[opendtv] 20060901 Free Friday Fragments (Mark's Monday Memo)
- From: Mark Schubin <tvmark@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: tvmark@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2006 23:24:37 -0400 (EDT)
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).
- Follow-ups:
- ***The Technology Retreat*** - It's ba-ack! It will be held January 31
through February 2 next year at a new location, The Westin Mission Hills Resort
in Rancho Mirage, California (Palm Springs area). Plan on there being some
interesting pre-retreat seminars (as usual) the day before (January 30).
This will serve as an official opening call for presentations. Send your
proposals to me ASAP. Currently, all proposals are due by October 1, though
it's possible that date will be extended a bit (check back here for details).
There are no topic restrictions. We'll almost certainly have presentations on
broadcasting and the rest of the video-consumer marketplace, digital rights
management, digital cinema, and moving-image acquisition. The president of
Philips has already put in a request to make a presentation (I've made no
promises).
Whether your proposal makes it for the main program will depend on many
factors, including other proposals that might suggest a theme for a session.
But there are two other (non-exclusive) ways of presenting your stuff (as long
as you're registered for the event):
- Demo space is available for showing off new technologies ("new" is
generally defined as not yet having been shown at an NAB show). There's no
charge, and tables, chairs, power, and security are provided, but it's
first-come, first-served. Just so there's no confusion later, let me say right
at the outset that no demonstrator-provided signs with company names are
allowed.
- Concurrent breakfast roundtables are available on Thursday and
Friday mornings on any subject -- as many as you have moderators for. I can
confirm them instantly, though I can't guarantee an audience. Moderating a
breakfast roundtable does NOT qualify you for the speaker's discount, but it
can be one of the most-rewarding experiences at the Retreat.
You'll find FAQs here from the 2006 Retreat. The biggest change this year
is the new venue:
<http://www.hpaonline.com/mc/page.do?sitePageId=23995>
Here was the 2006 program:
<http://www.hpaonline.com/mc/page.do?sitePageId=25988>
Here was some of the press coverage:
<http://www.hpaonline.com/mc/page.do?sitePageId=28687>
I imagine there are also sponsorship opportunities available (meals,
ballgame, etc.). If you want to send all your requests to me, I'll see that
they get to the appropriate party.
Whether you're presenting or not, BE THERE! Don't hate yourself for the
rest of your life. And don't say I didn't warn you:
<http://www.hpaonline.com/mc/page.do?sitePageId=36359>
- NTIA coupon comments -
- The first two comments in the National Telecommunications &
Information Agency's notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) have been filed. One
relates to imposing energy standards; the other is about making coupons
available to all:
<http://www.tvtechnology.com/dailynews/one.php?id=4211>
- The idea of the coupons was that they would cover $40 of the cost
of a $50 converter box, but, according to the sidebar to this story, Thomson vp
Dave Arland said that price was just a "wish." "Today these boxes would cost
$200. Nobody's box today will cost only $40, or $50. It will probably cost
less than $200 by 2009, but not as low as they want":
<http://www.tvtechnology.com/features/news/2006.08.23-n_NTIA.shtml>
- 700 MHz licenses - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has
issued its NPRM on modifying the rules for those wanting the to-be-vacated TV
spectrum:
<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-114A1.pdf>
- Warren Communications News reported earlier this week that LG announced
Monday 8-VSB license deals with five more companies (Enseco, Fujitsu,
Hewlett-Packard, Jabril, and Orion). Only three other have previously be
announced (Mitsubishi, Sharp, and Toshiba). The story is no longer on their
site:
<http://www.warren-news.com/>
Notably absent are such giants as Matsushita (Panasonic), Philips,
Samsung, Sony, and Thomson. An industry source has told me that (not counting
Samsung) those companies consider their intellectual property in digital TVs to
be comparable to LG's and, therefore, don't see a need for a license agreement.
It might be worth noting that the VSB patent, U.S. number 5,087,975, was
issued on February 11 of 1992:
<http://v3.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=US5087975&F=0>
A U.S. patent issued in 1992 has a life of 17 years, meaning that patent
will expire a week before the latest date for analog cutoff in the U.S.:
<http://www.uwgb.edu/pirc/patent/intro.htm>
An 8-justice majority of the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that "a
patentee's use of a royalty agreement that projects beyond the expiration date
of the patent is unlawful per se":
<http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dltr/articles/2003dltr0005.html>
So there's not much time left for LG to milk the 8-VSB patent.
