High definition television has been broadcast over the air in both the UHF TV and 13 GHz bands. This first demonstration broadcast, sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters and the Association of Maximum Service Telecasters, used the 1125 line, 60 field/sec. system developed by NHK. For transmission, the wideband video signal was compressed to 8.1 MHz using the MUSE system, also developed by NHK. This signal was transmitted by vestigial sideband AM in the UHF band and FM at 13 GHz.
Receiving points include the NAB, the FCC, and Congress. Programming includes a variety of materials produced on high definition video tape and other materials produced on 35mm film and transferred to tape.
The purposes of this project are to: promote development of a system for terrestrial broadcast of HDTV; assess the performance of proposed systems, and; demonstrate to the FCC and Congress the need for adequate spectrum to allow terrestrial broadcast of HDTV.
This paper describes the demonstration setup and results and discusses the plans for future activities.