In 1987, the United States Federal Communications Commission established the Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service to advise the FCC on technical and public policy issues regarding advanced television.
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Following completion of its work to document the U.S. ATV standard, the ATSC membership approved it as the ATSC Digital Television Standard (A/53) on September 16, 1995. On November 28, 1995 the FCC Advisory Committee issued its Final Report, providing the following conclusions:
* The Grand Alliance system meets the Committee's performance objectives and is better than any of the four original digital ATV systems
* The Grand Alliance system is superior to any known alternative system
* The ATSC Digital Television Standard fulfills all of the requirements for the U.S. ATV broadcasting standard
On June 17, 1996, WRAL, the CBS affiliate in Raleigh, NC, applied for and received the first ATSC HDTV license. But the honor of the nation's first commercial HDTV broadcast went to WRC, an NBC affiliate in Washington, D.C., when it began HDTV transmissions on WHD-TV, channel 34 in August 1996. Except the only TV initially capable of receiving the broadcasts was in the station manager's office.
ATSC was officially adoped by the FCC the following year.
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On December 24, 1996, the U.S. FCC adopted the major elements of the ATSC Digital Television (DTV) Standard, mandating its use for digital terrestrial television broadcasts in the U.S.
In January 1998, TV manufacturers showed off the first HDTVs at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). By September, the first HDTV sets, from Mitsubishi and Panasonic, reached stores – just in time for the first HDTV network broadcasts, due to begin November 1. CBS was ahead of schedule when, on October 29, it broadcast the launch of the John Glenn space shuttle mission. Twenty-three local stations around the country began HDTV broadcasts Sunday morning, November 1, 1998. Network HDTV broadcasting was inaugurated that evening on ABC with the movie, "101 Dalmatians" on "The Wonderful World of Disney." The following weeks saw myriad HDTV broadcasting firsts. CBS broadcast the first HDTV NFL game, the New York Jets versus the Buffalo Bills, on November 8. PBS broadcast its first HDTV program. The first regular season series HDTV broadcast was CBS's "Chicago Hope" on November 18.
Yep - the US has adopted a number of HDTV transmission systems that can carry 16:9 pictures. ATSC is the over-the-air standard (like our DTT/Freeview - but using a different transmission system), but there are also differing cable and satellite systems. There are also a significant number of different HDTV resolutions and frame rates. (1920x1080 is the highest resolution, 1280x720 is also an option, as is 720x480, and frame rates can be 24,30,60 fields or frames / second - though not 60 frames at 1920x1080i?)
However the introduction of 16:9 HDTV (and 16:9 SDTV as well) production in the US is good news for us as it means we get some US shows in 16:9 in the UK (X-Files, Buffy, ER, CSI etc.) as well as benefitting from the higher quality source material.
For comparison our system is 720x576 at 50 fields/second (25 frames/sec)
However trying to get a decent demonstration of an HDTV service and set in the US seems to be even more difficult than getting a demo of a 16:9 set with a digital TV source the correct shape in the UK... (I saw a number of HD sets that were being fed 16:9 DVD material last time I was in the US, but though there were HDTV Digital VHS machines on display, I didn't see much HDTV material - apart from a Discovery HDTV demo)
- The US networks (ABC,NBC,CBS etc) are going to be broadcasting a lot more HD 16:9 this fall.
- HD really benefits sport and films. Widescreen benefits everything.
- PBS produces a lot in 16:9 SDTV and some in HDTV these days.
- On cable/satellite, there is HBO HD & Showtime HD which broadcast films and their orignal series'.
- HDNet was the first all HD satellite channel and broadcasts films, sport and variety shows.
- ESPN launched and HD sports service earlier this year.
- In some regional sports markets, certain events are simulcast in HD on cable.
- Discovery HD Theatre broadcasts all HD as well.
- Here in Canada there is one digital terrestrial HD channel in Toronto (CityTV) which rarely broadcasts anything HD.
- In Canada as well, we now have on cable TSN HD (similar to ESPN HD)
which simulcasts a lot from ESPN HD. We also have Sportsnet HD which has produced 10 baseball games so far in HD and has about another 3-4 planned.
