High Definition TV—The Television Standard(s) of the Future

Metadata

Publisher: SMPTE — White Plains, NY, USA
Doc Type: Journal Article
Content Type: Original Research
Abbreviated Title: J SMPTE
Volume: 99, No. 1, pp. 8–32
Abstract: Why has the opportunity for a single, worldwide HDTV standard been lost? It would seem that a global format offers obvious benefits. But on closer inspection it becomes clear that disincentives for standardization abound. Consider, for example, what governments find most important: is more value placed on enhanced international communications through a common television standard, or on the development of unique, domestic HDTV technologies which bolster the local economy? Are countries attracted to the prospect of a single, global marketplace for advanced television products (offering enhanced economies of scale), or is such a benefit outweighed by fears of technical dependence on outside sources of innovation? These are the types of questions which this research addresses. This paper places HDTV in an historical frame of reference by reviewing the international standards debates which have gone on before. Comparisons are drawn with the early competition between mechanical and all-electronic television formats, and, naturally, with the debate over color TV standards during the 1960s.
Publication Date: 1990-01-01
DOI: 10.5594/J16772
ISSN: Print: 0036-1682
Link: https://doi.org/10.5594/J16772
Author(s): Scott D. ElliottSchool of Communications, University of Washington Seattle, Wash.
bio
Scott D. Elliott is a graduate student pursuing research at the School of Communications of the University of Washington. He holds a BS degree from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania in Television Production and Journalism. His background includes work as a newspaper reporter and over ten years experience as a producer and editor with various television stations in the Pacific Northwest. His academic interests center on international communications and technological innovation. Most recently, his research in the area of television standards tied for first place among student papers during competition sponsored by the Human Communication Technology division of the International Communication Association
Copyright: © 1990 Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, Inc.

Bibliographic Reference(s)

1 Flaherty Joseph A. , “High-Definition Television Production,” SMPTE Journal Vol. 97 , No. 10 (October 1988 ): p. 844 . EXTERNAL
10 Seghers Marbach Symonds Gross Cole , “Super Television,” p. 58 . EXTERNAL
11 KIRO Radio, Seattle, Washington, “Chip Talk,” May 11, 1989 , “The Case Against High-Definition Television,” Dave Ross, narrator. EXTERNAL
12 Behrens Steve , “The Fight for High-Def,” Channels , May 1986 , p. 44 . EXTERNAL
13 Cole Patrick Brandt Richard , “How Does Hollywood Zap a Planet? With High-Definition Help,” Business Week , January 30, 1989 , p. 62 . EXTERNAL
14 Behrens , “The Fight,” p. 47 . EXTERNAL
15 Clark Burnie , Transcript from the Advanced Television Seminar , KCTS-TV , Seattle, Washington , April 22, 1988 , pp. 5 – 6 . EXTERNAL
16 Ibid., p. 6 . EXTERNAL
17 U.S., Department of Commerce , National Telecommunications and Information Administration , Advanced Television, Related Technologies, and the National Interest , March 3, 1989 , p. 9 . EXTERNAL
18 Ibid., p. 11 . EXTERNAL
19 Ibid., pp. 11 – 12 . EXTERNAL
2 King Carmel , “Wiley Forecasts ATV for the 1990s,” TV Technology , May 1989 Extra, p. 17 . EXTERNAL
20 Ibid., p. 10 . EXTERNAL
21 Ibid., p. 16 . EXTERNAL
22 Ibid., pp. 16 – 17 . EXTERNAL
23 Ibid., p. 20 . EXTERNAL
24 “Federal Role in HDTV Examined,” TV Technology , October 1989 , p. 3 . EXTERNAL
25 U.S. Senate, Committee on Governmental Affairs , Statement of Robert D. Reischauer , Director, Congressional Budget Office, August 1, 1989 , p. 5 . EXTERNAL
26 Pollack Andrew , “The Setback for Advanced TV,” The New York Times , September 30, 1989 , p. 17 . EXTERNAL
27 Flaherty , “High-Definition Television Production,” p. 846 . EXTERNAL
28 Ibid. EXTERNAL
29 Ibid., p. 844 . EXTERNAL
3 Zenith is the only current U.S.-owned television manufacturer. There are no domestic firms that produce videocassette recorders. EXTERNAL
30 Ibid., p. 846 . EXTERNAL
31 Winship Michael , Television ( New York : Random House , 1988 ), p. 356 . EXTERNAL
32 Crane , The Politics , p. 7 . EXTERNAL
33 As an example, in the early 1960s, all French companies that were interested in manufacturing SECAM equipment were promised low royalty fees in exchange for unified domestic support of the SECAM format. For more information, see Crane, The Politics , p. 49 . EXTERNAL
34 Podolsky Leon , “The Name of the Game, or How to Play Standards for Foreign Markets,” The Magazine of Standards , February 1968 , p. 42 . EXTERNAL
35 Crane , The Politics , p. 7 . EXTERNAL
36 Crane , The Politics , p. 8 . EXTERNAL
37 Lamartine from a speech at Macon in 1847 as quoted by Burton Stevenson , The Home Book of Quotations ( New York : Greenwich House , 1984 ), p. 899 . EXTERNAL
38 PBS , “Television.” . EXTERNAL
39 Brown Ronald , Telecommunications ( Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday & Co., Inc. , 1970 ), p. 170 . EXTERNAL
4 Marbach William D. Seghers Frances Symonds William C. Gross Neil Cole Patrick , “Super Television,” Business Week , January 30, 1989 , p. 58 . EXTERNAL
40 Two other systems competed with CBS to get the FCC nod: one was a “dot sequential” system developed by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and the other was a “line sequential” method proposed by Color Television, Inc. (CTI). EXTERNAL
41 Brown , Telecommunications , p. 208 . EXTERNAL
42 “Color TV is Stopped Cold,” Business Week , October 27, 1951 , p. 21 . EXTERNAL
43 Parrott Michael , “The Politics of Colour Television,” World Today Vol. 22 ( 1966 ), p. 253 . EXTERNAL
44 Crane , The Politics , p. 39 . EXTERNAL
45 Ibid., p. 42 . EXTERNAL
46 Ibid., p. 44 . EXTERNAL
47 “The Politics of Colour,” The Economist , February 13, 1965 , pp. 591 – 592 . EXTERNAL
48 Brown George H. , and part of which I was (Princeton, N.J.: Angus Cupar Publishers, 1982 ), p. 249 . EXTERNAL
49 Crane , The Politics , p. 24 . EXTERNAL
5 Crane Rhonda J. , The Politics of International Standards ( Norwood, N.J. : ABLEX Publishing Corporation , 1979 ), p. 2 . EXTERNAL
50 Bourne Eric , “French TV Blip Blurs Conference,” The Christian Science Monitor , March 27, 1965 , p. 1 . EXTERNAL
51 Ibid. EXTERNAL
52 A primary difference between QUAM (NTSC/PAL) and SECAM is that NTSC and PAL color subcarrier signals are both amplitude modulated, whereas SECAM's color subcarrier is frequency modulated, making program conversion more difficult. That may explain why SECAM has jokingly been referred to in the U.S. as “SomEthing Contrary to American Methods.”. EXTERNAL
53 Crane , The Politics , p. 75 . EXTERNAL
54 Brown , and part of which I was , p. 262 . EXTERNAL
55 Ibid. EXTERNAL
56 Ibid., p. 263 . EXTERNAL
57 Roizen Joseph , “Dubrovnik Impasse Puts High-Definition TV on Hold,” IEEE Spectrum , September 1986 , p. 32 . EXTERNAL
58 Ibid. EXTERNAL
59 Ibid. EXTERNAL
6 PBS , “Television,” videocassette, “The Beginning,” Edwin Newman , narrator. EXTERNAL
60 “Europe's Audiovisual Challenge,” Europe , April 1989 , p. 29 . EXTERNAL
61 Ranada David , “Aspects of HDTV,” High Fidelity , April 1989 , p. 47 . EXTERNAL
62 Carter Donahue Hugh , “Choosing the TV of the Future,” Technology Review , April 1989 , p. 32 . EXTERNAL
63 Gatski John , “Bills Ease Way for HDTV,” TV Technology , April 1989 , p. 12 . EXTERNAL
64 American Electronics Association , Development of a U.S.-Based ATV Industry , May 9, 1989 , sect. 1, p. 1 . EXTERNAL
65 Ibid., sect. 3, p. 8 . EXTERNAL
66 Electronic Industries Association, Advanced Television Committee , Consumer Electronics. HDTV and the Competitiveness of the U.S. Economy , February 1, 1989 , p. 2 . EXTERNAL
67 Dager Nick , “Flaherty Holds Out Hope for World HDTV Standard,” Post , December 1988 , p. 12 . EXTERNAL
7 Flaherty , “High-Definition Television Production,” p. 844 . EXTERNAL
8 Ibid. EXTERNAL
9 Borden Susan , “Defining Definition,” Audio-Visual Communications , January 1989 , p. 73 . EXTERNAL

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Scott D. Elliott; High Definition TV—The Television Standard(s) of the Future, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 99, Issue: 1, January 1990); SMPTE, 1990
doi: 10.5594/J16772
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