- Other DTT licensing - Japan wants to create a one-stop shop to cover all
DTT intellectual property:
<http://www.eetasia.com/ART_8800429298_480700_6e746a9c20060811.HTM>
In a somewhat related story, Warren Communications News has reported that
a group of VC-1 essential-patent holder has agreed on license terms. The story
is no longer on their site:
<http://www.warren-news.com/>
- Mobile TV -
- China has come up with yet two more transmission systems,
Terrestrial-Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting (T-MMB), said to be based on the
South Korean T-DMB (terrestrial-digital multimedia broadcasting) and satellite
& terrestrial interaction multmedia (STiMi). Both might debut at the 2008
Olympic Games in Beijing:
<http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=192400075>
A poster on the OpenDTV Forum opined that the latter system might be like
satellite radio with terrestrial fillers:
<//www.freelists.org/archives/opendtv/08-2006/msg00182.html>
- What can be done about the tiny screens on mobile phones? Would
you believe a built-in HD laser projector?
<http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=17395&ch=nanotech>
- Here's another mobile TV story from USA Today:
<http://tinyurl.com/nmsnj>
- Telco TV - Verizon says its second-quarter data show 12% penetration of
potential subscribers to FiOS within nine months. That's a total of 375,000
out of 4.5 million, which suggests previous penetration must have been slower.
This story is from Broadcast Engineering's IPTV Update:
<http://tinyurl.com/guwzb>
- Movies via the Internet - This New York Times story says getting them is
not so easy:
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/31/technology/31basics.html>
- PVRs -
- Mediamark says the percentage of U.S. adults reporting having a PVR
in their households rose from 8.6% in March of 2005 to 11.2% in May of 2006.
This story is from Mediapost:
<http://tinyurl.com/kaxne>
- Kagan Research estimates 18% PVR penetration (both standard and HD)
in digital cable at the end of June vs. a 21% penetration rate for DBS.
<http://www.kagan.com/ContentDetail.aspx?group=5&id=215>
- TiVo reported that as of July 31 they had 1,572,000 TiVo-owned
subscriptions (up from 1,253,000) and 2,846,000 DirecTV subscriptions (up from
2,321,000), including unpaid "lifetime" subscriptions. Of the TiVo-owned
subscriptions, 53% pay recurring fees (up from 51%). This story is from MSN's
Money Central:
<http://tinyurl.com/r2p9c>
- The Los Angeles Times reports that the ad fears are settling down:
<http://tinyurl.com/otx7v>
- And Time Warner Cable is now supporting TiVo CableCARDs. The first
story is from engadget, the second from tivoblog:
<http://tinyurl.com/pl4bg>
<http://tinyurl.com/s89np>
- Percentage of HDTV owners watching HDTV -
- Kagan's "Economics of High-Definition Cable Networks" reports:
- Over 21 million HDTVs sold to U.S. consumer by end of 2005
- Only 5.5 million cable or satellite HD subscriptions by then
(70% cable)
- ESPN HD charging the most ($0.84 per subscriber)
<http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060831/20060831005589.html?.v=1>
- At the end of the second quarter of 2006, Kagan Research estimated
that "just" 7.1% of DirecTV's 15.5 million subscribers got the HDTV package,
blaming the low number in part on previous unavailability of HD PVRs. They
estimated the comparable figure for cable to be 16%:
<http://research.kagan.com/keo/subscriptionsDetailPage.aspx?SubscriptionID=3>
- At the DisplaySearch HDTV Conference, a study by the Cable &
Telecommunications Association for Marketing was said to find only 52% of HDTV
owners subscribing to either cable or satellite HD. This story is from the
Washington Post:
<http://tinyurl.com/gyyyg>
- In-Stat reports only 36% of HDTV owners watch HD and that the
number is going down (they say about 15 million households worldwide watch HD,
91% of them in Japan or the U.S.). Leichtman Research says it's 43% and that,
for the others, 40% were concerned about the cost of watching HD and 17%
thought they already were (that figure is down from a third the previous year):
<http://www.tvweek.com/page.cms?pageId=238>
- More news from the DisplaySearch HDTV Conference -
- The company reports that plasma TVs were 5% of the worldwide TV
market in the second quarter, up from 4% in the first. This story is from
Yahoo:
<http://tinyurl.com/ht5ea>
- Warren Communication News reported that Sony's Stan Glasgow told
the conference that the "next big leap" beyond 1080p would be achievable in
three-to-five years. The story is no longer on their site:
<http://www.warren-news.com/>
- A June survey by DisplaySearch parent NPD found 41% of all TVs sold
in the U.S. to be HDTV, up from 25% the previous year (and 81% of revenues, up
from 59%). The average price of an HDTV fell from $2223 to $1893. This story
is from the Washington Post:
<http://tinyurl.com/gyyyg>
- Warren Communications News reported that retailers told the
conference that "lousy" Blu-ray and HD DVD video quality has made the product
introductions "a fiasco." They also reported that LG and Thomson said existing
TV antennas are good enough for "most" who will use a converter box to get DTT.
