Estimates of the number of HDTV channels available to Europeans this week were about 200. It sounds and is a healthy number, which has doubled in the last year. But weighed against the estimates of the total number of TV channels available to Europeans today, which is 6700, there can be seen to be some way to go.
European High Definition Forum
| The 200 channels have been achieved since 2005, so it looks like being decades before HDTV finally usurps SDTV. Of course the pace may well pick up, as today virtually all TV sets sold are ready for HDTV, and over time SDTV will be seen as less attractive. This issue came up in discussion last week in Luxembourg at the European High Definition Forum, the EHDF, which the EBU co-chairs.
The EHDF brings together the many national ‘HDTV platforms’ in Europe. These platforms assemble together nationally those concerned with launching HDTV services: broadcasters, retailers, regulators, and set manufacturers. Representatives of all the national platforms attend the EHDF to share common problems and experiences. |  EHDF participants meeting in Luxembourg |
Developments impacting HDTV
The EHDF has been particularly successful is establishing more clearly the ways of recording sound in HDTV programme production, and now hopes to move on to look at the new ‘super-standard’ for HDTV programme production 1080p/50. Other issues on the table were ‘Super High Vision’, the new Philips aspect ratio of 21:9, Hybrid Broadcast Broadband and its effect on HDTV, and one of the most discussed subjects of today, 3D-TV and its impact on HDTV.