Essay/Term paper: Hdtv

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Culture

HDTV


It all started when Thomas Edison invented the phonograph. This opened up
the idea of receiving and playing professionally produced entertainment at home.
As the years went by, there have been many advances in technology and ways to
transmit signals through the air waves into people's homes. After all, this is
what it's mostly used for, to get programs into people's homes. Whether it be
movies, commercials, instructional videos, music, PSA's, news, sports. Whoever
creates these programs have the intention of letting somebody else watch them.
Today in America our current broadcast standard is a 525 line/60 field
per second based system called the NTSC (National Television systems Committee) .
This committee was established to insure order in the development process
within the industry that would be accepted by the FCC. This standard was
created in the 40's and 50's. Each receiver sold to the American public must
conform to received the NTSC signal. This signal has proved to be a durable way
of transmitting information for 50 years. But with today's technology, a new
standard has been in the works, HDTV.
In September 1992 NBC's WRC-TV in Washington DC became the first
television station in the country to send HDTV signals over the air waves. WRC-
TV's general manager then stated, "With advanced digital high-definition
television, viewers will experience unmatched picture quality and superior sound
resolution."
There are many pro's and con's regarding having HDTV as the new standard.
Not all broadcasters are interested in HDTV at all. During the transitional
period, broadcasters will have channel space to send NTSC signals and HDTV
signals simultaneously. At first, the timeline for this to take place was about
7 years down the road. Now experts are saying 15 years is more accurate.
Broadcasters are eager to see which of the major corporations will be the first
to make the change.
Even though a broadcast standard is a handful of years away, HDTV is
already being used in other ways. Hospitals are taping surgical procedures and
corporations are using HDTV for presentations. Dale Cripps, publisher of the
on-line newsletter HDTV Today says, "HDTV is slick. If I were a corporate
executive today, I'd never consider putting my best foot forward on anything but
HDTV." The director of the New Video Technology Project Baylor University, Cory
Carbonara says, "HDTV truly defined has 5 times the visual detail and 10 times
the color information and more than twice the vertical and horizontal resolution
of NTSC television." He also says that the picture is substantially brighter,
the aspect ratio is more than a third larger and the sound quality is equivalent
to that of compact discs.
After reading a lot about this new standard of television, I have
reached different views. I love the idea of having unmatched quality and sound
in my own home. HDTV would fit perfect into my Sony home theater system. Soon
I would like to see a demo presentation to have a better idea of it and get
really blown away like I've heard so many others have. It's also exciting to be
living in this age of a new standard possibly coming. In my lifetime (from what
I can remember) the only significant technology advances for home use has been
the PC. It started out expensive and the price soon went down and everybody
jumped in. I vaguely remember our family's first VCR. So living through this
broadcast change will be history in the making and I can't wait!
Then comes the dollar issue. Hopefully when this becomes reality, I'll
be making enough money that it won't even be a factor. But I cannot avoid
noticing that the first set sold in Japan was for $28,000! Now they are down to
around $2800 . Even though these prices would probably continue to decrease if
a new standard takes place, these numbers really do jump out at me. Plain and
simple, I love the quality but the price scares me. I'll just make sure I make
enough money to buy two sets because when this change comes I'm jumping on it.