Editing Digital television (section)

== History ==
=== Background ===
Digital television's roots are tied to the availability of inexpensive, high-performance [[computer]]s. It was not until the 1990s that digital TV became a real possibility.<ref name="benton">{{cite web |url= http://www.benton.org/initiatives/obligations/charting_the_digital_broadcasting_future/sec1 |title= The Origins and Future Prospects of Digital Television |publisher= [[Benton Foundation]] |date= 2008-12-23 }}</ref> Digital television was previously not practically feasible due to the impractically high [[Bandwidth (computing)|bandwidth]] requirements of [[uncompressed video]],<ref name="Lea">{{cite book |last1=Lea |first1=William |title=Video on demand: Research Paper 94/68 |date=1994 |publisher=[[House of Commons Library]] |url=https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/RP94-68 |access-date=20 September 2019}}</ref><ref name="Barbero">{{cite journal |last1=Barbero |first1=M. |last2=Hofmann |first2=H. |last3=Wells |first3=N. D. |title=DCT source coding and current implementations for HDTV |journal=EBU Technical Review |date=14 November 1991 |issue=251 |pages=22–33 |publisher=[[European Broadcasting Union]] |url=https://tech.ebu.ch/publications/trev_251-barbero |access-date=4 November 2019}}</ref> requiring around {{val|200|ul=Mbit/s}} for a [[standard-definition television]] (SDTV) signal,<ref name="Lea"/> and over {{val|1|ul=Gbit/s}} for [[high-definition television]] (HDTV).<ref name="Barbero"/>

=== Development ===
In the mid-1980s, [[Toshiba]] released a [[television set]] with digital capabilities, using [[integrated circuit]] chips such as a [[microprocessor]] to convert analog television broadcast signals to [[digital video]] signals, enabling features such as freezing pictures and [[Picture-in-picture|showing two channels at once]]. In 1986, [[Sony]] and [[NEC Home Electronics]] announced their own similar TV sets with digital video capabilities. However, they still relied on analog TV broadcast signals, with true digital TV broadcasts not yet being available at the time.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Meigs |first1=James B. |title=Home Video: Get set for digital |magazine=[[Popular Mechanics]] |date=June 1986 |volume=163 |issue=6 |page=52 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H-MDAAAAMBAJ |publisher=[[Hearst Magazines]] |issn=0032-4558}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Bateman |first1=Selby |title=New Technologies: The Converging Digital Universe |magazine=[[Compute!]] |date=April 1986 |issue=71 |pages=21-29 (26-8) |url=https://archive.org/details/1986-04-compute-magazine/page/n27}}</ref>

A digital TV broadcast service was proposed in 1986 by [[Nippon Telegraph and Telephone]] (NTT) and the [[Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (Japan)|Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication]] (MPT) in Japan, where there were plans to develop an "Integrated Network System" service. However, it was not possible to practically implement such a digital TV service until the adoption of [[Motion-compensated DCT|motion-compensated DCT video compression formats]] such as [[MPEG]] made it possible in the early 1990s.<ref name="Lea"/>

In the mid-1980s, as Japanese consumer electronics firms forged ahead with the development of [[HDTV]] technology, and as the [[Multiple sub-Nyquist sampling encoding|MUSE]] analog format was proposed by Japan's public broadcaster [[NHK]] as a worldwide standard. Japanese advancements were seen as pacesetters that threatened to eclipse US electronics companies. Until June 1990, the Japanese MUSE standard—based on an analog system—was the front-runner among the more than 23 different technical concepts under consideration.

