Yesterday a Tsinghua University representative gave a presentation on DMB-TH at the IEEE Symposium in DC.
I have put the T and H togehter above to emphasize that DMB does not work like DVB-T/H where the two, T and H, are seperate. With DMB-TH they are one. This is my designation not theirs.
Hate to keep flip flopping but based on what I now understand there are not two standards in China, only one, DMB-TH. It was my recent understanding that there waas a VSB modulation and a DMB-TH modulation and that if a customer wanted VSB that a DMB-TH single carrier option was available that could/would be offered to counter the VSB option.
Not true, the single carrier DMB-TH option is available and can be used to prove to any diehard single carried fanatic that it is the idiotic choice.
So no one will use that option, there will be no shootout.
I am so unhappy.
But good things are in the works. I have postulated in the past that China will make most of the worlds TV sets and that it would be cheaper for them to just leave their receiver in all exported integrated HDTV sets and add whatever other receiver a given market would require.
I then suggested that their modulation might become the world standard as any country that had not made a choice of modulations yet should choose DMB-TH and that a few who have might change their minds (think Mexico). Or that the world might have three major standards, DMB-T/H, ISDB-T and DMB-TH, and one very minor standard, 8-VSB.
After yesterday I now think there will be only one world standard, DMB-TH. Chinese TV manufacturers will build their TV sets with a receiver that works with all four modulations, DMB-TH, DVB-T/H, ISDB-T and 8-VSB.
The cost difference between doing a receiver that only does one modulation and one that does all is insignificant at scale in the short term and non existant in the long term.
And inventory cost for maintaining multiple different stocks of tv sets based on modulation are high and will get higher.
If all Chinese TV manufacturers are making one size fits all TV sets all manufacturers worldwide will have to also.
At some point most TV sets in the world will be abel to handle any modulation and I will make little sense for any government to be too doctrinare about mandated modulations.
In such a world everyone will migrate to the best modulation supported.
The world will have one DTV modulation standard DMB-TH. The same technology will be used to upgrade other wireless like WiMax and make it truly mobile.
The same will be true of codecs. All major codecs will be supported in software and will be upgradeable. Broadcasters will be able to seamlessly switch between codecs.
Once in place, DMB-TH, since it works so well, will make the need for upgrades to modulation less urgent therefore less energy will go into improvements that would make for an incompatible upgrade or a new modulation. DMB-TH unlike 8-VSB could be around for a long time.
Bob Miller
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