[opendtv] Re: 20060414 Free Friday Fragments (Mark's Monday Memo)
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 16:01:00 -0400
Mark Schubin wrote:
> - Reports from NCTA's National Show:
> - Switched video (one channel at a time) was reportedly
> a hot topic. The second URL is for a story from
> Broadcasting & Cable:
<http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6323677.html?display=3DBreaking+Ne=
w
s>
<http://tinyurl.com/hw9u4>
This is just a way to force their customers to pay for the proprietary
"remote DVR" service, instead of allowing them to go with their choice
of recording box. It also establishes a good basis for charging
customers more for each extra set in the house.
What they are now calling "switched video" was a work-around for IPTV
setups. A way of accommodating TV service on a link with inadequate
bandwidth. What this move does, conceptually, is take the inconvenience
of a proprietary STB one step further. It is now being turned into a
"feature" by the buzz-word manufacturing element in the industry. Some
hot topic indeed.
Making better use of bandwidth in the last-mile link is being used as
the reason for this move to switched video. With the bandwidth available
from coax into cable TV homes, it seems inconceivable to me that some
spectrum can't be set aside for interactive unicast services, leaving
plenty of bandwidth for broadcast TV and radio, in this last-mile drop.
Matter of fact, rather than going to the trouble of creating "switched
video," what could be easier than switching only the interactive unicast
services? As in, if you really need more last-mile bandwidth for
interactive services, just dedicate (for example) one 6 MHz channel to
each household, switched, for that purpose. And leave the rest as is.
That 6 MHz channel could be partitioned to provide maybe 32 Mb/s of
dedicated downstream per household, and maybe 4 Mb/s dedicated upstream
(minus some amount for RS FEC). That's assuming use of 256-QAM and 4
Msymbols/sec for downsteam, and 16-QAM and 1 Msymbol/sec upstream, and
it only requires switching of *one* 6 MHz channel in the system. If
that's not enough, consider switching a second 6 MHz channel throughout
the system.
> - According to Pacific Media Associates, the 30- to 35-inch
> size range was the top seller in flat panel TVs in North
> America in 2005 (1.4 million units), with 40- to 45-inch
> second (1.2 million):
<http://svconline.com/news/pacific_media_flat_panel_shipments_03242006/>
Which is one reason why HDTV becomes a mainstream requirement for
broadcasters. Our local CBS 9 is transmitting local news in HDTV, btw.
Who says the news isn't "worthy" of HDTV?
> - Warren Communications News reported that year-to-date
> "DTV" shipments have exceeded direct-view analog sets.
> It's bound to happen sometime this year, but I haven't
> crunched those numbers yet, and it's possible they're
> not counting analog combos (I do).
More reason for HDTV to become the new default standard.
Bert
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