HD-MAC (High Definition Multiplexed Analogue Components) was a broadcast television standard proposed by the European Commission in 1986, as part of Eureka 95 project. It belongs to the MAC - Multiplexed Analogue Components standard family. It is an early attempt by the EEC to provide High-definition television (HDTV) in Europe. It is a complex mix of analogue signal (based on the Multiplexed Analogue Components standard), multiplexed with digital sound, and assistance data for decoding (DATV). The video signal (1250 lines/50 fields per second in 16:9 aspect ratio, with 1152 visible lines) was encoded with a modified D2-MAC encoder.

HD-MAC could be decoded by normal D2-MAC standard definition receivers, but no extra resolution was obtained and certain artifacts were visible. To decode the signal in full resolution a specific HD-MAC tuner was required .

The European Broadcasting Union video format description is as follows: width x height [scan type: i or p] / number of full frames per second

European standard definition digital broadcasts use 720×576i/25, meaning 25 720 pixels wide and 576 pixels high interlaced frames: odd lines (1, 3, 5 ...) are grouped to build the odd field, which is transmitted first, then it is followed by the even field containing lines 2, 4, 6... Thus, there are two fields in a frame, resulting in a field frequency of 25 × 2 = 50 Hz.

The visible part of the video signal provided by an HD-MAC receiver was 1152i/25, which exactly doubles the vertical resolution of standard definition. The amount of information is multiplied by 4, considering the encoder started its operations from a 1440x1152i/25 sampling grid.

Work on HD-MAC specification started officially in May 1986. The purpose was to react against a Japanese proposal, supported by the US, which aimed to establish the NHK-designed Hi-Vision (also known as MUSE) system as a world standard. Besides preservation of the European electronic industry, there was also a need to produce a standard that would be compliant with the 50 Hz field frequency systems (used by a large majority of countries in the world). Truth be said, the precisely 60 Hz of the Japanese proposal was also worrying the US, as their NTSC M-based standard definition infrastructure used a practical frequency of 59.94 Hz, potentially leading to incompatibility problems.

In September, 1988, the Japanese performed the first High Definition broadcasts of the Olympic games, using their Hi-Vision system (NHK produced material using this format since 1982). In that same month of September, Europe showed for the first time a credible alternative, namely a complete HD-MAC broadcasting chain, at IBC 88 in Brighton. This show included the first progressive scan HD video camera prototypes (Thomson/LER).

Golden SCART was developed as a transmission interface for consumer devices, a special and backward-compatible implementation of the normal SCART connection. Some television sets from Philips and Telefunken are said to have been equipped with it.