The European Information and Communications Technology Association (EICTA) announced yet another logo that it hopes will help clear confusion from the minds of consumers as they migrate from traditional television into the HDTV era.

EICTA's HDTV logo joins the HD Ready branding it announced in January 2005. According to the organisation, the HDTV stamp is for equipment that can "receive and process" high-definition TV signals, while HD Ready kit is "capable of processing and displaying" HD broadcasts.

It sees set-top boxes, DVD players and recorders and the like being granted the HDTV logo, while the HD Ready tag will continue to appear on displays. TVs with built-in HDTV receivers could ship stamped with both logos.

According to EICTA documentation, to gain HD Ready certification, a display needs to have not only an analogue component-video input but also either a DVI or HDMI digital input. The digital input must support the HDCP copy-protection system.

The HDTV logo requirements don't quite match. EICTA's rules, published earlier this year to prepare vendors for today's launch of the logo, state that HDTV-branded devices need to support an analogue component-video input, a DVI port or an HDMI connector.

Story filed 21.03.06