For years, high-definition TV (HDTV) was known as “tomorrow’s” technology within broadcasting circles. While standards mostly were set by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in the late 1980s and its technical feasibility was demonstrated decades ago when broadcasting was still in the age of analog transmissions, HDTV often was talked of as something that would only see the light of day in an elusive tomorrow. But receding costs in acquisition, production, transmission and distribution are helping HDTV finally come of age.
The development and adoption of HDTV, in fact, has been hampered by exorbitant costs throughout the broadcasting chain. Excessive bandwidth requirements for signal transmission coupled with prohibitive manufacturing costs of broadcast technology such as cameras, studios and associated equipment, kept HDTV away from the world’s living rooms for years. Yet, the technology kept moving, albeit slowly, in early adopting countries such as Japan and the United States while also making important steps forward in more complicated environments such as Europe. Finally, after years of developments, there are now signs that HDTV might be on the verge of breaking into mainstream television markets in most developed countries.
On the whole, there are signs that HDTV growth is picking up speed in all developed television markets, driven largely by competition from other forms of entertainment. “Television is under threat from other media such as Blu-ray discs that offer picture and sound quality well above that of traditional television analogue and digital transmissions,” says Klaus Weber, director of marketing for camera products at Grass Valley. “The Internet is also moving into HD. IPTV operators are launching HD programming and most of the movie trailers available today on the Internet are in HD. Even social media sites such as YouTube are going HD,” he says.
In a way, all this was to be expected, as it is long overdue. Television has not really had a generational change since color standards were defined in the 1950s and 1960s. While there have been significant improvements since — such as the shift from analog to digital — the underlying broadcasting formats have not really changed.
Perhaps this situation could have continued had the latest generation of digital media not fundamentally changed viewers’ expectations of home entertainment, and as a consumer-driven industry, TV needs to embrace state-of-the-art technology to deliver the latest visual effects that can catch the eye of a public. Yet, as in every situation, demand alone is not enough to have growth in the marketplace. A robust supply side should also be there to support production. So far, this has been the question hanging over HD: Is HD as a technology ready to support an extensive and reasonably priced content production side? Signs are that the industry might have reached that point.
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