Consumer electronics: The problems and promises of high-definition television: Its future looks brighter, yet challenges remain in bandwidth, standards, and compatibility

A formidable array of technological and economic barriers has kept high-definition television (HDTV) pictures off home television screens. HDTV makes possible bright, sharp pictures with 5:3 or 2:1 aspect ratios (width to height), accompanied by high-fidelity stereophonic sound. Major barriers to the implementation of HDTV include the need for wide transmission band-widths, the lack of worldwide standards for both production and transmission of the signals, and the difficulty in achieving compatibility with existing television receivers. None of these barriers has yet toppled, but progress is being made in all these areas.