[opendtv] 20060609 Free Friday Fragments (Mark's Monday Memo)
- From: Mark Schubin <tvmark@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: tvmark@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 22:48:23 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
Here are some very efficient (low-administrative-cost) relief
organizations (all have four-star ratings from CharityNavigator.org):
<http://www.americares.org/>
<http://www.redcross.org/donate/donate.html>
<http://www.directrelief.org/index.html>
<http://www.hopeww.org/>
<http://www.mercycorps.org/splash/>
Americans may also call the Red Cross at 800 HELP NOW (800 435-7669).
I'm very sorry about the long gap since the last memo. I've been collecting
the ads, but I haven't had a chance to go through them yet. There's plenty in
this memo without them. I've also got some catching to do on a few sources,
like the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and This Week in Consumer
Electronics (TWICE).
- Follow-ups:
- USDTV's MPEG-4 adaptor - I am happy to report that they are offering it
free to all existing customers. Their biggest problem was getting it to work
with USB 1.1 connections. They showed it and some encoded stuff at about 1.5
Mbps. Picture quality was okay.
- DTT education in the U.S. -
- The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and the National Cable &
Telecommunications Association (NCTA) have a joint project. The National
Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has declined to join at this time:
<http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6326985.html?display=Breaking+News>
- This story, which covers primarily the coupons for DTT boxes, notes
that the budget for government education efforts wouldn't even cover the
postage:
<http://www.tvtechnology.com/dailynews/one.php?id=4004>
- Multicast must-carry - It's heating up again:
<http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6327947.html?display=Breaking+News>
The next two stories are from Broadcasting & Cable:
<http://tinyurl.com/qhsk3>
<http://tinyurl.com/mxas2>
<http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6342231.html?display=Breaking+News>
- Cable navigation separate from security - It didn't happen in 2000, and
now Comcast would like it not to be mandated next year:
<http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6328785.html?display=Breaking+News>
- U.S. Telecommunications Bill - It has passed the House of
Representatives without a network-neutrality provision:
<http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=10155>
The final version (after the Senate acts) should include provisions giving
the FCC authority to order a "broadcast flag" and to require warning labels on
analog-only TVs:
<http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6330262.html?display=Breaking+News>
I think it's a little late for the labels:
<http://televisionbroadcast.com/articles/article_1317.shtml>
- Do PVR users skip ads? - Here's yet another view:
<http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6331601.html>
- Cablevision's network PVR service - They announced it. They were sued.
They countersued. They're waiting to see how the lawsuits do before they start
the service:
<http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=10147>
On my May 9 podcast, ***Technology Retreat*** regular and attorney Jim
Burger opined that Cablevision's service was probably on the okay side of
legal, though Time Warner's might not be:
<http://www.theschubinreport.com/archives.shtml>
- Mobile TV - Aloha Partners, which has the most 700 MHz spectrum in the
U.S., plans to use it to deliver "high-definition" mobile TV using 12 MHz in
Las Vegas. Maybe they're reverting to a pre-1935 definition of HD:
<http://broadcastengineering.com/newsletters/bth/20060508/#>
- Energy consumption of DTT converters - California's Energy Commission's
rules could make a $50 converter difficult:
<http://www.reed-electronics.com/eb-mag/article/CA6337591>
- Satellite HD - Echostar is up to 29 channels, not counting local
broadcasts:
<http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=10157>
- Cable HD - This USA Today story lists 24 HD cable channels plus regional
sports networks, not counting local broadcast channels:
<http://tinyurl.com/rcxdq>
- Telco TV - Here's an update:
<http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=29957>
- The Image Constraint Token - According to this third-hand report in
Next-gen.biz, the analog outputs of advanced consumer disk systems won't be
constrained until 2010 or 2012 at the earliest:
<http://tinyurl.com/qcncd>
- Downconverting retransmitted HD - Those who don't want it to happen (in
this story the affiliates of the top-four U.S. commercial networks) have now
recognized that conversion to analog standard-def is a good thing, given the
huge number of analog TVs connected to cable. They still think it's a bad
thing for digital cable (first story from Broadcasting & Cable):
<http://tinyurl.com/mrb4m>
<http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6338775.html?display=Breaking+News>
But I have digital cable connected to two analog TVs. There's an HD tier, but
I can't use it. I suggest very careful attention to the language.
- May 1 -
- The NAB updated its list to 1566 U.S. DTT stations operating in 211
markets as of May 22:
<http://www.nab.org/newsroom/issues/digitaltv/dtvstations.asp>
- The FCC updated its lists on May 24:
- 1701 stations (98.8% of 1722) have been granted a DTT license
or construction permit; 1573 are on the air:
<http://www.fcc.gov/mb/video/files/dtvsum.html>
- There is still no listed change in the status of the 40
top-10-market top-4-commercial-network outlets that were due on the air May 1,
1999. It's still 38 licensed and two on temporary authority:
<http://www.fcc.gov/mb/video/files/dtvstat.html>
- Similarly, there has been no recent change in the 79 stations
in markets 11-30 due on the air November 1, 1999. It's still 74 licensed and
five on temporary authority:
<http://www.fcc.gov/mb/video/files/dtvstat11.html>
- Outside the top-30 market top-four commercial network
stations, there are still more commercial stations operating on temporary
authority than licensed:
<http://www.fcc.gov/mb/video/files/dtvonairsum.html>
- These are the 908 stations operating at full power either
fully licensed or on program-test authority:
<http://www.fcc.gov/mb/video/files/dtvonair.html>
- These are the 665 stations operating on temporary authority:
<http://www.fcc.gov/mb/video/files/dtvstas.html>
- Doug Lung's RF Report found 892 licensed U.S. DTT stations in the
FCC CDBS database as of April 29:
<http://www.tvtechnology.com/dlrf/one.php?id=1264>
It found 897 as of May 15:
<http://www.tvtechnology.com/dlrf/one.php?id=1279>
And it found 900 as of May 31:
<http://www.tvtechnology.com/dlrf/one.php?id=1297>
- The FCC has release analog TV station totals as of March 31:
- There were 1752 full power (30 more than the FCC's 100% DTT
number).
