European Group Formed to Make Own Version of HDTV

A European consortium of high-definition television companies was launched Wednesday in a bid to make its version of razor-sharp pictures, wrapped in digital sound, acceptable throughout the world.

The consortium, called “Vision 1250” because European HDTV screens will feature 1,250 horizontal lines instead of the 625 on conventional sets there, is a multinational group that will make HDTV production facilities available to film and TV professionals.

Antonio La Pergola, chairman of the European Parliament’s energy, research and technology committee, said Europe had “reduced significantly Japan’s 10-year lead” in HDTV technology because the European Community’s technology is compatible with existing TV standards.

Japan and the United States have proposed a worldwide HDTV standard based on 1,125 horizontal lines. Conventional TV sets in the United States and Japan feature 525 horizontal lines. An international agreement on a worldwide HDTV standard has not yet been reached, and a decision on a standard for domestic broadcast in the United States is not expected until 1992.

The European Community has rejected Japanese HDTV technology on grounds that it is incompatible with existing broadcast and reception equipment in Europe and would give Japanese companies a virtual monopoly of the television hardware market in Europe. One of Vision 1250’s objectives is to ensure that its 1,250-line technology becomes the world standard.

The European Community’s executive commission has said HDTV would be on the market there from 1992 onward.

The founding members of Vision 1250 are Philips NV of the Netherlands and RAI of Italy plus British Broadcasting Corp., British Satellite Broadcasting, Laser Creation and Thames Television of Britain; BHD TV, BTS, Nokia and Unitel of West Germany; and France Telecom, OFRT, SFP and Thomson SA of France.