The beginning of the development of Hi-Vision as a next-generation color TV technology coincided with the Tokyo Olympics of 1964. NHK engineers conducted experiments in human visual perception to determine the parameters that would recreate for the TV viewer a sense of being present at an Olympic stadium: what size of screen and aspect ratio and what distance between the viewer and the screen. Compatibility with the aspect ratio of cinema film and ease of transition from conventional TV were also taken into account in setting these parameters. The resulting format, with 1,125 scanning lines and 16:9 wide-screen aspect ratio, defined Hi-Vision.

In 2000, the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) approved the unique worldwide HDTV studio parameters as the international standard for HDTV.