- There were 589 Class A low power.
- There were 2157 other low power.
- There were 4549 translators:
<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-265530A1.pdf>
Other than Class A (which dropped by 10 since last year), all other
categories increased substantially. There are also at least six more
full-power analog stations coming:
<http://www.tvtechnology.com/dlrf/one.php?id=1298>
- The NAB convention -
- Here are some of my notes. The best tchotchke I found was a
battery-powered fan from KW/2 Lighting with a strip of blue LEDs on one blade
spelling out messages like "Stop Melting Your Talent." The best manual I saw
was a CD-ROM for a penlight (Chapman's Lens-Light, which can be a $171
penlight). Overall, I found lots of things touted (and getting awards) that
had been around a long time: Fuji's wide-viewing angle film for LCD displays
(2004), the Iconix tiny HD camera (shown as Luma in 2004), Sigma Electronics
Arbalest lip-sync detector/corrector (now ordered by Turner),
<http://www.theopenpress.com/index.php?a=press&id=9762>
Pixel Instruments' Lip Tracker (2004 and not yet a product), InPhase's
holographic disk (shown publicly in 2005 and privately before that),
Frontniche's LCD monitors with motion processing (2005), NHK's
ultra-high-definition TV (UDTV, 2002 for the version shown), etc. The last
replaced the Johnnie Walker whiskey-tasting area from last year, which was, I
think, a good change.
For more specifics, I like to divide stuff into six fields: acquisition,
storage, processing, distribution, presentation, and monitoring, testing, and
measurement.
- Acquisition - I found four big themes: 3-D, digital
cinematography, price, and solo operation. Stereoscopic 3-D was the subject of
several sessions, two keynoted by director James Cameron, who tried to jazz-up
the crowd with talk of how wonderful it is and how all of the problems have
been solved. From what I saw, SOME of it IS pretty wonderful, and some of the
problems have either been solved or greatly reduced (I was particularly
impressed with how good the blue extinguishment in circularly polarized glasses
has gotten). But not everything was wonderful -- not even everything Cameron
showed -- and I was not alone in those feelings. NHK offered an excellent 3-D
exhibit, and American Paper Optics (the company that makes paper 3-D glasses
and X-Ray Specs) was there, but the Korean exhibit area, which has been all-3-D
in the past, this year had none, concentrating on mobile TV instead.
Digital cinematography cameras abounded. Panasonic showed a very clever
mockup of what is intended to be a 4:4:4 2/3-inch HD (or 2K) system. It had
accessory connection brackets on various surfaces, so batteries, recorders, and
the like could be placed wherever desired or even stacked. Sony went one step
beyond that with private-suite demos of its 4:4:4 2/3-inch HD system (and a
model in the main booth). Silicon Imaging showed its SI-1920 HVDR 2/3-inch
single-chip HD camera with hot-swappable disk drives in Adobe's booth. It
takes film lenses without focal-length compensation, so it uses the centers of
the lenses (which is good) but loses their wide-angle capture.
Those (and the previously introduced Grass Valley Viper) were the 2/3-inch
entries (there were some interesting developments in lens adaptors for
smaller-format cameras, too, which I'll get to). Then there were many
larger-imager versions, including new ones from Vision Research (one with a
65-mm-film sized imager with slow-motion capability!), Red (nothing to
demonstrate yet), and Colorspace (even less than Red).
At the Digital Cinema Summit, test shots using various digital and film
cameras were shown. Film had remarkable exposure latitude.
Smaller-than-35-mm-size imaging was noticeable.
Red's coming product exemplifies what was going on in price. It is to be
a digital-cinematography camera with 35-mm-film sized imager with 4520 x 2540
resolution for $17,500. Grass Valley's Infinity and Silicon Imaging's SI-1920
were about $20,000, and Panasonic's 2/3-inch HD camcorders (both tape-based and
P2-based) weren't much more. As for one-person operation, it could be found in
new camera mounts, prompters, lighting products, and microphone systems. Here
are some specifics:
Holophone introduced a number of microphones that pick up complete
5.1-channel surround sound from a single source. The smallest weighs only
about a pound and has a zoom control that actually seems to work quite well.
Ricsonix, which last year showed the Pin-Mic (which looks like a lapel pin
or button and pierces cloth to its connector) this year added a tiny Bluetooth
transmitter with about a 30-foot range. In a future model, the Pin-Mic will
connect directly to the transmitter.
