High
definition TV, or HDTV, is set to be the next generation in
television broadcasts, allowing signals to be broadcast with a much
higher resolution than with traditional formats. But until
yesterday there was no European standard setting out the types of
receiver both suitable for receiving the signals and compatible
with TVs capable of showing the broadcasts.
The new requirements were set by the European Industry
Association for Information Systems, Communication Technologies and
Consumer Electronics, known as EICTA. Other members include
Panasonic, Dell, Bang & Olufsen, Hitachi, Thomson, Samsung,
Siemens, JVC, Fujitsu, Kenwood and Sanyo.
The requirements and the logo are designed to set out a clear
market specification of what constitutes a compliant receiver.
The specification applies to free-to-air and PayTV HDTV
receivers, and covers fully integrated HD digital TVs, HDTV
receivers without a display that can be connected to “HD ready”
display devices and HDTV receivers with recording capability.
The
initiative builds upon minimum requirements EICTA announced last
year for devices, such as televisions, that will display the
broadcasts. Again, those requirements were backed up by a logo –
“HD ready”.
Both logo programmes are the result of collaboration between the
European digital technology industry, the European public and
private broadcasters and infrastructure and service providers, and
both will be based on a self-certification regime.
Speaking at the IFA trade show in Berlin, Rudy Provoost,
President of EICTA and CEO of Philips Consumer Electronics,
said:
“HDTV is going to be the biggest thing to
hit the consumer electronics industry since the advent of colour TV
more than 30 years ago. We believe HDTV is going to acquire
critical mass in 2006, which is why it is so important that EICTA
has created these specifications and the logo program now.”
An HD ready display device won't display HD broadcasts unless it
also has an HDTV receiver device whether that is integrated
in the TV or separately in the set-top box. So consumers need
to look for both logos.
A display device can be used to watch pre-recorded HDTV movies
even if there is no receiver. The problem here is that such movies
are unlikely to fit on conventional DVDs – the file sizes are too
large so new formats are required. And EICTA members do not
agree on a single new format. Echoing the VHS versus Betamax war of
the 1980s, Toshiba and NEC are fighting for HD
DVD while Sony is battling for Blu-Ray.
