Digital Television
Although Hong Kong is not required to follow the Mainland China's standard, Hong Kong government still decided to use DMB-T/H as the digital television broadcast standard and the official commencement of digital TV broadcasting began at 7 p.m. on December 31, 2007 as the first digital TV signal transmitter in Tsz Wan Shan went online earlier in December.
In October 2007, both broadcasting companies had agreed in November 2007 to utilise MPEG2 video format for simulcasting channels (TVB Jade, ATV Home, TVB Pearl and ATV World), and the H.264 format will be implemented for all digital broadcasting only channels.
For the audio codec, usual DTMB set-top boxes will support MPEG-1 Audio Layer II (MP2) for stereo audio tracks, and Dolby AC-3 for surround sound audio tracks. TVB will also implement the use of MHEG-5 technology for providing interactive features, named "TVB Interactive", and providing a logo for consumers to identify set-top boxes with MHEG-5 middleware support. The official specification defines standard-definition broadcasting will be in 576i at 25 frame/s and high-definition broadcasting in 720p at 50 Hz or 1080i at 25 Hz.
Digital television will be available to Hong Kong citizens in several phases, depending on the completion of corresponding transmitters. All major transmitters are expected to be completed on or before August 15, 2008 covering at least 75% of Hong Kong population.
Read more about this topic: Television In Hong Kong
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