1. What are the main advantages of HDTV over standard definition composite PAL or NTSC video?

There are two main advantages. The first is the most obvious HDTV offers significantly better resolution (image
definition) than conventional standard definition video signals. HDTV can offer twice the horizontal and twice the
vertical resolution of conventional SDTV (four times the picture detail). The other significant advantage is the big
improvement in colour fidelity, and the lack of colour interference that is such a problem with composite NTSC and
PAL video images.
2. What benefit does HDTV offer for underwater viewing applications?
The much increased resolution available from HDTV means that high-quality video inspection and survey tasks can
be performed faster and better. Full 1080i HDTV video offers the equivalent of a 2MPixel stills image on every single
video frame. This allows video inspections to be more detailed, and potentially reduces the need for stills
photographic inspection. For remote manipulator operations, the additional image definition provided by HDTV
potentially allows complex manipulative tasks to be completed faster and more easily, with less operator fatigue.
3. Is there a single standard format for HDTV signals?
There are two HDTV formats in common use for broadcast TV applications. The formats are
termed 720p and1080i. The 720p format has an image resolution of 1280 horizontal pixels by 720 vertical pixels,
and it uses a progressive scan to display 50 or 60 full video frames every second. The 1080i format has a higher
image resolution of 1920 horizontal pixels by 1080 vertical pixels and it uses interlaced scanning to display 25 or
30 full video frames every second. In simple terms, 720p provides improved resolution (over conventional SDTV)
with faster frame updates. 1080i provides much higher resolution than either SDTV or 720p, but at the same frame
update rates as standard SDTV.
4. Which HDTV format is better, 720p or 1080i?
There is no simple answer to this question, although for broadcast programming it seems that broadcasters are
increasingly tending towards using 1080i as the preferred HDTV format. Originally it was thought that 720p would
be better suited to fast moving TV images (such as live sports), and that 1080i would be better suited to moredetailed slower moving images such as natural history documentary programming. With the significant recent
advances in display technology and the sophisticated de-interlacing circuits built in to new HDTV monitors, it seems
that 1080i is becoming the more dominant format, even for live sports events. 1080i obviously offers the greatest
potential image definition. For underwater applications, the increased resolution available from the 1080i format
offers the biggest potential improvement in inspection, manipulator and survey performance.
5. What is the effective resolution of HDTV in TV Lines?
Again this question does not have a simple answer, as it is difficult to equate the TV resolution measurements that
were common for CRT (vacuum tube) based TV monitor displays to that of the discrete pixel based displays (e.g.,
LCD, Plasma, DLP) in common use for HDTV systems. It is safe to say that HDTV offers at least twice the vertical
and horizontal resolution of Standard Definition TV, as well as much improved colour definition. In signal terms,
HDTV requires around 6x the amount of information required for an SDTV signal. Although there are no definitive

results, the table below provides some tentative comparisons for effective resolutions between SDTV and HDTV,
quoted in the familiar TV Lines (per picture height).

Video Format

Scanning

Pixel resolution

Static Resolution (TV

Lines/ph)

Dynamic Resolution (TV

Lines/ph)

SDTV - NTSC

Horizontal*

n/a

~350

~350

Vertical

n/a

~340

~270

Horizontal*

n/a

~400

~400

Vertical

n/a

~400

~320

Horizontal

1280

~500

~630

Vertical

720

~500

~630

Horizontal

1920

~750

~940

Vertical

1080

~750

~620

SDTV - PAL
HDTV - 720p
HDTV - 1080i

Notes:

