|
http://www.Tech-Notes.tv August 29, 2001 Tech-Note – 089 Sponsored by: Bloomfield & Associates +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ This is YOUR forum! +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Just a note to let those of you who have not taken time to check out our sponsor, that they build web sites, write both user reports and technical manuals, build Power Point presentations and do other creative things of this type and kind. Please contact them when you have a need for these kinds of services. Remember, they are engineers who know how to write. What a novel concept. +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
RE: Tech-Notes #88 About on Birkmaier’s
reply to Tech-Notes 84 Low cost HDTV
Craig Birkmaier clearly understands and appreciates the spatial and temporal issues in visions sciences as well as the technology. When I said few months ago that HDTV maybe "still born" I should have been more positive and crystal ball that it will soon be leap frogged. If no one has already set claim to UHD we respectfully propose, in response to Intel challenge, Ultra high definition, introducing "telepresence" surround sight and sound with 144 Megadots yes, 250 dots/inch viewable at arms reach (20inches) or even 13 inches such that 16000 /64"x 9000/36" pixels subtend the arc minute defined as 20/20 vision and two retinal photodetectors.(2x2.5micron) Although 72 times better than HDTV 2 megadots, the nominal compression ratio of 60 would increase to 500 so we could communicate for the Intel challenge its 100Megadots x60 Hz in good old 6MHz TV channels. Stay tuned. +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ RE: Tech-Note #88 D-Cinema - The Next
Big Thing
Calling CBS Doctor Flaherty the "father of HDTV" is great for it is said "failures are orphans and success has many fathers." Thanks to his/CBS invite to their first demo of HDTV in NYC c. 1981 our hindsight is 20/20. In early 1980's UHD seemed possible. It became probable in early 1990's and practical in 2004-2006. Regrettably the compression that became essential for HDTV transmissions spawned multicasting cable wish for higher quantity (low quality programs) instead of high picture quality and high quality programs and the mistaken notion that 4, 5 or 6 programs per channel capacity would multiply ad revenues by 4, 5 or 6. Obviously the fovea limits focus to one program and thus one advertisement at a time. Has Doc Flaherty solved the Catch 22 Chicken & egg problem with enough eyeballs for advertisers so we can turn off the counterproductive simulcasts of HDTV and NTSC? . From: Charles McDevitt cfm@cogit.com It seems that like people believe that
COFDM would suddenly "solve" the DTV "problem". Ok, COFDM has some
real advantages over 8-VSB, I'll give you that. But if anybody
thinks that 8-VSB is what is slowing down the DTV rollout, they are
being naïve.
As long as 8-VSB works adequately (and from my experience, it does), consumers won't ever consider modulation formats in their decisions. Here in San Francisco, we have lots of DTV stations available, an absolutely no consumer awareness at all. If consumers became aware of the COFDM vs. 8-VSB issues, I believe it would only slow down acceptance, as people would be afraid to buy into a technology that might become obsolete. The only way we could get to COFDM without totally stalling the DTV rollout for many years would be to require manufacturers to make TVs and STBs "dual mode" so that they would work both now, and after any COFDM switchover. But how much would that cost? How practical is it? And of course such "dual mode" sets would be mandatory if we let each station decide between 8-VSB and COFDM, rather than mandating one or the other. It seems to me that if we want DTV (and HDTV) to succeed in the near term, we need to live with 8-VSB. From my point of view, the following issues are what are really holding up the DTV revolution:
The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) with the cooperation of the Society of Broadcast Engineers will hold a technical seminar on its Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP), Data Broadcast Standard, DTV Closed Captioning, and DASE efforts on October 23 and 24, 2001. The seminar will take place at the Millennium Hotel in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. Seminar sponsors include Tandberg Television, Harmonic, and NIST. Noting the past success of these technical seminars in DC and California, Mark Richer, ATSC Executive Director explained,”Our seminars are well- received because they focus on real-world issues and opportunities in implementing DTV. I believe this third seminar will be our strongest yet." The ATSC is working to educate the industry on the essential elements of its standards. The seminar will include tutorials and presentations by subject matter experts on the following topics:
Visit our web site for other Educational Opportunities. http://www.Tech- Notes.tv. *********************************** By: Fred Lawrence 2001 marks not only the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the International Teleproduction Society (ITS) , but also its end. The National Office of ITS will closed its doors August 15, 2001. The ITS Board of Directors issued a statement telling its members that they “deserve to understand why this is happening, but should also feel proud to have been part of an organization that made a powerful, positive difference to our industry, an industry in search of knowledge, community and answers in times of transition.” ITS concentrated on how the postproduction businesses might be better served by joining forces and sharing knowledge with competitors, colleagues and peers. This was the true value of ITS Throughout its existence, ITS has helped its members to run their businesses more successfully. It has opened communications between manufacturers and facilities, between people on the East Coast, West Coast, and all points between. ITS has brought about legislative changes that have saved members millions of dollars. It has honored outstanding creative work by thousands of individuals and has built a multi-faceted forum for shared knowledge and understanding of industry technology. ITS suffered from financial problems and was not immune from the economic uncertainty pervading the industry. The Board sited economic challenges as membership, sponsorship, and participation levels dropped in direct response to the state of the industry. Despite efforts by the ITS Board and staff to work through and develop workable solutions to manage their finances and still provide the services and programs needed by its members, other recent incidents pushed ITS to the brink. Because of the irreparable harm done to the association, it was necessary for them to cease operations. It is ironic that in a time where there has never been a greater need for an organization such as ITS, that the organization is unable to continue. It is important, whatever the fate of ITS as a national association, that the work of ITS continue as the post production industry finds its way on the path to its future. This work can be best accomplished through the efforts of the chapters, which will continue as they are organized separately from the national association of ITS. Stepping to bat, the Southern California Chapter is committed to keeping a trade association active. For the present, they have agreed to host the ITS email lists and maintain a Web presence. They are actively planning ways to continue to provide events focused on our industry such as the Technology Retreats that have been held in Palm Springs. It is through exchange with colleagues and vendors and through mutual sustained effort that create a stronger business environment and industry. The spirit of ITS must and will survive. . The promise of prettier pictures may no longer be enough to sell digital television to consumers. According to the surprise findings of a study released by the Consumer Electronics Association, only 45 percent of consumers now say they find the concept of getting a better picture appealing-down from 50 percent last year. At the same time, the study, Consumer Perspectives of Digital TV II, found that 33 percent of consumers found the concept of better pictures unappealing, up from 23 percent the previous year, a finding the study characterized as "alarming". David Donovan, president of the Association for Maximum Service Television, said, "The true question is whether they're talking about people who have seen true HDTV, because seeing it is believing it.'' On another front, the study found that interactive TV, another traditional sales point for DTV, may be losing its punch. This year, the study found that only 30 percent of respondents thought interactivity added greatly or at least somewhat to DTV's appeal, down from 48 percent last year. Nonetheless, 62 percent of the respondents felt that surround sound added at least somewhat to DTV's appeal, up a point from the previous year, while 61 percent said the same thing about being able to watch wide-screen movies without black borders. The cost of the transition also appears to be of growing significance to consumers, according to the study, with 37 percent citing that as their greatest concern this year, up from 26 percent last year. In addition, the number of consumers who say their next TV set will be a DTV model has dropped to 39 percent, down from 50 percent in July 1998 and 62 percent in January 1999. Still, the study said the perception of consumers about the arrival of DTV is largely positive overall, with 61 percent of respondents having at least mostly positive thoughts on the concept-and that's up from 46 percent in 1998, the study said. The study speculated that at least part of the reason the appeal of DTV could be moderating is that viewers are becoming aware of the costs of replacing sets. "This trend should reverse itself as awareness peaks and digital TVs come down in price,'' the study said. "However, another angle to consider is that as prices for digital TVs fall, some people may be holding back on their purchase in hopes that prices will fall even further." Although consumers are not aware of all the industry bickering about various digital TV issues, the message from the survey is clear: "Stop the finger- pointing and give me my DTV," the study continued. "If all the players do not come together soon, consumer fatigue on this issue could pose a significant problem, resulting in billions of dollars in lost revenue.'' Mark Hyman, vice president, corporate relations, Sinclair Broadcast Group, said, "`Kudos to CEA for admitting that it is not all about home theater-size HDTV displays. We need more, not fewer, incentives for the American public to invest in DTV products." ********************************** Subject: Fox being Foxy with HDTV