In camera mounts, there were many hands-free Segways, their columns cut
down and with leg steering. They allow operators to use Steadicams or other
mounts while gliding around. For smaller cameras, there was the Varizoom mount
at B&H and Anton/Bauer's EgripZ, part of a line including a new small-camera
battery called ElipZ and a light called ElightZ.
Portaprompt had a tiny tablet-computer based prompter, the whole computer
being mounted on the camera, with a tiny remote control that a one-person news
gatherer can use. Autoscript went beyond that with voice-recognition software
that automatically advances the prompter based on what is said.
In lighting, there were more fluorescents and LEDs. Notable were
small-camera lens ring lights from such companies as Litepanels and VFGadgets
and the Zylight Z50, which can provide any shade of white (and many colors)
without filters.
In lenses, Canon joined Fujinon in precision focus assist, and both
manufacturers are offering economical HD lenses for 1/2-inch cameras.
Unfortunately, as the presentation "Digital Cameras Exposed" in the Digital
Cinema Summit noted, the smaller the lens format, the HIGHER the lens quality
needs to be for equivalent contrast response in fine detail. NHK's 7680x4320
UDTV camera demands 240 line pairs/millimeter from the lens at maximum
resolution, but 1/3-inch-format HDTV cameras need almost as much (184 lp/mm);
2/3-inch 1080-line HD cameras need 100, but the ARRI D20 and Dalsa Origin
beyond-HDTV-resolution digital-cinematography cameras need only about 60
because their imagers are so large.
Fujinon also showed their 16x6.3 quasi-wide-angle/quasi-normal zoom lens
(it was previously at ***The Technology Retreat***) and squeezed a hair more
range and width out of their wide-angle studio lens. Red is planning a 300-mm
prime lens (131-mm 2/3-inch equivalent) for $4750. P+S Technik's Skater Scope
allows the lens optical path to be bent for creative camera mounting. NHK
showed a sync-zoom system for 3-D shooting.
P+S is probably most famous for their film-lens adaptors. Red Rock Micro
showed a similar (but larger) system with just a $550 base price (about $1300
fully loaded). JVC also had a 16-mm film lens adapter that causes image
inversion, so their new cameras can be switched to compensate.
In cameras, there were the two NHK second-generation UDTV cameras (the
only two in the world), in their first trip outside Japan. If one looked at
the whole 7680 x 4320 picture, it was difficult to appreciate the resolution.
But viewers were packed very close to the 30-foot-wide screen, and any small
section of it had what appeared to be full HD resolution. All of the
components of the system (imaging chips, lenses, etc.) had their own
mini-exhibits, with technical people available for discussion.
Sony's HDC-3300 offers HD slo-mo at 90 fps (or 75). Vision Research's
Phantom 35 offers 1920 x 1080 at up to 1000 fps in a 35-mm-size imager; the
Phantom 65 offers 4096 x 2440 at up to 125 fps in a 65-mm-size (51.2 x 23.25 mm
imager). The Iconix HD-RH1 three-chip "ice-cube" HD camera seems close to
ready to ship in its third year at NAB at about $16,000.
In camcorders, again, there were the new digital-cinematography models:
besides Vision Research, the Silicon Imaging SI-1920 HVDR, the Sony 4:4:4
2/3-inch HD prototype, the Panasonic 2K mockup, Red paraphernalia in a tent,
and Colorspace discussion of 35-mm-imager-size (2K 4:3) and 16-mm (1280 x 960).
Although Red's basic premise is little different from the previously
introduced ARRI D20, Dalsa Origin, or even Panavision Genesis (35-mm-sized,
super-high-resolution -- 4520 x 2540 -- imager), there is one characteristic of
it that has the power to revolutionize the industry, its price of $17,500. The
company collected many deposits on future cameras ("Red makes no promises or
representation as to the delivery date of the camera or final specifications").
The Red price is lower than even that of the Grass Valley Infinity, using
2/3-inch chips, each with less than 1920 x 1080 resolution (no details given)
and using a sub-pixel offset between colors to recover more resolution. Grass
Valley showed a great demo of the camcorder's Rev Pro disk drives, sometimes
called "non-proprietary" media though they are available only from Grass Valley
(non-Pro versions of Rev are available from Iomega and its distributors).
Disks were played almost immediately after being removed from a freezer, an
oven (heating element still glowing), a snow bank, the dust-swirling canister
of a vacuum cleaner, and under a tire after being run over. Here's an Infinity
story from Broadcasting & Cable (but I didn't count ten of them):
<http://tinyurl.com/qkzc6>
Sony had its blue-laser-disk-based XDCAM HD models and Canon its XL H1 HDV
model. JVC showed two new HDV models, the GY-HD200U and GY-HD250U, both still
using 1280 x 720 imagers and both capable of recording 720/60p (previous models
recorded only 720/30p). The new frame rate is accommodated, in part, by
increasing the compression GOP length from 6 frames to 12. The 250 model has
features for tying in to professional/broadcast systems.
Panasonic's AJ-HDX900 was most interesting for being tape based rather
than P2. Their AJ-HPC2000 IS P2 based and is intended to be an ENG HD camera
(it will accept NTSC, SDI, or HD-SDI pool feeds); it was shown by appointment
only.
