:1 aspect ratios decades ago. It's a more
visually involving experience.
Interlaced or Progressive
Scanning. The television picture can be “drawn” in one
of two ways. Traditionally, the picture is drawn with
two passes, one for the odd-numbered horizontal lines (first
frame update), and another for the even-numbered horizontal
lines (second frame update). So it takes two passes (or
two frame updates) to refresh the entire picture. This
is called interlaced scanning. An analog TV
picture is completely refreshed about 30 times a second (or 30
Hz). To put it another way, the entire picture is
redrawn 30 times every second, with the odd- and even-numbered
lines redraw cycle repeated 30 times per second. Some of
the new DTV formats call for progressive scanning,
where the entire picture (both odd-numbered and even-numbered
horizontal lines) is updated in a single pass or scan.
Progressive scanning results in a brighter image with no
visible TV scan lines and fewer motion artifacts (the
stair-step edges that you see on moving objects).
Progressive scan correlates better with the film medium, where
the entire film cell is protected onto the screen one cell at
a time.
Refresh Rate.
This is the rate at which the entire picture is redrawn,
expressed in number of times per second (or Hz, short for
Hertz). DTV supports interlaced scanning at 30 Hz and
progressive scanning at 24, 30, and 60 Hz. The 24 Hz
refresh rate corresponds nicely with film projection's 24
frames per second (fps) rate.
The table below summarizes all 18 of the ATSC Digital Television
formats. There are a total of six (6) HDTV
formats, of which 720p/30 and 1080i/30 are the most
common. Again, It is important to realize that HDTV is
only a subset of the DTV standards, and so DTV is the more
general term, while HDTV specifically references the six high
definition formats of the 18 DTV formats. The DTV
formats are most frequently referred by their horizontal lines
of resolution and whether they scan in progressive or
interlace (e.g., 480p, 720p, 1080i). The suffix “p”
stands for progressive scan, while the suffix “i” stands for
interlaced scan. Sometimes, they are further
distinguished by their refresh rate, as designated with a
slash (“/”), followed by the refresh rate. For example,
“1080i/30” refers to 1080 horizontal lines of resolution with
interlaced scanning at 30 Hz refresh rate.
Summary of the 18 Digital Television formats,
including 6 HDTV formats
Format Index |
Vertical Resolution |
Horizontal Resolution |
Aspect Ratio |
Scan Type |
Refresh Rate
[Hz] |
Type |
1 |
480 |
640 |
4:3 |
interlaced |
30 |
SDTV |
2 |
progressive |
24 |
EDTV |
3 |
30 |
4 |
60 |
5 |
704 |
4:3 |
interlaced |
30 |
6 |
progressive |
24 |
7 |
30 |
8 |
60 |
9 |
704 |
16:9 |
interlaced |
30 |
10 |
progressive |
24 |
11 |
30 |
12 |
60 |
13 |
720 |
1280 |
16:9 |
progressive |
24 |
HDTV |
14 |
30 |
15 |
60 |
16 |
1080 |
1960 |
16:9 |
interlaced |
30 |
17 |
progressive |
24 |
18 |
30 |
Standard
Definition Television (SDTV) consists of the first DTV
format of 480i/30. It is equivalent to interlaced video
output of DVD-Video
in 4:3 aspect ratio. This format is used for when
bandwidth is a bigger consideration than absolute picture
quality. SDTV uses a data rate of about 4-7 Mbps, so
three to six SDTV channels can be crammed into the same
bandwidth as a HDTV channel.
Enhanced Definition
Television (EDTV) is a step up from SDTV, but not
quite as good as HDTV. EDTV consists of some 11 formats
as shown in the above table. The vertical resolution is
limited to 480 lines, but horizontal resolution varies 640 to
704 vertical lines. It encompasses both 4:3 and 16:9
aspect ratios, a number of refresh rates, and both interlaced
and progressive scanning. EDTV is used when better
picture quality is desired, but without the full bandwidth of
HDTV.
