Study Finds Documentaries And Sports Benefit Most From HDTV

26-Jul-00

A recent study by Dr. Marvin A. Hecht, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Louisiana College in Pineville, Louisiana, examined how broadcasters can make the most use of digital television, a new form of television being phased in by the FCC.In the study, college students were shown identical scenes in both high definition digital television (HDTV) and standard definition digital television (SDTV).""Unlike current television broadcasts which have only one level of picture quality, in the future broadcasters will be able to decide to show either a single program in HDTV or use the same bandwidth to show multiple programs in SDTV,"" Hecht said.The goal was to determine if people could tell the difference between HDTV and SDTV and what types of content benefit most from the increased resolution provided by the high-definition picture.This was one of the first studies of this type to systematically expose viewers to six different content areas including action, drama, sports, documentaries, entertainment television, and news.A mini-theatre environment was constructed for the study. Viewers watched and rated 42 short video clips in both HDTV and SDTV without being told in advance the level of video quality they were seeing.Viewers watched the material on a 108-inch diagonal screen, seated at the recommended viewing distance of 2.5-3 picture heights. The display device used was a SONY VPH-G90U multi-scan CRT projector.Senior psychology students helped coordinate the study and operate the Panasonic AJ-HD2700 D-5 multi-format mastering video tape recorder, while 62 Louisiana College freshmen and sophomores served as the viewers. The majority of viewers had never seen enhanced picture quality beyond DVD.The results showed that HDTV material was preferred significantly more than SDTV material overall. As expected, certain programs benefited more than others.Sports and documentaries showed the greatest difference in clarity and how much people liked the picture, followed by news and entertainment television. Action and drama clips, while the most popular content areas, showed the least improvement in clarity and picture liking.People liked the content significantly more for documentaries, sports, news, and entertainment television when they were in HDTV, but there was little added improvement for action and drama, which were already rated as being highly liked in SDTV.Willingness to watch more if it the program was in HDTV was highest for documentaries and dramas, medium for sports, news and entertainment television, and least for action.Overall, the study suggests that while it is a safe bet to provide action movies and dramas in HDTV, sports and documentaries illustrate the new medium the best, and are likely to draw people to this format the most.""When you view sports such as football and you can see the emotion on the faces of the players and individual audience members, it creates a heightened sense of reality and involvement with the game, compared to regular television,"" said Hecht, who is also an expert in human emotion research.When viewers saw the space shuttle launch in high-definition, they could see individual tiles on the space shuttle as well as all the different colors in the ignition flames.""This is good news for professional sports leagues and science/learning networks such as PBS, but is also of interest to local broadcasters who have the capability to shoot a parade or air show in HDTV,"" Hecht said.News and talk shows, which mostly feature a ""talking head,"" do not benefit as much unless the background scenery is very detailed. In general, the study will help broadcasters decide where to allocate their limited resources for HDTV during the early part of the digital transition phase.This study was presented in April 2000 at the National Association of Broadcastersí annual convention in Las Vegas, Nevada.Equipment loans were provided by AJA Video, Panasonic and Sony. Footage was provided by ABC, Baylor University, Greene Productions, Harris, HD VISION, MSG Network, Miramax, the National Film Board of Canada, NBC's ""The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,"" NFL, NHL, Panasonic, PBS, WFAA and WRAL.Video editing and transfers were done at HiWire, HD VISION, HTV, MSG Network, Panasonic and WFAA.For further information, please contact Hecht at 318 487 7162.

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