- Storage - Themes seemed to be improving digital-cinematography
storage (everything from MUCH smaller drives from S.Two to the flash and disk
memories proposed by the new camcorder proponents, more instant-edit camcorder
storage (Grass Valley's Infinity CompactFlash and Rev Pro, disk and flash
offerings from Hitachi and Ikegami, Panasonic's P2, Sony's XDCAM HD disks),
multi-user access, archiving, and migration from tape. But tape clearly wasn't
dead. Five of the new HD camcorders exhibited were tape based, several new
tape machines were shown, a company offered to modify Digital Betacam decks to
make them dual format, and, at the PBS Technology Conference before the show
opened, it was noted that LTO tape cartridges had to wait for disk servers to
catch up.
Film was also clearly not dead. When it comes to archiving, there has
been no longer lasting moving-image medium than 35-mm film. Fraunhofer showed
two desktop products for recording on long-lasting film, ArchiveLaser and
StorageLaser. NHK's UDTV has 33 million pixels per frame (16 times more than
1080-line HDTV); Fraunhofer's laser recorders get five times as many pixels per
frame, with 12 bits recoverable per color per pixel. A 500-year lifetime is
suggested, and references in each frame can deal with any fading over that
period.
Omneon's MediaGrid is a distributed-intelligence storage system. Hitachi
was showing its sort-of-Rev-like product, iVDR (there's also something similar
code-named Tornado from Seagate). InPhase's holographic disk storage made
another NAB appearance. Toshiba showed an all-flash server (8-in/15-out with
12 audio per video). Sony also showed its PCM-D1 for field audio recording,
and the Rushworks Re:Play offered synchronized multi-stream playback for such
purposes as multi-angle instant replay.
- Processing - I found a number of themes in processing. The
first was in compression, where there seemed to be a big move towards JPEG2000
or other wavelet-based variable-bit-rate coding (e.g., Redcode, Cineform RAW)
both for storage and for signal distribution (there was a sub-theme, perhaps
based on coax difficulties at high data rates and long distances, of using some
form of mezzanine compression -- JPEG2000, DNxHD, etc. -- to send HD over
ordinary 270 Mbps SDI). Panasonic is also moving towards intraframe AVC
compression, which they believe will provide a doubling of efficiency from
their current DVCPRO HD (i.e., HD in 50 Mbps). This story is from the Kensei
News:
<http://tinyurl.com/n5ewk>
Another trend was 3 Gbps (1080/60p) routing, available from at least three
manufacturers. NVision's packs 288 x 576 into ten rack units (or 576 squared
in twice that size); it's too small to use BNC connectors but delightful for
mobile production units.
A third trend was HD standards conversion. Shibasoku's VC31
motion-compensating units have been around for a while (and were used by NBC at
the Winter Games), but they're still all there are as products. We still await
a Snell & Wilcox motion-compensating HD standards converter. So some people
downconvert, standards convert, and then upconvert. For that last, a new entry
from Let It Wave, using bandlet processing, made some very good looking
pictures even from originals that weren't downconverted. Another trend was
conversion from HD (or SD) to mobile video formats, Snell & Wilcox's Helios
being the most-discussed exemplar.
Yet another processing trend was do-everything boxes. The For-A FA-9000
was one such box at the show. The TVOne C2-7300 was another, including
motion-compensating HD standards conversion (which the booth person I spoke
with said wasn't all that great yet). Finally, there was software-only-based
editing, including Avid's Media Composer (Avid also had an interoperability
concept called Interplay allowing even competitive products to share work).
Among processing specifics, Calrec's Bluefin processes 480 audio channels
on one board. Rushworks' Newsrush allows the one-person-operation theme to
extend from the field to the studio; as a reporter works on editing a piece,
cues can be entered for what robotic camera systems and keyers should do. At
the Total Immersion D'Fusion exhibit, someone was using a hand-held remote
control to fly a toy helicopter around a set and towards the camera, but there
was no such toy helicopter; it was a virtual object. Astrodesign's
chromatic-aberration corrector for NHK's UDTV lenses suggests a future
possibility for other lenses and other aberrations.
- Distribution - I found a number of themes. First, even
before the show opened, there were packed rooms at all of the
broadcast-engineering sessions. If broadcasting is dying, there was no
indication of it at the Broadcast Engineering Conference.
Next, everyone seems to hate SMPTE camera fiber connectors (even SMPTE is
initiating a project to come up with a new version; contact me if you want to
work in the group). Rather than having customers field-terminate bulkhead
connectors, manufacturers offer pigtails to easier-to-deal-with fiber
connectors. Spread-beam connectors, like Telecast's MX, drew a lot of interest
for use in field conditions. So did their Scamp repeater for camera fiber.
Another theme was things over coax. I've already mentioned using
mezzanine compression for HD over SDI (not HD-SDI); Evertz had a JPEG2000
system. The High-Definition Audio-Video Alliance was showing IEEE-1394 over
coax for home networking. En Technology's OmniSnake carries 16 mic signals on
a coax line.
Yet another distribution them was DVB-S2, the new satellite-transmission
standard. It could be found all over the satellite-exhibits area. Newtec
touted gigabit Ethernet over DVB-S2.
