The German HD Forum Situation in Germany Dietrich Westerkamp German TV-Plattform WG „HDTV and Image Quality Improvement“

The German HD ForumSituation in Germany

Dietrich WesterkampGerman TV-PlattformWG „HDTV and Image Quality Improvement“

TV-Plattform Organisation

• Founded in 1991 as German HDTV Plattform

• All major stakeholders– Broadcasters (public, private, payTV)– Service providers (cable, satellite, telco)– Industry (professional, CE)– Regulators

• 4 active working groups– MHP, DVB-T, PVR, HDTV and Image Quality

HDTV and Image Quality

• Group initiated February 2004• Divergence in goal setting

– HDTV introduction as soon as possible– Improvement of SD for large screens first

• Informal links – EBU/B TQE– EICTA– other European HD Fora (UK, F)

Achievement 1

• HD ready labelling– This discussion started here– Quickly brought to European level

Comparison of HDTV Displaysat IRT laboratories, Munich

• CRT, DLP, LCD, Plasma• Loewe, Metz, Panasonic, Sharp, Sony and Thomson• 40” class, YUV, SCART

Achievement 2

• Expert viewing of HD displays

– Displays could show SDTV source signals in good quality, only some technology related remaining artefacts

– Large flat panel displays show coding artefacts clearly and annoying

– An end-to-end HDTV signal chain results in a clearly visible improvement of the image quality

Interoperability discussion• The group has the following consensus on

interoperability– HDTV introduction will start with set-top boxes– Highest efficiency technologies will be used

• DVB-S2, DVB-C (256QAM), MPEG4/AVC (H.264)• Products designed to also receive today´s signals

(DVB-S, DVB-C, MPEG2) • Free-to-air broadcasters request a conclusive

clarification of the licensing situation – No consensus on scanning standard possible

• Displays as well as STB will support both– 720/50p, 1080/25i

Statement of PSB

• Improvement of SDTV takes priority– additional transmission capacity per programme – number of 16:9 programmes to be increased

• HDTV-Production– today, first HDTV-Productions to substitute film– distribution down converted to SDTV

• HDTV-Distribution– analogue switch-off comes first– SDTV/HDTV simulcast scenario to be defined

Current PlanningsPremiere Fernsehen AG

• Timing– Premiere announced to start HDTV-services

on November 1, 2005 (starting with satellite)

• Premiere HDTV-Services– Premiere will start with 3 HDTV-channels,

including fiction, sports an documentation-content

• Premiere HD-technology-strategy – Premiere HD-STBs will be based on H.264 and

DVB-S2 and will support 720/50p and 1080/25i– Premiere will support the “HD ready” initiative for

HDTV-displays from EICTA