Since Christmas 1999, commercial stations in the ten largest cities in the U.S. have been broadcasting using the new DTV standard. Analog transmitters will remain in use until 2006 at which point only DTV signals will be available. Digital television will deliver a broadcast service of significantly higher quality and much more flexibility than the NTSC system we have used since the early Fifties. In addition to spectacular wide-screen, high definition pictures and CD quality, 5.1 channel Surround Sound , the system can also deliver four separate SDTV program streams and an amazing amount of other data 8. All DTV formats provide higher quality pictures than the current NTSC standard and are backward compatible with most NTSC devices, such as VCR s. 9.
Aspect ratio is the relationship between the width and height of a television picture.
It has a sixteen unit width corresponding to a nine unit height proportionally, regardless of the actual TV screen size. All Rights Reserved.