SDTV performance assumes 4:3 screen aspect ratio and CRT based display

HDTV performance assumes 16:9 screen aspect ratio

Kell Factor for all static resolution assumed ~0.7

Kell factor for SDTV/CRT based moving images ~0.55

Extended Kell Factor for HDTV based moving images ~0.875

Horizontal Resolution for PAL and NTSC assumes broadcast bandwidths

So what does all of this mean? It means that both 720p and 1080i HDTV formats offer significant increases in
resolution performance in terms of TV Lines/ph over the composite SDTV formats. On static images, 1080i has the
clear advantage, with almost twice the vertical and horizontal resolution of the best SDTV images. On dynamic
images, the modern pixel based display technology provides a further advantage with 1080i offering almost twice
the vertical resolution and greater than twice the horizontal resolution of the best SDTV images.
6. What does YUV (Y-Pb-Pr or Y-Cb-Cr) mean on an HDTV specification?
The term YUV is a generic term used to describe the three components that go to make up the full HDTV video
signal. All digital HDTV formats use component video signals. The most common component video format is RGB
(Red, Green, Blue), and this is the component signal format used for all PC display monitors. For reasons explained
later in this FAQ, it is more convenient and efficient to transmit colour video in YUV component format, where Y is
the luminance or brightness channel and U and V are colour difference channels. The three channels, Y, U and V
together do exactly the same job as RGB, but they allow this to be done with a smaller bandwidth or data rate (see
later). YUV is a generic term for the three component video signals used in HDTV, the more correct technical terms
are Y-Pb-Pr for analogue HDTV signals (e.g. connections to a TV monitor screen), or Y-Cb-Cr for digital HDTV
signals (e.g., HD-SDI connection to a PC or to a digital HDTV recorder).
7. What do the terms 4:2:2, 4:1:1 or 4:2:0 mean on an HDTV specification?
These terms refer to the colour sampling scheme used in the HDTV signal. The human eye is much less sensitive to
colour detail than it is to brightness detail, therefore to reduce the size or bandwidth of an HDTV signal it is
possible to reduce the amount of colour information being transmitted in the signal without reducing the perceived
quality of the image to the viewer. This is done by sampling the colour information (U and V colour difference

channels) in the HDTV image less frequently than the luminance or brightness information (the Y channel). The
luminance information is sampled for every single pixel in the image this sampling rate equates to the number 4 in
the specification. So what do the other numbers mean?
4:2:2 This specification implies that the two colour difference channels (U and V) are only sampled every second
horizontal pixel of the image, so the effective horizontal colour resolution is only half of the luminance or brightness
resolution. The colour difference channels are still sampled on every vertical line of the image, so there is no loss in
vertical colour resolution.
4:1:1 In a similar manner, this specification implies that the colour difference channels are only sampled every
fourth horizontal pixel of the image. The effective horizontal colour resolution is a quarter that for the luminance or
brightness resolution. Again, there is no loss in vertical colour resolution.
4:2:0 This is a slightly confusing nomenclature, but it means that the colour difference channels are sampled every
second horizontal pixel and also every second vertical pixel. In this sampling scheme, both the horizontal and the
vertical colour resolution is half that for the luminance or brightness channel.
RGB For an RGB component video signal the de-facto sampling scheme would have to be 4:4:4. All three colour
component channels would have to be sampled on every pixel, as the luminance or brightness information is
shared between all three colour component channels. This is why YUV component video can be more efficient than
RGB as it allows some saving in bandwidth by reducing the colour information only, without affecting the luminance
or brightness information.
Comparison between bandwidth requirements for YUV and RGB

YUV 4:2:2 requires 2/3 the bandwidth of RGB (4:4:4)

YUV 4:1:1 requires 1/2 the bandwidth of RGB (4:4:4)

YUV 4:2:0 requires 1/2 the bandwidth of RGB (4:4:4)

In subjective quality terms there is no difference in perceived image quality between YUV 4:2:2 and full bandwidth
RGB. The perceived reduction in image quality using 4:1:1 or 4:2:0 colour sampling is very slight, with 4:2:0
offering perhaps a slightly better balanced performance both horizontally and vertically. For all practical purposes,
4:1:1 and 4:2:0 offer excellent image quality while taking up half the space of full bandwidth RGB video signals.
8. How do I transmit HDTV camera signals from underwater to the surface?
There are two issues to deal with firstly the increased resolution that HDTV provides, and second, the fact that all
HDTV signals use three component video signals to make up the HDTV image. These two issues add up to a lot of
information in an HDTV signal typically around 6x greater than that required for an SDTV signal. There are three
alternative HDTV transmission methods:

Analogue component (x3) video signals

Digital serial signal / uncompressed (e.g., HD-SDI)

Digital serial signal / compressed (e.g., MPEG2, AVC, WMV-HD)

It is safe to say that the Analogue transmission option is only suitable for relatively short cable transmission
distances (maybe several hundred metres with suitable long-line amplification), and requires three separate

