[opendtv] Re: Google And Verizon are Setting Our Public Internet Policy
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2010 15:21:40 -0500
Craig Birkmaier wrote:
> The only action by the FCC that was meaningful was when Chairman Al
> Sikes told the companies developing prototype systems that the
> system WOULD BE digital, after Generl Instruments demonstrated a
> digital system with a forerunner of MPEG-2.
The FCC decided the system would be digital, true, but the significant part was
that the system had to be spectrum compatible with existing TV, and that HDTV
was to fit in the existing 6 MHz channels. This was decided in 1991. Previous
analog systems had opted for two 6 MHz channels, and there had also been
earlier ideas about 6 channels of satellite-only delivery for HDTV. All of
which, to me, were non-starters.
Anyway, this WAS, in fact, the legitimate role of the FCC, as spectrum manager.
> And Hundt helped the Grand Alliance by pushing for multicasting in
> 1995, after it was obvious that Congres was going to authorize the
> new DTV service. Up to that point the GA was steadfastly AGAINST
> standard definition video formats and multicasting, because they
> were concerned that Congress might reduce channel allocations to 2
> MHz - enough to replicate the NTSC service that was being replaced.
You have said this before, and I just don't understand how it can be true. So,
not being able to believe it, I checked briefly.
Even before the SDTV modes were added formally, the Grand Alliance had defined
the 720p24 and 720p30 modes. Certainly by August 1994, when the article was
published in the IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics. It is highly
unlikely that any EE worth the paper of his degree would not have known
instinctively that these lower modes were to free up bits for other programs,
Craig. In the early and mid 1990s, all this digital network stuff was very well
understood.
And even further back than that, in the February 1992 issue of that same
Transactions, explaining how, in the 20 Mb/s channel, one could fit more
program streams. Here is a quote from an article by B.W. Beyers, of Thomson
(one of the GA companies).
"It is likely that a new standard will include not only HDTV resolutions at
1440 X 960 pixels, but also an NTSC like standard resolution at 512 X 480 and a
VHS like low resolution of 352 X 240. This will allow a wide variety of data
rates and services per 6 MHz channel."
So, I do not know who you were listening to, Craig, but engineers and the GA
were fully aware of the possibilities long before 1995.
Bert
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