Quietly, on the second floor of a building on Pico Boulevard in west Los Angeles, the future of digital television is being decided. That's where Jim DeFilippis and his team are housed. Two floors below is a space known simply as "the lab," where the future of digital television is being invented. All this is located at the epicenter of Rupert Murdoch's U.S. Empire, the Twentieth Century Fox lot, which houses offices, studios, and stages for both the movie and television portions of the business. In the lab, DeFilippis, vice president, Television Engineering, News Technology Group, continues the quiet work of what promises to be a very noisy digital revolution. Certainly, experiments with digital video for television production did not begin here, nor would DeFilippis or his team make such a claim. Panasonic's early efforts in the 1970s are well documented, as are the CBS/Sony attempts beginning in the early 1980s and known as 1125/60. Although these experiments eventually eased off, they provided the basis for other research along different paths. Not only helping Philips, Panasonic, and JVC commercialize their products, the significance of the Fox advances is that, for the first time, high definition video is being employed as a standard production tool for the creation of TV programs. Remarking on this standardization, DeFilippis said, "This coming season, the Fox Network will require all shows to deliver both a 16x9 as well as a 4x3 version of each episode. We currently have over 12 shows delivering in 16x9. We are also working on 5.1 surround sound delivery for movies and live sports." As DeFilippis notes, "Three years ago producers were very reticent, but now, they are calling, asking how to go about doing it." In other words, they've bought into it. "In the spring of 1997 we began digital shooting trials and playback tests to determine the proper direction for Fox to take," says DeFilippis. "So we had a four-way demo with analog NTSC as our baseline. The second part of the test looked at interlaced versus progressive, and we determined that 480p would give us the quality we needed while preserving precious bandwidth." So, for emissions, the team settled on 480p/60. "For production," said DeFilippis, "we needed a format that would give us both quality and flexibility in post. We needed a camera system that would allow us to shoot film style and would also be extensible into the future, for release in whatever format is required." Thus it was that Fox signed a deal with Thomson, which recently acquired Philips broadcast, for four Philips LDK 7000 digital cameras in 720p/24. "We felt it gave us image quality and the dynamic range, equivalent to film shot for TV," notes DeFilippis. The high quality images, transported as a 1.5Gbps digital video signal, will be recorded using a JVC D9 VTR, with approximately one hour of recording time per cassette. Also part of the new digital capture package at Fox are two Panasonic AJ-HDC27V variable frame rate progressive scan high definition cameras. Although there was a lot of cooperative effort between Fox and the manufacturers as they developed these technologies, a great deal of input was sought from the people doing the actual production work. "We involved directors of photography because the lighting is so important and we were trying to get video cameras to shoot in typical film lighting," DeFilippis notes. "This was an important step so that the crews could work in the ways they are used to working, which is film-style." Through the efforts of DeFilippis and the entire team at Fox, the distinctions between the film world and video world are beginning to blur. Clearly, it has nothing to do, as some have posited, with saving money. "The real issue," maintains DeFilippis, "is greater quality, a greater range of capabilities, and greater efficiencies in the working process. The investment in crews, actors, and all the other things that go into a production are so big that the cost savings on this end are incidental." Indeed, he believes so much in the quality of 720p/24 that he unequivocally states, "Digital TV production will take off and will only be limited by equipment availability." Though it's clear that the technology is always evolving and the standards will change, DeFilippis has some advice for stations: "Go component digital as fast as you can. Use 4:2:2 sampling and be careful to keep the video compression reasonable (4-5:1)" And get ready, because if the guys on the second floor have anything to say about it, it's coming, and it's coming fast. *********************************** From: Nicholas Bodley nbodley@alumni.princeton.edu I do worry a bit about those who couldn't afford the conversion boxes, or who are in fringe areas, but after all, Community Antenna Cable Television came to be used for something very different from its original intent. Maybe it's not Good Thinking (not thoroughly thought-out, by far), but NTSC could become like the 78 