It's easy to look back and say what if...........
But to me, between limited to MEG-2,
ATSC and 12 MHz bandwidth (about in that order),
OTA is near or at it's limit.
Looking back, if there had been an early switch to MEG-4, when only a handful of consumers had purchased
ATSC HD tuner TVs, etc, it could have happened. The transition too a decade or more and in that time compression technology moved on. It pretty much limited them from every going to 1080P which will be the standard if not now but soon as "real
HD" in a lot of consumers minds.
Then
ATSC is a not overall the best standard, but my knowledge there is limited to just reading revues.
If we had a "true" flash cut, and didn't give up channels, we could have gone to a wider TV RF channel.
All this is a dead horse now. And actually, for just putting up an antenna, I am quit pleased to receive 720p and 1080i, though I don't think there is really room in American channels for 1080i, unless there isn't a sub or the sub is very bandwidth limited. On TV's I have watched (all 720p LCDs) cheating just a little on 1080i ends up pixelating movement on the screen.
It's changing fast as prices drop. Just last year, few people could afford 1080p sets. So most had 720p
LCD screens. Since an
LCD can't do interlace, any interlaced video sent to the set must be converted to progressive scan to display from what I have read. Hence isn't sending 1080i a waste to a lot of sets? Maybe more over if they insist on adding and adding subs, there just isn't room for 1080i in my opinion.