36 Years Ago Today HD TV Was Born

Stembolt

As the world celebrates this leap forward, April 20, 1989 36 years ago today will be remembered as the day television took a bold step into the future. For millions of viewers, the promise of high-definition clarity is no longer a dream—it’s a reality on the horizon.

dave

Stembolt

Now all we need is over-the-air programming worth watching!

broknsymetry

Available in Japan in 1989, not available in the US until 1998.

Somewhat-Reticent

Also demanded much more from makeup & cosmetics services.

GeekGirl1

36 years already? Time flies…

All the camera operators had to learn how to shoot in 16:9. This was a big deal at the time.

I had to get a UHF antenna for the local Philly stations. Except for Channel 6 (WPVI) which decided to stay on VHF.

GrumpyCanadian

dave Or any programming worth watching, for that matter, on any channel anywhere. To me, television lately all comes across as brain-rotting drivel that makes one dumber for having watched.

david3

I got my first HD set in the US around 2000, a Mitsubishi rear-projection 1080i set, paired with a Dish 6000 that got HD from dish network and had an OTA HD tuner.

dave

GrumpyCanadian

I enjoyed the recent ‘season’ of Black Mirror. Is Netflix ‘television’?

telcodad

david3 I got my first HD set in the US around 2000, a Mitsubishi rear-projection 1080i set, paired with a Dish 6000 that got HD from dish network and had an OTA HD tuner.

My first HDTV was an Hitachi Ultravision 32UX01S 32-inch 4:3 CRT TV. It had component inputs which I used to connect to an OTA HD Tuner that had component outputs. In “widescreen” letterboxed mode the picture size was equivalent to that of a 27inch LCD panel.

It weighed a “ton” though, so I was kind-of happy when it eventually died and I replaced with a 32-inch flat panel HDTV. 😉

david3

My Mitsubishi had component inputs, also. There was no HDMI, yet.

When it died, I replaced it with a DLP projector and a screen. Much lighter. 🙂

JanJ

I participated in HDTV demo’s long before that, where analog cameras were modified to output HD. There were 10’s of HD formats back then. Most concentrated on displaying it, rather than recording or transmission.

RDAnderson

Stembolt

Remember Philo Taylor Farnsworth as well. Really smart guy who beat RCA as the legal inventor of TV.

Somewhat-Reticent

JanJ And reception meant keeping up with aspect-ratio settings.

digitalfutur

Well there’s hi def, and then there’s HI DEF. Originally, hi def (ATSC 1.0) was 720p or 1080i. Today’s 4K HI DEF (ATSC 3.0) is 2160p, and with HDR in some cases. Some OTA does broadcast at 4K but usually only specific programs, and almost never with HDR.

Once you’ve experienced, 4K HDR, especially on big screen, hi def is dull.