[opendtv] 20060630 Free Friday Fragments (Mark's Monday Memo)

     Here are some very efficient (low-administrative-cost) relief 
organizations (all have four-star ratings from CharityNavigator.org):
<http://www.americares.org/>
<http://www.redcross.org/donate/donate.html>
<http://www.directrelief.org/index.html>
<http://www.hopeww.org/>
<http://www.mercycorps.org/splash/>
     Americans may also call the Red Cross at 800 HELP NOW (800 435-7669).

- Follow-ups:

     - Brazil - At the risk of mentioning another false alarm, it DOES appear 
that Brazilian President Lula da Silva signed a document Thursday calling for a 
version of Japan's ISDB-T called SBDTV-T.  Analog cutoff is scheduled for July 
2013:
<http://www.macauhub.com.mo/en/news.php?ID=1585>

     - Flags - The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) came out against 
the "audio flag":
<http://www.upi.com/Hi-Tech/view.php?StoryID=20060629-013351-3193r>

     - The telecommunications bill - Here's a story on recent developments, 
with concentration on unlicensed devices in unused channels:
<http://www.tvtechnology.com/dailynews/one.php?id=4069>

     - HD DVD cost - Here is a completely different source saying the bill of 
materials for the HD DVD player exceeds its suggested retail price:
<http://www.freelists.org/archives/opendtv/06-2006/msg00147.html>
     In a related story, several sources report Toshiba president Atsutoshi 
Nishida telling his annual meeting that a unified single format is still 
possible:
<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060627-7145.html>

     - CableCARD - In a report filed with the Federal Communications Commission 
(FCC), the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) says viewer 
problems now are likely the fault of consumer-electronics equipment and that 
the ten largest multiple cable system operators, representing almost 90% of 
subscribers, have deployed about 170,000 CableCARDs, about 30,000 of them in 
the second quarter:
<http://www.cedmagazine.com/article/CA6347548.html>

     - World Cup HDTV - It was also seen in Mexico:
<http://broadcastengineering.com/automation/FIFA-HD-CentralAmerica/>

     - July 1 deadline for DTT service maximization - It's been extended to 
July 7:
<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1372A1.pdf>

     - May 1 - Doug Lung's RF Report says there were 905 licensed U.S. DTT 
stations listed in the FCC's CDBS database as of June 25:
<http://www.tvtechnology.com/dlrf/one.php?id=1325>
     Neither the FCC nor the NAB updated their lists since the last memo.

- International news:  Here's the latest on China's plans, which seem to allow 
both U.S.-type and European/Japanese-type DTT transmissions:
<http://www.eet.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=189601091>

- Based on figures from CEA, sales to U.S. dealers of non-H/DTV television sets 
for the first 22 weeks of 2006 were down 47.4% from the same period in 2005; my 
ten-week running average was down 55.6%.  For the first 23 weeks, they were 
down 46.3% and my ten-week running average was down 50.4%.  Sales of so-called 
"Digital Televisions" to U.S. dealers for the 22nd week were 180,927 units, for 
the 23rd week 465,994 units and for the first 23 weeks 6,804,647 (compared to 
4,636,853 for sets not called "digital" by CEA), accounting for 59.5%.
     To qualify to CEA as a "Digital Television," a display need only be 
capable of dealing with at least 480p; it need not be capable of either 
receiving digital signals or displaying them, although now that the 100% "tuner 
mandate" has kicked in for sets 25-inch and larger, it would seem that most do 
have such capability.  CEA says about 82% of the "digital televisions" sold in 
2005 (when not all TVs 25-inch and up were supposed to have DTT-reception 
circuitry) were HDTV.

- DVD news:

     - According to CEA's figures, sales of DVD players to U.S. dealers for the 
first 22 weeks of 2006 were up 11.1% from the same period in 2005; my ten-week 
running average was up 15.2%.  For the first 23 weeks, they were up 10.8%; my 
10-week running average was up 16.4%.  Next-generation disks will have a tough 
row to hoe.

     - More than 20,000 CyberHome DVD recorders were seized for allegedly using 
Philips intellectual property without license:
<http://www.twice.com/article/CA6344162.html>

- Satellite news:

     - Here's the news release on the FCC's proposed new 17-GHz broadcasting 
satellites:
<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266039A1.pdf>
     Here's the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking:
<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-90A1.pdf>
     Here, strangely, is the notice of their being deleted from the meeting 
agenda:
<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266028A1.pdf>

     - The FCC's satellite competition report to Congress is also now available:
<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-82A1.pdf>

- Upcoming Dates (DTV and non-DTV):
     - September 27-29, Hotel Washington, Washington, D.C., IEEE Broadcast 
Symposium <http://www.ieee.org/organizations/society/bt/sympo.html>.
     - October 3-5, Hotel Fort Des Moines, Des Moines, Iowa, Iowa DTV Symposium 
<http://www.iptv.org/dtv/2005/>.
     - October 4-6, Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, Jackson Hole Tech 
Symposium <http://www.jhfestival.org/symposium2006/>.
     - October 18-21, Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, SMPTE convention 
<http://www.smpte.org/conferences/148cfp.cfm>.
     - ***January 31-February 2, The Westin at Mission Hills, Rancho Mirage 
(Palm Springs area), California, ***HPA Technology Retreat*** 
<http://www.hpaonline.com>.
     - April 14-19, Las Vegas Convention Center, NAB convention 
<http://www.nabshow.com/>.
     - *April 18-21, Atlanta Convention Center, Satellite Expo 2007 with C-band 
Pioneers Reunion <http://www.bobcooper.tv/c-band-reunion.htm>.

* - new or revised listing

TTFN,
Mark

PS  Permission is granted to forward this or any other Monday Memo.  Next 
week's memo might be late.

Have a question about the memo?  Before contacting me, please try the FAQs and 
glossary in the second postscript to the January 5 memo:
<http://www.digitaltelevision.com/mondaymemo/mlist/frm02213.html>


 
 
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