arcorp@utcsri.UUCP (Alias Research Corporation) (02/23/85)
From what I understand, the new high definition monitor
from Sony was an outgrowth of their 1150 or 1400 line television
test program.
Last year, CBS and Sony jointly sponsored trials of their
HDTV system that consists of a 1150 line picture wrapped in a 2:1
aspect ratio.
These tests were reported in the Journal of the SMPTE, which
mentions several interesting productions.
The purpose of the tests was to determine the flexibility
of the system in television production situations. The article
mentions that the HDTV camera was used to shoot an entire episode
of "The Fall Guy" (lots of different situations in this show).
During the production, the HDTV camera worked side by side
with a regular 35mm film camera so that the results could be
compared. I think they were very favourable, save for the fact that
the video image still does not have the range of intensity of
brightness that film has. (contrast ratio)
A second set of HDTV "films" were done by Francis Coppola.
Again, the intent was to see how the production equipment would
cope with artistic lighting and production situations. The
Coppola tests were very short, and one of them was named "Six Shots".
If anyone has seen these, please consider it your duty as a human
being to tell me about it!
CBS was very hot on the idea of transmitting HDTV programs
via satellite to homes, but was unable to secure approval for
the necessary 30 MHz channels from some governing body. Hence
it has put the project more or less into the background.
Sony, on the other hand, decided to produce a monitor which
uses (from what I have read) a 1050 line system which is non-interlaced
and runs at 60 Hz. Since the aspect ratio is only 1.33:1 , I would
assume that this monitor would only offer partial compatability with
any true HDTV format (which would have the 2:1 aspect ratio) that
could emerge in the future.
This set is NOT the XBR television.
In order to watch television on this monitor, it must be
plugged into the standards convertor which Sony sells you with the
monitor. The standards convertor does the real work in converting
the 525 line, 30 Hz interlaced NTSC video into something that the
1050 monitor can display.
I think that we can assume that the convertor contains a
sophisticated digital frame store where the interpolation work is
done to produce the extra lines that are displayed.
Can this be called a "digital" tv? (monitor)
Are there any similarities between this system and
the "Image Transform (tm)" system employed by NASA in the
early seventies to improve the picture quality of Moon->Earth
television transmissions?
I can't wait to see one!
Stephen Trutiak
(Alias Research Corp.)
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