High Definition Television Systems: Desirable Standards, Signal Forms, and Transmission Systems

Since 1970, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) has been making efforts in studies of future high-definition television systems in response to the expected demands of a future postindustrial society. The standards and signal systems and transmission parameters appropriate to high-definition TV are discussed. Several TV standards and the desired signal-to-noise ratios that will fit in with various viewing conditions from the viewpoint of the characteristics of the human visual system are described. Also described are the transmission primaries of the system and the signal parameters being used for a 1125-scanning-line system, which is the tentative standard chosen by NHK. In November 1978 and March 1979, transmission tests of the high-definition TV system were carried out via the broadcasting satellite "Yuri" in Japan.