High Definition Television – HDTV - Digital Video and Audio Broadcasting Technology - page 87

5 High Definition Television - HDTV

The Standard Definition Television - SDTV - introduced in the 50s is still
virtually the main standard for analog and digital television in all countries
throughout the world. However, as in the field of computers, modern TV
cameras and terminal devices such as plasma screens and LCD receivers
provide for much higher pixel resolution.
In computer monitors, the resolutions are:

• VGA 640 x 480 (4:3)
• SVGA 800 x 600 (4:3)
•

XGA 1024 x 768 (4:3)

• SXGA 1280 x 1024 (5:4)

• UXGA 1600 x 1200 (4:3)

• HDTV 1920 x 1080 (16:9)

• QXGA 2048 x 1536 (4:3)

pixels, together with the respective aspect ratios (width x height).
Since the 1990s, there have been efforts in some countries to switch
from the standard resolution SDTV to high resolution HDTV (High Defi-
nition Television). The first attempts were made in Japan with MUSE
(Multiple Sub-Nyquist Sampling Encoding), developed by the broadcaster
NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai). In Europe, too, HDTV was on the agenda at
the beginning of the 1990s as HD-MAC (High-Definition Multiplexed
Analog Components) but never entered the market. In the US, it was de-
cided in the mid 90s to introduce HDTV as part of the ATSC (Advanced
Television System Committee) effort, and in Australia it was decided to
transmit HDTV as part of digital terrestrial television when the DVB-T
standard was adopted. Europe, too, is now beginning to introduce HDTV.
HDTV is currently implemented by MPEG-2 coding both in Japan, in the
US and in Australia. In Europe, HDTV satellite channel EURO1080 went
on the air at the beginning of 2004 with MPEG-2 coding.
The usual field rate in a 625 line TV system is 50 Hz and in a 525 line
system it is 60 Hz. This is related to the power line frequency used in the