For several years, European broadcasters have been making programmes in high definition – often based upon co-production deals with the USA and Japan – using the 1920 x 1080 Common Image Format. However, European consumers are currently restricted to down-converted standard-definition versions of the original full-resolution HD content. This situation will soon change as more broadcasters offer HD services – in addition to the pioneering and ground-breaking start made by Euro1080.

This article offers an overview of HD scanning formats and advises European broadcasters not to go against the tide by introducing new production formats for HDTV.

Until now, gated Gaussian noise has been widely recognized as the only calibrated tool available to measure impulsive interference performance in a DVB-T system. Recently, a working group within the Digital Television Group, led by BBC R&D, carried out a series of theoretical and practical studies to devise a representative set of test waveforms for impulsive interference.

The result of this work was the proposal of a group of new “gated-squared” Gaussian noise tests, together with some recommendations for test methods and measurement equipment. Arising from this work came the realization that the impulsive noise performance of a DVB-T receiver equipped with no specific counter-measures can be determined from the effective duration of the burst of noise.

This article on Loudness control – while representing the views of the author – is based on a discussion paper submitted to the 5th Meeting of EBU Project Group P/AGA (Advisory Group on Audio), held at BBC R&D in December 2003.