The U.S. Digital Television Standard and its Impact on VLSI

Abstract

The U.S. is in the final stages of establishing a Digital Television (DTV) transmission standard for digital terrestrial broadcasting in both HDTV and SDTV formats. The Grand Alliance prototype hardware has been extensively tested in both laboratory and field conditions and has exhibited outstanding performance. As of this writing, the Grand Alliance system has been officially recommended by industry to the FCC as the U.S. standard and final approval is expected from the FCC by the middle of 1996. The U.S. DTV standard will create a new market for digital consumer electronics products based on the standard, including DTV receivers, VCRs, camcorders and Personal Computer interface cards that will employ VLSI circuits to cost-effectively implement the products.