The introduction of HDTV into digital television networks

The development of larger displays with higher spatial and/or temporal resolution, combined with the need to differentiate new digital services from existing ones, has led to a new drive toward digital high-definition television (HDTV) transmissions. To deliver better picture quality into the home, it has been proposed to start HDTV transmissions (with upconversion at the studio output) despite the fact that much production will remain at standard resolution for the foreseeable future. This paper demonstrates that early adoption of HDTV transmissions is unlikely to achieve the highest picture quality in the home at first, due to uncertainties in the display format. It is shown that upconversion should be matched to the display process and thus achieve a better picture quality. If the consumer display supports only standard resolution, the combined effect of upconversion, compression, and downconversion is shown to lend to severe degradation in picture quality. Furthermore, additional factors such as the increase in required transmission bandwidth are also discussed.