High Definition Television (HDTV) services offer the viewers a significantly enhanced television experience. These new services currently considered the next-generation of television services, they are gaining momentum around the world and are expected soon to become the norm for television viewing.
HDTV services offer notably higher picture quality than the traditional ‘standard definition’ television (SDTV) services. Instead of providing an image with 576 active lines, as is the case of ‘625 line’ SDTV in Europe, HDTV provides an image with a format of either 720 or 1080 active lines on the screen. Motion portrayal may also be better than traditional SDTV depending on the whether the active lines form a progressively scanned picture fifty times a second, rather than a complete interlaced image twenty five times a second. HDTV is also always formatted as 16:9, which is a better picture ratio for the human eye.
To transmit the increased amount of data necessary to adequately carry the more detailed images, HD services require more bit rate capacity than SDTV ones. Greater bit rate capacity translates effectively into more frequency spectrum requirement. Hence, the satellite platform, which has a relatively ‘limitless’ supply of spectrum, was the first platform to be able to offer such services.
Source of the HDTV pages (except the Hungarian landscape part): DigiTAG, HD on DTT
HDTV - High Definition Television
Antecedents
Antenna Hungária in cooperation with the Hungarian Television had launched HD-channel transmission on its digital terrestrial pilot system in Budapest on the channel 38 during the Beijing Olympic Games in August, 2008. The channel could be received by DVB-T MPEG-4 HD set-top-box or an integrated television set.
Antenna Hungária launched again the transmission of the m1 HD program in Budapest on its pilot DVB-T system from October 6, 2008. The HD program was available on the channel 51 using MPEG-4 compression. For testing purposes the m1 HD program using MPEG-4 compression was available until November 16, 2008 on the above mentioned channel.
From December 23, 2008 Antenna Hungária started the test broadcasting of m1 and m2 programs for a temporary one-month period, which was extended until February 28, 2009. Both programs were available subscription-free in HD format in the MinDig TV digital terrestrial television service, in the Budapest region on the channel 55, in the Kabhegy region on the channel 64, and in the Szentes region on the channel 60.
These demonstrations gave a good opportunity to the viewers for experiencing the improved picture quality offered by HDTV and to the content-service providers and to the broadcasters for trying out in handling HDTV in distribution.
Actualities
The HD format program of m1 and m2 have been available on MinDig TV service from July 1, 2009 and they have been accessible free of charge for the public together with Duna TV HD that has been present there from the very start (December 2008) of the service.
Actually the program of m1, m2 and Duna HD can be received in HD format on the Hungarian service-operation DVB-T platform.
More information about the available HD programs on the next page: MinDig TV.
HDTV services are available in many countries around the world. Australia, Japan and the United States lead with their HDTV offerings.
HD-quality services are already available across all the television platforms, from satellite via cable and nowadays already to terrestrial.
In Europe, HDTV services have only recently begun. The first service was launched in 2004 on the satellite platform and since then an increasing number of satellite operators have launched HDTV services in various European markets, as have some cable and IPTV operators.
Satellite platform
In January 2004, Euro 1080 was the first operator to launch HDTV services, offering a combination of free and pay-per view content across Europe. Since then, other satellite operators have launched HDTV services all over Europe, for example in France, Germany, Italy, the Nordics, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. There is a high call for these services in the United Kingdom, too, with the satellite platform operator BSkyB asserting that Sky HD is its fastest-selling additional TV product ever.
The HDTV services have been offered on a pay basis although the public service broadcasters have generally made their HDTV services available for free. This has been the case in Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. In Germany, several commercial operators have also offered free HDTV services, although it is not known if they will remain free-of-charge in the future.
Cable platform
At the end of 2006, HDTV services were already available in Germany, the Nordic countries and the United Kingdom. These all are pay subscription services.
IPTV platform
Limited HD services are available on the IPTV platforms in Europe. As it is a relatively new platform, IPTV has not yet launched in all countries nor attained a high level of household penetration. However, in countries where IPTV service penetration is relatively high, such as in case of France and Germany, IPTV service operators have begun launching HD services.
Terrestrial platform
At this stage, limited HD services are available on the terrestrial television platform (HD/ DTT). In Sweden, HD content from the public service broadcaster SVT is available in several cities while the Spanish regional broadcaster, TV3, offers several hours of HD content per day in Barcelona. In France, the new media framework which was approved in February 2007, calls for the launch of HDTV services and the CSA (Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel) in June 2007 started the process of inviting applicants for two HDTV services to be offered nationwide on digital multiplex R5. Proposals were required to provide a minimum of 25 per cent native HDTV services in 2008 increasing to 30 per cent in 2009 and so on.
In many countries, HD/DTT services have been demonstrated as part of showcase trials associated with a festival or sporting event as has been the case in France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Spectrum issues
The move towards digital television on the terrestrial platform allows countries to free up broadcast frequencies for new services, which can include greater choice of standard definition television programs, mobile television and high-definition television.
National administrations will need to decide how best to allocate these newly released frequencies to meet the needs of their local market. However, such frequencies will become available only after digital switchover is completed and all analogue channels are switched off.
Business opportunities
Number of viewers
According to the HD/DTT trial results which took place in London between June-October 2006, 98 per cent of participants believed it is important for HD content to be available on the DTT platform. For 71 per cent of the trial participants, HDTV will become the quality benchmark for all television in the future.
These results demonstrate that viewer expectations are high and a strong demand for HD/DTT services exists.
Increasing demand for HD-ready televisions
Across Europe, consumers are purchasing flat-panel television displays. The popularity of flat-panel displays is due in part to the modern ‘look’ and flexibility of mounting compared with traditional cathode ray tube (CRT) television sets, and also to the continual decrease in purchase price in recent years.
The market growth for flat-panel displays coincided in Europe with the launch of the labelling of ‘HD-ready’ displays. The European Information, Communications and Consumer Electronics Technology Industry Associations (EICTA) and ASTRA introduced the 'HD-ready' logo which can be used for displays which are fully capable to cooperate with HDTV set-top-boxes and to present HDTV programmes as well as comply with the minimum technical requirements set by the body.
This specification requires a resolution of minimum 720 lines in a screen format of 16:9. It has to be compatible with both the 1080i and 720p signals at both 50 and 60 Hz image frequencies, as well as having a HDMI connection (with an integrated HDCP content protection). The ‘i’ and the ‘p’ refer to the method of scanning: in case of ‘i’ the method is interlaced and at ‘p’ is progressive. In case of the interlaced method the scanning of every single line is also realised, first the even than the odd lines are scanned.
Since the HD-ready logo was formally specified in January 2005, nearly all available flat-panel displays sized 28 inches or larger have been HD-ready. In addition, smaller sized flat panel displays have subsequently tended to follow this trend and meet the HD-ready criteria.
The future of HDTV is ‘Full HD’. Those TV sets fulfill the requirements of Full HD, that have 1080p resolution. This system is compatible from above which means that these kind of TV sets are suitable for handling of lower resolution as well.
As more and more households become equipped with HD-ready television sets, they will expect to be able to access HDTV services.
Increased image artefacts with flat-panel displays
The reduced picture quality of standard-definition services on flat-panel displays when compared with CRTs has become apparent in recent years. The deterioration in subjective picture quality on flat-panel displays directly influences viewer satisfaction with standard-definition television services. They expect their new flat-panel display to give them a better picture quality than their old television set.
The issue of image quality is further impacted by the widespread penetration of large sized television sets in households. Because flat-panel displays are less bulky than comparatively sized CRTs, the trend has been for viewers to purchase increasingly larger screens than their old television set. Unfortunately, the subjective decrease in picture quality becomes even more apparent with large screen sizes as encoding and decoding artefacts are more visible.
Emerging technologies
An increasing range of HD-capable consumer devices are becoming available, from Blu-Ray and HD DVD players to camcorders and game consoles. Access to these HD-capable devices provides viewers with the opportunity to see unbounded HD quality services and makes standard-definition content appear comparatively inferior in quality.
High-definition optical disc players are slowly entering the European market. The speed of uptake is likely to be influenced by the current high prices, and to a lesser extent the question of whether a single format, either Blu-ray or HD-DVD, is likely to dominate the market. However, these products can be expected to enter viewer households in large numbers in the next few years.
Game consoles will also make viewers more accustomed to HD quality images. Both the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) and Microsoft Xbox 360 can show HD content on HD displays from their built in disk players. HD camcorders have become increasingly available at relatively low costs with analysts estimating that almost half of the annual consumer camcorder shipments to Europe will be HD capable by 2010.
Delivering HD services on the terrestrial platform will be dependent on the availability of the necessary spectrum capacity in the VHF and UHF broadcasting bands. In most European countries, these broadcasting bands are currently used to deliver analogue and digital terrestrial television services. Following analogue switch-off, some of the released frequencies will be needed to extend the coverage of the digital services, however, it can be expected that some further spectrum capacity may be released.
In preparation for the completion of analogue switch-off, the broadcast industry may want to undertake certain actions to ensure that capacity is made available for HD/DTT services.
Analogue switch-off
Across Europe, countries are beginning to plan for analogue switch-off. The GE-06 Agreement requires that signatory countries end their analogue television services along their national borders by 17 June 2015 to avoid interference with neighbors’ digital services. For many countries, it serves as the de-facto analogue switch-off date, especially given that the GE-06 Agreement is legally binding.
The European Commission has also called on countries to switch-off their analogue terrestrial television platform. Recognising that the full benefits of digital switchover cannot be achieved until all countries in a particular region have all switched off their analogue services, the Commission has recommended that its member-states complete switch-off by 2012.
It is unlikely that many European markets will be able to launch a full HDTV offering on the terrestrial platform until they have completed analogue switch-off.