KOREAN electronics company Samsung wants to give you back something you
didn鈥檛 know you were missing鈥攑art of your TV picture.
Samsung calculates that existing TV sets display only 88 per cent of the
image broadcast by the TV station. Now it has begun making HiTron TV sets with
tubes that display the missing 12 per cent. Samsung calls the missing part of
the picture the 鈥渉idden inch鈥�, because on large HiTron TV sets the picture is
2.5 centimetres wider than usual.
Conventional TV pictures have an aspect ratio of 4:3鈥攆our units wide
and three units tall. The extreme top and bottom of the picture are trimmed
because the scanning lines at the top are filled with digital code, often for
Teletext. If this area were visible, the viewer would see dancing black and
white dots along the top of the screen.
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To preserve the 4:3 ratio, the set also masks the left and right sides of the
picture. TV programme makers ensure there is no vital action in this area, but
Hollywood movies are made for projection in cinemas, where the action can take
place across a larger area.
Samsung鈥檚 TV has a ratio of 12.8 to 9. When a 4:3 programme is being
broadcast, the action on screen spreads wider. When the station transmits a 16:9
widescreen programme, the Samsung tube displays the picture鈥檚 full width but
adds narrow black borders to the top and bottom.
Unfortunately, computer giant Microsoft already has its own plans for the
鈥渉idden inch鈥�. It wants to use the sides of the picture to carry digital data,
in addition to the signals carried for Teletext. The data will be decoded by the
TV and then retransmitted by a low-power radio link around the viewer鈥檚 home.
The radio signal will control electronic toys or educational aids
(Technology, 5 April, p 25).
Conventional TV sets will mask Microsoft鈥檚 data, but Samsung鈥檚 HiTron will
display it as dancing dots down the left and right sides of the picture. Samsung
is now looking at ways to resolve the conflict. One option is to get HiTron sets
into homes as soon as possible. TV stations may then be deterred from using
Microsoft鈥檚 system for fear of complaints from viewers with HiTron.