HDTV TELEVISIONS

The French TV system became the world’s first HDTV system, and, by today’s standards, the French system could be called 755i (not all lines could be used for the actual image — some lines were lost during the vertical retrace). The French 819-line (or 755i) HDTV system was introduced in the 1950s. When, in the late-1960s, a second TV channel and color TV were introduced in Europe, the UK dropped its 405-line TV system (completely in 1985) and France dropped its 819-line system (again, with final transmissions from Paris in 1985), making all European countries agree to use 625 lines (576i) for their TV transmissions.

The French “755i” 819-line HDTV system was used in only France, Belgium and Monaco, and in France only for the first French TV channel. It was discontinued in 1986. It was used only for black-and-white TV; color TV in 819-line SECAM never went beyond the experimental stage. It was transmitted only on VHF channels, and a French 819-line TV channel occupied 14 MHz of bandwidth. The system was therefore not PAL, SECAM or CCIR601-derived.

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