Even though Japan exercises worldwide control of consumer electronics and hardware production as well as the United State's role as the major supplier of entertainment programming for the world, the European countries have been diligently trying to take part in the constant development of high definition television and broadcast standards which will have a strong impact on their electronics and broadcasting industries. The European market had been fighting it out with the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) system for quite some time because their frames are not compatible. Europe is using an outdated system and ignoring the fast that Japan was the first to really make this technology work for real time usage. Because of their outdated broadcasting system, they are having a harder time with international media sources and collaborations with other countries.

High definition television in the United States had stolen the attention of business, governmental, military, education, and research institutions. While Japan did take an early lead by having an analog high definition television system, the United States was in a conflict about which approach it would take in joining the technological race. In the economic, political, and also the business forums, steps for transition were being debated. Some groups called for a quick switch over to a national high definition broadcast, but others worried about citizens keeping up with the technology. Our switch to an all digital signal and the issues faced in our communities over that change have proven that the fears caused by this situation are valid.

High definition television and movie production and transmission do not have to have the same technical system. So long as a production standards are readily convertible to the standard needed for transmission of the signal, it does seem quite logical to use two different systems, which is a possibility many high definition experts are proposing. For a very long time, broadcast television has been using 35 millimeter film as the format of choice for shooting movies and television and as a source for transferring the projects to video for post production and distribution purposes.

Despite the increasingly wide availability of high definition television production technology since the middle of the 1980s, 35 millimeter film is still the most widely accepted for worldwide filming standards for high quality television. With all this changing technology, it is unclear which format will be necessary for video acquisition in the future, so film is being preferred for now until a change is needed.