• Recalling that:
  • the European Commission recognises the potential of HDTV in the European Union;
  • the European Commission Services have proposed that co-ordination across Member States may be helpful to avoid fragmentation;
  • the European Commission Services encourage the Digital Interoperability Forum (DIF) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to develop a technology roadmap to address, in advance of legacy situations emerging, the co-existence and interoperability among HDTV specifications for presentation at a workshop at which other European HDTV fora were invited to participate;
  • there was agreement on technical options which was welcomed by the Commission; demonstrating that a market-led approach to the introduction of HDTV is appropriate.

• To continue the consensual approach presented to the European Commission, DIF and the EBU will jointly administer the European High Definition Forum (EHDF).

• The purpose of the EHDF is to provide a venue for European HDTV platforms to share knowledge and experience that will support the successful, industry-led introduction of HDTV in Europe.

• The EHDF will use all reasonable efforts to reach a voluntary consensus on issues concerning interoperability and standardisation relating to HDTV, although it will not itself develop standards.

• If requested and agreed, the EHDF will liaise with the European Commission Services on matters relating to interoperability and standardisation for HDTV.

• It is not intended that EHDF will discuss matters concerning spectrum allocation for HDTV.

• Similarly the EHDF will not become involved in technology, policy or regulatory issues relating to matters other than HDTV.

• The EHDF may assemble, prepare and publish collective summaries of the views, implementation plans and progress of the HDTV fora, subject to the unanimous agreement and consent of the fora.

• Any European HDTV forum, established in an EU member state (or accession country), is entitled to participate in the EHDF.

• The European Commission and EICTA will be invited to have observer status. Other participants may be invited to participate according to the agenda.

• The EHDF will meet according to need. So far as possible, the EHDF will convene either by conference call or electronically.

• The tasks of meeting preparation, secretariat and chairing will be shared by mutual agreement between DIF and the EBU.

• The EHDF is not a legal entity and has no assets or formal statutes.

The EHDF Audio Sub group is an ad-hoc subgroup of the European High Definition Forum (EHDF) whose members are Audio experts from EBU and DiF member organisations tasked with resolving matters relating to multi-channel Audio, (surround sound - 5.1 etc.)

The purpose of the group is to share knowledge, experience and best practice in this new and rapidly evolving area of broadcasting, especially with a view to the area of content interchange, to publish their experiences and create Implementation Guidelines where necessary. This will primarily cover business-to-business interchange (i.e. between broadcasters, production houses, publishers/distributors, post production and/or transmission providers).

Specific Areas of interest

Track Allocation

The aim is to create a supplement to EBU technical guidance note R48 to cover new track layouts required for exchange for 4, 8, 12 and possibly 16 tracks. Hopefully there should be a submission to the main EHDF group by summer 2007. Future work should include track issues in file based formats.

Sports Commentary

This area is still evolving as more and more events are covered in multi-channel Audio.

Multi-channel Audio Idents

Lip-Sync Issues

This is an interesting area as it is unclear what the problem is or where it lies. Consequently BBC Research is planning to conduct some research in an attempt to clarify and quantify the issue.

Levels

There is much activity in this area currently and the group is in an ‘information and experience gathering’ phase with a view to producing a report in a year’s time.