satellite, or over-the-air transmission

High definition
thereby reducing interference, ghost for-
mation, and noise.
With the new millennium, a paradigm

television in detail shift is taking place in the current digital

video technology that tries to integrate
the functions of the telephone, the com-
MATTHEW N.O. SADIKU AND SUDARSHAN R. NELATURY puter, and the television. Just as a variety
of multimedia desktop digital video
products and digital visual communica-
tion products (e.g., video conferencing,
video phone, video fax, and video e-
mail) are becoming commonplace, the
all-digital HDTV is grabbing our atten-
tion in the world of consumer electron-
ics. While HDTV has been around in
some form since 1970, it is only since
2002 that it has truly begun to take off in
the United States. A recent study of the
HDTV market reveals that HD services
appear to have the biggest number of
subscribers worldwide when compared
to other TV delivery platforms. The
worldwide HDTV market is forecast to
exceed 87 million households by 2010.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Technology revolutionized how we
listen to music, watch TV, play games,
communicate, and manage and share
personal information. Telecom-
munication started with telegraphic
transmission in 1901 and developed
into telephone and radio broadcast-
ing, followed by TV. The chronologi-
cal development of TV took place in
© PHOTODISC the following way:
• 1930, black and white TV
THE 2006 WORLD CUP WAS A of personal involvement in the scene • 1950, cable TV
DREAM fulfilled for many a soccer being watched. • 1954, color TV
junkie. U.S. viewers who did not hap- HDTV is an entirely new system that • 1973, giant-screen projection
pen to watch at least one of the 64 produces pictures that are more attrac- color TV
matches on high-definition television tive and of higher quality than the con- • 1982, surround sound
(HDTV) missed out on the additional ventional TV due to a combination of • 1986, satellite TV
excitement generated by that viewing several features such as the highest pos- • 1994, digital satellite TV
experience. The host country Germany sible spatial and temporal resolution, • 1996, Web TV
and ESPN and ESPN2 HD and ABC HD digital sound, and good control of dis- • 1998, digital TV/HDTV.
in the United States had broadcast all play. This is in contrast to analog TV Conventional TV transmission stan-
of the 64 International Federation of with which everybody is familiar. An dards are split into three major types,
Football Association games in HDTV. analog TV signal in the United States is the convenience of which is determined
But, it’s not just the World Cup or the based on the standards set forth by the by the power-line frequency and the
2007 Super Bowl that will get special National Television Systems Committee NTSC phase alternating line (PAL), and
HDTV treatment. Beginning in 2007, all (NTSC). An analog TV signal has 525 sequential couleur avec memoire
television in the United States is scan lines for each image and is (SECAM). None of these standards are
expected to be HDTV following the refreshed every 30th of a second. The compatible with each other, and this
federally mandated death of analog horizontal resolution is approximately poses a problem for international pro-
TV. This article introduces some basic 500 dots for a color set. This level of res- gram exchange. This has led to the
facts and features of this would-be-all olution was amazing 50 years ago, but development of advanced TV systems
TV technology. today it is rather passé due to advance- including digital HDTV.
The objective of HDTV development ments in technology. Fundamentally, the HDTV became the biggest break-
is to construct a television system that difference between HDTV and conven- through in broadcasting since color TV.
can exhibit pictures with sensational tional TV is one of quality. Also, pro- The original impetus for HDTV came
reality, imparting to the viewer a sense grams are delivered digitally by cable, from wide-screen movies. Early in the

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1980s, movie producers were offered an
HDTV system that Sony and Nippon Table 1. Comparison of conventional and digital TV features.

Huso Kyokai (NHK), the Japanese-gov- Conventional TV Digital TV

ernment-sponsored TV broadcasting
• Small screen • Wide screen
corporation, developed in the late
1970s. With this system, a scene could • 4:3 aspect ratio • 16:9 aspect ratio
be recorded, played, and immediately
edited before being transferred to film. • Poor resolution • High resolution

