PALplus-an approach to meet the challenges of the future for existing PAL services

Enhancing conventional television systems, such as NTSC, PAL and SECAM, has been a research and development subject for many years. Recently, however, a new element has appeared which has been decisive for the constitution of the so-called PALplus working group: at the Internationale Funkausstellung in Berlin last year Thomson Consumer Electronics presented a new receiver with a 16:9 aspect-ratio design to display 625 lines TV signals. Mass production of 16:9 picture tubes has already been started by Thomson, and Philips has announced that it will be following the same route. These new receivers can be used to display: wide-aspect ratio MAC signals; PAL and SECAM `letter-box´-transmissions; and dedicated 16:9 video-cassette software. The author explains the structure of the PALplus group and briefly considers its areas of interest: the compatibility of aspect ratios; format conversion; enhanced signal processing and the film mode