Low Bit-Rate System for Digital Coding of the Television Signal

It is generally accepted that a bit-rate of about 100 Mbit/s is required for digital coding of high-quality television signals, using conventional linear p.c.m. Although such simple coding has many advantages in the television studio, it is grossly inefficient in terms of information-carrying capacity, and once the digital video signal leaves the studio, for distribution to local-area transmitters for example, it will have to compete with all manner of other digital signals in tomorrow's world of all-digital communications. The concept of universal, digital communication highways is fine, but the video signal is a greedy companion in comparison with the major occupant of these highways, the telephone signal. Similarly such video signals are greedy of digital storage media which will soon play a major role in studio-signal processing, and thus it is important to look at methods of coding them more efficiently. Of course, the final solution involves striking a balance between the cost of hardware required to effect a bit-rate economy and the cost of transmission or storage of the digital signal.

Published

1979-02

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/M00423

ISBN

978-1-61482-908-9