These rates translate into a frame rate of up to 60 frames per second, twice that of conventional television. One of HDTV's most prominent features is its wider aspect ratio (the width to height ratio of the screen) of 16:9, a development based on research showing that the viewer's experience is enhanced by screens that are wider. HDTV pixel numbers range from one to two million, compared to SDTV's range of 300,000 to one million. New television sets will be either HDTV-capable or SDTV-capable, with receivers that can convert the signal to their native display format.
In terms of audio quality, HDTV receives, reproduces, and outputs Dolby Digital 5.1.
In the United States, the FCC has assigned broadcast channels for DTV transmissions. In SDTV formats, DTV makes it possible to use the designated channels for multiple signals at current quality levels instead of single signals at HDTV levels, which would allow more programming with the same bandwidth usage. Commercial and public broadcast stations are currently deciding exactly how they will implement their use of HDTV.
HDTV uses the MPEG-2 file format and compression standard.