Any system producing significantly greater picture resolution than that of the ordinary 525-line (625-line in Europe) television screen.
Conventional television transmits signals in analog form. Digital HDTV systems, by contrast, transmit pictures and sounds in the form of digital data. These numerical data are broadcast using the same high radio frequencies that carry analog waves, and computer processors in the digital television set then decode the data. Digital HDTV can provide sharper, clearer pictures and sound with very little interference or other imperfections. Of perhaps greater importance, digital television sets will potentially be able to send, store, and manipulate images as well as receive them, thereby merging the functions of the television set and the computer.