What is HDTV?

High definition television – HDTV – is the latest stage in the evolution of TV, as significant as the transition from black and white- to colour-TV.

HDTV transmissions and displays contain far more picture information than current standard definition televisions using transmission standards such as PAL (used in the UK and most of Europe), SECAM (used in France, the former Soviet Union and the Middle East) and NTSC (used in the USA and Japan). An HDTV image typically contains around two million picture elements (pixels) – 1080 vertically by 1920 horizontally. This is around five times more information than the PAL system.

In addition, HDTV screens use an aspect ratio of 16:9 – that is, 16 units wide for every nine units deep. This is proportionally much wider than the traditional screen aspect ratio of 4:3, making it particularly suited to the viewing of movies, which are shot in a much wider aspect ratio to suit cinema screens.

Coupled with the superior sound systems built into HDTV displays, such as the 5.1 Dolby Surround system originally developed for feature films, high definition offers the opportunity for a real cinema feeling in the viewer’s own living room.