Then there was mobile TV, subject of many sessions and exhibits (including
most of this year's Korean exhibit), whether 3G, DVB-T, MediaFLO, One-Seg
(ISDB-T), T-DMB, TDtv, or other. There were quite a few USB-key-style DTT
receivers with telescoping monopole antennas; the smallest I saw was the LBS
Plus LPD-1000 for T-DMB. In the DTV Hot Spot, Rohde & Schwarz and Samsung
showed A-VSB, which can theoretically deal with mobile reception at speeds as
high as 170 miles per hour. I've already mentioned the Snell & Wilcox Helios
for simply standards converting other programming to small-screen formats; I
think re-editing for more close-ups, as has been done by Fox and HBO, is a lot
more important.
One more theme was cheap DTT reception. A low-cost Thomson box was at the
DTV Hot Spot; so was an ATSC USB receiver from Jensen (there was another from
DTV Innovations/Ligos). I thought it was interesting that, in 2006, Zenith
noted in a press release than E-VSB "significantly enhances DTV indoor
reception in signal-challenged locations when relying on simple antennas;" to
me, that suggests a problem that exists without E-VSB.
Here are some distribution specifics. At the PBS Technology Conference,
it was noted that KQED is simultaneously carrying HD and three SD on a single
DTT channel. Sony showed quite good quality HD videoconferencing over a 3 Mbps
path. I've already mentioned the smaller coax connectors on the NVision NV8288
router backplane and the USDTV AVC adaptor.
Modulation Sciences had several solutions for dealing with transmission
latency problems associated with field remotes. They may be caused by digital
microwave encoding, audio-matching-video delay in the studio, etc., but they
all prevent the talent from hearing synchronous interruptible foldback (IFB)
from the studio. The most elegant (to me) solution creates local sidetone and
adds interruptive instructions from the NTSC PRO channel.
- Presentation - One theme, again, was mobile TV. The screens
are still small, but there were many shown that at least swivel 90-degrees to
provide a horizontally oriented aspect ratio instead of vertically oriented.
3-D, again, was also a theme, with NHK showing compatible 2-D/3-D flat-panel
displays. It's probably worth noting that projector convergence on NHK's UDTV
was a difficult problem, sometimes delaying presentations and sometimes leaving
visible color fringing.
The biggest theme was replacement of CRT displays with other technologies,
most frequently LCD. Sony's 9-inch LCD monitors with the same functionality as
their CRT versions were fairly thick. Silicon Imaging and Wohler both showed
touch-screen LCDs. JVC and Teranex combined one of the former's D-ILA (LCoS)
rear-projection systems with the latter's signal processing to create a
reference monitor. Frontniche, which had previously shown its BBC interlace
and motion processing in LCD monitors, now extended then to a 56-inch model
that's 3840 x 2160.
Unfortunately, there's a problem. The processing that's used to improve
the LCD displays takes time. Processing for subdividing other displays also
takes time. One mobile unit at the show had CRT, LCD, and subdivided plasma
monitors in its control room, the same video feeds appearing on each. Things
would be in lip sync on the CRTs, slightly audio advanced on the LCDs, and very
audio advanced on the plasmas.
- Test, measurement, and monitoring - One theme was hand-held
devices: The Harris/Leitch/Videotek PTM-305 is a complete test package. The
Video Accessories VT-1 shows the importance of analog all over the world; it
facilitates video equalization in different standards. The Lynx Testor offers
a moving zone plate in the palm of the hand.
Another themes was lip-sync. As I mentioned before, the Sigma Electronics
Arbalest got an order from Turner. Evertz showed what appeared to be a similar
system, with the capability of adjusting the insertion gain of the audio and
video marker signals, so, when things are going well, they can be low, and,
when there's a problem, they can be boosted. Pixel Instruments' Lip Tracker is
getting closer, but it's not quite done yet.
Yet another theme was file-based testing, exemplified by the Tektronix
Cerify. Pixelmetrix offered system information (SI) verification.
In the one-person-operation theme, Snell & Wilcox's Hyperion allows a
master control operator to deal with very many channels. It identifies black,
bars, silence, tone, excessive level, polarity reversal, and other parameters.
It'll even verify that the correct programming is on the correct channel if
UMIDs are used. The RTW surround-sound monitoring display at Tektronix was so
inclusive that I spent a really long time looking at it to figure out
everything it was showing.
