High definition television broadcast technology-a NIST/ATP project

In September 2000, a 5-year research project to develop a high-definition compressed digital studio was completed. The project was a joint venture led by Sarnoff Corporation with IBM, Thomcast, NJN, Thomson, MCI, Sun Microsystems and Philips, and co-funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This paper provides an overview of the goals and accomplishments of the high-definition television (HDTV) broadcast technology joint venture. Beginning in the late 1980s, the USA has concentrated on adopting a digital television standard for terrestrial broadcasting based on MPEG-2 compression. The focus of this effort was efficient delivery of high-definition television to the home. Sarnoff Corporation recognized that considerable effort would also be needed to achieve a cost-effective flexible HDTV studio and that such a studio should be based on compression technology to help manage the very high data rates required for HDTV (1.5 Gbits/sec uncompressed). In response to a NIST advanced technology program (ATP) to encourage companies to develop advanced digital video technologies, Sarnoff led the joint venture which was awarded a multiyear ATP to develop the studio technologies described in this paper