HDTV High Definition Television is Here

HDTV: High Definition Television is Here

On September 20, 1952, at 4:30pm, Portland station KPTV aired its first telecast. My family was ready in that we had purchased a 17-inch black and white TV set in anticipation of this new medium. What a change television brought to our home. The living room was rearranged so everyone had a good view of the TV screen and the radio to which we had listened nightly became increasing unused.

Color television would be a few years off. But we had purchased a TV set that could be adapted to color when it became available. It was thought at the time, that the CBS color system would be the future.Our set was designed to be switched to color when it became available. However, a competitive system developed by RCA won the early color wars and we were left without color set for a number of years.

I saw my first color television set in a Seattle store window the year color broadcasting began in 1954. It was just an amazing experience as was my first viewing of black and white TV. Sets were expensive and it would not be until the the middle 1960's that my parents purchased their first color set.

Today, we have yet another opportunity to experience a new revolution in the delivery and viewing of Television. The US Government has mandated that High Definition television be in place by the year 2007. Currently, as with the introduction of color, there are limited programs being broadcast for viewing. As with early color, High Definition TV sets are expensive to purchase. However, as with color, as more programs are produced in High Definition, and more sets are produced, the cost of switching from the analog TV of today to the digital High Definition TV of tomorrow will quickly take place.

High Definition Television uses advanced digital technology rather than analog for the broadcasting of television material. A HDTV image contains five time more information than that of a standard TV and includes CD-quality sound.

The shape of the TV image has changed with the introduction of HDTV. The current system has a screen ratio of 4:3. The new HDTV screen ratio is 16:9. It is big, wide, and accommodating of most any adventure film produced today.

The HDTV set is capable of displaying 1080i or 730p resolution. The 1080i stands for resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and the little 'i' means that the video is being interlaced.The 720p stands for resolution of 1280x720 pixels and the 'p' means that the video is in progressive format. What you see is a brilliantly clear image with the finest of details made visible.

There are basically three types of viewing screens used today. There is the currently used CRT (cathode ray tube). These tubes are most frequently used in the rear screen projection sets now available for HDTV with a 60 inch model.

The LCD screen uses the same technology as that in a notebook computer screen and can be very thin. The largest LCD screen now available produces an image bright enough to be viewed in a lighted room.

The plasma screen is the dream of many who hang it on the wall as if a piece of art. A 60 inch screen is expensive but fills that vision of a painting size TV screen.

In addition to a HDTV screen you need a receiver. These vary in cost. An additional decoder is needed if you are on a cable system and most services will lease a combination of receiver and decoder as part of a digital package.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ordered broadcasters to phase out analog programming and replace it with HDTV digital by January 1, 2007. Analog broadcasting may remain in some areas if less that 85 percent of viewers have digital receivers.So, for most of us, three years from now we may have to replace our current television sets.

We will see many changes in television broadcasting between now and the end of the decade. Media production will also change. We who produce video will need to replace our cameras and editing equipment as the move to HDTV makes our current tools obsolete. Already, there is at least one prosumer HDTV camera on the market and more will follow.For more information see How Stuff Works: HDTV.