HDTV transmission is expected to be one of the most attractive services in future broadband ISDN. However, in ATM environments, new problems occur which do not exist in conventional STM networks. In this paper, a variable bit-rate HDTV codec for ATM networks and an ATM adaptation scheme are studied. Based on the study, an experimental HDTV codec has been realized and characteristics of variable bit-rate HDTV transmission using the codec and a pseudo ATM network were examined.