[opendtv] Re: Spectrum Crisis is 'Science Fiction,' NAB's Study Concludes
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2011 08:49:07 -0400
At 8:59 AM -0400 4/27/11, Mark Schubin wrote:
I think Craig correctly uses the term "their networks" to describe
the telcos. No one expects, say, a CDMA phone to work on a GSM
network.
When it comes to broadcasting, however, broadcasters don't have
control over "their" spectrum; there are hundreds of millions of TV
sets in consumer homes that are supposed to work with what gets
broadcast. Some of those consumers were recently forced to either
change TVs or get "adaptors" for them; are they now to do so again
for some new mandated efficiency?
FYI, I'm a cable subscriber, so I usually don't use OTA TV, but when
a cable outage or dispute with a broadcaster removes service I want
to see, even I connect an antenna.
Looks like Mark Aitken answered this quite nicely with the post about
the next generation ATSC standards efforts.
IMHO, the most interesting aspect of that article was this:
Whenever it comes, next-gen TV will not be backward compatible with
DTV as color TV was with the original black-and-white TV in the
1950s. This will mean another traumatic transition similar to one
leading up to the final June 2009 switch from analog to digital.
"Sometimes to build a better mousetrap, you have to start over," said
Richer. "That's what we are going to do.
Frankly, I am not sure that the last transition was all that
traumatic. It is hard to say something was traumatic when 85% of the
population barely noticed.
It may have been traumatic for the broadcasters, but it is hard to
feel sorry about self inflicted wounds.
In reality, the real transition was the one that took place with
displays. ATSC was not the driving force, but the knowledge that
broadcasters would deliver HD services helped many people justify
buying a new wide screen TV. The MAIN driving force was actually DVD,
which provided widescreen content for those new screens (and this
wans not even HD).
Yes there are millions of old tube TVs out there, but most are not
being used that much as flat TVs are so much better and now
relatively affordable. Yes most of the flat panels have an ATSC
tuner, but most of these are not being used. And ALL of these TVs
have multiple ways to get content onto the screen. IF there is any
demand for the next DTV standard to be viewed on these screens, and I
expect there will be if an appropriate standard is chosen, a simple
box with an HDMI connector will solve the transition problem.
Of course, this is what we told the broadcasters 15 years ago.
Interoperable, scalable, extensible.
This time broadcasters need to plan for evolutionary change, and
create a business model that is compelling enough to get consumers to
support the standard.
Regards
Craig
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