Philips 64PH9905 Quick Start Manual page 8

D
IGITAL
DTV T
IMETABLE
T
OP
P A
ROGRAM VAILABILITY
• By November 1998
(Voluntary)
T he switch to digital pro-
• By May 1999
gramming won't happen
(Mandatory)
overnight, but broadcasters are
• Atlanta
beginning the task of convert-
• Boston
ing equipment and production
• Chicago
• Dallas
capabilities to meet the FCC's
• Detroit
rules for signal format and
• Los Angeles
launch of digital TV.
• New York
The first step for the networks
• Philadelphia
will be to supply their affiliates
• San Francisco
with one satellite program feed
• Washington, D.C.
for continuing NTSC service (at
least thru the year 2006), and
another feed for a single chan-
nel of HDTV (or SDTV format
all other commercial stations must construct digital facilities by May 2002
(non-commercial stations, such as PBS affiliates, by May 2003)
channels). ABC, CBS, NBC,
and PBS networks are all
attempting to broadcast some
HDTV programming beginning
ADVANCED TELEVISION SYSTEM COMMITTEE FORMATS
in the fall of 1998 (see the digi-
tal InfOrmation section to the
right for specific plans and
details), but much in the way of
new digital broadcast tower con-
struction, site zoning and other
conversion issues will need to be
resolved in order for the broad-
casts to begin in earnest.
In the beginning local stations
can offer different program-
ming on their allotted digital
Digital Television (DTV) is the umbrella term used to describe the new digital television system adopt-
channel space, but as time pass-
ed by the FCC. DTV is an open standard with few specific format rules for the implementation of
es the percentage of NTSC pro-
HDTV/SDTV/and a host of potential data broadcast applications. Although there are certain guidelines
grams that must be converted to
for frequency/bit rates/transmission power/etc. the FCC has taken the position that the marketplace
digital "simulcast" broadcasts
should decide or dictate what formats will best serve the public.
will increase (in order to meet
specified conversion schedule
• High Definition Television (HDTV)
requirements.)
mately twice the vertical and horizontal resolu-
tion of today's NTSC TV. Because of the extra
The Cable TV industry's stan-
width (16:9) format of HDTV the picture con-
dard for the use and carrying of
tains about five times as much information (or
digital broadcasts, which has a
pixels) as conventional TV.
different frequency modulation
HDTV also includes 5.1 channels of Dolby
than cable signals, is unresolved
Digital surround sound to be broadcast through
(as of the date of this publica-
two front speakers; one center speaker; two rear
tion.) Although some cable
back speakers; and a separate bass channel or
operators promise that digital
subwoofer signal.
set-top boxes or decoders will be
• HDTV refers to the product/system with the fol-
available to pass HDTV signals
lowing minimum performance specs:
to digital TV sets, no official
- Resolution: vertical display resolution of
"must carry" design for the
720P, 1080I, or higher
interfacing of cable TV pro-
- Aspect Ratio: capable of displaying 16:9 for-
gramming and digital TV tech-
mat images at the minimum resolution levels
nologies has been agreed upon.
- Audio: receives, reproduces, and/or outputs
Even without firm program
Dolby digital audio
launch dates or established
- Receiver: receives all ATSC (Table 3) formats
guidelines, digital cable decoder
equipment and program offer-
PROGRESSIVE (P)
ing plans (by such cable pro-
gram providers as HBO, Turner
• Progressive and Interlace
to the method in which the video
Broadcasting and the Discovery
from a picture telecast is scanned
Channel) are all underway for
or displayed on the TV screen.
the interconnection of cable TV
- Interlace scans or paints half
and the arrival of HDTV. It may
the vertical lines for the picture
not have immediate solutions at
on the screen every 1/60 of a
the outset, but market and
second. Then the rest of the pic-
ture is filled in between the lines
industry demands should speed
of the first half on a followup
cable operators to provide for
scan. The speed of this process
the HDTV signal to make it into
is so fast that it appears to the
the cable supplied home.
eye as being one complete pic-
Direct-broadcast satellite system
ture. Due to the amount of infor-
(DSS) providers (such as Direc
Tv, Unity Motion, Dish
FREQUENTLY ASKED DTV QUESTIONS
Network, etc.) have also
announced plans to deliver
Q: What are the goals of DTV?
A: In the United States the commit-
HDTV to its customer base in
ment for free and local digital
the spring of 1999. DSS sub-
broadcasts is a main standard for the
scribers will likely need upgrad-
new ATSC system. The reception
ed dish and satellite receiver
and interaction of local terrestrial
designed equipment to complete
broadcasting for DTV programming
their digital reception package,
is to remain the same regardless of
the region or area of the country in
but a number of providers are
which you reside.
working on both off-the-air sig-
nal and direct satellite feed solu-
Q: How long will the transition to
tions.
