Abstract: Vast resources are being spent on three continents, preparing for the commercialization of HDTV. The forces that together will launch this new industry are moving at dizzying speeds. This paper covers the highlights of events past and present and offers some predictions for the future. Difficult standards problems that keep brakes on the industry, and that will continue for some time to come. Standards committees have been set up around the world and are hard at work. It is a job with considerable technical and political challenges. By the time major plans and resources come together for commercialization of HDTV, one can trust that there will be adequately stable standards. But to observe the current status is to see a mess. High definition is not only consumer television. Because of its versatility, it is much more likely to find its way first into areas offering high returns such as medicine, education, printing, corporate communications, military and space, and even criminal control. HDTV is very likely to deliver movies and cultural events to theaters, and may also become the platform for a new generation of computers.!
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