[opendtv] Re: 20050627 Mark's Monday Memo

Bert wrote:
 

>Nick Kocsis wrote:

 

>> But it bothers me that I have read statements on the

>> Schubin tests that even the best of the ATSC 5th

>> generation receivers of today cannot match the

>> performance of DVB-T receivers that were already

>> available in 1999.

 

>Bah. I'm not too concerned about that, for these

>reasons:

 

>1. Those statements are off the cuff, more emotional

>outburst than carefully tested facts.

 

I think you mean that those statements are based on observations & informal 
tests, rather than the Zenith/ATSC/FCC specified 30 foot mast measurements with 
a properly designed geographic grid and careful elimination of "problem" test 
locations within said grid.

 

 

>2. I find it not only possible but probable that COFDM

>will be better than 8-VSB is some scenarios, now and

>in the future. But the opposite is also going to be

>true, now and in the future, in other instances. The

>two schemes will never perform identically in all

>situations. 8-VSB will do better in long range

>reception, all else being equal, for unarguable

>physical reasons.

 

I'm still waiting for a data point - just ONE unbiased data point - that shows 
a long range reception advantage of 8-VSB over COFDM. Enough years have passed, 
you would think SOMEBODY would have done an honest A/B comparative test that 
shows a statistically significant difference in the far field. I mean a 
genuinely HONEST test. Not like the ones we saw several years ago, which 
weren't worth the paper they were printed on.

 

>3. 8-VSB reception can only be improved over time,

>since it depends on clever signal processing. So the

>times it will show an advantage over COFDM can only

>become more frequent rather than less frequent.

 

Clever signal processing can be applied to any receiver if cost & power are 
don't-cares. Precisely why there will never be a practical portable 8-VSB 
receiver. Your earlier example of portable Pentium laptops was well on the 
mark. Sure we have portable laptops, and some of them even get more than 2 
hours of battery life. But they don't compare well in size, power or battery 
life with simple transistor radios. The portable DVB-H receiver vs. portable 
8-VSB receiver is exactly THAT kind of comparison - a laptop vs. a transistor 
radio.

 

>4. Even as far back as 2000, in the Hong Kong tests,

>8-VSB and COFDM both performed equally well in their

>battery of stationary tests. This included indoor and

>outdoor reception (but no mobile testing for 8-VSB).

>So if I were to base all by beliefs on the carefully

>conducted Hong Kong tests, rather than emotional

>outbursts, I would conclude that already 5 years ago

>the system performed just fine.

 

Keep drinking the kool aid Bert. If 8-VSB did so well in the Hong Kong tests, 
why did that government choose DVB-T?

 

>I *realize* that would be hiding my head in the sand.

>I'm just pointing out that one shouldn't consider

>just one data point in such comparisons, especially

>if that data point is unsubstantiated.

 

I agree completely. There are now SOOO many data points that repeatedly 
demonstrate the overwhelming superiority of one system over the other, that 
there is no longer a reason to debate this subject. The profit-minded sensible 
business folks have moved on, while the zealots continue to promise perpetual 
motion machines and "cold fusion" in the hopes that they can profit from a 
government mandated multi-billion dollar rape of American consumers. Some of 
those consumers will come to realize that the technology does not live up to 
the reliability that is expected from "wireless" these days. But most will not, 
because most will never even try to use an antenna and will never learn just 
how broken the technology and the network design really is. They will happily 
continue watching cable & DBS, and will eventually get over their grumbling 
about paying $200 or more for some bs "feature" that the US government made 
them pay for when they bought a new TV set.

 

-- Frank



 
 
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