[opendtv] Twang's Tuesday Tribune (Mark's Monday Memo) 2004 April 20
- From: Mark Schubin <tvmark@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Multiple Addresses Suppressed <tvmark@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 12:03:25 -0400
I haven't yet received week-13 sales information from the Consumer
Electronics Association (CEA), and I've been in Las Vegas since
Wednesday without my usual access to ads, so this memo will concentrate
on preliminary news from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB)
convention.
- Follow-ups:
- Problems with protected outputs from cable boxes - There's an
extensive thread on the AV Science Forum:
<http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=388947>
- May 1 -
- NAB updated its list last week to 1186 U.S. DTT stations
operating in 205 markets:
<http://www.nab.org/newsroom/issues/digitaltv/dtvstations.asp>
- Doug Lung's RF Report in TV Technology online noted that the
Federal Communications Commission's CDBS database listed just 513
licensed U.S. DTT stations as of April 11:
<http://www.tvtechnology.com/dlrf/one.php?id=407>
- The big transition news last week came from a plan offered by FCC
Media Bureau chief Ken Ferree. Noting that, under the current plan, "My
kids will have died by the time this happens," Ferree proposed that
broadcasters would have to choose by October 2008 whether a cable
operator needs to carry its DTT signals on an analog or digital tier.
Then, on January 1, 2009, all of those cable subscribers would be
counted towards the Congressional over-85%, and analog TV broadcasting
would be shut down. In theory, the cable operators, wanting to shut
down their own analog anyway, would provide analog outputs from cable
boxes if the broadcasters choose digital. I can't find anything on his
plan yet on the FCC web site, but here are a couple of reports on it:
<http://www.tvweek.com/news/web041404.html#fcc>
<http://www.tvtechnology.com/dailynews/one.php?id=1943>
The National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA)
offered nice comments on the plan (which says nothing about cable having
to carry ALL of a broadcaster's digital signal); NAB was opposed.
Ferree said broadcasters would "rather eat their children than give up
this spectrum," but broadcasters offered some non-progeniphage reasons
why the plan makes no sense:
- It doesn't deal with what NAB called more than 80 million
TVs not connected to cable or satellite. Ferree indicated that was
Congress's problem, but he thought a subsidy might be provided to cover
the cost of DTT receivers for at least the 15% of households not
connected to cable or satellite.
- It provides no incentive for cable and satellite subscribers
to buy DTT receivers -- or even HDTV displays, if cable operators aren't
required to carry a DTT broadcaster's HDTV and may simply offer it as
analog.
Here is the official response of the NAB, the Association for
Maximum Service Television, and the ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC affiliated
stations:
<http://www.nab.org/Newsroom/PressRel/Filings/LetterReFerreePlan041504.pdf>
- The March/April issue of NAB's "Destination Digital TV" is now
available online:
<http://www.nab.org/Newsroom/Issues/digitaltv/DDTV0304.pdf>
- NBC's affiliates are joining the network in creating a digital weather
channel:
<http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/variety/20040414/va_mi/nbc_1>
- There's an interesting take on multicasting in the Columbia Journalism
Review:
http://www.cjr.org/issues/2004/2/hickey-tv.asp
- International H/DTV news:
- NTT has developed encoder for use with SHDTV (twice the
horizontal and twice the vertical detail of HDTV):
<http://www.japancorp.net/Article.Asp?Art_ID=7102>
- A federal judge in Canada has ruled that peer-to-peer Internet
sharing of even copyrighted material is legal in that country:
<http://assetmanagement.broadcastengineering.com/41304/index.htm#canada>
- An Australian judge rejected extradition to the U.S. of a
computer programmer said to be involved in various forms of electronic
piracy, including movies:
<http://assetmanagement.broadcastengineering.com/41304/index.htm#extradition>
- CEA has issued a quarterly report to the FCC of the wonderful things
they are doing to educate consumers about the DTT transition. They
don't seem so wonderful to me:
<http://www.ce.org/press_room/press_release_detail.asp?id=10440>
- Speaking at the NAB convention, CEA president Gary Shapiro said of the
adoption of analog ghost canceling technology, "Score it an A." Do any
of you have a TV with such technology?
- I was very impressed with Zenith's demonstration of their
fifth-generation ATSC receiver. In set-top box (STB) form, it's smaller
than previous generations. It has a +/- 50 microsecond
multipath-equalization range, it can handle 0 dB echoes, and its
"advanced equalization" reduces what Zenith calls "noise enhancement"
(an increase in carrier-to-noise threshold required by the equalizer).
It handled not only most of Zenith's generated ghosts but also most of
the real-world signals (including some recorded in a Manhattan
apartment) they demoed. It's a dramatic improvement over the fourth
generation.
On the down side, it won't be available in an STB until the holiday
season this year (later still in an integrated set), and there are still
conditions (notably a deep notch over the pilot) that it can't handle.
For some assistance with those, Zenith demonstrated E-VSB, reducing the
receivability threshold by five to six dB.
There has been much discussion on the Open DTV Forum about how
useless E-VSB is largely because when sufficient bits are devoted to
allow decent SDTV transmission in MPEG-2 there's not enough left for
MPEG-2 HDTV. Zenith suggested some other options.
