The title of this overview paper does not refer to the most important period in the development of high definition television – the future. That honor is reserved for the papers which follow; they represent the future of high definition television. This paper summarizes HDTV research during the past decade, reviews the worldwide effort to achieve a single standard for HDTV production and introduces the applications papers. Introduction
Since the main economic impact of television is in consumer electronics and broadcasting, when the word “television” is mentioned most people think of television broadcasting. There are other uses of television. There could be many more. Many possibilities have not been exploited due to the limitations of television systems and the cost of developing alternative systems.
There is a single world-wide high definition image standard which is used in such situations – 35mm film.
Now there is an electronic equal to 35mm film – high definition television. With over 1000 scanning lines, matching horizontal resolution and a wide screen format now available in a television system, high resolution image users will find applications for HDTV previously reserved for film. While HDTV has great potential for broadcast television, many significant non-broadcast applications will be found.
Current television systems were developed primarily for broadcasting services for the public.
Broadcasters used the same signal format for program production as for the final transmission. Most programs were aired live. Following the invention of the video tape recorder, the broadcasters’ options increased. Broadcasters could produce programs, using VTRs, which were very difficult to produce directly on air. Today, most programs are broadcast from tape. Most prime time programs are shot on film. Research Background
The bulk of HDTV research has been conducted by NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation. Over 15 years