The DTV Express is a demonstration and laboratory vehicle that was built for the Broadcast community to show that HDTV could be built and could be implemented in a small space.

Willy Halla undertook this project in Jan of '98 with Harris Corporation, then designed and completed the drawing set, supervised the building, and showed the system in Washington, D.C. on 23rd of March '98. Much of the equipment was proto-type and built specifically for this project. The entire system is digital, utilizing full bandwidth component signal to include 1.5 Gbs, 270 Mbs, and 48 Khz AES streams.

The system is fully functional from camera all the way through to transmitter and receivers for both precision and consumer products. This system showed that, contrary to industry experts, a comprehensive HDTV system could be built. This included the first delivered HDTV routing switch that would handle up to 256 x 128 1.5 Gbs ports. All of the equipment utilized in the project is now commercially available.

The system included a complete 4 channel Master Control for SDV and multi-channel, and an NTSC input into the system. This showed that Broadcasters could enter the DTV arena at just about any level, be it NTSC, SDV, or HDTV.

The DTV Express is an industry chartered system from some 43 manufacturers and companies. Its sole purpose is to show and teach broadcasters, government, and media officials that HDTV is here, a technology for today, and to give broadcasters a hands-on approach to learning how this technology can be implemented. The tour will go through some 40 cities and last approximately 15 months. During this time the system will be continuously updated with new equipment as it becomes available,  keeping the system at the forefront of the HDTV technology.
 

* DTV Express is a registered trademark of Harris Corporation