Television broadcasting in Australia passed an important milestone recently with the publication of a new Australian Standard for digital TV receivers. The new Standard AS 4933.1—2000 Digital television- Requirements for Receivers: Part 1; VHF/UHF DVB-T television broadcasts defines the technical requirements for TV receivers and set-top-boxes to receive and decode digital television services, including High Definition broadcasts using Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) standards. According to Bob Greeney, Chairman of the Standards Australia Committee CT/2 and Director of Technology for the Australian Broadcasting Authority, the Standard meets all the requirements set out in the current Commonwealth legislation covering digital television broadcasting. “AS 4933.1 provides for reception and decoding of high definition and standard definition television and datacasting services,” he says. Viewers will have the option of buying an entry level set-top-box that receives and decodes the digital broadcasts for viewing on an existing analog television set, or for connection to a standard definition or high definition wide-screen television display. Viewers will also have the option of buying either a standard definition integrated wide screen television set that canreceive and decode both standard definition and high definition television broadcasts, but will only display the programs in standard definition if they were transmitted in a high definition format; or they might choose to buy a high definition integrated wide-screen television set that can receive and display high definition programs - receivers that will display HDTV will cost more, and will receive and display standard definition programs when there is no high definition program being broadcast. “This Standard provides consumers with the broadest options for using their television for the full range of television and datacasting services which are expected to be available once digital television begins on January 1, 2001,” says Bob Greeney. “With a start date now just eight months away, industry is particularly anxious to put the Standard in place quickly, to enable sufficient lead time for television receiver and set-top-box manufacturers to get their consumer products into the market place in time for the beginning of the transition to digital television broadcasting in Australia,” he says. Standards Australia's Director, Communications, IT and e-commerce, Roger Lyle, says that Australia was the first country in the world to implement the DVB standard for High Definition television. “This Standard is based on the European standards for digital terrestrial TV broadcasting and also incorporates Dolby digital audio sound requirements, similar to the features found in DVD players available world-wide. This means receivers will be able to decode Dolby AC-3 surround sound as well as MPEG audio transmissions. “This places Australia in a unique position to influence development of international Standards in this area,” Roger Lyle says. Government decisions taken in December 1999 in relation to digital television require no changes to this latest Standard, but has given impetus to the need for a Standard for Standard Definition (SD)TV receivers as a priority for Standards Australia. Standards Australia’s Broadcasting and Related Services Committee began preliminary work on an SDTV receiver Standard in January, in response to the Government’s announcement just before Christmas. Its progress is dependent upon the passage of legislation setting out the requirements for SDTV.