How many colors are in an HD?

Answer 1

High definition television is produced using 10 bit signals. The number of colors can therefore be as high as 1 billion. However, transmission to domestic receivers and most local interfaces operate only at 8 bit, reducing the number of colors to a mere 16 million. Despite the loss of almost 90% of the original color, this is still higher than most displays can reproduce so there is no visible difference between them. The use of 10 bit signals in the broadcast environment allows for editing and image processing to be carried out without any noticeable loss of quality. There are, as far as I know, no 10 bit capable domestic displays, so the viewer would not benefit from 10 signals if they were transmitted.