The stories are no longer on their site:
<http://www.warren-news.com/>
- Here are some more DisplaySearch stories:
<http://hightechmagazine.com/managearticle.asp?c=130&a=9127>
<http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,126759-page,1/article.html?RSS=RSS>
<http://www.guidetohometheater.com/news/082006displaysearch/>
- IFA - Here's one of the first stories about this year's Internationale
Funkausstellung consumer-electronics show in Berlin:
<http://hiddenwires.co.uk/resourcesnews2006/news20060816-10.html>
- Other advanced-disk news - Despite their story about lousy quality being
reported at the DisplaySearch HDTV Conference, Warren Communication News
reported the same day that the HD DVD format's backers told a DVD Forum
conference that they were "selling big" and "vibrant" sales were expected in
the 4th quarter. Again, the story is no longer on their site:
<http://www.warren-news.com/>
- DVD movie downloads - Problems, according to Sonic Solutions' Jim
Taylor, should go away once CSS (the content scrambling system) is available.
"It'll open the floodgates for a lot more premium content to be burned onto
DVD":
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060809/ap_on_hi_te/dvd_transfers>
- Separating navigation from security in cable boxes - The FCC's order was
upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals:
<http://www.twice.com/article/CA6364209.html>
So now the cable industry has appealed to the FCC. The first URL is from
the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA):
<http://tinyurl.com/rmp36>
<http://www.tvtechnology.com/dailynews/one.php?id=4182>
- The FCC's DTT "tuner mandate" -
- National Journal's Technology Daily has found many cases of what
seem to be violations:
<http://broadcastengineering.com/newsletters/bth/fcc_digital_tuner_20060814/>
- The commission ruled that hospital TVs must comply with the mandate
but could have an extra year to do so:
<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-123A1.pdf>
- Local TV news vs. the Internet - Yet another study, this one from
Crawford Johnson & Northcott, shows the older medium holding its own. The
study found 75% of Internet users watch a local newscast at least twice a week
and 52% try to watch at least one a day. Weather didn't fare as well. This
story is from Mediaweek:
<http://tinyurl.com/gsvz6>
- Downconversion of HD on cable - It's allowed in a House bill until
February 17 of 2014, so some broadcasters are upset:
<http://www.cedmagazine.com/article/CA6366595.html>
- May 1 -
- Neither the FCC nor the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB)
has updated its list.
- Doug Lung's RF Report found 929 licensed U.S. DTT stations in the
FCC CDBS database as of August 6 (first URL) and 956 as of August 22 (second
URL):
<http://www.tvtechnology.com/dlrf/one.php?id=1368>
<http://www.tvtechnology.com/dlrf/one.php?id=1382>
- Here's a report on the CableLabs Summer Conference:
<http://www.cablelabs.com/news/newsletter/SPECS/MayJuneJuly_2006/story7.html>
- Here's a chart of HD content by U.S. broadcast network:
<http://www.tvweek.com/page.cms?pageId=253>
- What government agency is funding public television's DTT transition? The
latest is the Department of Agriculture:
<http://tinyurl.com/jxw5j>
- There has been a lot of commentary recently about whether Microsoft's next
operating system, Vista, will or won't support HD content (as from HD DVD):
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20060825/tc_nf/45704>
- Thomson's NexGuard watermarking has been adopted by Doremi, GDC, QuVis, and
Tamedia for their digital-cinema servers:
<http://www.dcinematoday.com/dc/pr.aspx?newsID=595>
- Entries for the International CES Innovations 2007 Design and Engineering
Awards will be accepted through October 2, 2006:
<http://www.ce.org/Press/CurrentNews/press_release_detail.asp?id=11125>
- International news:
- Here's an update on DTT business in Ireland:
<http://www.electricnews.net/news.html?code=9766057>
- UK regulator Ofcom's report, "The Communications Market 2006," says
that, through March, there were 7.1 million Freeview homes, up two million in a
year. Collective DTT viewing now exceeds that of any single analog channel:
<http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/cm/cm06/tv.pdf>
- The Czech analog-cutoff date has been deemed unrealistic:
<http://www.dtg.org.uk/news/news.php?id=1863>
- Here's a bit on DTT in Africa:
<http://allafrica.com/stories/200608141126.html>
This story is specific to Nigeria:
<http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=56476>
- Here are updates on China:
<http://www.interfax.com/4/183223/news.aspx>
<http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060831/20060830005273.html?.v=1>
- Here's an update on Malaysia:
<http://www.thesundaily.com/article.cfm?id=15103>
- In Australia, the possibility of giving away converter boxes to speed
the transition has not been dismissed:
<http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/08/10/1154803030314.html>
They had sales of over 1.74 million DTT receivers by the end of June:
<http://www.dba.org.au/index.asp?display=news&newsID=867>
- Philips is the latest to offer no-glasses 3-D. The first story is from
Digital TV Design Line:
<http://tinyurl.com/ovg66>
<http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71627-0.html?tw=wn_index_3>
Fox Sports is reportedly considering 3-D:
<http://www.tvweek.com/page.cms?pageId=251>
- Based on figures from CEA, sales to U.S. dealers of non-H/DTV television sets
for the first 28 weeks of 2006 were down 45.4% from the same period in 2005; my
ten-week running average was down 41.5%. For the first 29 weeks, they were
down 45.4% and 39.9%. For the first 30 weeks, they were down 45.2% and 40.4%.