High Definition
Television (HDTV) uses a data rate of 25 - 27 Mbps for
the best possible picture. All HDTV formats are in 16:9
aspect ratio. The 720 vertical resolution only uses
progressive scanning, but at various refresh rates. The
highest resolution is commonly used in interlaced scanning
mode (1080i), due to limitations of current broadcast and
consumer equipment. But the format includes 1080p, to
accommodate future growth as imaging and display technologies
catches up. HDTV is used for premium programming when
picture quality is of utmost priority, and bandwidth is less
of a concern. This includes select prime time shows,
major sporting events, and premium movies.
At its highest resolution, HDTV
offers 2,116,800 pixels (picture elements). This is over
a six-fold improvement in picture detail of standard
definition television which only has 307,200 pixels.
Color resolution is also improved by a factor of two.
All of the DTV formats use MPEG-2
as the video compression standard, just like DVD-Video.
MPEG-2 is a flexible video encoding algorithm and scales up
nicely for the higher resolutions of DTV. With digital
transmission, there are no analog transmission artifacts and
degradations such as snow due to weak signal, double images or
ghosting due to multi-path interference of large buildings and
structures, and sparkles due to noise from a vacuum cleaner.
The Audio
Format
Not only does DTV
bring us a near-perfect picture, but included in the DTV
formats is digital audio as well. Dolby
Digital is the standard digital audio encoding format for
all DTV formats. Many of you know Dolby Digital for its
multi-channel surround sound capability from DVD-Video.
What some of you may not realize is that Dolby Digital is more
flexible than just a 5.1-channel surround sound format.
Dolby Digital is actually a scalable digital audio encoding
algorithm that supports 1.0-channel (mono) and 2.0-channel
(stereo, with optional Dolby Pro-Logic/Pro-Logic II) when the
original programming only has a mono or stereo
soundtrack. Dolby Digital only uses as much data as it
needs to encode these 1.0-channel and 2.0-channel audio
soundtracks.
Home theater fans will realize of
course that Dolby Digital can scale up to “6.1” extended
surround sound as in Dolby
Digital EX. If you are not familiar with surround sound,
be sure to read Surround
Sound and Home
Theater Receiver Buying Guide for more information.
Delivery
Just like analog TV, Digital
Television and HDTV can be delivered in one of four ways:
Over-the-Air (OTA) Broadcasts. Many
local broadcasters in large cities and metropolitan areas have
already started broadcasting Digital Television and HDTV over
the airwaves. Yes, this is old rabbit-ear indoor antenna
(and unsightly roof-top outdoor antenna) approach to receiving
television signals. What you will need is an roof-top
HDTV antenna (if your neighborhood and city code allow for it)
or an indoor HDTV antenna to pull in these signals. You
will also need an integrated DTV (with a DTV receiver
built-in) or a DTV receiver and a DTV monitor (also known as
“DTV-ready television”). Alternatively, you can use an
DTV receiver and your existing analog TV, but you won’t be
able to see DTV and HDTV in its native high resolution
formats. In this case, the DTV receiver will
down-convert the high resolution DTV signal, scaling it down
to a lower resolution that your analog TV can handle.
You will get the clear, noise-free digital picture benefits of
DTV programming, but you won't see the much-improved high
resolution picture due to limitations of your existing analog
TV. (This in fact is how many consumers will
transition to DTV when
analog TV broadcasting stops. )
Fact: More than 861
stations offer over-the-air DTV broadcasts, and 60 percent
of Americans are in areas where there at least five stations
broadcasting in D TV, as of May 2003.
Broadcast Satellite. Broadcast
satellite providers such as Dish Network and DirecTV were
relatively quick to provide HDTV channels. If you
already have broadcast satellite equipment, you may still need
to upgrade your satellite dish to a dual-LNB model (so it can
receive from both the HDTV satellite and the “regular service”
satellite. You will may also need to upgrade your
satellite set-top box so that it can decode the high
resolution HDTV signals. Check with your satellite
service provider for the specifics. (Note that “digital
satellite TV” is not the same as DTV. It is simply the
NTSC analog TV signals, transmitted in digital form via
satellite, then converted back to analog TV signal for display
on your TV set. These “digital satellite TV” signals do
not provide any of the true 18 DTV formats, as explained
above.)
