[opendtv] Re: Berlin report
- From: "Dale Kelly" <res0xtey@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 17:29:12 -0700
Bert reports:
> 7. Commercial broadcasters paid no more for this transition
> than they would have paid to remain on the air with analog.
> So the transition was a joint commercial and publicly
> funded effort.
This certainly isn't the U.S. model. Those wishing to sell the Berlin model
here should be reminded that US Broadcasters, by the transitions end, will
have invested about a billion dollars simply to remain in business. There
has been no public funding, other than for the PBS transition. Clearly the
CE companies have made a major investment but will, and possibly are,
reaping significant profits from that investment. The consumer is the next
funding "victim" and will create the CE companies ROI.
So, the CE folks and the Government, who will auction the vacant channels,
are the primary benefactors from this transition. One could make the case
that the public will also benefit from the improved broadcast product but
that certainly won't be a near term benefit. The general viewing public
doesn't even know that they need this new service and unless the cable
systems carry the full OTA DTV multiplex, the majority of viewers won't
notice the difference.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "OpenDTV (E-mail)" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, August 23, 2004 3:37 PM
Subject: [opendtv] Berlin report
> The Berlin SFN DTT experience is described in this project
> report (an update of a previous one, apparently):
>
> http://www.mabb.de/bilder/Projektbericht_engl.pdf
>
> Some interesting highlights:
>
> 1. Before the transition, 8.9 percent of households in
> Berlin and Brandenburg states depended on OTA TV
> distribution entirely. An additonal 5 percent used OTA
> for second and third sets in the household.
>
> 2. The Berlin and Brandenburg states, a single TV market,
> had 12 analog stations, which they replaced with 9 DTT
> multiplexed channels.
>
> 3. The transition took place from 1/1/2002 through 8/4/2003.
> It consisted of selectively shutting off analog transmitters
> and replacing these with digital. The higher power analog
> were shut off first, one by one, over time. The low power
> analog were the last to go off the air.
>
> 4. The 9 DTT channels, some VHF some UHF, range in power
> from a low of 25 KW for VHF, replacing 100 KW analog, to
> a high of 200 KW UHF, replacing 100 KW to 1 MW analog
> transmitters.
>
> 5. A company called T-Systems was contracted with designing
> the SFN. It consists of two towers. "Two transmitter
> stations were established in a single frequency network.
> Further transmitter locations could improve reception, but
> this would require considerable additional expenditure."
> They use COFDM with 16-QAM and 2/3 convolutional FEC.
>
> 6. The coverage patterns they show are based on Ch 44, which
> is a 170 KW UHF transmitter pair.
>
> 7. Commercial broadcasters paid no more for this transition
> than they would have paid to remain on the air with analog.
> So the transition was a joint commercial and publically
> funded effort.
>
> 8. The price goal for DTT STBs was set at 200 Euro. This was
> quickly met and even reduced.
>
> 9. Channel 44 reception was found to be about what had been
> estimated. That is:
>
> Indoor reception out to just under 14.5 miles from
> pattern center.
>
> "Outdoor antenna" reception to 26.4 miles of pattern
> center.
>
> "Rooftop antenna" reception to 58.2 miles of pattern
> center.
>
> I estimated these distances based on landmarks the report
> provides in their coverage map. Below I'll estimate the
> antenna heights these numbers suggest. Unfortunately, the
> report does not provide this info.
>
> 10. Of the STBs sold, 60 percent went to OTA users, 26
> percent to cable subscribers, and 14 percent to DBS
> subscribers. The vast majority went to folks living in
> the "indoor coverage" area, i.e. people living within
> 14.5 miles of pattern center.
>
> 11. In the analog days, 66 percent of OTA users were the
> "over 50" demographic. Now, 60 percent of OTA users are
> in the "under 50" demographic.
>
> 12. The experience in Spain and the UK convinced mabb that
> a free service should be used to introduce DTT. But plans
> for the future include portable and mobile reception, as
> well as pay TV, including the possibility of interactive
> TV based on MHP and DTT-H to handheld devices. For these
> portable and mobile services, they expect integrated
> receivers will be mandatory.
>
> The transmitter antenna height estimation uses the ITU-R
> model, the COFDM mode performance expectations, and an
> estimated receiver sensitivity for COFDM of -80 dBm.
>
> C/N margins required for COFDM in this mode are:
>
> 14.2 dB for Rayleigh fading
> 11.6 dB for Ricean
> 11.1 dB for Gaussian
>
> Reception of a signal from a 170 KW ERP transmitter with
> -80 dBm receiver sensitivity and unity gain Rx antenna
> implies a max total path loss of 162.3 dB. But 14.2 dB
> of margin is required, leaving 148.1 dB of loss due to
> distance alone, for indoor reception.
>
> From this, if the receiver antenna is at 6' height, I
> conclude that the Tx antenna must be just under 800'.
>
> The roof mounted antenna coverage is about 58.2 miles.
> Assuming gaussian fading, signal loss due to distance
> alone can be up to 151.2 dB. Assuming a 30' antenna
> height at the receiver, the transmitter's antenna must
> have been 657'.
>
> Now the intermediate position, with "outdoor antenna,"
> will be assumed to have 16' height and Ricean fading.
> The range is 26.4 miles, and the transmitter antenna
> results in 677' antenna height.
>
> So in all cases, these two sticks appear to be fairly
> tall. It would be nice to know the actual height.
>
> Bert
>
>
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