Current trends in image processing for broadcast television

Image processing is becoming increasingly prominent in broadcast television. Perhaps the greatest trigger to the exploration of new image processing techniques for TV is the need to develop a high definition television (HDTV) transmission system which is bandwidth-efficient. HDTV is defined to have at least double the resolution of existing TV systems, both horizontally and vertically, and a wider picture shape (aspect ratio). The raw bandwidth is, therefore, at least five times that of current TV, but the broadcast channels available are more suited to current bandwidths. Sophisticated bandwidth compression techniques are, therefore, required. This paper gives examples of image processing work, as an introduction to the very large body of work currently taking place, especially in the HDTV field.<
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