[opendtv] Re: News: No Motive for HDTV Rollouts
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2004 12:04:38 -0400
Craig Birkmaier wrote:
> Could you please explain what a full HDTV transmitter is?
A station with transmitter facilties that can transmit a program
stream up to and including 19.39 Mb/s, 1280 X 720 @ 60p or
1920 X 1080 at 60i.
> Last time I checked, transmission was still analog, and near as I can
> tell, it always will be. The fact that that an analog carrier is now
> being used to deliver bits instead of analog waveforms is ALL that
> has changed. the FACT that bits can represent ANYTHING,
You keep repeating this, over time, as if this is any different
from any other digital distribution medium. At the physical layer,
ALL OF THEM consist of an analog process. Ethernet in all its many
guises, FDDI, SONET, xDSL, any modulated RF delivery of bits such as
2G, 3G, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, ...
Some physical layers might only deliver values of 0 or 1 with each
symbol. But even for those, the specs describe those symbols as
analog waveforms, where everything is strictly controlled. Amplitude,
rise time, trailing edges, etc.
By the way, baseband 10G Ethernet over copper uses a 4-level AM
scheme. Interesting, eh? What could be more "analog"?
> The reality remains unchanged. In the world of audio there are many
> quality levels. The reality that the overall level of quality has
> improved over the decades does not detract from the reality that
> applications will migrate to the quality level they need and can
> support economically.
Exactly my point. With TV, until recently, we have been limited to
the equivalent of 5 KHz AM radio. With HDTV, that NTSC limit is no
longer imposed by the delivery medium. Even though some program
material and some receiving equipment *might* be so limited.
> Please project the point in time when any TV station will be losing
> revenues because they are not delivering all of their content in HD.
In the next decade, it looks like receivers capable of quality levels
greater than NTSC or SD will become economically viable and
ubiquitous. I think the current push to plasma and LCD sets will
simultaneously introduce sets that are not limited to 480i, and
that's when people will start gravitating to sources with better
signals. Given the option, that's what they'll use. Just like
tuning in the FM station rather than the AM simulcast.
There will also be cases where consumers will be more likely to
choose the better quality even when content is different. For
example, while aimlessly channel surfing, as they do now, people
won't linger on a fuzzy image if the next station has a nice sharp
picture. So it's predictable that people without a strong preference
will choose the higher quality program and then possibly sticl with
it.
> For that matter, please project when commercial stations will lose
> money if they don't turn off their NTSC transmitters in favor of
> their DTV transmitters.
Commercial stations will lose money with NTSC transmitters
because they need to keep paying those electric bills and also
because analog transmissions sometimes prevent the digital from
going full power, or otherwise compromise the DTV streams.
With the mandate in effect, as new TVs are bought (with the
better ATSC front ends and digital cable tuners), people will
migrate off the NTSC distribution media. So retaining analog
could hurt revenues in the sense that the DTV signal might be
harder to receive.
> As i indicated in the previous message,
> most of this content has been acquired at what we consider to be HD
> quality levels for several decades.
I agree. Even I Love Lucy reruns can be transmitted at quality
levels above NTSC (or B&W TV, which isn't really NTSC).
Bert
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