For the first 31 weeks they were down 45.2% and 38%. For the first 32 weeks
they were down 45.4% and 38.9%. For the first 33 weeks, they were down 45.1%
and 41.9%.
Sales of so-called "Digital Televisions" to U.S. dealers for the 28th week
were 297,788 units, for the 29th week 963,542, for the 30th week 543,817, for
the 31st week 328,707, for the 32nd week 360,613, for the 33rd week 332,168,
and for the first 33 weeks 10,794,910 (compared to 6,484,389 for sets not
called "digital" by CEA), accounting for 61.2% of the TVs sold through the 28th
week, 61.4% through the 29th week, 61.8% through the 30th week, 62.1% through
the 31st week, 62.4% through the 32nd week, and 62.5% through the 33rd week.
FYI, CEA revised many of its earlier figures on August 7.
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.
- DVD news:
- According to CEA's figures, sales of DVD players to U.S. dealers for the
first 28 weeks of 2006 were up 21.4% from the same period in 2005; my ten-week
running average was up 39.1%. For the first 29 weeks they were up 22.8% and
41.3%. For the first 30 weeks they were up 26.2% and 46.7%. For the first 31
weeks they were up 27.3% and 58.3%. For the first 32 weeks they were up 26.2%
and 54.6%. For the first 33 weeks they were up 26.7% and 60.3%. I find these
figures more amazing each week! Next-generation disk players of ANY format
will have a very tough nut to crack.
- The 20th anniversary issue of TWICE (This Week in Consumer Electronics)
reviews the top stories of each year:
<http://www.twice.com/toc-archive/2006/20060828.html?current=Y>
The 1996 top story was on DVD, and it sounds, politically at least, very
similar to current stories about Blu-ray and HD DVD:
<http://www.twice.com/article/CA6366219.html>
- "David D. Holmes, 79, died Wednesday, August 9, at Robert Wood Johnson
University Hospital at Hamilton after a brief illness." "Among his many
patents was a patent for the color bars that are still used today on television
sets":
<http://obits.nj.com/Trenton/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=18820706>
- Interested in serial number one of the first solid-state broadcast camera,
the RCA CCD-1? It's available. Contact Ray Comfort <ray@xxxxxxxxxxxx>.
- The FCC is considering reducing DBS satellite spacing:
<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-120A1.pdf>
- According to a Merrill Lynch estimate, 50.7% of cable subscribers had digital
service by June 30, up very slightly:
<http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6365900.html>
Nielsen Media Research says the number of U.S. TV households for the coming
season is 114.4 million, up just 1.1%. As a result of Hurricane Katrina, New
Orleans dropped from market 43 to market 54:
<http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=10606>
- Upcoming Dates (DTV and non-DTV):
- September 7, Hershey Lodge, Pennsylvania, PAB Engineering Conference
<http://www.pab.org/conventions.html>.
- *September 7, Hollywood Pacific Theater, digital screening of "Pirates
of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" <http://www.etcenter.org/Seminars.asp>.
- September 7-12, RAI, Amsterdam, International Broadcasting Convention
<http://www.ibc.org/cgi-bin/displaypage.cgi?pageref=100>.
- 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 4-6, Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, Jackson Hole Tech
Symposium <http://www.jhfestival.org/symposium2006/>.
- October 18-21, Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, SMPTE convention
<http://www.smpte.org/conferences/148cfp.cfm>.
- *October 23-26, NAB New York <http://www.nabnewyork.com/>.
- *November 29-30, Javits Convention Center, New York, HD World
<http://www.hdworldshow.com/>.
- December 5-6, Hilton Universal City, High Definition Summit
<http://www.multichannel.com/contents/pdf/HD%20Summit1sheetHDWEB.pdf>
- *January 8-11, Las Vegas, International Consumer Electronics Show
<http://www.cesweb.org/default.asp>.
- ***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/>.
- April 18-21, Atlanta Convention Center, Satellite Expo 2007 with C-band
Pioneers Reunion <http://www.bobcooper.tv/c-band-reunion.htm>.
* - 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>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
Other related posts:
