Wednesday, December 14, 2005

What is HDTV?

HDTV (High Definition Television) is one of the DTV (Digital TV) standards. HDTV will eventually replace analog television.

HDTV offers resolutions of 720p, 1080i, and 1080p.

The 720p format offers 720 lines of horizontal resolution with progressive scan. Progressive scan means that every line is refreshed in each frame update.

The 1080i format offers 1080 lines of horizontal resolution with interlacing. Interlacing means that every other line is refreshed in each frame update. This means that it requires two frame updates to repaint the entire screen.

1080p offers the best of both worlds, 1080 lines of progressively scanned video.

HDTV features an aspect ratio of 16:9.

The HDTV standard also includes the use of 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound (AC-3).

Each HDTV channel provides 19.39Mbps of bandwidth.

HDTV utilizes MPEG-2 compression.

HDTV is part of a larger set of standards called ATSC.

The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has mandated that all licensed television stations be capable of broadcasting DTV by 2007.

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