Even though the US nets produce this HD 16:9 content, you may not receive the 16:9 version in the UK as the the US nets are worried about copy protection schemes because they don't want "unauthorised viewing". On Channel Five, do you get CSI in Widescreen or 4:3? (It is produced in Wide HD BTW)
- Here in Canada there is one digital terrestrial HD channel in Toronto (CityTV) which rarely broadcasts anything HD.
- In Canada as well, we now have on cable TSN HD (similar to ESPN HD)
which simulcasts a lot from ESPN HD. We also have Sportsnet HD which has produced 10 baseball games so far in HD and has about another 3-4 planned.
Don't forget Toronto 1 (www.toronto1.tv), which lauches today - it's going to have an HDTV signal from the get-go. And apparently both A-Channel Edmonton and Calgary are HDTV ready - they just have to get HDTV cameras and an HDTV transmitter.
We get CSI in widescreen. Most American imports filmed in WS are now in widescreen on British TV. The exception to this is Angel on C5 but I believe the BBC is in the wrong there as Buffy and Angel are meant to be in 4:3 and it's just the source tapes that are 16:9
Oddly though I've noticed that there is a habit of showing them in deep letterbox on analogue yet they are clearly shot with 4:3 safe zones. Seems a bit odd when all our stuff is in 14:9
We get CSI in widescreen. Most American imports filmed in WS are now in widescreen on British TV. The exception to this is Angel on C5 but I believe the BBC is in the wrong there as Buffy and Angel are meant to be in 4:3 and it's just the source tapes that are 16:9
Oddly though I've noticed that there is a habit of showing them in deep letterbox on analogue yet they are clearly shot with 4:3 safe zones. Seems a bit odd when all our stuff is in 14:9
The BBC won't be re-editing Buffy / Angel to 16:9 - it must be being delivered to them in that format (so there are 16:9 edit masters as well as source tapes)... It may be that the show is shot 4:3 safe (so that the US net can show it 4:3 centre cut rather than letterboxed on analogue) I suspect that the Beeb show it in deep letterbox if the graphics are not 4:3 safe?
BTW - Europe may be getting 2 HDTV channels on satellite in January. Euro1080 launched their test service for IBC (an international broadcast exhibition) last week, though I believe this has now ceased. It included HDTV coverage of The Last Night of The Proms from the BBC (The BBC shoots most classical music events in HDTV, and has done for quite a while, for archive and overseas sales reasons)
The plans seem to include a FTA and encrypted service, with the latter used to feed e-cinemas. Whether there is any commercial viability in this service is another question...
The service is/will be receivable using a 500Euro STB (which will feed many plasmas and projectors already on the market and installed in homes, as well as PC monitors) - though some PC users with satellite receiver cards were able to decode the test service with no extra hardware and a bit of playing with public domain software. The transmissions were on Astra 1H which is not in the same orbital location as Astra 2 / Eurobird which are used for Sky. (It is in the same slot as the old Sky analogue satellites)
The BBC won't be re-editing Buffy / Angel to 16:9 - it must be being delivered to them in that format (so there are 16:9 edit masters as well as source tapes)... It may be that the show is shot 4:3 safe (so that the US net can show it 4:3 centre cut rather than letterboxed on analogue) I suspect that the Beeb show it in deep letterbox if the graphics are not 4:3 safe?
Yeah - the BBC don'tt edit the source tapes which are in 16:9. The whole show is shot for 4:3 though the only exception being Once More With Feeling which was shot in full 16:9
Joss Whedon has vetoed the US DVD release of Buffy in widescreen format - because it's not the way the show was intended to be seen.
In a statement to the Digital Bits web site, Whedon explained his reasons why the Season Four DVD box set would be in regular 4:3 ratio:
"[The episodes] were not shot in a widescreen format... I want to see the whole screen, as framed by the director. The Buffy's I (and others) shot were framed for traditional TVs.
"Adding space to the sides simply for the sake of trying to look more cinematic would betray the very exact mise-en-scene I was trying to create. I am a purist, and this is the purest way to watch Buffy. I have resisted the effort to letterbox Buffy from the start and always will, because that is not the show we shot.
BBC2 and UK DVD Buffy viewers have been enjoying widescreen versions of episodes since the start of series four. This is because Fox supply international broadcasters with master tapes sourced from the original 70mm film stock the series is shot on.