Resolution Comparison of Digital (NTSC) Television vs. Digital HDTV

Selection of the source formats and media which are appropriate to a particular television delivery system are central to achieving the desired image quality of a television picture. However, the resolution of the image can never be better than the resolution of the original source material, whether it is digitally generated, imaged electronically, or captured on film. For that reason, CBS has investigated the theoretical and practical limitations resulting from the use of various origination formats for HDTV. — The FCC has approved a system for transmission of HDTV images to the home, which can deliver a 1080 active line, 30 MHz bandwidth signal, with the horizontal resolution capability of 873 TVL/PH. Television images produced by HDTV cameras, and 35mm film will produce the full horizontal and vertical resolution that the standard is capable of. — However, since it will be necessary to upconvert 525 line images during the transition period, CBS has analyzed the resolution limitations of the proposed use of widescreen, 525 line sources. This analysis clearly demonstrates the significant reduction of horizontal resolution of the 16:9 sources as compared to a standard 4:3 source.

Published

1997-11

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/M00255

ISBN

978-1-61482-928-7