The History of HDTV 

The HDC-100 utilized 5:3 aspect ratio Saticon tubes, which were 1". They resolved 1000 TVL/ph, so 1666x1000 TVL resolution per tube, and each one produced a bandwidth of 30 MHz when operating in 60i mode. They had a signal-to-noise ratio of 54 db (approximately 9 bits in digital equivalent terms) and, as you succinctly pointed out, an ASA rating of 64 when the gain setting was at 0 db. The HDC-300 changed the aspect ratio of the tubes to 16:9, with the same 1000 TVL/ph rating, which resulted in a resolution of 1778x1000 resolution, effectively, and 30 MHz of bandwidth per tube when operating at 60i. The HDV-1000 wideband analog component HD 1" VTR was based on the BVH-2000 Type C 1" analog composite VTR, and featured 30 MHz of luminance channel bandwidth, 7.5 MHz of Pr/Y-R and 7.5 MHz of Pb/Y-B color difference channel bandwidth, with the total active signal bandwidth being 45 MHz; by comparison, the analog composite (direct color) signal that regular Type C VTRs recorded was only 6 MHz wide (4.5 MHz for luma, and 1.5 MHz split between red and blue chroma with 1 MHz and 0.5 MHz bandwidths, respectively, all combined into a single 6 MHz CVBS channel). When the signal was broadcasted via a satellite earth station into a geostationary satellite, the signal was delivered as a 30 MHz Y/C signal, with 20 MHz of Y and 10 MHz of C (includes Pr and Pb bandwidth), then it was downlinked to another part of the globe as a MUSE CVBS (that's what MUSE signals were encoded as, composite) signal that had to fit within a 6 or 8 MHz channel, to be decoded by MUSE receivers, which would then be decoded into a YPrPb signal, then again into a G-Y, R-Y, B-Y signal and a Y signal, which could finally be displayed as an RGB signal on an RGB CRT TV.

That's MY D1 4:2:2 (Sony DVR-2100) in this video - I am happy you used it. Akio Morita showed me the first HD system in 1981.

13:33 this logo is a brazilian official HDTV logo, born with digital broadcast in 2007 by GloboTV. In Brazil we have analog tv currently, in the little cities, but nobody use

Great job! I remember I saw Hi-Vision TV was sold at a mall in 1994. That 32inch costs around 800,000yen.(may be, I can't remember exactly😅 childhood memory) As we can see in this video, 4:3 was main stream, and 29inch is still large size at that time. "Next-gen"... dreams in the golden era...

I own an early HD camera (1995) The JVC KH-100U , original MSRP $62,000 . There were events shot in the US that were intended for an HD Japanese audience.

WWF's late 90s to early 2000s programming is by far the most impressive video quality I've ever seen. All the pre 90s stuff is classic of course but this one was perfect. Not too much detail unlike the 4k travesty, and not too shabby either, it has that sweet spot. I say it to this day, that era was the final frontier in terms of technology and visual aesthetics. , sadly not all good things are meant to last.