One is to use advanced coding for the E-VSB signal, but that puts a
big burden on receiver manufacturers for both circuitry and rights fees
(I had an extensive discussion with someone involved in the rights
issues, and he didn't know what the details -- including the term -- of
the recently announced one-time-payment for Japan's broadcasters for
H.264 was; he also noted that MPEG LA doesn't represent all the
intellectual property). But another E-VSB option is to offer just
"fall-back" audio. An E-VSB/E-AC-3 mono audio signal would probably
take no more than 150 kbps out of the DTT channel, a relatively
insignificant amount. "Fall-back" PSIP could also be offered without
straining HDTV or multicast capability.
Now we have to see whether E-VSB gets approved in June.
- Chyron noted in its press conference that pioneering U.S. DTT station
WRAL was trading in its HD graphics systems for SD to gain flexibility.
The SD graphics are then upconverted using Chyron's new C-Mix HD.
- Panasonic's big HD announcement is DVCPRO HD that can be transferred
in real time via Firewire to Apple's Final Cut Pro HD. They also
announced some P2 sales.
- The theme of Sony's booth is "Ride the HD Wave," but most of Sony's
new HD products are in the future: a 1080/60p camera, an HD version of
XDCAM (their blue-laser disk camcorder system), and a three-chip
1080-line HDV camcorder. Of 35 models of consumer HDTVs Sony will
introduce later this year, 19 will have integrated DTT receivers. Sony
is also offering HD triax.
- Thomson and Ikegami are both offering HD slo-mo cameras, Ikegami's one
of four HD cameras using CMOS sensors. Both go to 120 fps. But for
AWESOME HD slo-mo, there was Vision Research's Phantom running at 10,000
fps with entertainment quality.
- In a similar vein, Fujinon added a nice "precision focus" focus-assist
system (developed in conjunction with NHK) to its 101x8.9 HD lens, but
Panavision introduced a 300:1 HD lens (roughly 7-2100 mm)!
- Luma introduced lipstick and ice-cube HD cameras based on 1/3-inch
sensors in both single-chip and three-chip models. Kinetta is joining
the digital-cinematography-camera camp. Altasens (formerly Rockwell
Scientific's imager group) says Kinetta will use its ProCamHD sensors,
but at the camera panel at the Digital Cinema Summit, Kinetta's Jeff
Kreines said they were sensor and resolution agnostic.
- Many people were showing relatively inexpensive HD master-control
systems, but I think Rushworks' "Keyboard Workstation" takes the cake.
It looks like a slightly oversized keyboard but includes within it
storage for 11 hours of HD, with full automation and playout facilities,
for $11,500.
- Leitch and Evertz both had HD "Janet Jackson" delays. A nice feature
of the dual-channel Evertz is that it allows an instant cut to a wide shot.
- Both Vinten and Chapman have shrunk the base of their pedestals
(Quattro and LenCin, respectively). Vinten's Vector 900 is now their
top-of-the-line pan head. As it does more and doesn't cost more, I
don't yet understand why they're still selling the 700.
- QuVIS has introduced three new servers and their digital-mastering codec.
- Cryptography Research has a World War II Enigma machine in its booth.
- More NAB news next week; I've been only to the South Halls so far
(where Apple, once again, was the most crowded, with Avid a close
second, and Sony and Thomson slightly behind those. By the way, Kiki is
back -- at Digital Juice.
- DVD news:
- Sony and Toppan Printing have reportedly come up with a "paper"
Blu-ray disk with a full 25 GB capacity.
<http://www.eetimes.com/sys/news/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=O3FMWHCFHWEMQQSNDBGCKHQ?articleID=18901542>
- The New York Times has an interesting story on Lowry Digital
(yes, John is at it again) making DVDs from 4K scans of movies:
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/18/movies/18KAPL.html>
- The WM9 HD version of a DVD that Microsoft is giving out says you
need a 3-GHz processor to run it.
- The October 2003 edition of the FCC Rules has come out. The book for
Parts 70-79 (including broadcast and cable) is $61:
<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-245793A1.pdf>
- The Professional Audio-Video Retailers Association will now be part of
CEA:
<http://www.ce.org/press_room/press_release_detail.asp?id=10435>
- There seems to be a great deal of interest in the HD DirecTV TiVo;
delivery seems to be taking longer than anticipated:
<http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=169031>
- Upcoming Dates (DTV and non-DTV):
- Through April 22, Las Vegas Convention Center, NAB 2004
<http://www.nab.org/conventions/nab2004/>.
- April 26, Medford, Oregon, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/01_Medford.htm>.
- April 28, San Francisco, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/02_San_Francisco.htm>.
- April 29, Sacramento, California, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB"
(not NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/03_Sacramento.htm>.
- May 1, Napa Valley Community College, California, Road Show -- "A
Taste of NAB" (not NAB affiliated)
<http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/04_Napa_ValleyCC.htm>.
- *May 2-5, Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, The National
Show (NCTA) <http://www.thenationalshow.com/>.
- May 3, Reno, Nevada, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/05_Reno.htm>.
