HD's killer app?
Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, BY CRAIG BIRKMAIER
The era of HDTV broadcasting in the United States began near the end of 1998. Nearly a decade later, many industry pundits are still looking for the killer app that will drive consumers to replace their old analog TVs, hopefully by the time NTSC broadcasts are scheduled to end in 2009.
There are nearly as many opinions about what will motivate consumers to take the HDTV plunge as there are TV programs offered in HD during the past eight years. In 2004, a Broadcast Engineering e-newsletter reported the results of a research study conducted by Lyra Research, “Desperately Seeking Content: A Survey of HDTV Users.” The study, which polled 500 existing HDTV viewers, found that movies were considered to be the most important form of HD content, followed closely by sports.
Somebody throw the switch
HDTV has evolved from very humble beginnings, starting with the Japanese 1125/60 HDTV system and the Eureka HDTV Project during the '80s. At NAB in 1989, I saw the fruit of the Eureka project. From 30ft away, the picture looked washed out and lifeless, so I took a closer look at what was wrong.
The HD monitor was playing back a European “football” match. The program was captured with a 1250/50 HD prototype camera and was being presented on a 30in studio monitor. It didn't look much better up close, though one could see that there was more detail than in the standard-definition displays that filled the NAB exhibits. The images were good, but lacked contrast. The display was too small to render the available detail in a manner that viewers would find compelling.
Some industry pundits went so far as to claim that primary purpose of the Eureka HDTV Project was to derail HDTV in order to prevent the Japanese 1125/60 HDTV system from gaining a foothold in Europe.
It is noteworthy that HDTV is finally gaining favor in Europe … again. HDTV broadcasts of the recent World Cup met with a positive response in Europe and around the world.
During the advanced television standards setting process in the United States, I witnessed many demonstrations of HDTV. They were usually paired with the worst possible NTSC images one could conjure up — nasty ghosts from multipath and enough snow to go skiing.
Over the years, the quality of HDTV improved. However, it still wasn't enough to convince me to start paying for HD content.
We purchased our second HD-capable display just before Christmas in 2004. It was a 16:9 52in DLP-based rear-projection unit. I borrowed an HD cable box from a friend to see firsthand what I was missing. Not much. We never saw a program in HD on our old set, and it didn't look like we were going to on our new one either.
There were only seven HD channels, and much of what they carried was upconverted standard-definition programming. By the summer of 2005, however, the situation started to improve. ESPN HD had begun operations, and the local cable system began carriage of the NBC and CBS stations that serve the Gainesville market.
By the next Christmas, I was ready to take the plunge, motivated in large part by the number of college bowl games that ESPN HD promised to carry. The Scientific Atlanta HD-PVR was ready for the bowl games in HD, and we were ready for some football!
The feature game of the evening came on — in standard definition with the ESPN HD pillar boxes announcing to the world that this was not HD. Then someone remembered to switch the network feed to the HD broadcast. As Emeril Lagasse would say, “BAM!” Talk about kicking it up a notch! Sports is the killer app for HDTV.
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