rpm record standard: Never totally discontinued (ntdc :), and also like the Channel 3/4 short-range cable connection used to link a VCR's output to a receiver via its antenna input. I used to think that loss of over-the air NTSC in, say, the next decade would be tragedy, leaving out the poorest of us, but am moderating my point of view. I also agree that bandwidth-hogging is becoming increasingly unacceptable. Long-term, the time-domain approach (such as micropower impulse radar and (iirc) sophisticated stud finders(!)) could ultimately make far better use of the spectrum. Nicholas Bodley From: Zenith "In order to get the benefits of DVI (digital connection) they will need to upgrade units with a DVI connection. It is not backwards compatible; you would need to use an analog input such as RGB or component. Additionally, unlike 1394, DVI will NOT allow any copying." *********************************** Subject: DTV's image blurs in viewers'
minds
The promise of prettier pictures may no longer be enough to sell digital television to consumers. According to the surprise findings of a study released by the Consumer Electronics Association last week, only 45 percent of consumers now say they find the concept of getting a better picture appealing-down from 50 percent last year. At the same time, the study, Consumer Perspectives of Digital TV II, found that 33 percent of consumers found the concept of better pictures unappealing, up from 23 percent the previous year, a finding the study characterized as ``alarming.'' David Donovan, president of the Association for Maximum Service Television, said, "The true question is whether they're talking about people who have seen true HDTV, because seeing it is believing it.'' On another front, the study found that interactive TV, another traditional sales point for DTV, may be losing its punch. This year, the study found that only 30 percent of respondents thought interactivity added greatly or at least somewhat to DTV's appeal, down from 48 percent last year. Nonetheless, 62 percent of the respondents felt that surround sound added at least somewhat to DTV's appeal, up a point from the previous year, while 61 percent said the same thing about being able to watch wide-screen movies without black borders. The cost of the transition also appears to be of growing significance to consumers, according to the study, with 37 percent citing that as their greatest concern this year, up from 26 percent last year. In addition, the number of consumers who say their next TV set will be a DTV model has dropped to 39 percent, down from 50 percent in July 1998 and 62 percent in January 1999. Still, the study said the perception of consumers about the arrival of DTV is largely positive overall, with 61 percent of respondents having at least mostly positive thoughts on the concept-and that's up from 46 percent in 1998, the study said. The study speculated that at least part of the reason the appeal of DTV could be moderating is that viewers are becoming aware of the costs of replacing sets. "This trend should reverse itself as awareness peaks and digital TVs come down in price,'' the study said. ``However, another angle to consider is that as prices for digital TVs fall, some people may be holding back on their purchase in hopes that prices will fall even further. “Although consumers are not aware of all the industry bickering about various digital TV issues, the message from the survey is clear: ‘Stop the finger- pointing and give me my DTV,’” the study continued. “If all the players do not come together soon, consumer fatigue on this issue could pose a significant problem, resulting in billions of dollars in lost revenue.” Mark Hyman, vice president, corporate relations, Sinclair Broadcast Group, said, “Kudos to CEA for admitting that it is not all about home theater-size HDTV displays. We need more, not fewer, incentives for the American public to invest in DTV products." *********************************** Subject: GM Serious on DISH Bid-And
DISH Likes That
An executive with General Motors, which controls the highly sought after Hughes Electronics and DirecTV, gave some indication on the auto giant's opinion of EchoStar's unsolicited bid for the assets. And apparently, GM is paying attention. GM Chief Financial Officer John Devine said Wednesday the auto giant is taking seriously EchoStar's bid for Hughes and DirecTV. "If it's a serious proposal, and we think it is, we're going to take it very seriously," Devine said at an annual auto conference in Michigan. "We're going to evaluate it. This is an important issue for us, and we're going to take the time it takes to get it right." EchoStar made a proposal to GM to combine with Hughes and DirecTV in a tax- free, all-stock transaction valued by the company at $32 billion. The move complicates News Corp.'s plans to get the coveted Hughes assets, which the media company wants for its developing Sky Global satellite spin-off. EchoStar Chairman and CEO Charlie Ergen said he was encouraged that GM is taking the proposal seriously. "I continue to believe that the GM board will recognize, as we do, the extraordinary compelling benefits that an EchoStar- Hughes combination would offer shareholders," he said in a statement. "Our proposal represents a