Displays for HDTV

摘要

Television has become an integral part of contemporary culture on a worldwide basis, from giant urban centers such as New York City to tiny Chinese villages. And now a revolution in television is under way, representing perhaps the most significant advance since full-color broadcasts started half a century ago. High-definition television (HDTV) promises to deliver higher-resolution images with greater clarity and better image quality than is possible with standard-definition television (SDTV) (Fig. 1). But there are numerous obstacles that stand in the way of broad adoption, and only careful design will ensure success. HDTV was standardized a decade ago by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) and is already broadcast by many hundreds of television stations as part of their digital-television (DTV) programming. Consumers have been slow to adopt HDTV, in part because of the high cost of HDTV receivers, but also because it can be difficult to achieve reliable reception of terrestrial broadcasts. Other sources of HDTV content are on the way, however, including digital cable service. Development of high-definition videodiscs is also under way; when HD-DVD movies become available in just a few years, they will likely accelerate consumer acceptance of HDTV and bring many consumers closer to the home-theater experience.