NEW DELHI: Two High Definition television (HDTV) studios are being set up in Delhi and Mumbai, with field production and post-production facilities in four metros.

Also coming up is an HDTV uplink at Delhi apart from HDTV terrestrial transmitters in the four metros.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said that HDTV broadcasting transmission provides pictures with a resolution 4 to 5 times higher than the existing transmission. It provides clear, noise free picture quality on wide screen TV receivers in aspect ratio of 16:9.

Meanwhile, an amount of Rs. 12.09 billion has been set aside for digitalization of Doordarshan out of an outlay of Rs. 13.69 billion approved for the new schemes in the 11th Plan. The modernization schemes include work on digitalization of existing studios, establishment of digital transmitters, replacement & augmentation of old studios, transmitter & satellite broadcast equipment and setting up of HDTV facilities.

Doordarshan at present has a total of 66 studio centres spread all over the country, of which 23 centres are either already digitalised or being digitalized. Thirty-nine studio centres which are partially digitalized or analog are planned to be fully digitalized in the 11th Plan. The remaining four studios which are analog are proposed to be digitalized in the 12th Plan.

The agenda includes taking up 40 locations where analog High Power Transmitters are operational for setting up of Digital terrestrial transmitters (DTT) in the country during the 11th Plan.

In addition, 14 High Power TV transmitters (HPTs) and 60 Lower Power TV transmitters (LPTs) are being replaced by state of the art analog transmitters, besides modernization and augmentation of equipment at existing studio centres.

Satellite Earth Stations are used in Doordarshan for networking of its programmes/channels throughout the country. It is proposed to upgrade and modernize existing Earth Stations and Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) equipment in the 11th Plan.