[opendtv] Re: New Thread: What becomes of Legacy Analog Equipment

At 10:58 AM -0500 11/27/07, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:

John Shutt wrote:


 And Bert's insistence to the contrary, I know very well we
 could have done better.


Some people are just inconsolable.

The facts are, one by one all the oft-repeated objections to 8-VSB have
dropped by the wayside, as was predictable from fairly early on. The
dreaded cliff effect remains, of course, which affects all modulation
schemes. It would be great to do another comparison test now, but since
no one would benefit from it, it won't happen. Alas.


And some people are just blinded with optimism.
All you are able to relate is that the ATSC system has become usable by a handful of laggards who are unwilling or unable to pay a monthly subscriber fee for their TV fix.
For now the ATSC system will work as advertised for a the very small percentage of the population that uses an antenna. Will this continue to be true in a few years?
What will happen to the image quality of programming if and when broadcasters decide that they want to reach portable and mobile receivers? New services will need to steal bits from existing services - bits that will need even more bits to get delivered reliably using a standard that is still being developed. In other words, ALL legacy receivers WILL NOT be able to use these new services, but the quality of the existing services is likely to be compromised. 

There are SO MANY ways we could have done better:
- A modulation system that has the flexibility to be optimized for different services on the fly, WITHOUT a hefty bit penalty for the more demanding MPH modes.
- A spectrum allocation system that would have forced the broadcasters to use SFNs to provide BETTER coverage of their markets WITHOUT radiating into adjacent markets, with the net result of improved spectral efficiency that would allow EVERY market to have at least twice as many channels.
- A political/regulatory environment that would have removed the anti-competitive perks that broadcasters are using to avoid competition with multi-channel systems.
- A well defined platform that supports news services and the ability to extend the capabilities of the system using software defined functionality as is the case with web browsers.
We are all glad for you Bert. The ATSC has succeeded in its quest to replicate the NTSC service. Hope you are enjoying the better pictures and sound, and the same lame, old, dying programming. 

Regards
Craig


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