-
Dish Network:
To receive HDTV programming, look for the Model 6000U
series HDTV broadcast satellite receiver and a dish
antenna pointed at 61.5 or 148 orbital locations.
-
DirecTV: To
receive HDTV programming, look for the DirecTV
High-Definition Receiver and a 18"x24" DirecTV
Multi-Satellite dish antenna with a Sat-C kit or an
18"x20" DirecTV Multi-Satellite dish antenna
(Triple-LNB).
Terrestrial Cable. For some
time, cable TV companies were reluctant to upgrade their
infrastructure to provide HDTV. In response to the
Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) strong urging, some
terrestrial cable TV providers (e.g., Time Warner Cable) have
begun to roll out HDTV channels. With cable TV delivery,
you may need a different set-top box, a “QAM-capable”
DTV cable receiver, to decode the DTV signals.
(QAM stands for Quadrature Amplitude Modulation.
Simply put, this is the modulation used to transmit DTV via
cable TV. It differs from the 8-VSB modulation
used in over-the-air broadcasts of DTV. 8-VSB stands for
8-level Vestigial Sideband.) Some of the newer
integrated DTVs incorporate a built-in “QAM-capable” DTV
decoder for terrestrial cable, in addition to the 8-VSB DTV
decoder for over-the-air reception. The early integrated
DTVs only have the latter for over-the-air reception of DTV,
and require an additional set-top box for decoding cable
delivered DTV programming. Check with your local cable
TV provider to see if and when DTV programming will be
available. (Note that “digital cable” is not the same as
DTV. It is simply the NTSC analog TV signals,
transmitted in digital form via upgraded cable equipment, then
converted back to analog TV signal for display on your TV
set. These “digital cable” signals do not provide any of
the true 18 DTV formats, as explained
above.)
Pre-Recorded Media. Today, you
can view pre-recorded HDTV movies in 1080i on Digital-VHS
video tapes using the D-Theater
copy protection feature. So far, only DreamWorks, Fox,
Universal, and Artisan have embraced this format and released
a handful of movies in D-Theater. Read more about this
in Digital-VHS
and D-Theater Overview.
What's on HDTV?
A Question of Content
So what programming is available on
DTV, and particularly in HDTV? After all, “content is
king” is the mantra of the broadcasting world. Though
many networks are national, the availability of these HDTV
networks depends a lot on where you live. Here is the
information we have compiled. Click on the web links for
additional information (links open in a new web browser
window).
Major national broadcasting
networks:
-
ABC
is the only network to broadcast HDTV in the 720p
format. ABC HDTV programming include prime time shows
such as “Alias”, “The Practice”, “NYPD Blue”, “My Wife and
Kids”, “MD's”, and “The Drew Carey Show”, as well as network
world-premiere movies such as “Gladiator”, “Charlie's
Angels”, “The Green Mile”, and “E.T. The
Extra-Terrestrial”. Click
here to check if your local ABC-affiliated channel
provides over-the-air HDTV broadcasts.
-
CBS feature
HDTV broadcasts in 1080i for most of its prime time program,
including shows such as “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”,
“CSI: Miami”, “JAG”, “The Guardian”, “Everybody Loves
Raymond”, “The King of Queens”, and “Touched by an
Angel”. CBS also offers HDTV broadcast for major
sporting events such as the NCAA Playoffs and even a
day-time soap opera “The Young and the Restless”. Click
here to check if your local CBS-affiliated channel is
currently broadcasting HDTV over-the-air.
-
NBC
also broadcasts HDTV in the 1080i format. Prime time
shows such as “ER”, “Frasier”, “Law & Order”, “Law &
Order: Criminal Intent”, “Law & Order: Special Victims
Unit”, “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”, “In-Laws”, “Hidden
Hills”, and occasionally feature films and made-for-TV
movies are broadcasted in HDTV. Click
here to check if your local NBC-affiliated channel is
currently broadcasting HDTV over-the-air.