- Attendance was 105,046, up from 104,427 last year (but still lower
than the peak). I was three of those. International was 25,537, up from
23,401. Press was 1294, up from 1115:
<http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9852>
- Here are some stories on Sony:
<http://www.hdissues.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=39789>
<http://sys-con.com/read/210493.htm>
- Here's more on NHK's UDTV:
<http://www.multichannel.com/info/CA6328635.html#6328645>
And this story is on broadcasting it:
<http://www.eet.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=188500682>
- This one is on NHK's 3-D:
<http://www.multichannel.com/info/CA6328635.html#6328648>
- Here are other stories on the convention:
<http://mag1.olivesoftware.com/am/welcome/TVT/TVT-24-05-2006.asp>
<http://mag1.olivesoftware.com/am/welcome/TVT/TVT-31-05-2006.asp>
<http://broadcastengineering.com/newsletters/bth/20060501/#>
- This one is from Broadcasting & Cable on equipment stolen during
the show:
<http://tinyurl.com/o2u4a>
- Here's a link to the itinerary of Larry Bloomfield's Taste of NAB
Road Show (not affiliated with NAB):
<http://www.tech-notes.tv/2006/2006-Itinerary.htm>
- Here are a couple of announcements that came after the show but
related to themes there:
- On the theme of tape not being dead, IBM's Amaden Research
Center in northern California and Fuji jointly announced a new density of 6.67
billion bits per square inch, which is less than 1 GB, which doesn't sound like
a lot compared to a 1 GB flash memory, until you realize that the tape is thin,
which means about 8 TB could fit in a standard LTO cartridge, about half the
size of a VHS cassette:
<http://www.eet.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=187203437>
- On the theme of camcorder manufacturers using non-tape
storage, Panasonic and Sony jointly announced AVCHD, an optical disk-based
camcorder format using H.264 compression to 18 Mbps with recording on an 8-cm
disk:
<http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/200605/06-0511E/index.html>
- BitTorrent - After reaching agreement with the Motion Picture
Association of America (MPAA) on trying to stop piracy, BitTorrent entered into
partnership with the Home Entertainment Group of Warner Bros. to deliver
programming its way:
<http://www.tvtechnology.com/dailynews/one.php?id=3956>
See Bob Cooper's "Television's Pirates" for another industry that might
never have gotten going if not for the work of so-called pirates:
<http://www.bobcooper.tv>
- The Interpublic Group has created an Emerging Media Lab in Los Angeles:
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/15/technology/15research.html>
- Time Warner Cable is bidding for spectrum to offer wireless services:
<http://broadcastengineering.com/newsletters/bth/20060515/#>
- At the Audio Engineering Society (AES) convention in Paris, Fraunhofer IIS
introduced a way of doing surround sound "with only a negligible increase in
data rate" over non-surround. If I recall correctly from NAB, it's about 3
kbps:
<http://www.eet.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=188101787>
- The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) honored NAB's Art Allison
with the Bernard Lechner Outstanding Contributor Award:
<http://www.atsc.org/lechner/award.html>
- The dates for the 2007 Hollywood Post Alliance ***Technology Retreat*** will
be January 31 to February 2 at The Westin at Mission Hills, Rancho Mirage (Palm
Springs area), California. Amazingly, we've already had requests for people to
make presentations and to register! There probably won't be any decisions made
until around November, but, if you feel like sending me something, go right
ahead:
<tvmark@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- International news:
- One-seg is a mechanism for delivering mobile TV in Japan using one
segment (of 13) of the ISDB-T DTT signal:
<http://www.eetasia.com/ART_8800415983_499495_9c31ee12200605_no.HTM>
- In Japan, analog cut-off is scheduled for July 24, 2011:
<http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200605050087.html>
According to this story about a survey by Toshiba, almost 80% of
housewives in Japan know what's necessary when the analog shutdown occurs,
though 76% said they won't replace their TVs unless they're broken, and 50%
said they'd buy new TVs only after DTT service is available:
<http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060503/kyodo/d8hc68u00.html>
But this Mainichi story says a survey conducted by the Internal Affairs and
Communications Ministry found that only one in three people in Japan knew
analog would cease in July 2011:
<http://tinyurl.com/opynd>
Do 80% of housewives constitute only one in three people?
- A survey conducted by Samsung found more Australians think things (such
as ordinary DVDs) are HD than actually are. This story is from smarthouse.com:
<http://tinyurl.com/qo2gz>
- There are 100 models of DTT set-top boxes in Australia from 27 brands,
starting at A$99 (US$74). Of those, 35 models from 19 brands are HD, starting
at A$299 (US$224):
<http://www.dba.org.au/index.asp?sectionID=18>
- More primary TVs in the UK (7.1 million) use Freeview DTT than analog.
Freeview is also comparable to Sky satellite subscribers:
<http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/6261>
<http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/tv/reports/dtv/dtu_2006_q1/>
<http://tinyurl.com/s48f7>
- Wales has more digital TV of all sorts (72%) than the UK average (65%):
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4946834.stm>
- Scotland has less:
<http://business.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=629282006>
But they watch it more:
<http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=details&nNewsID=555885>
- Delivery of HD satellite receivers hasn't met demand in the UK:
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5003728.stm>
- Pace has come up with a pan-European HD satellite receiver for all
non-restricted programming (and it has a slot for conditional-access cards):
<http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=15749>
- Terrestrial HD DTT boxes in Sweden have also been slow to arrive:
<http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=3939&date=20060530>
- 450 households are trying terrestrial HD DTT in London:
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5060708.stm>
- There is also a trial of terrestrial HD in France:
<http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060601/ukth026.html?.v=1>
- So is Guatemala. But, whereas the UK and French tests have an end date,
the Guatemala HD service is to segue into DTT in Guatemala City on a regular
basis after the World Cup is over:
<http://www.harris.com/view_pressrelease.asp?act=lookup&pr_id=1882>
- The World Cup is also spurring people to buy things called "HD Ready" or
"True HD" in Poland, even though they're probably not getting anything special
on them:
<http://www.wbj.pl/?command=article&id=32503>
- Here's an update on Ireland:
<http://www.dtg.org.uk/news/news.php?class=countries&subclass=0&id=1661>
- Sky Italia is providing HD:
<http://www.dtg.org.uk/news/news.php?id=1643>
- Catalonia is to shut analog in 2009. This story is from
advanced-television.com:
<http://tinyurl.com/ln6ea>
- Here's an update on Slovakia:
<http://www.slovakspectator.sk/clanok.asp?cl=23251>
- Here's an update on Estonia:
<http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/15497/>
- There have been interesting developments in France regarding copyright:
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/15/technology/15audionaut.html>
- At the HD Masters Conference, European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
Technical Director Phil Laven reportedly expressed an EBU preference for 720p
HD. "Tests have shown that viewers see little difference between uncompressed
720p and 1080i pictures, but prefer 720p on compressed signals," according to
Laven. "So, 720p offers broadcasters better quality at the same rate or the
same quality at a lower rate, perhaps making way for more channels." This
story is from TVB Europe:
<http://tinyurl.com/o8fep>
There's more in this article:
<http://tinyurl.com/lode6>
- Argentina is reportedly choosing between ATSC and DVB-T regardless of
what Brazil chooses:
<http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/06/08/1675402.htm>
- A J&R ad listed a 2 GB SD card for $49.99.