DTV take?
All manuals and user guides at all-guides.com
TV R - T
OLLOUT
T M (30% US H
EN ARKETS OF
T 30 M
OP
Horizontal
Digital Television
Resolution
Format/Name
(pixels across screen
width)
High Definition TV
1920
HDTV 1080P/1080I
High Definition TV 1280
HDTV 720P/720I
Standard Definition 704
TV (SDTV)525P/525I
Standard Definition 640
TV (SDTV)
is approxi-
INTERLACE (I) SCAN
AND
refer mation contained in a 1080-line
HD picture, interlace is needed
to fit the format into the allotted
6MHz channel space.
- Progressive scans or paints the
entire video picture one line
after another. Used with today's
computer monitors this progres-
sive process can eliminate some
of the picture artifacts found
with interlace scan, but does
require a larger bandwidth in
order to deliver programs at the
same frame rate.
A: The move to digital program-
ming will shift from initial select
program offerings; to increased
simulcast availability; to the ulti-
mate return of analog NTSC broad-
cast channels to the federal govern-
ment in 2006. The NTSC and ATSC
systems will coexist for years to
come (with possible date extensions
provided for the return of NTSC
system channels if needed.)
Products such as the 64PH9905
DPTV are uniquely positioned with
/T /T
IME ERMS ECHNOLOGY
) • Baltimore
OUSEHOLDS
• Charlotte
• Cincinnati
• Cleveland
• Denver
• Hartford/New Haven
• Houston
• Indianapolis
• Miami
• Minneapolis/St. Paul
• Orlando
• Phoenix
• Pittsburgh
• Portland
• Raleigh/Durham
• Sacramento
• San Diego
• Seattle/Tacoma
• St. Louis
• Tampa/St. Petersburg
• By November 1999
(50% US H
ARKETS OF OUSEHOLDS
Vertical
Screen/Image Total Pixels
Resolution
Aspect Ratio (transmitted per
(Viewable Scan
video frame*)
(width to height)
Lines)
16:9 2,073,600
1080
16:9 921,600
720
337,920
4:3 - 16:9
480
480 4:3 307,200
• Standard Definition Television (SDTV) offers
about the same picture resolution as today's
NTSC TV, but the picture quality is improved
because of the lack of snow and ghosts that
accompany normal NTSC over-the-air broad-
casting.
Multiple channels are possible with SDTV since
the 6-MHz signal space allotted for digital
broadcasts can be used for other types of less
data filled format programming.
• Standard Definition Television (SDTV) refers to
the product/system with the following perfor-
mance attributes:
- Resolution: display resolution lower than that
of HDTV
- Aspect Ratio: none specified
- Audio: produces useable audio
- Receiver: receives all ATSC (Table 3) formats
and produces a useable picture
INTERLACE FIELDS
(Separate scans sent every 1/60 of a second)
The interlace scan process was first used with
NTSC broadcasts to conserve video bandwidth
space. With certain scenes or video material
the interlace process can cause image blurring
or other visual screen artifacts.
operation capability matched for
both the NTSC and ATSC systems.
Q: What's in the future for DTV?
A: Because of the computer, multi-
media, and broadcast services
involved in setting ATSC and signal
compression standards, DTV picture
formats can be universally adopted
not only for TV broadcasts but also
for computer and other interrelated
web and network service purposes.
8
1 0
digital
nf rmation
While they may dif-
fer on the choice
o f d i g i t a l formats
(1080i, 720p, 480i,
etc.) the netw orks
broadcast plans
center mainly on
select primetime *
program viewing.
Because of the
production tech-
niques and equip-
ment upgrades
necessary fo r d i g i-
tal broadcasts the
telecasting of
sports or other
l i ve events will not
become ava i l a b l e
until audience view -
ership can justify
*60 frames per second
costs.
(fps) for live video; 24
and 30 fps for material
Some initial net-
produced in film.
w ork plans fo r d i g i-
tal broadcasts:
ABC- Wonderful
W orld of Disney (in
720p format); to
phase in other
HDTV broadcasts
later.
CBS- proposed to
send five hours of
1080i programming
per week
NBC- to begin
shooting The
Tonight Show with
Jay Leno in HDTV
beginning in 1999;
also plans to show
other primetime
show s in HDTV
Fox to distribute
some portion of its
schedule in 720p
HDTV.
*Outside of the
primetime slot fo r
netw ork digital
show s local sta-
tions can provide
d i f ferent program-
ming on their digital
broadcast channel.
They are free to
convert current
NTSC programming
into digital SDTV or
even upgrade their
signal to true HDTV.
ABC, NBC and Fox
are advising affili-
ates to use 480p
for the ma jority of
its broadcast day,
while CBS recom-
mends its stations
use the 480i fo r-
mat.