MSNBC: When Will HDTV Take Root in Europe?

[Brendan Goetz]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14025505/' target='_blank'>http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14025505/</a><br /><br /></div><i>“First it was going to be the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Then, hopes shifted to this summer's World Cup soccer championship. Over and over, broadcasters, producers, and TV makers have banked on a blockbuster sports event to kickstart European interest in high-definition TV, which offers sharply improved picture and sound quality. But so far, they have been disappointed. Despite years of marketing efforts, only about 800,000 European households now receive HD programming, and only about 2 million homes own HD-ready TVs, compared with 11 million in Japan and 19 million in the U.S.”</i><br /><br />What drives the HDTV market will always be available content. I currently have 12 dedicated, fulltime HD channels, and another 6 that have some HD content (mostly the networks). When I make the move to DishNetwork, I will have at least 23. With most of Europe only offering 8 channels of HiDef, that right there is your problem. People watch way more TV than they do movies, and even if you have a bunch of your fave titles on HD-DVD, you are still going to be watching TV most of the time. Until they get more HD content choices over there, they are going to have a hard time selling sets. This article talks about the DVR capabilities of a recordable HD DVD solution, but you still need the content. Plain and simple.

[Filip Norrgard]

The problem in Europe is that there is just so little HD content being broadcast. I can't for the life in me see any HD content being broadcast by broadcasters in my country anytime before 2010 -- and that is my most optimistic view! The bigger players in Europe are mostly broadcasting for a limited audience: their own country of origin. Thus, when they go HD, the sales of HDTVs will maybe will rise in that specific country but not create a halo effect across the boundries as much, which the author of the linked article seems to want to imagine.

The limitations as I see it is the high cost of aquireing the HD broadcasting capabilities and possibly the licensing costs for the HD content. If there is no HD broadcasting, then who will buy HDTVs?

The sales of flat-screen TVs are good and steadily rising here, but no-one cares a damn for HD content right now -- not neccessarily because we haven't seen HD content but because there cheaper sets that aren't "HD ready". Now, imagine that you are average Joe/Jane customer: which would you buy: the expensive thin-screen TV which is ready for something called "HD", or a cheaper (possbily bigger) thin-screen TV?

One would think that the high-defenition DVD recorders might lower the threshhold for getting the devices for HD, but that is an assumption that I see as flawed. People need to get the TV before getting the recording devices. I mean, who in their right mind bought a VHS before buying a TV? :?

The HD transition isn't helped by the lack of Digital TV tuners in those HDTVs. I haven't seen a reasonable HDTV with integrated digital TV tuner for cable, only for terrestrial digital tuners. The ironic part is that many so called HDTV readies are still touting dual analog receivers! 8O

Terrestrial networks aren't even close to capable here to send out HD content due to the limited bandwidth it currently has. Cable is more suitable for HD content, but there are few cable providers sending HD content. (I'm one of the lucky ones who live in a TV cable area where HD is under testing) Digital satellite is currently the most sure way of getting HD content, but the availability of HD is still limited. Not to mention the MPEG 2 artifacts that the current standard will impose, most people find that irritating. When DVB-S2 comes into more widespread use, then we will probably see more and better HD content as the MPEG 4 will hopefully eliminate the worst MPEG artifacts.

Yet another problem is that most people are still using a SCART connector to connect their digi-box (= digital set top box) to their TV (let it be flat or CRT). SCART being sort of the composite in/out and sound in/out that Europeans have been using for a long time, I doubt it is anymore ready for HD. People have yet to learn about the hideous terminology that concerns HD connectors: DVI and HDMI (to name a few). Most digi-boxes don't even support DVI out, none that I have heard of support HDMI. And, not to forget, many many people "invest" in cheap, crappy digi-boxes that shouldn't even be sold (due to their hideous GUI and overcomplicated setup windows)

Finally, I'm yet to aquire an HDTV and see HD broadcasting with my own eyes...

[Felix Torres]

Finally, I'm yet to aquire an HDTV and see HD broadcasting with my own eyes...

That part we can fix. ;-)

If you have a PC with at least 1280 by 1024 resolution, just check out any of the demos here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/musicandvideo/hdvideo/contentshowcase.aspx

The IMAX nature shows are in regular rotation on INHD2, one of the HD-only networks in NorthAm.

Ideally, you'd want a wide-aspect (16x9) LCD display running at 1920x1080 to come closest to what the various HD-only channels broadcast.

Of course, any HD-DVD or BD-ROM disk played on a capable PC (if you can find one) would also do the trick, but since a lot of those are not well-formatted and produced you aren't guaranteed the true HD experience. The IMAX WMVs are very well-mastered and truly representative of what you can expect out of HD *movie* content.

For HD video-tape content, though, I can't think of any readily available samples. Which is sad, cause as good as movies look in HD, they pale before the jaw-dropping crispness and saturation of HD video-taped travelogues.

They key thing to consider about HD is that there is a threshold somewhere between SD and FullHD resolution that, because of immersion, color spaces, content format and the surround sound, renders watching HD a diffent creature that analog TV. (For one thing, nature videos are disturbingly compelling viewing, for some odd reason. :wink: )

The good news for you is that because you'll be getting HD later rather than sooner you actually have a chance to be spared all the content crap we've had on this side of the pond for the past few years (misformatted content, double-scan SD passing for HD, truncated data streams, etc) and will be able to jump in with full MPEG4-or better broadcasts.