matched coaxials to be present in the cable. Each coaxial will carry one of the three video components (Y, U and
V).
For longer transmission distances, the only practical option is to use a fibre-optic cable. A fibre-optic transmission
system lends itself to using a single serial HDTV streaming signal format and the choice is between an
uncompressed serial digital signal (e.g., HD-SDI), or a compressed serial digital signal (e.g., MPEG2, AVC, WMVHD).
9. What are the advantages and/or disadvantages of using compressed or uncompressed HDTV
signals?
Uncompressed The main benefit of using an uncompressed serial digital signal (such as HD-SDI) for HDTV
transmission is that the video images reaching the surface are effectively in real-time. There is no significant
processing delay between what the camera sees and what the operator views on the surface. The main
disadvantage of using an uncompressed signal is the enormous data rate that is required. The HD-SDI interface
has a transmission bit-rate of approximately 1.5Gbps (1.5 Gigabits per second). This is a formidable bit-rate, and
requires special fibre-optic transmission system components, and the very careful choice of interconnecting cables,
connectors and circuit wiring.
Compressed The principle benefit of using a compressed serial digital signal (such as MPEG2, AVC or WMV-HD) is
that they require a much smaller digital bit-rate than an uncompressed signal. This means that they can be
transmitted using less sophisticated fibre-optic transmission techniques, and they are much more suitable for direct
recording and storage purposes because they take up less storage space. The main disadvantage of compressed
HDTV signals is that they are not real-time. The compression (and decompression) process involves a significant
delay (typically several seconds). This means that the image viewed by the operator on the surface is delayed
compared to what the camera sees. This obviously means that compressed signal transmission is not suitable for
any viewing task requiring real-time performance such as ROV navigation, manipulator operation or certain survey
tasks. Another potential disadvantage is that dependant on the amount of compression being used, there is always
the possibility of compression artefacts reducing the perceived image quality of the HDTV signal compared to the
original.
10. Why would I want to transmit an uncompressed HDTV signal from the ROV to the surface, but then
to record a compressed HDTV signal at the surface?
For viewing applications requiring real-time video performance (e.g., navigation, manipulator applications, pipeline
survey) the only practical option is to transmit an uncompressed HDTV signal from the ROV to the surface. This
ensures that there are minimal processing delays through the transmission chain and the HDTV images at the
surface can be viewed in real-time. The standard signal interface format for uncompressed HDTV is HD-SDI.
Because of the very high bit-rate of the HD-SDI signal (~1.5Gbps) it is impractical to consider recording this
uncompressed signal. Recording the HD-SDI signal would require 2TB (Terrabytes) of digital storage space for a
single 3-hour video recording interval.
For storage and archiving purposes it is more practical to consider using one of the compressed HDTV signal
formats. All current broadcast HDTV programming transmissions use the ubiquitous and well-proven MPEG2
compression method and typical transmission bit-rates are between 20Mbps and 25Mbps for broadcast quality

video. At a bit rate of 25Mbps, the digital storage space required for 3-hours of HDTV video would be approximately
34GB (Gigabytes). This is a much more practical storage requirement than the uncompressed HD-SDI signal. The
use of one of the more advanced compression systems such as AVC or WMV-HD might allow the storage
requirement to be further reduced to half that required for MPEG2.
11. Which compression/decompression (CODEC) is best for HDTV signals?
There are currently three main classes of video CODEC used for HDTV signals. Each of the CODECs has their own
particular advantages and disadvantages.

MPEG2 / HDV

AVC / MPEG4 Part 10 / H.264 / AVC-HD / Apple Quicktime 7

WMV-HD
MPEG2 has been a well established video compression standard for many years, and it is the de-facto compression
used on all commercial digital and HDTV network broadcasting systems across the world, for terrestrial, satellite
and cable transmissions, as well as on DVD movies. Efficient and cost-effective MPEG2 coding and decoding
hardware is readily available and there are many software editing solutions available for PC video manipulation,
editing and recording.
AVC (Advanced Video CODEC) is an International ITU approved CODEC standard also commonly referred to as
MPEG4 Part 10, or H.264. It is a more advanced video CODEC than MPEG2. This means that it has the potential to
maintain the same video quality at a much lower bit-rate. Typically an AVC compressed HDTV signal will occupy
around half the storage space of an equivalent MPEG2 coded signal while maintaining the same perceived image
quality. The disadvantage with AVC is that it is a more complex CODEC and requires more powerful processing,
both for coding and decoding. Hardware coders and decoders are only now becoming available. They are
significantly more expensive, and software editing applications are also only just becoming available. AVC requires
more powerful PC's for video manipulation and editing purposes.
WMV-HD is a proprietary CODEC developed by Microsoft as part of the Windows Media software suite. It is
generally considered to be very similar in performance to AVC in terms of coding efficiency. The main disadvantage
again is that it is a complex CODEC and requires significant processing power, although notably less processing
power for decoding than AVC. The other potential disadvantage is that it is proprietary to Microsoft. On the plus
side, the WMV-HD decoding technology will be built in to the ubiquitous Windows Media Player an integral part of
the Windows operating system, and therefore it will have widespread distribution across the world.
12. Why are there different frame scanning frequencies used for the HDTV video formats in USA and
Europe?
This is a good question, as at first view it appears that there is little advantage in using different frame rates for
HDTV on different continents. The answer appears to lie in the history of the NTSC and PAL broadcast TV systems
used on these different continents, and in maintaining compatibility of newly recorded HDTV program material with
these older standard definition TV systems.
For the USA, the frame scanning rates for HDTV are either 30Hz for interlaced scanning or 60Hz for progressive
scanning. This makes for easy compatibility with the 30Hz interlaced scanning used in the NTSC TV system.