As a consequence, many of the interme- • Flick, ghosts, snow • No artifacts, ghosts, snow
diate delays in conventional film pro-
duction were eliminated. Following the • Limited color fidelity • Improved color fidelity
introduction of HDTV to the film indus- • Color mixing • Digital sound (Dolby AC-3)
try, interest began to build in develop-
ing an HDTV system for commercial • Analog transmission • Digital transmission
broadcasting.
Japan had pioneered HDTV for
decades with an analog implementa- Table 2. Resolution formats for digital TV proposed by ATSC.
tion. But, their old system is not
compatible with the new digital stan- DTV Resolution Aspect ratio Frame rate
dards. Many kinds of HDTV equipment
have been developed in Japan. Since HDTV 1,920 × 1,080 16:9 60i, 30p, 24p
1990, HDTV has been available on a HDTV 1,280 × 720 16:9 60p, 30p, 24p
regularly scheduled basis to viewers in
Japan via analog satellite transmission. SDTV 704 × 480 16:9 60i, 60p, 30p, 24p
In Japan, research on HDTV started in SDTV 704 × 480 4:3 60p, 60i, 30p, 24p
1968 when NHK joined forces with
manufacturers, and the government SDTV 640 × 480 4:3 60p, 60i, 30p, 24p

embarked on a massive project that

cost more than US$1 billion. The effort, scanning for high resolution. Satellite times that of an analog system. The
which lasted about ten years, com- and terrestrial broadcasting are based main differences between conventional
prised extensive laboratory work and on MPEG-2 compression standards; analog and digital TVs are given in
psychophysical studies to harmonize they differ in the way the compressed Table 1.
the new medium with human sensa- signal is modulated for transmission. The composite video signal of an
tion. The resulting analog system, The development of an HDTV stan- analog TV has the following elements:
called multiple subnyquist encoding dard has been underway in the United horizontal line sync pulse, color refer-
(MUSE), utilizes digital-signal compres- States since 1987. Initial attempts to ence burst, reference black level, pic-
sion, analog transmission, and satellite launch hybrid analog-digital HDTV sys- ture luminance information, color satu-
delivery. MUSE and other HDTV pro- tems failed. Recently, the Advanced ration information, color hue informa-
posals had to use satellite delivery Television Systems Committee (ATSC) tion, and vertical sync pulse with the
because of their large bandwidth in the United States has combined the real-time requirement of synchroniza-
requirements and were not directly best features of various proposals and tion. But the digital TV standard elimi-
applicable to broadcast television. By laid strict standards for HDTV. On 24 nates the need for synchronization and
1995, Japan was the only country to be December 1996, the U.S. Federal will allow for the unification of comput-
actually broadcasting HDTV services. Communications Committee (FCC) er and TV in the days to come.
Every day for nine hours, HDTV ser- approved these standards for domestic The ATSC established 18 different
vices were provided by satellite to and terrestrial HDTV transmission. picture resolution formats for DTV.
viewers with access to the new televi- The three major conventional TV These are shown in Table 2. The sym-
sion receivers. systems, namely NTSC, PAL, and bols “i” and “p” stand for interlaced and
The digital video broadcasting SECAM, are more than four decades old progressive scan type respectively.
(DVB) consortium of Europe, which and were based on analog principles.
was formed in 1993 and represented by But the advent of powerful high-speed DEFINITION AND FUNCTIONAL
about 30 countries, has launched some- digital processors and the associated CHARACTERISTICS OF HDTV
what different standards. One of the digital technology paved the way for The FCC has no official definition for
daunting challenges undertaken by digital TV. Signals are represented by HDTV. The ATSC defines HDTV as hav-
DVB is to develop the next generation digital code, which is compressed, ing an image aspect ratio of 16:9 with
multi-media home platform (MHP). processed, and transmitted digitally. twice the horizontal and vertical resolu-
DVB is based on standard resolution DTV allows simultaneous transmission tion compared to the existing systems,
TV, which has 625 lines, 50-Hz inter- of several different television programs accompanied by 5.1 channels of Dolby
laced pictures, and relies on MPEG-2 at a picture-quality level limit that digital audio. It refers to a subset of
(moving picture experts group) video equals the studio output. Further, DTV advanced television technology that can
compression and MPEG-2 digital sound. allows simultaneous transmission of display at least 1,000 vertical measured
The wide-screen version has an aspect captions in multiple languages and at lines in interlaced mode. HDTV is char-
ratio of 16:9 and 1,250 lines interlaced multiple reading levels at a data rate ten acterized by sharper wide-screen pic-

