Who Invented HDTV?

Written by Clearly Resolved
Sunday, 20 May 2007

[ Q ] Who invented HDTV?

[ A ] There is no single inventor of HDTV, and it's probably best described as a mix of several technologies brought together with the goal of delivering clearer, highly realistic video and crystal-clear 5-channel digital surround sound.

But to give credit where it is due, the Japan Broadcasting Company (NHK) and the SONY Corporation trail-blazed the HD frontier, as they invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the 1980s in an effort to develop the Hi-Vision high-definition television system in Japan. Unfortunately, Hi-Vision relied on an analog, rather than digital, foundation and due to very high initial prices, there was never much mass market appeal. As of the mid-1990s, fewer than 30,000 HDTV displays and 100,000 HD converters were sold in Japan. Japan subsequently jettisoned Hi-Vision and started over with a revised, all-digital HDTV system.

In the US, several companies and institutions (AT&T, Compression Labs, General Instrument, MIT, Philips, Sarnoff Research Labs, Thomson and Zenith) raced to develop a US national standard for HDTV that would replace the long-time US standard known as NTSC (National Television Standards Committee).

As it turned out, the review process for the competition ended up in the creation in what came to be known as the Grand Alliance standard. The Grand Alliance ultimately melded together the best parts of the competing entries for the new HDTV system.

These standards were subsequently renamed the Advanced Television System Committee (ATSC) specification.

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