[opendtv] Re: A detail in the history of video standards
- From: "John Willkie" <JohnWillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 16:46:34 -0700
Olho;
I reject your assertion that the ATSC didn't incorporate foreign (to the US)
ideas into the ATSC specifications. Unlike many who comment on these
aspects, I have actually read the underlying specifications.
ATSC specifications can and do co-exist in the world. ATSC has taken much
care to insure that their specifications do not interfere with ARIB (Japan),
SCTE (Cable) and an offshore suite of specifications called MPEG. To the
maximum extent possible, they have also insured that their use of Pids do
not trample over DVB-SI. There is also extensive harmony between the ATSC's
descriptors and those of ARIB, SCTE and, to some extent, DVB.
DVB has taken no such steps, and it's not a coincidence, I suspect that the
DVB "user private" table ranges conflict with the ATSC's PSIP table ranges.
I suspect it's no coincidence that the DVB descriptors conflict with ATSC.
Then, there's the nature of the specifications themselves. DVB-SI, as a
practical matter, ONLY will work in an environment where there is a network
that furnishes all it's programming to a local transmitter which passively
relays the network programming. That's why there is a transmtter tsid and a
network tsid. This wouldn't make sense in the US and most countries, but it
does make sense to Europeans.
The US, indeed, much of the world, doesn't operate in such a passive,
top-down mode. Europe, however, does and has since day one. Time will only
tell if this model straitjackets DVB countries in the future.
Canada, US, Mexico, Argentina operate with a "federal-state" model, where
local stations provide local programming, in addition to network
programming, and mix in "syndicated" programming, some of it from new
entrants.
It's no coincidence, in my mind, that the two lilly-livered ATSC
countries -- South Korea and Taiwan -- have models that are identical to
that of Europe.
There are more TV stations -- independent television signals -- offered in
Tijuana, Mexico, from Mexican transmitters, than are offered in Britan,
France, Germany, Korea and Taiwan COMBINED.
Sure, you have access to cable and satellite signals. So do Mexicans, and
due to the terrestrial competition, they have access to a wider variety of
cable and satellite signals at a CHEAPER price than that of folks in Europe
(for the most part.)
Cable TV in Tijuana (www.cablemas.com.mx) is $26 per month, including all
Tijuana, Tecate and San Diego terrestrial channels, plus about 35 cable only
channels. Satellite (from two Mexican providers) is about the same price.
So, I take such complaints as the "third media world" complaining about the
diversity in the first and second media worlds. Need I also point out that
in the U.S., Mexico and to a good extent, Canada, the government has little
or no presence in transmitting electrons to citizens? Indeed, were the
government to start a channel, it would be regarded in the U.S. and Canada
as propaganda. In most DVB countries, it's called "state of the art."
John Willkie
----- Original Message -----
From: <olho_avatar_i@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2005 1:25 PM
Subject: [opendtv] A detail in the history of video standards
> I've always believed that the core principle of modern color televison
> was an entirely US thing, done in the course of NTSC creation, and that
> europe had just added small (but important) variations to the main
> theme.
>
> This core principle is, of course, the recombination of RGB components
> in such a way as to allow compatibility between B&W and colour systems.
>
> Curious about the origin of the concept, i observed that the credit
> consistently goes to a Mister Georges Valensi, across several
> independant websites.
>
> This Mr Valensi appears to be...A french engineer.
>
> So the idea has gone through a full loop, with the recipe being :
> - create a workable idea for colour television
> - export it to the US for germination and maturation
> - import back the result, spice it up with additional european ideas, et
> voila : you get a bunch of nice , reliable video standards.
>
> It seems at the time the US would not shy away from including foreign
> proposals into its own developments.
> If the ATSC state of mind had prevailed in that period, the color wheel
> design would probably have been preferred over everything else. And we
> in France would probably be blissed with a colour wheel version of
> SECAM :-).
> So i guess we all have to thank the pioneers for their open minds.
>
> It is also said that the idea, patented in 1939, has been granted the
> longest life extension of all patents (up to 1971), the justification
> being that actual colour television deployment occured so long after,
> that there was no opportunity to extract revenues out of it for most of
> its original life span.
>
> Perhaps this is common knowledge among the members of this list, but it
> came as a surprise to me.
>
>
>
>
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