HDTV - master and servant

March 2002 While the prospect of receiving high-definition broadcast signals is as far away as ever, the technology is finding new friends in the post-production sector

Ask any European broadcaster what chance there is they might be transmitting high definition TV in the near future, and they'd rule it out completely. However, things are moving on the HDTV front in Europe - but mainly in production and post production, not in broadcast.

The launch of HDTV services in the USA and Australia, the move of Japan's HDTV satellite service to digital and interest from Korea and other countries in the far east in high definition, has fuelled the interest of broadcasters and TV producers in Europe; they are now keen to future proof their prestige productions and safeguard sales to Hidef countries, by shooting in the format.

The BBC has been researching high definition for at least 15 years, and will broadcast 'Rockface' in mid March, downconverted to standard definition. It's a drama based around a mountain rescue team in the Highlands of Scotland, and is a co-production with Union Pictures and Sony-owned Columbia Tristar Television. The production used HDCAM and is only one of several productions the BBC has ordered on HD - some 20 hours of HDTV has been produced, with much more to follow.

The BBC's HD production is closely monitored and advised by its Research and Development division, and according to BBC R&D principal researcher Mike Croll, the economics and quality obtainable with HD mean it now makes sense to move part of the BBC's prestige film production from super 16mm to HD. 'It's definitely cheaper to produce in high definition than on Super 16mm now - and the workflow can be more efficient' he says.

Lower costs

One of the key programmes on the new digital channel BBC4 will be a concert broadcast live from Senegal, involving many of Africa's leading musicians brought together for the first time. It will be a multi camera HDTV shoot using Thomson equipment, with the signals downcoverted for transmission on BBC4.

It has been the launch of the compressed digital HDTV formats, Sony's HDCAM and Panasonic's DVCPRO-HD and HDD5, at prices substantially lower than the last time anyone had a go at making a market for HDTV, that has helped renew the interest in HD as a high quality format on which to master prestige productions.

Avid Technology reckons it has sold over a hundred of its DS-HD editing system in Europe, to facilities serving increased interest from producers who can now justify the extra cost of HD for certain kinds of production. Moreover, it is not just for material destined to be broadcast. The corporate sector is seeing more use of HD for big presentations and exhibition displays, where the more reasonable cost of making special venue productions in HD and its clear advantages in terms of quality of large screen display in busy environments such as trade exhibitions, has been recognised.

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Gaining popularity

Avid believes its recent sales of DS-HD reflect this growing interest from the corporate and commercials sectors. The movie world too is showing more interest in originating on HD - especially after the high profile endorsements of the format from the likes of George Lucas and Wim Wenders.

The addition of a 24 frame progressive option for both HDCAM and DVCPRO-HD, matching the frame rate of film, has boosted the take-up of HD production by drama producers especially. The evidence, so far, points to a mix of film and HD video being used in future in the TV drama market in the US, with drama continuing to be shot on 35mm film, but post produced on and mastered to an HDTV format.

In Europe, several facilities took advantage of cheaper HD equipment to add systems that could operate in both high and standard definition. In the UK, Farm subsidiary Home was one of these, and it reports satisfaction so far with its HD utilisation. 'When we first installed the HD systems, they were used more for standard definition work, as expected, but the work is definitely weighted to high definition now, with several productions going through - including the BBC drama Rockface and a multicamera shoot of a Robbie Williams concert' says Janine Martin, facilities manager at Home.

The Home is also one of the facilities to install a DS-HD edit system, although much of its work is with material shot on HDCAM and edited in its linear HDCAM edit suite. With the increased interest in HD production from broadcasters and TV producers to future proof their prestige productions - the Widescreen Forum is compiling a briefing note to guide producers through the complex process of choosing exactly what format to shoot on, and crucially how best to post produce it.

According to the Forum's facilitator Brendan Slamin, there are a wide number of choices facing producers when contemplating the eventual transmission in HD of their work - including up conversion - so it was felt such a guide was timely. 'Facilities and producers in the Forum were coming to us and asking what the best formats to use were. Because the mix of formats is complex, and there are also different options for up and down conversion, we are producing a briefing note. As a producer, if you're making an expensive production, you've got to be absolutely sure you're making the right decisions on formats and conversion,' says Slamin.

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Confusion

Terrestial broadcast HDTV has begun in the US, but its take-up has been slow - and there are pressures on the US government to put in places changes in the industry to push the entire TV market towards digital television, with an aggressive deadline of 2007 set for analogue switch off. However, only the major city areas have seen TV stations converted to transmit HDTV - and confusion in the market and the high price of HDTV sets has restricted sales.

The US legislature is taking an increased interest in boosting the move to digital by urging industry groups to remove some of the barriers to increased take-up, including the lack of cable compatible digital TV sets, better copy protection standards and the fact there is no agreement yet for cable carriage of digital TV channels. A continuing controversy over the US's choice of modulation scheme has not helped matters.

Despite fairly convincing evidence that a version of the European DVB digital TV system might provide a more flexible digital and HDTV service for the US, which itself could boost take-up of digital TV in the US, the TV regulator is sticking to its original decision to adopt the US specific standard developed by a consortium of manufacturers and approved by the Advanced Television Standards Committee. Much of the criticism is based on the difficulties the ATSC DTV system has in terms of adequate reception in cities, and its difficulties being received by set-top aerials. In an age when portability and mobility are becoming increasingly important for many types of communication, it is believed that the advantages of digital terrestrial TV should concentrate on just those aspects.

Elsewhere in the world, digital TV services are planned in most developed countries, and some of those will be HDTV. Australia has already begun an HDTV service - it took the decision to move to digital TV, transmitting both standard and high definition - and currently runs a triplecast service, since HDTV and SDTV are run in parallel with the existing analogue TV service.

Japan was the first country to have an HDTV service, via direct broadcast satellite to homes, using an analogue system. The DBS service has now been upgraded to digital, using Japan's own digital TV transmission system, ISDB. Some interest has been expressed by Mexico and Brazil in adding high definition to existing plans for digital TV services - but no final decisions have been taken.

It was recently announced that Korea will begin a satellite delivered HDTV service in early 2002 operated by Skylife Broadcasting, a company formed by the Korea Broadcasting System, Munhwa Broadcasting Corp. (MBC), Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) and Education Broadcasting System (EBS). However, it's been recognised there that the high price of HDTV sets and their scarcity means most subscribers will be watching in standard definition initially, with the market moving to full HDTV fairly slowly.
The experience in the US is that most large, widescreen digital TV sets are not actually sold for HDTV reception, but as part of home cinema systems, driven by the explosive growth of DVD's. The quality of even standard definition DVD's when enhanced through a high resolution system is such that many feel it could be the real driver for high definition viewing - which in itself would fuel the demand for over the air HDTV.

That could also apply in Europe should a similar take-up of DVD driven high resolution displays happen. However, the European digital terrestrial experience is that broadcasters opted to use the greater efficiencies in bandwidth offered by digital to deliver multi-channel services, not replicate existing services in high definition. With HDTV taking up four times the bandwidth of a standard definition channel, that is not likely to change, so the prospects for HDTV over DTT are minimal in Europe. Satellite, with its greater bandwidth, remains the only option for HDTV in Europe - since even new build cable systems seem unwilling to contemplate giving up channel space for HD.

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