Experiments in Digital Television

Television has been around for many decades now and has become ubiquitous. Analog TV technology, however, which was developed before the 1940’s, has remained essentially the same over the last 50 years. Alternative digital transmission standards have been developed recently and are in use for satellite and cable transmissions. This technology is now being deployed for terrestrial TV as well. This high-speed infrastructure for digital broadcasts of video, audio, and other data, which will be build over the next few years, suggests that we look more closely at this technology and explore its use from the standpoint of computer graphics. This paper provides an overview of the technology of digital television, discusses its potential and challenges, and presents several experimental applications which demonstrate how computer graphics can provide input and influence the future of digital television. These applications include a virtual VCR, interactive video overlays, technology for the lecture of the future, and interactive video panoramas.