High definition television (HDTV) - Quality display

High-definition (HD) images are now available on television: HDTV (high-definition television). Initiated in analog form in the mid-1980s by the Japanese, then by the Europeans, and temporarily abandoned, HDTV was not really revived until the digital television project in the United States. This process led to international standards in the mid-1990s.

This dossier not only updates the [TE 5 674] dossier published in February 2004, "Images haute définition: entre cinéma numérique et télévision HD", but also completes it with a detailed functional and technical presentation of the entire HD television chain. It is divided into three parts:

• the first part concerns formats. The first document [TE 5 680] describes the native parameters of images produced by HDTV and the corresponding standards. The following document [TE 5 681] details the compression formats used to reduce the bit rate of HD digital video, making it possible to capture, transport, store, transmit and receive HD images in the world of television. It also presents the problem of encapsulating HD images in data file container or transport formats;

• This second part, comprising the three documents, outlines the main functions, from camera lens glass to flat screen glass (from glass to glass), of capturing/recording, editing [TE 5 682] , broadcasting and distribution [TE 5 683] , displaying and evaluating the quality of HD images [TE 5 684] ;

• The third part highlights an important component of HDTV: multichannel sound