Why interlaced HDTV?

In a discussion today with a colleague I argued that it was illogical to
carry interlacing forward into the forthcoming HD standards. After some
debate it became clear that neither of us understood what we were talking
about!

I believe that interlacing was introduced decades ago to provide a
flicker-free image whilst still requiring only 25 (or 30 in USA) frames to
be broadcast per second. In other words, a primitive way of controlling
bandwidth requirements. Is this right or wrong? And is there any more to
it?

But now that we have 100Hz TVs, digital transmissions, and various amounts
of digital processing at both the broadcaster and inside a modern TV, I
can't understand what interlacing brings to the party, apart from extra
complications.

Backward compatibility doesn't seem a very strong argument, as the HD
interlaced standard appears to be higher definition than 'legacy' interlaced
TVs can manage anyway.

The people who design these standards aren't stupid, so obviously I'm
missing something. Can anyone elucidate?

Thanks!

Staiger


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Why interlaced HDTV?
    ... Judging from the replies to your query, very few people actually understand the difference, and what the real visual effects are. ... However, when the bulk of the population is considered, along with the amount of time that that type of artifact would be present, then the argument is overwhelmingly in favour of the use of interlacing. ... The majority of digital TV sets convert any interlaced image to progressive anyway. ... The people who design these standards aren't stupid, ...
    (uk.tech.digital-tv)
  • Re: Why interlaced HDTV?
    ... > carry interlacing forward into the forthcoming HD standards. ... Don't believe the crap they give out about film at 24 fps being enough to ... > The people who design these standards aren't stupid, ...
    (uk.tech.digital-tv)
  • Re: Why interlaced HDTV?
    ... > carry interlacing forward into the forthcoming HD standards. ... > The people who design these standards aren't stupid, ... and this is enough to give the smoothing effect. ... of moving objects which occurs naturally in real life. ...
    (uk.tech.digital-tv)
  • Re: CRT randomly loses power?
    ... > I'm not sure why tvs get by with less. ... Something with motion sensing, ... Interlacing? ... Longer-lasting phosphors? ...
    (comp.os.linux.misc)
  • Re: CRT randomly loses power?
    ... > I'm not sure why tvs get by with less. ... Something with motion sensing, ... Interlacing? ... Longer-lasting phosphors? ...
    (comp.os.linux.hardware)
Loading