1. The German HD Forum Situation in Germany
Dietrich Westerkamp
German TV-Plattform
WG „HDTV and Image Quality Improvement“

2. TV-Plattform Organisation
Founded in 1991 as German HDTV Plattform
All major stakeholders
Broadcasters (public, private, payTV)
Service providers (cable, satellite, telco)
Industry (professional, CE)
Regulators
4 active working groups
MHP, DVB-T, PVR, HDTV and Image Quality

3. HDTV and Image Quality Group initiated February 2004
Divergence in goal setting
HDTV introduction as soon as possible
Improvement of SD for large screens first
Informal links
EBU/B TQE
EICTA
other European HD Fora (UK, F)

4. Achievement 1 HD ready labelling This discussion started here
Quickly brought to European level

5. Comparison of HDTV Displays at IRT laboratories, Munich
CRT, DLP, LCD, Plasma
Loewe, Metz, Panasonic, Sharp, Sony and Thomson
40” class, YUV, SCART

6. Achievement 2 Expert viewing of HD displays
Displays could show SDTV source signals in good quality, only some technology related remaining artefacts
Large flat panel displays show coding artefacts clearly and annoying
An end-to-end HDTV signal chain results in a clearly visible improvement of the image quality

7. Interoperability discussion
The group has the following consensus on interoperability
HDTV introduction will start with set-top boxes
Highest efficiency technologies will be used
DVB-S2, DVB-C (256QAM), MPEG4/AVC (H.264)
Products designed to also receive today´s signals (DVB-S, DVB-C, MPEG2)
Free-to-air broadcasters request a conclusive clarification of the licensing situation
No consensus on scanning standard possible
Displays as well as STB will support both
720/50p, 1080/25i

8. Statement of PSB Improvement of SDTV takes priority HDTV-Production
additional transmission capacity per programme
number of 16:9 programmes to be increased
HDTV-Production
today, first HDTV-Productions to substitute film
distribution down converted to SDTV
HDTV-Distribution
analogue switch-off comes first
SDTV/HDTV simulcast scenario to be defined

9. Current Plannings Premiere Fernsehen AG
Timing
Premiere announced to start HDTV-services on November 1, 2005 (starting with satellite)
Premiere HDTV-Services
Premiere will start with 3 HDTV-channels, including fiction, sports an documentation-content
Premiere HD-technology-strategy
Premiere HD-STBs will be based on H.264 and DVB-S2 and will support 720/50p and 1080/25i
Premiere will support the “HD ready” initiative for HDTV-displays from EICTA