-
Fox broadcasts
DTV in what they call “Fox Widescreen High Resolution
TV”. As if terminology wasn't difficult enough in
today's world, Fox actually broadcast in one of the EDTV
formats, specifically the 480 x 704 in progressive scan
16:9 widescreen format (480p/30, see format
#11 in the table
above). The picture quality is comparable to a
“enhanced for 16:9 widescreen TV” DVD-Video in progressive
scan mode, but not quite as good as HDTV. Fox DTV
programming includes shows such as “Ally McBeal” and “Dark
Angel”.
-
PBS
broadcasts in HDTV and “Widescreen Standard Definition”
(similar to Fox's 480p/30, format
#11). Its programming includes specials and series
such as “Nova”, “National Geographic Special”, “Nature”,
“Smart Travel”, and “Great Performances”. PBS also
broadcasts an HDTV demo loop.
-
For a complete
listing of of local TV stations broadcasting in HDTV, click
here.
Major national premium networks
(available from cable or broadcast satellite providers):
-
HDNet is the premiere
premium network specializing in 1080i HDTV programming, as
its name implies. This premium channel is included for
DirecTV subscribers. HDNet features live sports
such as NHL, USOC, CART auto racing, college and pro
basketball, football, tennis, boxing, and horse
racing. It even features world news with its HDNet
World Report programming. HDNet Movies is
another channel, providing movies in HDTV from Warner Bros.
and independent studios, as well as made-for-TV movies and
short features.
-
HBO
HDTV broadcasts movies in HDTV and is available on
the DirecTV and Dish Network broadcast satellite systems.
-
Showtime HDTV
broadcasts movies in HDTV and is available on the DirecTV
and Dish Network broadcast satellite systems.
-
Discovery HD
Theater offers select Discover Channel program in
HDTV. This channel is available on the Dish Network.
Major satellite providers with
premium/optional HDTV channels:
-
Dish Network
offers the following channels in HDTV: Discovery HD Theater,
HBO HDTV, Showtime HDTV and CBS HD. To sign
up for HDTV programming on the DISH
Network, click
here.
-
DirecTV offers the
following channels in high definition: HDNet, HBO HDTV, Showtime
HDTV, and a High Definition Pay-Per-View channel. To
sign up for HDTV on DirecTV,
click
here.
Analog to Digital
Television Transition
When the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) auctioned the airwaves that would serve
as Digital Television broadcasts back in the mid-1990s, the
goal was for the United States to “fully” transition to new
ATSC DTV standard by the year 2006. At such a time,
Congress would take back the airwaves originally allocated to
NTSC analog television and re-allocate it for other
purposes. (Not everyone is aware of this fact.)
Analog television signals would cease to be broadcast
over-the-air, and everyone in the United States would watch
Digital Television signals.
To make the huge number of existing
analog televisions forward compatible with the DTV signals,
manufacturers would make set-top boxes (STB), much like the
set-top boxes that you may have today from your cable TV or
satellite TV provider, that down-convert the DTV signal to an
analog television signal so you would be able to drive your
existing analog TVs with a signal that it is able to
display. The down-conversion process takes the higher
resolution picture of DTV signals and re-formats it to a lower
resolution picture that analog TV sets is capable of
displaying.
Well, it's already 2003 and the DTV
transition has been rather slow to date. Only a few
percent of all U.S. households have DTVs or DTV-ready
displays. The problem is similar to that of the chicken
and the egg. The chicken being DTVs and the egg being
DTV programming.
Without DTV programming, why would consumers want to upgrade
to the more expensive DTVs or DTV-ready displays? From
the content producers and broadcasters’ perspective, why would
they upgrade their production equipment to DTV when there are
not enough consumers with DTV capability to justify the
investment?
