HD TV or HDTV is the abbreviated form of high-definition television. This term denotes a set of standards for high-resolution video which are used to ensure compatibility in broadcasting and reproduction.
HDTV standards use higher resolutions for images than standard definition television (SDTV) standards. For this reason, HDTV video appears sharper than SDTV video, even when displayed on large television screens. In order to view television broadcasts in HDTV quality, programs must be broadcast in an HDTV format and the television set, projector or monitor used to view the video must be HDTV compatible. The majority of television sets currently in production support HDTV.
Many television broadcasters now broadcast in an HDTV standard. Only a handful of the television channels which are available in Switzerland are still broadcast using an SDTV standard. Note: Some TV plans only include the SDTV versions of certain channels, even though the same channels are also broadcast in HDTV format. This is primarily the case with the basic TV plans from cable network operators like Sunrise (formerly UPC) and Quickline.
Swiss television service providers typically broadcast HDTV channels in the 1280x720 pixel (921,600 total pixels) or the 1920x1080 pixel (2,073,600 total pixel) HDTV standards. By comparison, SDTV broadcasts in Switzerland use a resolution of 544x576 pixels (313,344 total pixels) or 704x576 pixels (414,720 total pixels).
The TV plan comparison on moneyland.ch lists the number of HDTV channels included in each TV plan.
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