I wonder where the recording of the 1984 Olympics is

A lot of the resolution details of HDVS and MUSE seem to be misunderstood these days. HDVS was an analog 1125-line signal, apparently with 37.125 MHz of bandwidth - or at least it was conventional to sample it at 74.25 MHz. It meant that the 25.86 us of active line period accounted for exactly 1920 pixels when sampled - so the active resolution of the sampled image was exactly 1920x1035. And worth noting is that the sync specification of that signal was practically identical to modern 1080i when transferred over component - that also is 1125 lines total. That way, you can hook up a MUSE LD player to a modern set and it'll display just fine, only 45 lines of the frame will be blanked out. Or actually more, because MUSE actually cropped the studio-spec 1920x1035 signal down to the center 1870x1032 (so a modern TV will likely display black border on all sides of the screen with overscan disabled, while still recognizing the signal as 1080i - I think the assumption was that consumer displays have overscan anyway). That was further reduced to 60% of the horizontal resolution (so 1122x1032) before further compression steps. Only 1/3 of the luma channel pixels (374x1032) and 1/24 of each of the chroma channels (94x516 each) were transmitted over the air; however, different pixels of the original were transmitted each line or even frame, so the full 1122x1032 luma resolution could be reconstructed for stationary images. Note that I'm using the term "pixel" even though the system is thought to be analog. That's because all the processing was digital; the input signal was sampled, processed, and then the pixel values selected for transmission converted back to analog. The receiver also sampled the MUSE signal and applied digital processing to reconstruct the image. The European D-MAC and D2-MAC systems (including HD-MAC which was backwards compatible with D2-MAC, just with a similar reconstruction algorithm for still images as in MUSE) used a very similar technique. Analog transmission was used, I believe, mostly because it was more efficient than any digital modulation and compression scheme known at the time. For sources, look up: - ITU-R Rec. BO.786 "MUSE system for HDTV broadcasting-satellite services" - "A Guide to Standard and High-Definition Digital Video Measurements" from Tektronix for sync and timing info of various video formats, including 1035i and 1080i Both are readily available on the web. I'm not posting links because RU-vid doesn't seem to like that.

Worked at sony tape plant in Alabama back in 1997,made vhs tapes that recorded hd video,wrapped in plastic with Japanese print and shipped over seas,didn't know what hd was then.

One correction- while Unihi is often incorrectly listed as a 3/4” format, it used 1/2” wide tape. The cassette shell itself was based on the MII/D3/D5 size. To avoid a format war, this form factor was agreed upon by both Sony and Panasonic, hence the name “Unihi” implying a unified high definition format

Another excellent video, clear yet compact, I thought it was a 10m video. Looking forward to your next video or laser cut project! ;)

While I didn't see "back to the future" in 1035i, but I was working at a post house that was doing editing in the analogue HD format, back in the 90s.

As former employe / technician (and many other functions) at Sony NL (1983-2010) i remember the Japanese engineers brought a demo sample model of de AEP model SL-HF950ES but in a HDVS version. As far as I know it never made it on the consumer market. M. Amsterdam/Badhoevedorp

Awesome video, deserves way more views. Only complaint I have is the video bitrate, in few parts it looks a bit blocky, but that might just be youtube's problem...

In the 1970s , 1980s and 1990s Japan was the ultimate technology leader.

i don't care to watch movies in HD, dvd is good enough for me. but seeing those HD videos from back than it's mind blowing

this is great, thank you

Fascinating Stuff. I appreciate your research!

I wonder if any SD productions that were to be broadcast in SD had any parts shot in analogue HD to maximise picture quality and to be able to reframe shots in post without a noticeable loss in quality. I can also imagine that doing some video effects in HD and then storing in SD can really improve their quality and reduce blockiness

at 2:00 there is a cool picture of a Home Box Office Master Control View terminal - can you share how you found this? I would like to see or read more about that system!

John Logie Baird demonstrated 1000line TV system in color and even stereoscopic in 1946. France began with their own TV system in 1949. It was 819i25. 736 active lines.

Amazing video, thanks 🎉

I've got one of those HDM 2830 monitors! Insane even by today's standards.

Is any hd videos from that 1981 Sony HDVS presentation in USA saved? (its probably would be very first HD videos ever then)

Hi, Have you got a Brochure for the Sony HDVS electron Beam Recorder? It has an interesting graphic showing the air pressure ad different altitudes to explain how high the Vacuum used in the EBR Filament chamber was. I need a copy for a Physics teacher friend. I was many years ago the European Manger for HDVS. Best Regards Peter.

Hi I was thinking of using this camera to shoot a short film for the 80s aesthetics vibe. But then film festivals ask for high resolution screeners like in HD or 4K. Would you suggest using this camera? Also how can I up the resolution?

The clip from 1:35 to 1:52 looks somewhat interesting. Where did you find it?

Great video

819 lines in France in 1948.