significant premium for GMH shareholders and will bring unparalleled synergies of up to an additional $56 billion to all shareholders of GM, GMH and EchoStar." Meanwhile, Kudelski, the Swiss company that provides EchoStar with some of its technology, said it's willing to raise about $1 billion in cash if it's needed by the U.S. satellite company in its bid for Hughes and DirecTV, wire sources reported. Chairman Andre Kudelski told Reuters he made the offer to EchoStar Chairman Charlie Ergen. Kudelski would raise the cash by issuing a fresh 25 percent equity in the company, the wire service said. EchoStar didn't have anything to say about the Kudelski speculation, or about recruiting other companies for its effort. "We have been contacted by a number of companies but will wait for a formal response from General Motors before we engage these companies in further discussions," EchoStar spokesperson Marc Lumpkin said. *********************************** Adapted from: SkyReport NASA will take a giant leap for humankind when the first commercially provided and flight-certified high definition television (HDTV) camera, which will provide more visual clarity of space activities, rides aboard Space Shuttle Discovery to become a permanent resident on the International Space Station. Discovery is currently scheduled for launch on Aug. 9. High tech cameras and equipment are a prime benefit of the multimedia agreement between NASA and Dreamtime Holdings, Inc., Mountain View, CA. NASA has partnered with Dreamtime to collaborate on a variety of multimedia- related services and products. The HDTV camera will provide high resolution images for documentation of space activities and for enhancement of data collected by NASA scientists, researchers and engineers conducting experiments. Imagery will be accessible to the news media and to the general public through the Internet and other distribution methods. The camera hardware includes a Sony HDW-700A HDTV camera, telephoto lens, wide-angle lens, battery packs and tapes. The accompanying batteries can be recharged in orbit, enabling continuous documentation of station activities. Although HDTV cameras have flown aboard other space shuttle missions, the NASA/Dreamtime camera is the first to go through flight certification for the International Space Station. This process also makes this the first commercially certified HDTV camera that is, certified at no cost to the taxpayer. Images from this camera have five times the clarity of a standard digital camera. Not only will it be able to document space from a new perspective, it also will allow the recording, in real time, the science of space. In addition, the partnership will include the digitization of a significant portion of NASA imagery and create a multimedia database that will allow greater public access to basic research capabilities and free downloads of low resolution versions of those images. It also will help enhance public awareness of NASA by developing documentaries and educational programming for television broadcast. Nothing was mentioned about making their efforts available to the NASA channel carried on a number of cable and satellite systems. *********************************** By RICK LYMAN From the pages of the New York Times Five major movie studios, including some of Hollywood's top players, unveiled plans today for a joint venture that would allow computer users to download rental copies of feature films over the Internet. The service, which will be available only to those with high-speed Internet connections, is an attempt to get ahead of piracy problems that have plagued the music industry through services like Napster and which were beginning to be felt in the film industry with newer file-swapping services. "I think the majority of consumers believe that copyright has value and that if they have a pay vehicle to watch movies on the Internet, they will pay for it," said Yair Landau, president of Sony (news/quote) Pictures Digital Entertainment. "We want to give honest people an honest alternative." The venture is also seen by many studio executives as a first step toward true video-on-demand, when consumers will be able to watch any movie they want, whenever they want. Initially, the films will be available for download only onto personal computers, or television monitors linked to an Internet connection, but eventually video-on-demand service is expected to include cable television and other delivery systems. "I think anybody who is in the movie business wants to reach the day when you can watch any movie you want, any time you want," Mr. Landau said. "I personally believe that launching an Internet service like this is a necessary first step in that regard." The studios that will be partners in the service are MGM, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Warner Brothers and Universal Pictures. Noticeably absent were Disney and 20th Century Fox, although sources close to Disney said that it intended to announce its own video-on-demand service within 10 days. Fox issued a statement late this afternoon saying that it, too, would announce plans soon for such a service. Executives at Sony's Moviefly, an Internet movies-on-demand effort that will provide the technical backbone for the venture, had