HD ready

HD ready is a certification program introduced in 2005 by EICTA (European Information, Communications and Consumer Electronics Technology Industry Associations), now DIGITALEUROPE. HD ready minimum native resolution is 720 rows in widescreen ratio.

There are four different labels: "HD ready", "HD TV", "HD ready 1080p", "HD TV 1080p". The logos are assigned to television equipment capable of certain features.

In the United States, a similar "HD Ready" term usually refers to any display that is capable of accepting and displaying a high-definition signal at either 720p, 1080i or 1080p using a component video or digital input, but does not have a built-in HD-capable tuner.

The "HD ready" certification program was introduced on January 19, 2005. The labels and relevant specifications are based on agreements between over 60 broadcasters and manufacturers of the European HDTV Forum at its second session in June 2004, held at the Betzdorf, Luxembourg headquarters of founding member SES Astra.

The "HD ready" logo is used on television equipment capable of displaying High Definition (HD) pictures from an external source. However, it does not have to feature a digital tuner to decode an HD signal; devices with tuners were certified under a separate "HD TV" logo, which does not require a "HD ready" display device.

Before the introduction of the "HD ready" certification, many TV sources and displays were being promoted as capable of displaying high definition pictures when they were in fact SDTV devices; according to Alexander Oudendijk, senior VP of marketing for Astra, in early 2005 there were 74 different devices being sold as ready for HD that were not. Devices advertised as HD-compatible or HD ready could take HDTV-signal as an input (via analog -YPbPr or digital DVI or HDMI), but they did not have enough pixels for true representation of even the lower HD resolution (1280 × 720) (plasma-based sets with 853 × 480 resolution, CRT based sets only capable of SDTV-resolution or VGA-resolution, 640×480 pixels), much less the higher HD resolution (1920 × 1080), and so were unable to display the HD picture without downscaling to a lower resolution. Industry-sponsored labels such as "Full HD" were misleading as well, as they can refer to devices which do not fulfil some essential requirements such as having 1:1 pixel mapping with no overscan or accepting a 1080p signal.

A UK BBC television programme found that separate labels for display devices and TV tuners/decoders confused purchasers, many of whom bought HD-ready equipment expecting to be able to receive HD with no additional equipment; they were sometimes actively misled by salespeople—a 2007 Ofcom survey found that 12% were told explicitly that they could view analog SDTV transmissions in HD, 7% that no extra equipment was needed, and 14% that HD-ready sets would receive existing digital SDTV transmissions in HD.

On August 30, 2007, 1080p versions of the logos and licensing agreements were introduced; as an improvement to the earlier scheme, "HD TV 1080p" logo now requires "HD ready 1080p" certification.