Craig Birkmaier wrote: > These "supposed" constraints were well known going > in. We put together an interoperability review for > the Advisory Committee in 1993. We laid out the > factors that would enable interoperability, > extensibility and scalability BEFORE the GRAND > ALLIANCE was created. > > One of the most important points in those reports > was the fact that you SHOULD NOT lock down important > aspects of a digital standard, as was necessary for > an analog standard. Well, that's amazing, then. Because as recently as 2001 you still hadn't appreciated that there's nothing "locked down" in ATSC, or any other digital scheme based on protocol layers, that can't be "unlocked" with the mere stroke of a pen. AVC is just one example. It turns out, DBS *must* have AVC to compete against cable. Cable can offer HD for every channel, as well as local into local, without AVC, so obviously they will choose this route initially. Ditto with DTT. You go as far as you can with the existing standard, then you bite the bullet and update. > What is needed is a plan - up front - to deal with > interoperability and extensibility. And in 1999, with the simple introduction of A/90, the obvious was accomplished. The path was clear, and it should have been clear to everyone involved even in 1991. there's nothing unique about any of this. It's simply a matter of perspective, or lack of. Bert ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.