[opendtv] Re: Twang's Tuesday Tribune (Mark's Monday Memo) 2004April20

  • From: Mark Schubin <tvmark@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 17:24:45 -0400

>
>
>That's what I don't understand. Why keep pounding on results
>obtained with 1st generation chips? Who cares?
>
Agreed.  Let's not pound on the first-generation chips.  Let's examine 
the 5th generation.

Victor Tawil of the Association for Maximum Service Television (MSTV) 
presented a paper today on tests MSTV conducted in the Washington, D.C. 
area using the Zenith 5th-generation chip.  The tests were conducted in 
a portion of Virginia, right across the river from Washington, that has 
tall buildings.  The sites were selected because they were considered 
tough, so the percentages of success don't reflect percentages of the 
overall population.  All of the tests were conducted outdoors.

In 14 of the 78 tests, the signals were considered below threshold.  I 
don't know whether that means below 15.5 dB C/N or below threshold for 
the necessary equalization (the 5th-generation Zenith requires 24 dB C/N 
for the Brazil-E ensemble).  In any case, those 14 were deleted and did 
not count against the percentages.  Of the rest, there was a 65% success 
rate (fewer than four hits in three minutes); measured the old way 
(fewer than 50 hits in three minutes) there would have been an 86% 
acceptable rate.

That's the fifth-generation, not the first.  Those of us who 
participated in the old Sinclair trials would be hard pressed to come up 
with one site that failed.  I had one: it was inside the shielded 
transmitter building.  At no other site -- and Sinclair gave me carte 
blanche to choose -- was there a failure.

Oh, well.

The 5th generation is certainly better than the 4th, and Zenith is 
working on a 6th.

TTFN,
Mark



 
 
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