HDTV essays

HDTV essays High Definition Television (HDTV) is quite an example of an international topic that has far reaching effects on the world wide electronics marketplace. HDTV is not simply a new standard for color televisions; it is in fact a doorway to becoming the world leader in setting the standards for; computer screens, laptop flat panel displays, medical imaging displays, automobile interactive displays and of course high definition wide screens. HDTV is as much about sound quality improvements as it is about clarity of the visual screen. However the quest for leadership in the HDTV market has become a saga of near successes, failures and potential winners. The stakes are tremendous. Even if we only concentrate on the television market the expected revenues are in the billions. Today there are an estimated 600 million TV sets in the world. With so much at risk it is not surprising that the interest of many multinational corporations and governments set their sights on capturing the lead in thi s emerging technological race. The alarming fact is that this race has been going on for more than 30 years. The consumer electronics industry entered into the 90s eagerly waiting for a new growth stimulus. U.S. annual sales in 1992 for consumer electronics were 33 billion, which only trailed that of Japan (35 billion) and Europe (42 billion). In fact in 1991 television sales accounted for only 7 billion of new sales for the consumer electronics market. Historically, the industry has been driven by major innovations and life cycles of the radio, television, hi-fi and the VCR. The recent introductions of CDs, DAT and camcorders have not measured up to yesteryears major technological breakthroughs. But first lets go back in history to understand some of what transpired in the early adoption of television standards. The 1920s saw the introduction of commercial radio broadcasting. This media form grew consistently right into the 40s when t...