HD ready

HD ready concerns the abilities of television receivers to display high-definition pictures. The term has had official use in Europe since January 2005 when, EICTA (European Information, Communications and Consumer Electronics Technology Industry Associations) announced the requirements for the label.

EICTA introduced the label as a quality sign for the differentiation of display equipment, capable of processing and displaying high-definition signals. It is awarded on the basis of minimum functionality requirements that are detailed in the "EICTA conditions for HD Labeling of Display Devices".

In the USA, "HD Ready" refers to any display that is capable of accepting and displaying a high-definition signal at either 720p, 1080i or 1080p using a component video or digital input, and does not have a built-in HD-capable tuner.

Alternatives to HD ready TVs

Many PCs and laptops are actually more HD ready, in the true sense of the phrase, than the HD ready label requires. They will not, however, qualify for the HD ready label, unless they also meet the connector requirements.

Any sufficiently fast computer with a 1280x720 or higher resolution display is capable of displaying HD video, even though computers are generally not advertised as such. This video may come from the Internet, data files, or a DTV tuner card. The Internet already offers some HD content, like movie and videogame trailers.

HD ready 1080p

In order to be awarded the label "HD ready 1080p" (not equivalent to Full HD, as Full HD devices may not fulfill all HD Ready 1080p requirements), or the older "HD Ready" logo, a display device has to cover the following requirements:

Older products that bear the label "HD ready" may not display the full picture resolution possible from an HD source. Most HD-ready sets do not have enough pixels to give true pixel-for-pixel representation without interpolation of the higher HD resolution (1920x1080) - or (in rare cases) even the lower HD resolution (1280x720) "horizontally" (CRT based sets, or the plasma-based sets with 1024x768 resolution). This limitation has been removed in the "HD Ready 1080p" logo

The term HD compatible is also being used in Europe to indicate that a display device has HDMI capability but with lower than HD-ready resolution.

The following technical references apply to the above descriptions:

DVI: DDWG, “Digital Visual Interface”, rev 1.0, Apr 2, 1999 as further qualified in EIA861B, “A DTV Profile for Uncompressed High Speed Digital Interfaces” May 2002, furthermore allowing both DVI-D and DVI-I connectors, requiring compliance to both 50 and 60 Hz profiles, and requiring support for both 720p and 1080i video formats.

HDMI: HDMI Licensing, LLC, “High-Definition Multimedia Interface”, rev.1.1, May 20, 2004

HDCP: Intel, “High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection System”, rev 1.1, June 9 2003.

(NB: on DVI HDCP rev 1.0 will apply)

YPbPr: EIA770.3-A, March 2000, with the notice that the connectors required may be available only through an adaptor.

ee also

* Full HD

External links

* [http://www.hdready.org.uk/ HD ready official UK website]
* [http://www.eicta.org/index.php?id=731 High Definition Television and Logos - EICTA]
* [http://www.eicta.org/fileadmin/user_upload/document/HD_ready_1080p_1188470475.pdf License agreement and HD Ready 1080p requirements]
* [http://www.eicta.org/fileadmin/user_upload/document/PR_-_EICTA_launches_1080p_qualifier_logos.pdf HD Ready 1080p press release]
* [http://www.hdready.nl/ HD Ready official Dutch Information (Dutch)]
* [http://packages.sky.com/ UK HD broadcast from Sky.com (English)]
* [http://www.hdtvexpert.co.uk/ UK HDTV Expert Advice (English)]
* [http://www.tvblink.com/ HDTV benchmark DVD (English)]
* [http://www.dvdactive.com/editorial/articles/hdtv-are-you-ready.html DVDActive article - Are You Ready for HDTV?]