Berlin, 3 August 2006 – Once again the IFA 2006 will be synonymous with outstanding products and solutions in the field of high definition technology. The slogan in Hall 26 is “TV in new dimensions“, referring to a theme of overwhelming importance for the industry, high definition (HD), which provides viewers with pictures of unprecedented quality and opens up a vast commercial potential for the industry.
High definition television was already one of the most fascinating topics at the IFA 2005, where exhibitors and visitors were able to witness the breakthrough into a new world of television images. Now the IFA 2006 is presenting HDTV and high definition media in Europe as a commercially available platform with a rapidly increasing range of media and terminals.
There has already been widespread acceptance of the aids to decision-making that have been introduced by the equipment manufacturers, such as the standard logos “HD ready“ and “HD TV“. These are used to indicate equipment that has been designed to cope with the standards of the future and can receive, process and present pictures broadcast using HDTV and from HD video media. The following details, from the German market, are proof of the interest in HDTV on the part of consumers: the German public readily purchases equipment that can be adapted to meet the most up-to-date technical standards. Already 70% of the LCD-TV sets sold in May bore the “HD-ready“ logo.
In accordance with this development the equipment manufacturers exhibiting at the IFA 2006 have an impressive array of HDTV receivers, which are ready to go into mass production, from cable- and satellite-compatible set-top boxes to fully equipped television sets with a built-in HDTV receiving units, with provision for future adaptations to meet the latest technical developments. New HDTV programmes are also being presented at the IFA, such as sports broadcasts, feature films, documentaries and reportage. All this ensures that HDTV will give a fresh impetus to the market for flat screens and home cinema projectors, as well as setting new standards in video and sound recording and play-back equipment.

But high definition pictures are not just confined to television: new HD media such as the Blu-ray disc and HD-DVD are also being launched on the European market at the IFA in Berlin. There are also new HD camcorders and digital cameras with a resolution of several million pixels, which can conjure up truly impressive images on the screen.
The introduction of high definition images has also led to further qualitative improvements in Home Cinema sound. HD-DVDs and Blu-ray discs both reproduce soundtracks from Hollywood productions via as many as seven full hifi channels, with an additional subwoofer channel to deliver solid bass tones. The new digital audio formats offer acoustic reproduction that incorporates all the data available to a sound engineer in the studio, and without any loss of quality. As a result the sound quality is of a level that can even surpass the volume of sound in most of today’s cinemas. Music productions in particular, such as live concert recordings, will benefit enormously from these technological advances. The manufacturers of home cinema receivers and amplifiers are already preparing for the audio component of the high definition revolution with a new generation of equipment, a comprehensive selection of which will be on show at the IFA 2006.

HD Home Cinema Resort in Hall 26
During the IFA 2006 its organisers, gfu, and the executive company, Messe Berlin, will be staging a display covering more than 500 square metres in Hall 26 entitled the HD Home Cinema Resort, where visitors will be invited to undertake a fascinating journey into the world of high definition media.
The central point will be a house, fully open to view, which visitors can enter in order to experience HD technology from well-known exhibitors for various areas of the home, all presented in a highly creative and unconventional way. Flat screens are incorporated as cooking surfaces, fireplaces, aquariums or as bathroom mirrors. Outside this house visitors will find a pool, as well as a large bar and restaurant area. A changing programme (DVD premieres in Germany, golf matches etc.) will be projected onto a centrally located, sail-like screen.