The German HD Forum Situation in Germany Dietrich Westerkamp German TV-Plattform WG „HDTV and Image Quality Improvement“

TV-Plattform Organisation Founded in 1991 as German HDTV Plattform All major stakeholders –Broadcasters (public, private, payTV) –Service providers (cable, satellite, telco) –Industry (professional, CE) –Regulators 4 active working groups –MHP, DVB-T, PVR, HDTV and Image Quality

HDTV and Image Quality Group initiated February 2004 Divergence in goal setting –HDTV introduction as soon as possible –Improvement of SD for large screens first Informal links –EBU/B TQE –EICTA –other European HD Fora (UK, F)

Achievement 1 HD ready labelling –This discussion started here –Quickly brought to European level

Comparison of HDTV Displays at IRT laboratories, Munich CRT, DLP, LCD, Plasma Loewe, Metz, Panasonic, Sharp, Sony and Thomson 40” class, YUV, SCART

Achievement 2 Expert viewing of HD displays –Displays could show SDTV source signals in good quality, only some technology related remaining artefacts –Large flat panel displays show coding artefacts clearly and annoying –An end-to-end HDTV signal chain results in a clearly visible improvement of the image quality

Interoperability discussion The group has the following consensus on interoperability –HDTV introduction will start with set-top boxes –Highest efficiency technologies will be used DVB-S2, DVB-C (256QAM), MPEG4/AVC (H.264) Products designed to also receive today´s signals (DVB-S, DVB-C, MPEG2) Free-to-air broadcasters request a conclusive clarification of the licensing situation –No consensus on scanning standard possible Displays as well as STB will support both –720/50p, 1080/25i

Statement of PSB Improvement of SDTV takes priority –additional transmission capacity per programme –number of 16:9 programmes to be increased HDTV-Production –today, first HDTV-Productions to substitute film –distribution down converted to SDTV HDTV-Distribution –analogue switch-off comes first –SDTV/HDTV simulcast scenario to be defined

Current Plannings Premiere Fernsehen AG Timing –Premiere announced to start HDTV-services on November 1, 2005 (starting with satellite) Premiere HDTV-Services –Premiere will start with 3 HDTV-channels, including fiction, sports an documentation-content Premiere HD-technology-strategy –Premiere HD-STBs will be based on H.264 and DVB- S2 and will support 720/50p and 1080/25i –Premiere will support the “HD ready” initiative for HDTV-displays from EICTA