- Fifteen large-area LCDs are to use LED backlights by the end of this year,
according to SisplaySearch:
<http://www.eetuk.com/mr/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=187200086>
- CEA is inviting interested parties to work on nine new standards projects:
- CEA-909 - Antenna Control Interface Standard for DTT smart antennas
- CEA-2013 - Digital STB Background Power Consumption
- CEA-766-A - U.S. and Canadian Region Rating Tables and Content Advisory
Descriptors for Transport of Content Advisory Information using ATSC A/65-A PSIP
- CEA-775-B DTV 1394 Interface Specification and CEA-849-A Applications
Profiles for EIA-775-A Compliant DTVs
- CEA-770.2C Standard Definition TV Analog Component Video Interface and
CEA-770.3C High Definition TV Analog Component Video Interface
- CEA- 2020 Other VBI Waveforms
If you want to participate in any of those, contact Jean Johnson
<jjohnson@xxxxxx>.
- CEA-2018 Task Model Representation (regarding easier-to-understand
interfaces)
If you'd like to participate in that one, contact Leslie King
<lking@xxxxxx>.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060502/20060502006432.html?.v=1>
- CEA's Winter HDTV Guide has come out. It lists:
- 350 models of integrated DTTs from 34 brands, starting at $369
- Eight models of microdisplay rear-projection TVs from four brands,
starting at $1899.99, none with tuners
- 238 models of flat-panel HD displays from 65 brands, starting at $319;
148 of those have tuners; 95 appear to be in violation of the FCC "tuner"
mandate
- 72 models of flat-panel ED displays from 42 brands, starting at $248; 52
of those have tuners; four appear to be in violation of the FCC "tuner" mandate
<http://www.ce.org/PDF/hdtvguidewinter06.pdf>
- Based on figures from CEA, sales to U.S. dealers of non-H/DTV television sets
for the first 14 weeks of 2006 were down 45.7% from the same period in 2005; my
ten-week running average was down 54.2%. For the first 15 weeks, they were
down 47%; my ten-week running average was down 56.4%. For the first 16 weeks,
they were down 47%; my ten-week running average was down 59%. For the first 17
weeks, they were down 45.6%; my ten week running average was down 59.6%. For
the first 18 weeks, they were down 47.1%; my ten-week running average was down
61.8%. For the first 19 weeks, they were down 47.7%; my ten-week running
average was down 62.3%. For the first 20 weeks, they were down 47.1%; my
ten-week running average was down 58%.
Sales of so-called "Digital Televisions" to U.S. dealers for the 14th week
were 228,206 units, for the 15th week 249,863), for the 16th week 309,183, for
the 17th week 689,437, for the 18th week 223,418, for the 19th week 320,872,
for the 20th week 299,453, and for the first 20 weeks 5,690,071 (compared to
4,040,210 for sets not called "digital" by CEA), accounting for 58.5% of all TV
sales to dealers. The digital-television figures have been revised by CEA
again, so, if they don't seem to add up, that's probably why.
To qualify to CEA as a "Digital Television," a display need only be
capable of dealing with at least 480p; it need not be capable of either
receiving digital signals or displaying them, although now that the 100% "tuner
mandate" has kicked in for sets 25-inch and larger, it would seem that most do
have such capability. CEA says about 82% of the "digital televisions" sold in
2005 (when not all TVs 25-inch and up were supposed to have DTT-reception
circuitry) were HDTV.
