JVC Professional APRIL 2007 NAB-2007 The ProHD Report
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The NTSC Transmitter Chain vs. ATSC:
When we look at the direct over-the-air TV transmission from a TV station, we know
that the analog NTSC transmission chain is the major limiting factor in the picture
quality delivered to the home, all other quality factors of the (SD) viewing chain
being of optimal (SD digital) quality.
H Resolution V Resolution
NTSC TX 331 TVL/PH 338 TVL/PH
ATSC TX of up-conv SD 535 TVL/PH 338 TVL/PH
ATSC TX of HD 873 TVL/PH 756 TVL/PH
Source: CBS Technology 1997
It is interesting to note that SD video of highest quality has the opportunity to be
presented as a higher resolution image through the ATSC OTA (over-the-air) chain
than the same video delivered through the NTSC OTA, whether SD or as up-
converted HD ATSC encoded. Also, it is interesting to note that a high quality digital
home (SD only) TV set has the opportunity to present the SD video at a higher
resolution by using an ATSC set-top tuner box with the SD output than receiving the
same SD signal over the NTSC OTA chain. A TV station must convert to a
complete HD chain in order to be picture quality competitive in the future.
Home Audience Presentation vs. Audience Share:
The most important potential difference between SD and HD is the large screen
viewing experience of the home audience, where the HD image offers up to 6x the
resolution of SD, with little or no change in the viewing distance. There can be no
doubt that the HDTV household will migrate to watch real HD programming when
available, assuming acceptable content and talent. (Many years ago during the color
TV transition, some people refused to watch B&W programs on their new color TV,
desirable content or not!)
What about the home audience transition to HD? Consumer market research firms
estimate that about 90% of the 110+ million TV households in the US will be HDTV
households, or about 100 million, by end 2010. By end 2006, there were approx. 30
million HDTV households.
Remember the DTV sets sales statistics? CEA counted DTV sets, which included
480p capable TV sets, instead of just real HD sets. But now, nearly all purchases of
DTV sets are real HDTVs, so no need to worry about the breakdown.