[opendtv] Re: News: FCC: All Sets Must Have DTV Tuners
- From: Bob Miller <bob@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 05 Nov 2005 00:10:56 -0500
Eory Frank-p22212 wrote:
>Bert wrote:
>
>
>
>>The only people who have anything to gripe about would
>>be the DTT broadcasters, who have to make special
>>arrangements to get their hand-held-specific content
>>to hand-held devices. But consumers of "regular" DTT
>>might actually prefer it this way. Because the service
>>to larger TV sets won't be compromised by having to
>>set aside bandwidth for the video snippets broadcast
>>in infinite loops to hand-helds.
>>
>>
>
>This is one of those rare occasions where I agree with Bert.
>
>If broadcasters really wanted to get into the business of delivering their
>programming wirelessly to portable, hand-held or mobile devices, they should
>have started working the political issues as well as the technical issues
>years ago. When confronted with the technical reality that their new DTT
>system was engineered primarily for rooftop reception to fixed receivers, most
>of them blew it off -- with the exception of Sinclair and to a lesser extent
>some of their allies in the modulation wars of 5 years ago. The majority of
>them seem ok with relying on cable & DBS to reach the vast majority of their
>audience.
>
>Despite the last-minute changes to the standard that allowed non-HDTV modes,
>there was and still is a strong expectation in Congress that the new digital
>channel will be used for "some" HDTV -- meaning HDTV for certain shows during
>prime time or other dayparts -- and NOT meaning some degraded, pseudo-HD
>programs sharing the channel with lots of lower resolution programs, including
>some that are targeted at cell phones and other hand-helds.
>
>As a consumer of and big fan of HDTV, I think this is a good thing. I don't
>want my HDTV content degraded by a broadcaster setting aside bandwidth to
>compete with Verizon, Cingular, etc. in the market for "video snippets" or
>wireless broadband internet to hand-held devices -- or by one who sets aside
>bandwidth for a weak pay TV service like USDTV that most people will never
>subscribe to.
>
>The European broadcasting model is a lot different than ours, technically,
>politically and economically. Just because certain aspects of their way of
>doing things look attractive to some U.S. broadcasters does not mean that we
>should follow the European example.
>
>Maybe that statement applies to reception issues too. Despite my railings
>against 8-VSB, I contend that 8-VSB reception is comparable to DVB-T reception
>for rooftop antennas feeding fixed receivers in the medium and far field --
>and that is probably acceptable for most suburban and rural HDTV viewers who
>choose to rely on OTA DTT. 8-VSB falls short on some of the very late
>"broadcaster requirements" that first appeared in the ATSC RF Task Force five
>years ago -- indoor set-top reception, portable and mobile reception. But
>maybe that shortcoming is intentional, or at least acceptable, given the
>realities of the U.S. business and regulatory climate for DTT, cable, DBS and
>wireless telcos.
>
>-- Frank
>
>
It is obviously acceptable but only as long as broadcasters have must
carry. The US changes modulation soon after the Supreme Court rules
against must carry of any kind.
In the meantime broadcasters will do as much multicasting as they can
get away with politically. The end game that I see is one in which
broadcasters sell their HD content to cable and satellite and deliver an
SD (required) copy to their OTA viewers with HD of the same program
delivered with MPEG4 OTA as part of a pay service. This is still
radioactive politically but over time will be the norm IMO. But
broadcasters want to be paid for their content beyond advertising. One
reason they are paying more attention to cable carriage of their content
for pay and less attention to their free OTA viewers.
Bob Miller
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