32 IEEE POTENTIALS

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tures and CD-quality audio. Most rate of about 19.3 Mb/s. In the receiver, ing to resolve questions about how ser-
importantly, the signals are processed the HDTV signal is demodulated, de- vices are to be provided.
digitally, which is not visible to the multiplexed, decoded, and reassembled The future of HDTV is becoming an
common viewer. for proper display. The value of the important offering for cable and satellite
HDTV enhances the quality of the samples per active line, 1,920, is TV providers. More operators in com-
picture on your screen and the quality obtained from (the number of active petitive digital TV markets are starting
of the sound. Under the proposed pixels in a conventional TV) × 2 × to look toward HDTV as a way to
HDTV standards, pictures will have six (the aspect ratio of HDTV)/(aspect attract and retain premium subscribers.
times the spatial resolution of current ratio of conventional TV) = 720 × 2 One of the challenges these operators
TV and a full 60 frames/s temporal res- × (16/9)/(4/3) = 1,920. face will be providing content in HD
olution, which is twice the current The various parameters for the PAL, that is different and not just upconvert-
NTSC frame rate. SECAM, NTSC, MUSE, DVB, and HDTV ed from existing standard definition
There are several benefits to viewing signal are shown in Table 3 for channels. The availability and pricing of
programs in high definition. comparison. HDTV sets and HD set-top boxes will
• Clarity: The digital signal is crystal
clear and noise free. HDTV offers the
ultimate in TV-picture quality (similar to
35-mm film).
• Sharpness: In addition to clarity,
HDTV provides a much sharper picture
than analog television. Just like a digital
camera, more pixels means sharper pic-
tures. The highest resolution HDTV for-
mat has approximately 2 million pixels
compared to about 1/2 million pixels in
analog TV.
• Digital sound: HDTV’s digital audio (a) (b)
sounds better than a standard television’s
analog sound. All HDTV programs use Fig. 1 Comparing NTSC with HDTV. Source: http://www.hdpictures.com/hdtv.htm. Used
Dolby digital sound, which is also used with permission.
on DVDs. The quality of a picture from a
progressive scan DVD player displayed IMPACT OF HDTV BROADCASTING also play a key role if HDTV is to take
in HDTV is much better. Never before has there been a prod- off in the new markets.
• Wide-screen picture: HDTV offers uct that received so much attention sev- Satellite services are expected to
wider pictures with greater detail and eral years before it was even produced. account for the largest share of world-
the clarity of motion pictures. The stan- HDTV has captured the imagination of wide HDTV households when com-
dard television (NTSC) aspect ratio is editors and producers who want to make pared to other platforms. Satellite is
4:3 (four units wide, three units high), it a broad proxy for competitiveness. expected to lead in European, Middle
while the HDTV aspect ratio is 16:9, as Today, there are more than 800 stations Eastern, and African regions as well as
illustrated in Fig. 1. An HDTV picture in the United States that are broadcasting in Asia-Pacific regions. The strength of
contains about five or six times more digital television. In addition to several HDTV over cable stems from this plat-
information than a conventional televi- satellite and cable companies, there are form’s success in the United States.
sion picture. HDTV stations in many large cities in the Bandwidth limitations, fragmented cable
• Picture-in-picture (PIP) and pic- United States and Canada. The first U.S. markets, and past financial troubles will
ture-outside-picture (POP): PIP is a HDTV station was WRAL-HD in Raleigh, be the main factors inhibiting HDTV
rather expensive feature that allows North Carolina. The FCC has mandated rollout via cable in many parts of the
viewing multiple TV channels simulta- that all stations be capable of broadcast- world. Some operators in the United
neously by creating one or more small- ing digital television by 2007. Now ABC, States are leasing HD digital video
er displays within the larger television CBS, NBC, FOX, and PBS are offering recorders to their customers, in hopes of
display. PIP lets you watch a second HD services in the United States and more easily upgrading these subscribers
program in a little window. More elabo- Canada. Broadcasters such as CTV, to the HD programming tier. As prices
rate versions can resize the window, CityTV, Global, and OMNI 1 and 2 are of HD DVR set-tops fall, this strategy is
move it around the screen, create still providing digital services and have some likely to be seen more often. Microsoft
or multiple still images, or simply divide HD programs. Future numbers seem to is going to release Microsoft Windows
the screen into two same-size pictures, loom large. Vista—the successor to Windows XP—
which are often called POP. POP is a On a broader scale, HDTV seems to as the entertainment hub for a future
feature that allows viewing two or more leave economical and social impacts. digitally connected home. Vista will
(depending on the type of POP capabil- Looking at the massive investments by allow users to plug their digital cable
ity the set has) TV channels simultane- incumbent broadcasters, software ven- directly into their digital PC to watch
ously by dividing the television display. dors, and equipment manufacturers, and record HD cable content.
In the digital HDTV, the modulating this new technology is going to bring Broadcasters expect that con-
signal carries audio, video, and all the about industrial restructuring and create sumers will have a choice of high-
ancillary data packets on the carrier at a new challenges for policy makers look- quality display. This might even be

