Digital television to the home-when will it come?

Although there has long been interest in the concept of digital television transmission to the home, `digital´ technology in domestic audio-visual products is already available and manufacturers are investing for the next generation of technology, such as MAC, where there is much digital signal processing in both the audio and video signal paths. Following a brief discussion of the challenges facing broadcasters, the authors are concerned specifically with the further development of the UHF spectrum with a particular emphasis on exploring the possibilities for digital transmission at low bit-rates in the order of 12 Mbit/s. Work is underway at the IBA in a research topic called SPECTRA where the feasibility of digital transmission in the UHF band is being studied. SPECTRE is all about making efficient use of the spectrum by exploiting redundancy in television signals and the present UHF frequency band