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Mr. N.M. Mehra spearheads the Technical operations of Visual Technologies India Pvt Ltd. (VTIPL). VTIPL is a leading company in the country engaged in Marketing and Distribution of World Renowned Professional Audio-Video Broadcast Equipment all over India. The Company has been serving television broadcsting industry since 1996.

In a conversation with www.mediamughals.com, Mr. Mehra spreads light on the different aspects of penetration of High-Definition Technology in India.

1. HD is the most talked about technology. How do you see the penetration of the HD in India?

HD – the high-definition format of viewing is certainly the most talked about technology in the world, for many years. Talking about the Indian perspective, HD is currently being made available by few direct-to-home service providers such as Sun Direct, with others to follow soon. There too a few selected channels are uplinked in HD and broadcast in the format with the number not being too large.

With the Commonwealth Games 2010 I definitely foresee HD technology to witness a flight in the region backed by Doordarshan full-HD broadcast only, as committed by the broadcaster.

2. How do you differentiate between the HD and SD formats of broadcasting?

There are several differences that can be marked out between the high-definition (HD) and standard-definition (SD), but a few major ones could be:

SD has 4 x 3 aspect ratio while HD, as universally accepted, has aspect ratio of 16 x 9.
SD gives a picture of 720 x 576 resolution and HD gives a picture in either 1280 x 720 or 1920 x 1080 resolution.
HD has more crisp, convincing, appealing and logical picture while a picture viewed in SD format is considerably flat.

A vital factor that differentiates SD & HD, from the viewers’ point, while viewing SD you have to keep yourself 21” away from the TV set. On the contrary, HD is viewed on a flat (progressive) screen as a result you can afford to sit closer to the TV screen to enjoy the HD effect. The recommended distance for viewing HD TV is 3-4 times of the height of TV set, not beyond that.

3. As you mentioned that HD is being talked about for many years globally. Then why hasn’t HD picked up in India?

The reason is very simple. The technology wasn’t conducive earlier as compared to today. High costs have been a major reason with consumers not being able to afford the HDTV sets. At the same time the delivery method for the HD broadcast was very difficult.

But with the change of time, digitisation and computerisation, things have changed with HD becoming an achievable technology. It has also become affordable by the consumers.

I also believe that another reason behind nations like Japan and America adopted the HD format much earlier than India was the NTSC signals made in use by these countries. The NTSC signals deliver a poor picture quality. While in India, PAL standard is used where we already have over 500 channels being beamed into our homes being considered to give a vibrant picture. Thus, Indian viewers are yet not able to differentiate between the two formats.

4. What are the challenges for adoption of HD format in India?

From consumers’ point of view the challenge is the availability of HD-compatible television sets such as Plasma, LCD, LED, etc. The widespread viewership would depend on the popularity, affordability and easy availability of the HD devices in houses. Currently a very small portion of the population has HD-compatible TV sets.

Talking from a broadcaster’s point of view, the broadcasting process is not possible for this small population. Moreover, programmes such as lifestyle shows, health related shows, sports, general entertainment, etc are easy to be shot in HD mode while taking News-format to HD might turn out to be a more cumbersome process.

5. How about the availability of equipments and platforms that would facilitate HD production and distribution?

For broadcasting in HD format, a broadcaster focuses on two major functions – production and distribution.

All equipments, such as camera systems, switchers, peripherals, lenses, cables, etc, are available to support HD content production. Notably, since last few years global broadcasting industry is concentrating on HD. We have not witnessed any new developments or breakthroughs to cater to SD format of broadcasting.

As for the distribution method being adopted for HD format, the DTH platform (Direct-to-Home) would turn out to be the most successful in the Indian context. Taking into consideration figures of a TAM study, India has around 130 million TV homes. Of these around 15 million homes accounts to receive TV signals via the DTH platform. The number might seem to be small, yet it is quite large in a short duration. The TAM report also projects 35-40 million DTH homes by the year 2012.

Besides, Doordarshan is also said to be working upon the terrestrial platform for the distribution of HD by making use of DVB T-2 terrestrial transmission system.

To work on commercial modules, simulcast of the SD and HD formats may be required to support rapid penetration of the HD format in India.

6. For a broadcaster to convert from SD workflow to HD workflow, what amount of investment would be required?

Comparing SD with HD, cost wise difference has narrowed down to ultimately become same. Broadcasters are not going for SD equipment as the HD products available in the market have been devised to support both, SD as well HD.

As for the training of the personnel to equip themselves with the skill of working with HD equipment is also not a concern, as the equipments have been designed to minimise the complexities and facilitate the use.

To mention here, change of perception is required observing “TV is a medium of close up”. With HD coming in the camera person needs to be careful for the focusing component as the picture is more detailed, crisp and clear, as I said earlier and TV can turn out to be a medium showing wider picture.

7. Your conclusive comments over HD!

HD is the glorified and the much talked about form of broadcasting that has brought significant change in the way we view TV. The penetration has been slow in India, but sporting events such as Commonwealth Games would give a boost to the technology. Besides, today most of the production houses are carrying their production work in HD format. Observing this, I would conclude that HD has to come by all means, and there is no denial about it!