Several years after it launched in the US and Japan High Definition Television, or HDTV, is finally set to arrive in Europe. It will deliver striking images in either the 720p or 1080i formats which broadcasters claim are up to four times more detailed than those we see on our current digital sets. Everything is in now in place. The stores are full of HD ready flat screen sets (plasma and LCD) and projection systems, the transmission standards have all been agreed and certified. All we need now is that actual HDTV content. So here’s your quickie guide as to where HD is coming from and when.
Sky HD
Sky was the first company in the UK to announce its intention to launch HD. Sadly many months on from its big news we are still waiting for the system to launch. The hot money was on an April debut, but now it appears that this may be pushed back as late as May or even June. One thing is for sure it will be in place in time for the new football season in August.
Sky has lined up eight channels which include a mix of its own stuff like sport and movies along with content from third party broadcasters such as the National Geographic channel and Discovery HD. Sky has been filming football, cricket and rugby games in high def for some time now, and it is expected that sports will be one of the big pushes on its HD ad campaign. There's no details yet of how much Sky will charge for its service, but it will offer a Sky+ box, complete with integrated hard disk, that is being made by Thomson.
Subscribers will pay an initial fee for the box, and then it is likely they'll pay a set fee per month for the programmes. We know that the box has a large hard disk, but at the moment no knows how big it will be. The clever money is on a 300 Gigabyte unit.
Telewest
Telewest has become the first mainstream broadcaster to offer HD content to its subscvcibers via its TVDrive hard disk video recorder/HD decoder which debuted in early March. The box is available to four million homes with viewers signing up via Currys, Dixons or through Telewest. It costs users £15 per month on lower tier packages, or £10 a month if they subscribe to Telewest's top level TV package. Telewest has also hinted that it might actually sell the boxes, which incidentally are made by Scientific Atlanta, at some point in the future.
So far there isn’t a great deal of HD content available via Telewest. Through the company's Teleport TV on demand system subscribers can watch the opera The Magic Flute and the BBC docu drama Pride. But that's it. Telewest hopes to offer more docs, movies, sports and much else over the coming months.
NTL
NTL has been trialling a new form of broadband connection called ADSL2+ which delivers data download speeds of up to 24Mbps - more than enough for top quality HDTV. It also has its own cable network which could deliver HD programming either on a channel by channel basis or as video on demand. Now that Telewest, which is in effect now part of the same company as NTL, has launched HD expect it to roll out services very shortly.
Euro 1080
This pioneering HD service which is available across Europe has been operational for over year now. It has several channels which are available in the UK via the Astra satellites. You'll need a HD decoder to view the transmissions, which are mainly music, sport and documentary footage. For more details click here.
BBC HD
The BBC has plenty of HD footage as it has been shooting in the format for years. What is lacks at the moment is a platform to deliver it. The BBC has announced trials of HD via digital terrestrial (Freeview), but unless there is some dramatic new technological breakthrough it is unlikely to offer a full service of HD via an aerial until 2012 when the analogue transmitters are switched off. In the mean time the BBC is likely resort to digital satellite. Along with ITV it has taken out space on the Astra satellite and could well use this to launch a HDTV TV channel or two in 2006. Viewers could use the Sky HD box to receive the transmissions and it is likely that the broadcasts will be free. The big draw for consumers could be the World Cup. One of the German host broadcasters Premiere, is filming the games in HD and the BBC could screen the games in the format.
HD via the web
It is very early days for streaming HD via the web for two key reasons. Firstly users need very fast broadband connections - at least 8Mbps - to view the signals. And secondly the roll out of connections with this kind of speed isn't happening in the US at the moment. There is a growing number of ISPs in the UK who are offering high speed connections (between 8-20Mbps) now such as Bulldog, UKOnline and Be, however users need to be fairly close to their local BT exchange to have access to this kind of speed. Some analysts have predicted that the majority of people will be accessing HD via the web by 2010, but if this is to happen, there will need to be some breakthrough technology to enable more homes to have quicker internet access. What is more likely to happen is that viewers will use the fast broadband connections to download HD programmes. The BBC is already experimenting with this via the trial of its integrated media player. This uses a peer to peer system a bit like KaZaa, to enable user to download content. By all counts though the technology has a long way to go as some users are complaining it takes 48 hours to download a HD programme. Sky is also experimenting with TV via the web on its Sky By broadband services, and it probably wouldn't be too long before it adds HD content to that package. Also later in the year BT will begin to offer video on demand via broadband via a Philips box. The box is HD compatible and it seem likely that there will be some HD content for users to download, or possibly even stream, at launch.
HD DVD
One of two formats (the other is Blu-ray) competing to become the optical disc standard for HD movies and arguably the successor to DVD. HD DVD was developed by Toshiba and is expected go on sale in the US by the end of the year. HD DVD drives will be sold for PCs, there will be standalone video players and obviously a good range of discs when it launches. Expect to see it in the UK in late 2006. HD DVD recorders will follow in a couple of years. Microsoft has confirmed that its Xbox 360 games consoles will soon be available with integrated HD DVD drives.
Blu-ray
Supported by a high percentage of consumer electronics manufacturers Blu-ray is the bookie's favourite to establish itself as the HD disc formats of the future. It also has the trump card of a Blu-ray player being integrated into the PlayStation 3 which is slated for a release in late 2006. Blu-ray PC drives are already on sale in the UK and Blu-ray hardware for the TV will follow later in the summer. PCs There is a growing number of PCs that are now PC compatible. A good example is the Philips MCP9350i. Users can download HD content via the web. Apple, Microsoft and Sky offer this, and then view it on their HD compatible screen.
