[opendtv] VLV calls for dual-standard DTT set-tops
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 29 May 2007 10:46:58 -0400
The saga continues.
Problem is, though, that if DVB-T2 is to become reality, merely forcing
STB makers to incorporate H.264 is not going to be enough. Until DVB-T2
has been defined, it seems premature to begin this second transition.
Either that, or DVB-T2 will be delayed until the more distant future.
Bert
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http://www.dtg.org.uk/news/news.php?class=countries&subclass=0&id=2455
VLV calls for dual-standard DTT set-tops
Jocelyn Hay, chairman and founder of lobby group Voice of the Listener
and Viewer (VLV), has called on the Government to insist that digital
terrestrial set-top box makers produce receivers able to receive
broadcasts using both MPEG 2 and MPEG 4 compression systems.
Writing in The Independent, Hay said many people did not know that
though Freeview is now the dominant means of receiving digital TV, "it
is not yet transmitting in high definition, nor that, if as we hope, it
does so in future, the current generation of set-top boxes will not be
able to receive them. None of the early boxes are compatible with the
new higher quality MPEG 4 television signals necessary to receive
high-definition TV".
Hay said it was therefore "important for the Government to insist that,
by the end of this year, all manufacturers produce set-top boxes with
dual standards, so that they are future proof and consumers will not be
faced with having to buy new equipment in two years time".
Hay also called on ministers to reserve some of the spectrum due to be
liberated after digital switchover for high-definition broadcasts on
Freeview. Her call echoes that of ITV executive chairman Michael Grade
who last week offered a compromise solution in the campaign for spectrum
to be set aside for HD on DTT.
Grade told culture secretary Tessa Jowell that public service
broadcasters would be willing to help "drive the transition to a more
efficient transmission standard on DTT" if the Government loaned them "a
little over a multiplex of capacity". Once the new HD-compatible set-top
boxes were sufficiently widespread the loaned spectrum could be handed
back and auctioned.
Meanwhile, there are reports that Ofcom has delayed making a decision on
the outcome of its digital dividend review consultation. Reports suggest
the regulator will not be able to say whether it still intends to
auction the entire spectrum block liberated by switchover until the
autumn following an overwhelming response to its consultation. Ofcom had
been expected to issue its decision this summer.
Lovelace Consulting 29.05.2007
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