[opendtv] ATSC 2.0 'Could Include' 3D Transmission
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 16:56:16 -0500
http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/120254
ATSC 2.0 'Could Include' 3D Transmission
05.10.2011.
WASHINGTON: TV is 3D. It's on-demand. It's pay-walled, personalized, it's
interactive and it defies traditional audience measurement systems.
Over-the-air TV still delivers programs on a linear timeline, and the current
technology configuration used to deliver it all but prevents broadcasts in 3D.
It needs an update, a two-point-oh. The Advanced Television Systems Committee
has been working on a 2.0 for a while now. It's being discussed at the group's
annual meeting in Washington today.
"The first report of next-generation technologies and issues will be presented
during today's meeting, a foundation to establish a strategic direction for the
future," said ATSC president, Mark Richer.
ATSC 2.0 will be built on the current digital television transmission standard,
which is based on MPEG-2 video compression. MPEG-2 was adopted for DTV in 1994.
Video codecs have evolved and become more efficient in the meantime. MPEG-2
provides adequate compression for high-definition television in 6 MHz broadcast
channel, which was the original goal of the DTV standard.
Now, newer sought-after features--3D for example--demand advanced compression
such as MPEG-4 Part 10. However, the 100 million or so TV sets in homes around
the country decode only MPEG-2. Broadcast engineers meeting with federal
regulators last year concluded it would take at least 13 years to adopt MPEG-4
Part 10 for over-the-air television.
Demonstrations planned for today's ATSC event are said to "showcase different
technical strategies for transmission and reception of 3DTV, with methods that
are compatible with the current broadcast system."
Broadcasters haven't been gung-ho about 3D, even though Fox was first out of
the gate with it in late 2008, transmitting a 3D simulcast of a pro football
game to select theaters. (Note: The NFL, 3ality Digital and RealD did this
telecast. Fox did their 3D BCS Championship game the following January. Thank
you, Ken Kerschbaumer.) In addition, market mavens predict 3DTV sets will be
everywhere in a few years. DisplaySearch just predicted there would be 100
million in the market by 2014, though only 2 million sold worldwide in the
final quarter of 2010. Part of the reason forecasters are aggressive on 3DTV
sales is that it's not complicated for set manufacturers to add stereoscopic
display capability. Whether people will use it en mass is another story. Market
research also indicates that fewer shutter glasses have sold than 3DTV sets.
The glasses are necessary to see the stereoscopic effect on current 3DTV
displays.
The jury is still out on public consumption of 3D video content. Rich Geenfield
of BTIG wrote this week that just half of moviegoers who attended the film
"Thor" on opening weekend elected to see it in 3D.
"We found this figure to be very disappointing, as 3D screen count is no longer
constrained, with 'Thor' benefiting from the widest 3D theater count in
history--2,737 sites equating to 69 percent of total theaters playing 'Thor.'"
The ATSC said that work on the next DTV standard "continues and could include:"
- Advanced video codecs (such as MPEG-4)
- Non-real-time and file-based delivery
- Conditional access
- Digital rights management
- Advanced electronic service guides
- Audience measurement tools
- Personalization/targeted advertising
- Interactivity and Internet connectivity
- 3DTV transmission
The group will today be addressed by Sen. Gordon Smith, president and CEO of
the National Association of Broadcasters, former FCC chairman Richard Wiley and
Dr. Keiichi Kubota, director general of Japan's NHK Science and Technology
Research Laboratories.
~ Deborah D. McAdams, Television Broadcast
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