HDTV Launched into Space

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HDTV Launched into Space

1981	NASA’s first flight with a manned reusable rocket, the “space shuttle”
1989	HDTV experimental broadcasting begins, using MUSE system via broadcast satellite BS-2
1990	Research on the digital band compression technology MPEG-2 initiated
1990	CCIR General Assembly establishes an HDTV studio standard recommendation (Recommendation 709)
1991	NHK begins HDTV test broadcasting (November)
1995	The Great Hanshin Earthquake (January)
1998	HDTV camera installed in a space shuttle for the first time
2000	1125 scanning lines becomes internationally unified standard (March)
2000	Digital BS broadcasting begins its services (December)

The research on HDTV systems, which started in 1964, bore fruit in the form of digital HDTV broadcasting after 36 years. On a space shuttle in 1998, Astronaut Chiaki Mukai captured an image of the earth with an HDTV handheld camera. The HDTV camera met the most demanding test in the world, “space specification.”

1964-2000 Hi-Vision (HDTV) Becomes International Uniform Standard

Development of Broadcasting 
                      Systems

          1983 saw the construction of the MUSE system, a compression and transmission 
          system for HDTV signals capable of broadcasting HDTV programs on a single 
          satellite-broadcasting channel. The MUSE system employs a sub-sampling 
          technique and a motion compensation technique, compressing data to a 
          quarter of the original information size. Meanwhile, in 1990, research 
          was initiated on the MPEG scheme, a digital band compression technique. 
          Research proceeded with an investigation of the picture quality required 
          for HDTV broadcasting, the required bit rate, and the optimization of 
          an encoder function.

                      The one hour daily experimental broadcasting using the MUSE 
                      system that was started via the BS-2 broadcasting satellite 
                      in 1989 was expanded in 1991 to 8 hours a day of test broadcasting 
                      using BS-3. In December 2000, digital HDTV broadcasting 
                      on 7 channels via BSAT-1b commenced as Digital BS broadcasting.
HDTV System International 
                      Standardization

                      For TV engineers developing HDTV systems, it was a dream 
                      that next generation TV meet a uniform international standard, 
                      unlike standard TV, which has different systems in each 
                      country. The first demonstration of an HDTV system was presented 
                      in the United States in 1981, making a strong impression 
                      with its breathtaking images. Standardization of the HDTV 
                      system, because of the potential profits involved, had become a significant 
                      global issue involving competition between corporations 
                      and diplomacy between countries. At a General Assembly meeting 
                      for the CCIR (presently the ITU-R) held in May 1986, European 
                      countries insisted on a 1,250 scanning line, 50-field system, 
                      but failed to realize a uniform international standard. 
                      After 1987, discussions on digital technology spurred proposals 
                      for a number of systems. However, on the basis of the standard 
                      adopted in 1990 (ITU-R Recommendation 709), the effective 
                      scanning line number of 1080 (adopted in 1997) and the total 
                      scanning line number of 1125 (adopted in 2000) were established 
                      as uniform international standards (ITU-R Recommendation 
                      709 revision).
1. News 
                      gathering/transmission systems

                      2. “Space specification”: 
                      A realistic image of the earth from space

Prototype MUSE encoder

A 300-inch large screen at the United Nations headquarters’ General Assembly Hall

Making use of high-sensitivity/high-definition characteristics, HDTV has application in the medical field, such as in surgery on the retina.

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