Pioneer and Euro1080 are the first to bring the High Definition TV experience into the European living room.

Pioneer announced its partnership with Euro1080, the first European High Definition TV Channel based in Antwerp and the daughter company of Alfacam, a leading European TV Facilities company.

EURO1080, which started on January 1st 2004, broadcasts exclusively in high definition throughout Europe. The TV channel distributes high-quality content such as sports, music, shows and cultural events in HDTV format and with state of the art, digital sound.

Alfacam, which is handling the HDTV broadcast side of the venture, found a perfect partner for the consumer display side in Pioneer. From the start, Pioneer has focussed on bringing HDTV compliant plasma TVs to the global market.

HDTV, which is already a huge success in the United States and in Japan, constitutes a real revolution in the European audiovisual world. Currently, only standard definition TV sources are available in Europe via broadcasting (cable, terrestrial, satellite) or in package media format (VHS tapes, DVD). Standard definition TV in Europe has a resolution of 625 lines, whereas HDTV has a resolution of up to1080 lines resulting in a better picture quality.

Pioneer's high resolution progressive Plasma displays are HDTV compliant and accept both industry standard "High Definition" video formats - 1080i and 720p - and are perfectly matched for showing these HDTV images.