System and technological details of terrestrial/cable NTSC compatible HDTV

Efficient baseband analog processing proven in hardware for a 525-line progressively scanned HDTV (high-definition TV) image is described. The processing steps are also suitable for 1050-line interlaced HDTV images. Specific terrestrial and cable HDTV packaging formats for baseband processing are presented which exploit efficient NTSC (National Television System Committee) compatibility for program delivery in North America. Analog augmentation formats requiring 4 MHz or 3 MHz of spectrum in addition to the NTSC signal are disclosed that may be suitable for taboo channel utilization. All signal components are readily transcodable from a MAC (multiplexed analog component) satellite format utilizing the same generic baseband analog processing method. Augmentation implementation issues associated with an actual hardware prototype are discussed.<
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