For Europe, the frame scanning rates for HDTV are either 25Hz for interlaced scanning or 50Hz for progressive
scanning. This makes for easy compatibility with the 25Hz interlaced scanning used in the PAL TV system used in
most of Europe.
The HDTV monitor specifications normally also allow for a frame rate of 24Hz, which provides direct compatibility
with movie films (normally recorded at 24 frames per second).
13. What are the optimum viewing distances for HDTV monitors?
Much closer than you would think! Based on the performance of the human eye and brain to resolve image detail,
the Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers (SMPTE) have recommended an optimum viewing distance
of 3x picture height for HDTV displays. This compares with the SMPTE recommended viewing distance of 6x picture
height for SDTV displays.
The SMPTE recommended viewing distances are calculated by considering the visual acuity of the human eye /
brain. It is generally accepted that the eye can resolve detail down to approximately 1 minute of arc (1/60th of a
degree of arc). Theoretical calculations based on the physical properties of the perfect eye indicate a visual acuity
better than this, maybe down to 0.5 minute of arc, but 1 minute of arc is generally accepted as the standard for
20/20 vision. Using this as the baseline performance for the human eye, the SMPTE made recommendations for
viewing distances that would allow the viewer to exploit the full resolution performance of the TV system without
exaggerating the line scanning structure (CRT) or pixel structure (LCD, Plasma) for the TV display.
Shown below is a table showing the optimum viewing distances for various standard TV screen sizes, at SDTV
resolution and both common HDTV resolutions.

TV Format Screen Size

Screen Aspect Ratio

Recommended Viewing Distance (feet)

SDTV (PAL or NTSC)

21"

4:3

6.5'

28"

4:3

9'

32"

4:3

10'

36"

4:3

11.5'

HDTV 720p
26"

16:9

5'

32"

16:9

6'

42"

16:9

8'

60"

16:9

11.5'

HDTV 1080i
26"

16:9

3'

32"

16:9

4'

42"

16:9

5'

60"

16:9

7.5'

As can be seen, the recommended viewing distances for optimal HDTV viewing are much closer than for SDTV. The
principal advantage of HDTV is that it allows a larger TV image to be viewed much closer to maximise resolution
potential for the viewer.

Note that if the viewer is positioned much further away than the recommended viewing distance then it is unlikely
that they will be viewing the full resolution potential of the HDTV signal. If the viewer is much closer than the
recommended viewing distance then it is likely that the scanning structure of the TV display pixels or phosphors
will become apparent, and this will reduce the overall perceived quality of the viewed image.

14. Can I transmit live HDTV across an Ethernet network connection?

It is unlikely that this will be a practical option in the near future. There are two common Ethernet network systems
currently in widespread use.

100BaseT (Fast Ethernet)

1000BaseT (Gigabit Ethernet)

The maximum theoretical data transmission bit-rates for these systems is 100Mbps and 1000Mbps (1 Gbps)
respectively. Under real network operating conditions, because Ethernet uses a packet switching and collision
detection system for data transmission, the actual data throughputs can be considerably less than these figures.
It is immediately obvious that neither Ethernet system has sufficient data bandwidth to be able to stream
uncompressed HDTV video with a data bandwidth of 1.5Gbps. It is possible to consider transmitting live
compressed HDTV video over an Ethernet network, but this would likely involve very heavy compression of the
HDTV signal, and a consequent big reduction in image quality. If there are other bandwidth intensive applications
running over the network at the same time then it is likely that there will be glitches or breaks in the video, even at
lower transmission bit-rates. In summary, Ethernet is not a good transmission system protocol for high-bandwidth
streaming HDTV video signals.
Of course it is perfectly straightforward to transfer an already recorded HDTV video data file across an Ethernet
network as this does not rely on real-time network performance. Because of the size of recorded HDTV files,
transfer over a network may take some time, and it may use up a significant proportion of the available network
bandwidth.