Given the more realistic
rate of DTV rollout by content
producers, broadcasters, and distributors, and the adoption
rate by everyday consumers, this 2006 “deadline” would have to
be extended. The U.S. Congress provision calls for the
transition to occur when 85% of the United States population
has Digital Television. Your
analog TVs are safe from obsolescence for quite a few years.
Recording Digital TV & HDTV
Naturally, with DTV content available,
everyday consumers will want to record such programs whether
it be for time shifting, sharing programs, or archival
purposes. But recording DTV is one of the sticking
points of this new technology. Since DTV, particularly
HDTV, contains very high picture quality and its digital form
theoretically allows bit-for-bit perfect copies to be made,
content owners are leery of allowing their precious,
revenue-generating content to be recorded. Most of this
is understandable, considering they are the rightful
owners. But for sometimes, their resistance may be
viewed as just paranoia. As a result, there is ongoing
debate as to whether consumers should be able to record
certain DTV programs in light of the Fair Use Act.
Whatever the case, recording DTV does have
some technical challenges. First, the data rate for HDTV
peaks at some 28 Mbps, about four to seven times that of the
DVD-Video format. So whatever recording medium is used,
it must accommodate a fast data rate. And since many
movies and sporting events are a couple of hours long in
duration, the recording medium must also have a large data
capacity, on the order of 25 - 50 GB.
Right now, there are three hypothetical ways
in which consumers may be able to record HDTV programs.
Digital-VHS
is the only format available today, while high
definition personal video recorders and recordable
high definition DVD are expected to be available soon.
Digital-VHS
(D-VHS). JVC took its aging VHS and Super-VHS formats
and gave it new life as a video tape-based DTV recording
medium. The Digital-VHS
format is capable of recording HDTV in either 1080i or 720p,
for up to four hours on a single D-VHS video tape. This
recording capability is available now. There are four
D-VHS VCRs available, including the JVC HM-DH30000
($600),
Marantz MV8300 ($1,600), Mitsubishi HS-HD1100U,
and Mitsubishi HS-HD2000U. For playback of high
definition movies, JVC also added a proprietary copy
protection feature called D-Theater,
allowing movie studios to release movies in full HDTV quality
without fear of it being pirated. So far DreamWorks,
Fox, Universal, and Artisan have embraced the D-Theater format
and have begun releasing a handful of movies to this
format. For more information about Digital-VHS and
D-Theater, read Digital-VHS
and D-Theater Overview.
High Definition Personal
Video Recorders (HD-PVRs). Hard disk-based personal
video recorders such as TiVo and ReplayTV have revolutionized
the way consumers time shift TV. And soon, by the end of
2003 or early 2004, HD-PVRs capable of recording HDTV
programming may become available. These devices are
likely to be integrated with the set-top broadcast satellite
receivers or cable boxes and come with large hard disk
capacities, in order to capture the high bandwidth of HDTV
programming. Current and previous generations of PVRs
are designed for analog TV, and cannot record DTV and HDTV
broadcasts.
Recordable
High Definition DVD. On the near horizon is the
introduction of the recordable High Definition DVD (HD DVD)
format. This new optical disc format would use the new
blue-violet laser technology to allow more data to be recorded
on the familiar 12.0-cm optical disc form factor. Two
formats are being considered, Blu-Ray
Disc and Advance
Optical Disc (AOD). The Blu-Ray Disc format
seems to have a leg up on the AOD format, as Sony just
released a production Sony BDZ-S77 Blu-Ray Disc
Recorder (equivalent $3800 US, available since April
2003) to the Japanese consumer market.
The Future of Digital TV &
HDTV
DTVs and DTV-ready displays will
undoubtedly get cheaper and better with time. More and
more sets will incorporate a built-in DTV receiver. And
hopefully with more DTV programming comes more DTV
adopters. As we discussed above, HD DVD recorders
are only a few years away, providing the convenience of
an optical disc format. HD-PVRs based on today's TiVo
and ReplayTV devices will probably converge with the new HD
DVD recordable format and allow us to archive HDTV quality
programming onto removable and shareable HD DVDs.
For more info, visit
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