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Qatar - Land of High Definition
A comparison between HDTV – High Definition Television (above left) and SDTV – Standard Definition Television (below left), shows the dramatic difference in screen resolution you can expect with the latest Television technology.
Consumers can choose from HDTV converter boxes, or the latest LCD or PLASMA screen televisions with built in converters, with which to view the new format.
An even newer carbon-based technology called FED or “field effect displays” is currently under development, which is exploring the use of diamonds and carbon nanotubes to produce image quality equal to the cathode-ray tube but on a flat screen.
You have all, by now, heard of Qatar (you wouldn’t be reading this if you hadn’t) and ALJAZEERA Television (based within the capital of Doha). Not only is it the home of the Arab world’s leading TV news station (noted for its journalism and views on freedom of the media), but Qatar is rapidly becoming a world leader in the implementation the future standard of television production: HDTV.
HDTV (High Definition Television) promises to revolutionise the way that television is viewed around the world. Established in 2001, this odyssey in the living room space has had quite a journey gaining worldwide acceptance. However, more and more US and European cable channels are beginning to support this versatile new format, whilst retaining the “normal” TV broadcast.
At the present, viewers need either to upgrade their TV to a High Definition set, or purchase a converter box to connect to their current set, in order to view HDTV. There are already many units, for example, the popular PLASMA sets, which are produced HDTV-ready, so buyers can be prepared for the day when it fully takes over from conventional broadcasting.
You won’t believe the image quality of HDTV, roughly four times sharper than the current standard, until you see it first hand. Sports, news, movies and TV shows all look extremely life-like. You can almost reach out and touch your favourite actor or sports star.
HDTV in Qatar came into the spotlight when the Doha Asian Games Organising Committee (DAGOC) announced, about a year ago, that the 2006 Doha Asian Games would be the first major sporting event in the world to be fully filmed and broadcast in HD. The bold decision has sparked a lot of publicity for the organisers and Qatar itself. Many of the world’s sporting cable networks have already begun the push towards HDTV, so the Games’ move makes perfect business sense.
Private business has also been quick on the up-take. Nasser Al-Khalaf, managing director of the local production house, DTM states, “More and more of our clients these days demand their productions to be done in HD. Even when we produce commercials that will be broadcast on the 'standard' television it still makes sense to produce in HD. Images have much more 'expensive' look, almost like producing on film.”
DTM recently began the production of a yearlong documentary focussed on the “Dolphin Project” – a natural gas pipeline currently in construction between Qatar and the United Arab Emirates – and the filming has been entirely in HD from day one. “This allows our client to ‘future-proof’ the production,” Mr. Al-Khalaf. “We are delivering first progress-reports for the client on the Standard DVD, but the final product, when the project is finished in 2006, will also be in HD. By that time we anticipate HDTV televisions and DVD players to be wildly available in the market”
DTM has been engaged to provide HD post-production facilities to ALJAZEERA INTERNATIONAL, the new English language news station, which will begin programming in the spring of 2006. With Qatar prominent in the switch to HDTV, ALJAZEERA’S involvement was inevitable. The new station attracted much attention in the HDTV arena, by announcing that it is to be one of the first TV stations in the world, certainly of its size, to be fully producing in HD from the first broadcast.
In a year or so, Qatar will not only be recognised for its freedom of the media, but will be known throughout the world of television production as a spearhead of the international revolution that is HDTV.