Good vid

You forgot to mention the optical HD format of MUSE.

2:18 that was 1990 not 1980.

I read that the Film Pink Floyd live at Pompeii (1972) was recorded in Hd however according to this video Hd recording cameras were developed during the 80s. Does anybody know Anything about it?

Woodstock 94 was shot in MUSE

I have an Philips 36ML8908/20B It should support HD-MAC... though how can I test the higher resolutions this monitor supports? It caps out at 480i over SCART... Hm....

100% Japanese

Whats the most affordable gear for a beginner to start with for analog hdvs? Im interested in making ads

A couple things are inaccurate. WRAL-TV is based in Rall-lie (phonetic pronunciation) , *North Carolina* Also Raleigh is not in "Washington, DC"

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the definition of high definition changes as time goes on, 720p was the standard for HD, and now youtube has delisted it from HD certification. 1080p is now the minimum for "High Definition", soon 8k will be UHD and 4k will be HD.

4,080i? Lol. That's weird. Yes, I know he said 480i, but my brain heard 4,080i, lol.

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Guess for HD: 1994

Nitzsche Port

576i is still the standard for sdtv in 2023💀

0:58 wrong. The first HD transmission was in 1936 at the BBC studios in London, UK.

NTSC>=720x480. Not 640x480.

hd tv is like crtv now

It's actually 1999. In the USA it was 1999. You didn't specify Japan.

4:49 Reely Interesting has a genuine HD clip of Reagan’s speech on the matter. From the Convention of the National Association of Broadcasters in 1988. "I'm told that HDTV represents an advance as dramatic as that from black and white to color..."

It’s kind of hard to consider them the first efforts as other cases are documented and can be considered such as well and they did not make it even 720p it’s extremely difficult to consider it such

Thanks for this interesting video! I formerly owned an Sony HDM-3830E, which was phenomenal in just about every single way but had to let it go so I can get my own apartment. It's in Gothenburg now.

it is truly mindblowing how far ahead japan was especially in the 80s.

I think 2:17 to 2:25 might have been Laserdisc footage from around 1987-1988.

*5:04* The 16:9 (1.77:1) aspect ratio wasn't even proposed until 1984. The closest ratios in use at the time were 1.85:1 (American widescreen) and 1.66:1 (5:3, European widescreen). Those two ratios were used mostly if not exclusively in cinema. *One more thing:* 16:9 is basically a compromise ratio. Both 4:3 and Cinemascope content will take up 75% of a 16:9 screen when letterboxed. It can also be seen as a compromise between American and European widescreen.

Thank you for this video. My country uses the ISDB-T Standard which is pretty much the digital successor of the MUSE System, but ironically most broadcasters in my country prefer to broadcast in 480i 4:3 instead of the 1080i resolution that ISDB-T was designed for.

Looking at the 80s/early 90s HD recording I must say that they are really pleasant to the eye. You have very much detail but still trailing and other artifacts of analogue video. Wish we had more of these but the immense costs, size and weight of the equipment etc I understand why this is not the case.

Where can I buy those old HDTV equipment?

My favorite part about HDTV sets is that they have an aspect ratio of 16:9 widescreen and resolutions of 1080i and 1080p.

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2023, digital video is still lossy compressed. In digital cinema too (DCP, visually lossless means lossy). Too bad!

hi have done up alot of betacam decks myself the numbers of them that can be saved is now getting low now alot of the decks i have came from the hire place's they did not have the room to keep them any more

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HBO did its first HDTV test in 1987.

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Very interesting video! Well done

Carter Ford

Did any of the early HD cameras use tube (CRT) technology? Or were they all CCD at the same time as 480i and 576i changed after 1990?

Brekke Land

i thought the first us hd tvs were from 1998

I prefer digital over analog.

I've heard about there being 1035i 3 tube cameras out in the world but I haven't been able to find much info on them. I'd like to try and get my hands on one. Does anyone here have any ideas?