- The Engineering Awards Committee of the National Academy of Television Arts
and Sciences is investigating the following technologies for possible Emmy
awards. The fact that a technology is being investigated does not guarantee an
award; there may also be more than one award per technology. If you have
information that can help the committee make its decision, PLEASE contact the
names listed for each technology (the investigative subcommittees) ASAP
(because I was very late getting this info to you):
- Development, productization, and commercialization of interactive
video-on-demand (VOD) two-way infrastructure and signaling, leading to
large-scale VOD implementations: Craig Cuttner <craig.cuttner@xxxxxxx>, Brad
Rochon <bhrochon@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Steve Frankel <s.frankel@xxxxxx>
- Pioneering development of on-screen display (OSD) for setup, control,
and configuration of consumer television equipment: Mike Tsinberg
<mike@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Mark Stein <marky@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, Herb Ohlandt
<herbohlandt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Streaming media architectures and components: Seth Haberman
<SethH@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Pete Mountanos <mountanos@xxxxxxxxx>, Robin Wilson
<girvan@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Development and standardization of file formats for the interchange of
audio and video material: Chuck Dages <chuck.dages@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Josh Derby
<josh_derby@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Paul Turner <pturner@xxxxxxxxxx>
- ATSC broadcast transmission system RF filters: Bob Ross
<rjross@xxxxxxx>, Jim Albro <jim.albro@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Ultra-thin rear projection system technology: Mark Schubin
<tvmark@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Phil Dubs <phil@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Larry Sayer
<lsayer@xxxxxxx>
- Pioneering development for combining multiple transport streams that are
already encoded, using rate shaping and statistical remultiplexing:
Peter Symes <peter.symes@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Beverly Milligan <beverly@xxxxxxxxx>,
David George <davidlgeorge@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Audience measurement technology: Wendell Bailey <wbailey@xxxxxxxxxxx>,
Jeremy Rosenberg <jrosenberg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Howard Kaufman
<hkaufman1@xxxxxxx>
- Development and implementation of automatically assembled dynamic
customized TV advertising: Skip Pizzi <skip.pizzi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Jeff Moore
<jeff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Mike Conway <mconway@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Development and deployment of centralized video-on-demand infrastructure
to enable recording and playback of multiple content streams enabling the
consumer "start over" of programs: Bob Plummer <directvbob@xxxxxxxxx>, Wendell
Bailey <wbailey@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Sudy Shen <sudy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Technology advances in serial digital interface solutions, enabling over
20 years of seamless studio and broadcast infrastructure migration:
Peter Dare <p.dare@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Tom Hindle <tom.hindle@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Tom
Hankinson <thomas.e.hankinson@xxxxxxx>
- Privately owned and operated international satellite company primarily
for international video services: Chris Taylor
<christopher.taylor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Bill Jarr <william.jarr@xxxxxxxx>
- CableLabs has signed an agreement with its European counterpart EuroCableLabs:
<http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6342160.html?display=Breaking+News>
- "Television's Pirates: Hiding Behind Your Picture Tube" is a fascinating
history of the satellite (especially home satellite) industry, as told by one
of the great forces himself, Robert B. Cooper. There probably wouldn't be any
such industry if not for those pirates:
<http://www.bobcooper.tv>
- DVD news: According to CEA's figures, sales of DVD players to U.S. dealers
for the first 14 weeks of 2006 were UP 6.4% from the same period in 2005; my
ten-week running average was down 1.2%. For the first 15 weeks, they were up
3%; my ten-week running average was up 3.2%. For the first 16 weeks, they were
up 6.5%; my ten-week running average was up 3%. For the first 17 weeks, they
were up 4.5%; my ten-week running average was up 5%. For the first 18 weeks,
they were up 7.4%; my ten-week running average was up 4.9%. For the first 19
weeks, they were up 9.1%; my ten-week running average was up 5.8%. For the
first 20 weeks, they were up 10.7%; my ten week running average was up 11.1%.
Amazing! Next-generation disk players will have a tough row to hoe.
- According to MindShare, commercial "clutter" in prime time increased 2% on
broadcast networks and 5% on cable in 2005 over 2004. ABC had 15 minutes 26
seconds of non-program material per hour; MTV had 16 minutes:
<http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9921>
- "Surprise" of the week: According to ad-time buyer Magna Global, ratings of
commercial "pods" in prime time were 7% lower than the programs they were in on
broadcast channels and 11% lower on cable:
<http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9930>
- A study by Bolt Media found only one in four 12- to 34-year olds could name
the all four of the main U.S. commercial broadcast networks. This story is
from Broadcasting & Cable:
<http://tinyurl.com/nacct>
- Despite all of the above three stories (and the one about PVR users skipping
commercials), Merrill Lynch has predicted that advance broadcast-network ad
sales will be UP 4% for the big-four commercial networks this year. This story
is from Media Buyer Planner:
<http://tinyurl.com/hoor2>
- Upcoming Dates (DTV and non-DTV):
- June 27-29, Javits Center, New York, Entertainment Technology Alliance
<http://www.etaexpo.com/>.
- *September 27-29, Hotel Washington, Washington, D.C., IEEE Broadcast
Symposium <http://www.ieee.org/organizations/society/bt/sympo.html>.
- October 3-5, Hotel Fort Des Moines, Des Moines, Iowa, Iowa DTV Symposium
<http://www.iptv.org/dtv/2005/>.
- *October 18-21, Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, SMPTE convention
<http://www.smpte.org/conferences/148cfp.cfm>.
- *January 31-February 2, The Westin at Mission Hills, Rancho Mirage (Palm
Springs area), California, ***HPA Technology Retreat***
<http://www.hpaonline.com>.
- *April 14-19, Las Vegas Convention Center, NAB convention
<http://www.nabshow.com/>.
* - new or revised listing
TTFN,
Mark
PS Permission is granted to forward this or any other Monday Memo. Next
week's memo might be late.
Have a question about the memo? Before contacting me, please try the FAQs and
glossary in the second postscript to the January 5 memo:
<http://www.digitaltelevision.com/mondaymemo/mlist/frm02213.html>
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