The world’s first TV to display 1,125 lines was created in 1958 in the Soviet Union and roughly translated to the ‘Transformer’. It was first used for teleconferencing at military command offices.
Nippon H—s— Ky—kai (NHK), a Japanese public broadcaster, created the first commercial highdefinition television. It operated two terrestrial TV services and three radio and satellite services.
Japan develops a 1,125-line standard operating system that is capable of running at 30 frames per second, debuting in Algiers. It hardly seems much nowadays, but back then it was unbelievable tech.
NH K reveals its own analogue HDTV system in Switzerland. The entire NH K network went digital in 2000 and, despite allegations of corruption, is still making money from it.
American broadcasters request a new highdefinition standard, which is initiated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). 16:9 is favoured by the US nowadays.
After the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATS C) adopts several new video standards, it is officially adopted by the FCC. ATS C patent much now well-known tech.
In October, the first high-definition broadcasts appear. This is the real start of HD, when consumers begin to appreciate the huge jump in quality of viewing. It’s taken ten years, but it’s here.
The first high-definition multimedia interface – a device used for transmitting uncompressed, encrypted digital streams – is released. The first version is known as HDMI 1.0.
The first Blu-ray player and discs go on sale. Toshiba releases its first HD DVD player in Japan. The PlayStation 3 is launched with built-in
Blu-ray player. An HD DVD add-on for the 360 is announced.
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