been saying since early this year that they intended to go online as soon as they could. They delayed the move, the executives said, in hopes of persuading as many Hollywood studios as possible to join the effort, a process that took longer than expected as each studio brought its concerns about pricing, security and competition with other outlets like cable television. "It's very expensive to create something like this, so economics plays a role in bringing so many studios together," said Jack Waterman, president of worldwide pay television for the Paramount Television Group. "And this allows a lot of companies to come together to create a common viewpoint on the technology and security behind the system." In the coming months, a chief executive will be hired for the new venture, which will have an equal number of representatives from each studio on its board; a name will be chosen; and the site will be tested extensively to make sure its security system works as promised. Then, the first 100 or so films, a mix of recent releases and films from studio libraries, will become available, either late this year or early next. The selection of films, and how much it will cost to download them, will be left to the individual studios. Studios that are not part of the venture will also be allowed to post films on the site. The average feature film is about 500 megabytes in digitized form and will take 20 minutes to 40 minutes to download, Mr. Landau said, depending on the type of broadband connection. Download times would be untenable for those with slower Internet connections. Studio officials estimate that there are 10 million households with broadband connections, a number they expect to increase significantly, as well as 35 million screens in offices and colleges. A film will remain on a computer's hard drive for 30 days but will erase itself 24 hours after it is first run. In that 24 hours, consumers will be able to watch the film as many times as they wish — pause, fast forward and perform other functions typical of a videocassette or DVD. Studios traditionally release movies in a series of so-called windows, starting with theatrical release, followed by videocassette, DVD, pay- per- view, pay-cable networks and, eventually, broadcast networks. Executives at several studios said films would be released on this new system, initially at least, only when they entered their pay-per-view window, usually months after the theatrical release. The rental cost will be about the same as a pay-per- view film, the executives said. "We are not looking to undermine DVD, which is a great business," Mr. Landau said. The new venture will be neither the first video-on-demand service (cable operators in a few markets have offered such a service to some customers, though the movie selection has been limited) nor the first time that feature films have been available for download on the Internet (companies like CinemaNow and SightSound Technologies have offered a limited roster of films for download). But it is the first effort involving Hollywood studios and offers the promise of thousands of potential films. "This announcement confirms that film producers are eager for the Internet to enlarge and flourish," said Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America. "For the first time, in the very near future, a broad selection of motion pictures will be available online, protected by encryption, and delivered directly to consumers at a reasonable price." In general, the studios have been hesitant to allow the distribution of digital copies of their films on the Internet, fearing they would be too easy to copy and share through unauthorized sites. What has made studio executives agree to this venture has been a growing confidence that the necessary security is in place to prevent copying of the downloaded files. However, since almost all film pirating has involved the latest releases and this service will make movies available only months later, it is unclear what effect it would have on illegal copying. "That remains to be seen," said Ric Dube, an analyst for Webnoize, a research company that focuses on digital entertainment industries. "What this does is to compete with piracy more effectively than the movie industry has in the past," Mr. Dube said. "And the real issue isn't whether it will affect piracy, but whether the movie industry is willing to tolerate the amount of piracy that's going on in order to grow their market." The music industry, which shares parentage with many of the studios involved in today's announcement, has also fought against file-sharing sites like Napster, and had a harder time because of the relative ease of downloading a piece of music. But movie studios have also been faced with file-sharing sites like Aimster, which allows swapping of both audio and video files. "The film industry does have a better history of coming through on plans like this than does the music industry," Mr. Dube said. "So when five major film companies say they will use an online channel to distribute their films that means a lot more than a similar statement coming from five music companies." The real question, though, is how many people really want to download movies onto their personal computers. "To be really honest, we have no idea," Mr. Waterman said. ***********************************