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007 33

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 Table 3. Comparison of analog and digital TV standards.

TV Total Active Aspect Compression

standard lines lines Scan type Resolution Pixels ratio format Bandwidth

PAL 625 575 i 720 × 575 414,000 4:3 Analog 8 MHz

SECAM 625 575 p/i 720 × 575 414,000 4:3 Analog 8 MHz

NTSC 525 486 p/i 720 × 486 349,920 4:3 Analog 6 MHz

MUSE 1,125 1,035 i 1,920 × 1,035 1,987,200 16:9 Subsampling 6–9 MHz

DVB 1,250 1,152 p 1,920 × 1,152 2,211,840 16:9 MPEG-2 7–8 MHz

HDTV 1,125 1,080 p/i 1,920 × 1,080 2,073,600 16:9 MPEG-2 6 MHz

necessary before broadcasters are out is imminent because, with the The debate surrounding the transi-
willing to take on HDTV for all prime- advent of display technologies such as tion from the analog NTSC broadcast
time programming. For the time being, HD, Plasma, LCD, DLP, and CRT, the standard to the new ATSC digital stan-
good display devices will be slow to consumer will always look for out- dard has shifted from “Will it happen?”
come to market. They will be expensive standing picture quality. to “How long will it take?” But starting
and only a small percentage of the pop- An important aspect of introducing a from the earliest planning stages more
ulation will be able to afford them. That new service is its degree of compatibility than 20 years ago, HDTV’s develop-
does not mean that any delay should be with existing services. For example, color ment has been a slow, bumpy ride.
allowed in the implementation of DTV TV was implemented having full compati- Now, its adoption is at hand. Many ele-
transmission, just a possible relaxation bility with the then-existing monochrome ments are coming together to facilitate
of prime-time HD requirements. TV standard. A common approach for the growth of HDTV adoption. For
In recent months, several private and HDTV is the adoption of a noncompati- example, new compression standards,
some public broadcasters have begun ble system. Such a system would require such as MPEG-4 (H.264) and Windows
to embrace the HDTV technology and converters that transform the format into Media 9, have more than twice the
are slated to grab their share of the HD the usual television signal. compression efficiency of MPEG-2. This
market before a new generation of HD HDTV is going to drastically means that operators may be able to
videodiscs hits the global market in the change the way TV is watched and, retain many of their existing channels
form of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. in particular, the way commercials while providing the bandwidth for HD
are broadcast. HDTV viewers even channels. Many of the barriers to HDTV
SOME DIFFICULTIES want commercials to be produced in adoption are now being eliminated. As
IN THE TRANSITION HD. While several commercials are HD content increases in availability,
For enhancing a nation’s interna- being shot and shown in SDTV for- equipment costs drop, and compression
tional competitiveness in a globalizing mat, there seems to be some holdup standards improve, we are likely to see
economy, it is imperative that new in making the transition. The reasons more operators implement HDTV.
technology replace the existing one offered are threefold: cost, audience, When you go to an electronics store
in a timely fashion. Now, the most and content. There is an additional today, already you can see a fairly good
significant problem facing HDTV is premium of 30-50% in making com- selection of HDTV sets. HDTV magazine
exactly the same problem faced by mercials in HD. Until the number of (http://www.hdtvmagazine.com) is your
color TV in 1954. There are approxi- households owning HDTV grows, online guide to the digital television
mately 600 million television sets in broadcasters will hesitate to accept revolution.
the world, and approximately 70% of HD commercials. But these factors
them are color TVs. An important and may disappear as a result of the CONCLUSIONS
critical consideration is whether or effect federal mandates will have on This article discussed a brief histori-
not the new HDTV standards should HDTV. Some of the extra costs are cal background, the definition of
be compatible with the existing color- likely to be offset by the ease of pro- HDTV, a comparison between the con-
TV standards, supplant the existing ducing the expanding range of ventional analog TV, and digital counter
standards, or be simultaneously modern deliverables at top quality. parts. The HDTV picture quality is sim-
broadcast with the existing standards Already, HD commercials are on the ply sensational and offers viewers a
(with the understanding that the exist- rise in the United Kingdom. sense of being involved in the scene.
ing standards would disappear over HDTV will become increasingly pop- The higher resolution along with other
time). There is precedence for both ular for digital broadcasting for at least digital techniques made this a reality.
compatibility and simultaneous broad- two reasons: large flat screens are That the relentless march of HDTV has
cast. In 1957, the United States chose becoming readily available at affordable revolutionized how we listen to music
compatibility when developing stan- prices and PC displays with high-defini- and watch TV is now plainly evident.
dards for color TV. While people tion quality are becoming widely used, With the stipulation of a new telecom-
debate how the transition from NTSC which will acclimatize the public to munications act, which will have an
to HDTV should take place, the roll- high definition. immediate impact on the U.S. community