Between 1988 and 1991, several European organizations were working on [[Discrete cosine transform|DCT]]-based digital [[video coding standards]] for both SDTV and HDTV. The EU 256 project by the CMTT and [[ETSI]], along with research by Italian broadcaster [[RAI]], developed a DCT [[video codec]] that broadcast SDTV at {{val|34|u=Mbit/s}} and near-studio-quality HDTV at about {{nowrap|70{{ndash}}140 Mbit/s}}. RAI demonstrated this with a [[1990 FIFA World Cup]] broadcast in March 1990.<ref name="Barbero"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Barbero |first1=M. |last2=Stroppiana |first2=M. |title=Data compression for HDTV transmission and distribution |journal=IEE Colloquium on Applications of Video Compression in Broadcasting |date=October 1992 |pages=10/1–10/5 |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/193745}}</ref> An American company, [[General Instrument]], also demonstrated the feasibility of a digital television signal in 1990. This led to the FCC being persuaded to delay its decision on an advanced television (ATV) standard until a digitally based standard could be developed.

When it became evident that a digital standard might be achieved in March 1990, the FCC took several important actions. First, the Commission declared that the new TV standard must be more than an enhanced [[analog signal]], but be able to provide a genuine HDTV signal with at least twice the resolution of existing television images. Then, to ensure that viewers who did not wish to buy a new digital television set could continue to receive conventional television broadcasts, it dictated that the new ATV standard must be capable of being [[simulcast]] on different channels. The new ATV standard also allowed the new DTV signal to be based on entirely new design principles. Although incompatible with the existing NTSC standard, the new DTV standard would be able to incorporate many improvements.<ref name="benton" />

A universal standard for scanning formats, aspect ratios, or lines of resolution was not produced by the FCC's final standard. This outcome resulted from a dispute between the consumer [[electronics industry]] (joined by some broadcasters) and the computer industry (joined by the film industry and some public interest groups) over which of the two scanning processes—[[interlaced]] or [[Progressive scan|progressive]]—is superior. Interlaced scanning, which is used in televisions worldwide, scans even-numbered lines first, then odd-numbered ones. Progressive scanning, which is the format used in computers, scans lines in sequences, from top to bottom. The computer industry argued that progressive scanning is superior because it does not [[Flicker (screen)|flicker]] in the manner of interlaced scanning. It also argued that progressive scanning enables easier connections with the Internet and is more cheaply converted to interlaced formats than vice versa. The film industry also supported progressive scanning because it offers a more efficient means of converting filmed programming into digital formats. For their part, the consumer electronics industry and broadcasters argued that interlaced scanning was the only technology that could transmit the highest quality pictures then (and currently) feasible, i.e., 1,080 lines per picture and 1,920 pixels per line. Broadcasters also favored interlaced scanning because their vast archive of interlaced programming is not readily compatible with a progressive format.<ref name="benton" />

=== Inaugural launches ===
[[DirecTV]] in the US launched the first commercial digital [[satellite television|satellite]] platform in May 1994, using the [[Digital Satellite System]] (DSS) standard.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/u-s-satellite-broadcasting-company-inc-history/|title=History of U.S. Satellite Broadcasting Company, Inc. – FundingUniverse|website=www.fundinguniverse.com|access-date=9 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://eu.indystar.com/story/money/2015/09/04/business-insider-digital-satellite-tv-indy-roots/71611606/|title=Business Insider: Digital satellite TV has Indy roots|access-date=9 August 2018}}</ref> [[Digital cable]] broadcasts were tested and launched in the US in 1996 by [[Tele-Communications Inc.|TCI]] and [[Time Warner]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://money.cnn.com/1997/12/17/technology/nextlevel/|title=NextLevel signs cable deal - Dec. 17, 1997|website=money.cnn.com|access-date=9 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://money.cnn.com/1996/08/15/companies/tci_pkg/|title=TCI faces big challenges - Aug. 15, 1996|website=money.cnn.com|access-date=9 August 2018}}</ref> The first [[digital terrestrial]] platform was launched in November 1998 as [[ONdigital]] in the UK, using the [[DVB-T]] standard.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.onhistory.co.uk/timeline/1998/11/10/canal-technologies-and-worlds-first-digital-terres|title=CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES and the world's first digital terrestrial television service in the United Kingdom|access-date=9 August 2018}}</ref>