It is difficult, at best, to understand why the Congress, through the FCC, have mandated the transition to digital TV, then put up obstacles that seem to make it nearly impossible to Achieve. Yes, I know that it’s all supposed to make available spectrum so the money grubbing Washington politicians can hold auctions to pay for their boondoggle projects and irresponsible spending. (Can’t help but wonder when the last time they pass appropriations for farmers not to grow certain crops or to pay for thousand dollar plus toilet seats. They do have a reputation for a bit of pork-barrel legislation.) That aside, it seem ludicrous to require stations to make the transition to digital and then say that the very cable systems that have been carrying their analog signals for years have a choice when it come to carrying the new or old technology. Ask any of the 205 stations now broadcasting digital signals in the 68 markets they serve how many have their digital signals carried on any of the cable systems that carry their analog signals. (These figures are on a link on the Tech-Notes web site.) We’ve all heard the high numbers were it comes to household penetration touted by the National Cable Television Association (NCTA). NTCA would have us believe that viewers are abandoning over the air reception in favor of cable in droves. Yet, these are the same folks who won’t lift an F connector to help in the transition to digital by carrying both analog and digital signals until the transition has been completed. Even the TV set manufacturers recognize this dichotomy. Their spokes agency, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) says “Cable carriage is imperative for DTV’s success.” Duh! There’s nothing like stating the obvious, but the FCC seems not to understand or recognize the obvious. Perhaps the FCC is the victim of the old saying: “The most obvious is the most unobserved.” We’ve got some fresh blood at the FCC and I understand that Clinton-appointed FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani, will leave the agency on September 7th. That completes the circle. Hopefully they’ll wake up to the fact that the success of digital television hinges on access to cable and DTV carriage is essential to meet this goal. Perhaps there is a glimmer of hope. The FCC has issued a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the matter and CEA has filed comments. I could agree more with CEA's Vice President of Technology Policy Michael Petricone who said: “Without assurance that digital broadcast signals will reach the 70 million American households that rely on a cable signal, broadcasters and programmers will have little incentive to produce compelling digital programming. Consumers will have less incentive to purchase digital television products and it will become less likely that the digital transition will be completed by the 2006 target date. Cable carriage of DTV is imperative.” “We must not allow cable gatekeepers to prevent consumers from enjoying DTV or using services that allow them to navigate among content choices or access interactive and advanced services,” CEA's Petricone commented. “As we noted in our comments to the FCC, these options and services are the very future of television.” There are some rumbling that PBS and The Corporation for Public Broadcasting have even started to stir the pot about getting their member station’s signals carried in digital, as they become available, in addition to carrying their analog signal – at least until analog goes away. There are those who think that the non-commercial, educational folks will have an even greater impact when it comes to getting the dual carriage issue put through. All I can say to that is: Good Luck! -- From your attorneys pens to the conscience of Congress. (Now there’s some mighty powerful wishful thinking.) Digital content must precede consumer demand for digital equipment. In their comments to the FCC, CEA rebuked the "chicken and egg" portrayal of the digital television transition so often batter about when discussing this issue. They stated, "Consumers should not be expected to purchase digital receivers in anxious anticipation that value-added content will eventually become available, especially given the current dearth of high-quality, digitally originated programming." Hello FCC. The era of shooting yourselves in the foot has got to come to a close. It’s time to do what is necessary to get digital off the ground. You’ve dilly-dallied around enough. The dual carriage is a must or DTV will be a bust! That’s it for this time; let’s go to press! *********************************** To SUBSCRIBE to the Tech-Notes mailing list, do so by send E-mail to: tech- notes-request@maillist.tech-notes.tv and put "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject box and body of the message. New subscriber will get a confirmation response. To unsubscribe, send E-mail to: tech-notes-request@maillist.tech-notes.tv and put "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject box and body of the message. You’ll get a confirmation response. Please visit our web page to review our policies and to see any additional information. http://www.Tech-Notes.tv Thanks.
|