34 IEEE POTENTIALS

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and may have some ramifications in • IMS Research [Online]. Available: Circuits (McGraw-Hill, 3rd ed., 2007,
other countries, all the television stations http://www.imsresearch.com with Charles Alexander). His current
are allowed to reach their viewers on • “NBC and high-definition televi- research interests are in the areas of
multiple channels simultaneously. Data- sion,” [Online]. Available: http:// numerical techniques in electromagnetics
casting of additional text revealing stock www.nbc.com/nbc/footer/HDTV.shtml and computer communications networks.
market quotes, sports statistics, classified • “How stuff works: High definition He is a Senior Member of the IEEE.
advertising, radio and TV program sched- television (HDTV)” [Online]. Available: Sudarshan Rao Nelatury (srn3@
ules, and even electronic newspapers http://www.howstuffworks.com/ psu.edu) received the B.Tech degree in
provide the viewers a greater satisfaction, hdtv.htm 1981 from JNT University, Hyderabad,
influencing social and economic spheres • K.J. Kuhn, “HDTV television—An India, and the M.E and Ph.D. degrees in
of our everyday life. A picture of the introduction,” [Online]. Available: 1985 and 1996 respectively, both from
future HDTV market with forecasts for http://www.ee.washington.edu/conse- Osmania University, Hyderabad, India.
HDTV households is provided. Some lec/CE/kuhn/hdtv/95x5.htm From 1983 to 1999, he taught at the
remarks are made on the impact of Department of Electronics and
HDTV broadcasting and finally the diffi- ABOUT THE AUTHORS Communication Engineering, Osmania
culties being currently encountered in its Matthew N.O. Sadiku (sadiku@ University. During 1999–2003, he was a
impending transition are explained. ieee.org) is a professor at Prairie View visiting faculty member at the Electrical
A&M University. He was a professor at and Computer Engineering Department,
READ MORE ABOUT IT Temple University, Philadelphi and Villanova University. Presently, he is
• W. Habermann, “HDTV standards,” Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton. with the Department of Electrical,
IEEE Commun. Mag., pp. 10–12, Aug. 1991. He is the author of more than 130 papers Computer, and Software Engineering, at
• D. Wood, “High definition for and more than 20 books including Penn State.
Europe—A progressive approach,” EBU Elements of Electromagnetics (Oxford, 4th His research interests include elec-
Tech. Rev., pp. 1–11, Oct. 2004. ed., 2007), Numerical Techniques in tromagnetics and digital signal process-
• Y. Ninomiya, “High definition tele- Electromagnetics (CRC, 2nd ed. 2001), ing. He is a Life Member of IETE and
vision systems,” Proc. IEEE, vol. 83, no. Metropolitan Area Networks (CRC Press, ISTE, a member of ASEE and IET, and a
7, July 1995. 1995), and Fundamentals of Electric Senior Member of the IEEE.

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