A scalable source coder for a hybrid HDTV terrestrial broadcasting system

A scalable source coder was designed for a hybrid HDTV terrestrial broadcasting system. The hybrid combination of analog and digital methods allows for both high video compression ratios and efficient utilization of the available channel capacity. Efficient channel utilization enables closer receivers to decode high quality video, and allows further receivers to decode natural looking, though lower quality video. The system uses joint source/channel coding to deliver different video components with degrees of integrity reflecting their perceptual importance. Motivation is given for hybrid transmission and analog/digital coding methods. Details of the scalable source coder are provided with a description of its key features, which include pyramid filtering and hybrid video coding. Furthermore, fundamental differences between conventional digital video compression schemes and the proposed scalable hybrid approach are highlighted. Finally, frames of video produced by a computer simulation of the hybrid HDTV system are shown, demonstrating the feasibility of such a system.<>