The FCC is determining the future of television in the United
States as analog broadcasts transition to digital broadcasts.
The FCC asked TI, the leader in digital signal processing solutions,
to demonstrate some of the potential benefits digital video brings
to the market.
TI's real-time encoding system and digital-light processing displays demonstrate the technology that is making high-quality digital television and advanced digital services possible in the near future.
TI has worked closely with Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV), the largest private Japanese television broadcasting company, to develop a real-time MPEG-2 encoding system supporting the progressive scan format. NTV chose to work with TI because of the real-time encoding system expertise developed in TI's Tsukuba Research and Development Center (TRDC) in Japan.
In April, NTV is planning to start trial broadcasts of progressive scan via satellite using the encoding system developed jointly by TI and NTV.
The FCC recognizes the opportunities that digital television and advanced digital services provide the American public and has asked the assistance of TI, among others, to help demonstrate the feasibility of this technology. In TI's demonstration to the FCC, progressive scan format will display 60 frames per second, replacing a typical 24 frames-per-second rate, to provide a clearer, "flicker-free" picture.
Progressive scan improves the clarity of television to rival that of high-quality computer monitors. This improved clarity allows television to better combine video and graphics to keep pace with consumers' appetite for advanced digital services.
The progressive scan format is an option supported by the advanced television standards currently being proposed in the United States. The Standard Definition TV (SDTV) standard would benefit from a progressive scan approach because it would increase the potential usage of the technology by the computer industry.
The Digital Wide-Picture Consortium, of which both NTV and TI are key members, supports the progressive-scan format as an eminent digital broadcasting standard. This consortium includes manufacturers, broadcasters and communication carriers.
March 1996, vol. 13, no. 2
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