HD ready

The HD ready is a certification program introduced in 2005 by EICTA (European Information, Communications and Consumer Electronics Technology Industry Associations), now DIGITALEUROPE.

There are currently four different labels: "HD ready", "HD TV", "HD ready 1080p", "HD TV 1080p". The logos are awarded to television equipment capable of certain features.

In the USA, a similar "HD Ready" term usually 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, but does not have a built-in HD-capable tuner.

History
The "HD ready" certification program was introduced on January 19, 2005. The labels and relevant specifications are based on agreements between over 60 broadcasters and manufacturers of the European HDTV Forum at its second session in June 2004, held at the Betzdorf, Luxembourg headquarters of founding member SES Astra.

The "HD ready" logo is awarded to television equipment capable of displaying High Definition (HD) pictures from an external source, however it does not have to feature a digital tuner to decode an HD signal; devices with tuners were certified under a separate "HD TV" logo, which does not require a "HD ready" display device.

Before the introduction of the "HD ready" certification, many TV sources and displays were being promoted as capable of displaying high definition pictures when they were in fact SDTV devices; according to Alexander Oudendijk, senior VP of marketing for Astra, in early 2005 there were 74 different devices being sold as ready for HD that were not. Devices advertised as HD-compatible or HD ready could take HDTV-signal as an input (via analog -YPbPr or digital DVI or HDMI), but they did not have enough pixels for true representation of even the lower HD resolution (1280 &times; 720) (CRT based sets only capable of SDTV-resolution or VGA-resolution, 640×480 pixels, or the plasma-based sets with 1024 &times; 768 resolution), much less the higher HD resolution (1920 &times; 1080), and so were unable to display the HD picture without downscaling to a lower resolution. Industry-sponsored labels such as "Full HD" were misleading as well, as they can refer to devices which do not fulfil some essential requirements such as having 1:1 pixel-to-pixel mapping with no overscan or accepting a 1080p signal.

A UK BBC television programme found that separate labels for display devices and TV tuners/decoders confused purchasers, many of whom bought HD-ready equipment expecting to be able to receive HD with no additional equipment; they were sometimes actively misled by salespeople&mdash;a 2007 Ofcom survey found that 12% were told explicitly that they could view analog SDTV transmissions in HD, 7% that no extra equipment was needed, and 14% that HD-ready sets would receive existing digital SDTV transmissions in HD.

On August 30, 2007, 1080p versions of the logos and licensing agreements were introduced; as an improvement to the earlier scheme, "HD TV 1080p" logo now requires "HD ready 1080p" certification.

Requirements and logos


HD ready and HD ready 1080p logos are awarded to displays (including integrated television sets, computer monitors and projectors) which have certain capabilities to process and display high-definition source video signal, outlined in a table below.

The HD TV logo is awarded to either integrated digital television sets (containing a display conforming to "HD ready" requirements) or standalone set-top boxes which are capable of receiving, decoding and outputting or displaying high-definition broadcasts (that is, include a DVB tuner for cable, terrestrial or satellite broadcasting, a video decoder which supports H.264/MPEG-4 AVC compression in 720p and 1080i signal formats, and either video outputs or an integrated display capable of handling such signals).

The HD TV 1080p logo is awarded to integrated digital television sets which have a display conforming to "HD ready 1080p" requirements, a DVB tuner and a decoder capable of processing 1080p signal.

In order to be eligible for the "HD ready 1080p" or "HD Ready" logo, a display device has to meet the following requirements:

Technical references

 * DVI: DDWG, "Digital Visual Interface", rev 1.0, April 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. (For DVI input, 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.