- May 5, Fresno, California, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/06_Fresno.htm>.
- May 7, Los Angeles, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/07_Los_Angeles.htm>.
- May 10, San Diego, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/08_San_Diego.htm>.
- May 12, Phoenix, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/09_Phoenix.htm>.
- May 14, Albuquerque, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/10_Albuquerque.htm>.
- May 17, El Paso, Texas, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/11_El_Paso.htm>.
- May 19, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/12_Tulsa.htm>.
- *May 20-23, New York Hilton, Home Entertainment 2004 East
<http://www.homeentertainment-expo.com/>.
- May 21, Dallas, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/13_Dallas.htm>.
- May 24, Houston, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/14_Houston.htm>.
- May 26, Lafayette, Louisiana, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not
NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/15_Lafayette.htm>.
- May 28, New Orleans, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/16_New_Orleans.htm>.
- June 1, Jackson, Mississippi, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not
NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/17_Jackson.htm>.
- June 3, Montgomery, Alabama, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not
NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/18_Montgomery.htm>.
- June 5-11, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, InfoComm
<http://infocomm03.expoexchange.com/>.
- June 7, Tampa, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB affiliated)
<http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/19_Tampa.htm>.
- June 9, Miami, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB affiliated)
<http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/20_Miami.htm>.
- June 11, West Palm Beach, Florida, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB"
(not NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/21_WPalm_Beach.htm>.
- June 14, Jacksonville, Florida, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB"
(not NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/22_Jacksonville.htm>.
- June 15-18, Singapore Expo, Broadcast Asia 2004, Audio Technology
2004, CableSat 2004, ComGraphics & Animation 2004, CommunicAsia 2004,
EnterpriseIT 2004 <http://www.broadcast-asia.com/>.
- June 16, Atlanta, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/23_Atlanta.htm>.
- June 18, Huntsville, Alabama, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not
NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/24_Huntsville.htm>.
- June 21, Nashville, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/25_Nashville.htm>.
- June 23, Knoxville, Tennessee, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not
NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/26_Knoxville.htm>.
- June 25, Greenville, South Carolina, Road Show -- "A Taste of
NAB" (not NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/27_Greenville.htm>.
- June 28, Charlotte, North Carolina, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB"
(not NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/28_Charlotte.htm>.
- June 30, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, Road Show -- "A Taste of
NAB" (not NAB affiliated)
<http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/29_Raleigh-Durham.htm>.
- July 6, Baltimore-Washington, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not
NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/30_Baltimore-Washington.htm>.
- July 8, Philadelphia, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/31_Philadelphia.htm>.
- July 12, New Haven, Connecticut, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB"
(not NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/32_New_Haven.htm>.
- July 14, Boston, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/33_Boston.htm>.
- July 16, Eastern New York, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/34_Up_State_NY.htm>.
- July 19, Binghamton, New York, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not
NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/35_Binghamton.htm>.
- July 19-23, Seattle, MPEG meetings.
- July 21, Cleveland, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/36_Cleveland.htm>.
- July 22, Columbus, Ohio, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/37_Columbus.htm>.
- July 26, Indianapolis, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/38_Indianapolis.htm>.
- July 28, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, Road Show -- "A Taste of
NAB" (not NAB affiliated)
<http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/39_Urbana-Champaign.htm>.
- July 29, Madison, Wisconsin, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not
NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/40_Madison.htm>.
- August 2, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB"
(not NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/41_Minn-StP.htm>.
- August 4, Omaha, Nebraska, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/42_Omaha.htm>.
- August 6, Riverton, Wyoming, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not
NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/43_Riverton.htm>.
- August 9, Salt Lake City, Utah, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB"
(not NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/44_SLC.htm>.
- August 11, Bozeman, Montana, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not
NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/45_Bozeman.htm>.
- August 13, Boise, Idaho, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/46_Boise.htm>.
- August 16, Spokane, Washington, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB"
(not NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/47_Spokane.htm>.
- August 18, Washington State University, Road Show -- "A Taste of
NAB" (not NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/48_WSU.htm>.
- August 20, Seattle, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/49_Seattle.htm>.
- August 24, Portland, Oregon, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not
NAB affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/50_Portland.htm>.
- August 25, Eugene, Oregon, Road Show -- "A Taste of NAB" (not NAB
affiliated) <http://www.tech-notes.tv/2004/51_Eugene.htm>.
- August 30-September 1, Hollywood Renaissance Hotel, Entertainment
Media Expo <http://www.media-tech.net/news/New_A.htm>.
- September 1-3, Reading, UK, International Symposium on Consumer
Electronics <http://www.isce.reading.ac.uk>.
- September 9-14, RAI, Amsterdam, International Broadcasting
Convention <http://www.ibc.org>.
- October 6-7, Washington (D.C.) Convention Center, Government
Video Technology Expo <http://www.GVExpo.com>.
- October 13-15, Hotel Washington, Washington, D.C., IEEE Broadcast
Symposium <http://www.ieee.org/organizations/society/bt/symposium.html>.
- November 4-7, Westin St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco, Home
Entertainment 2004 West <http://www.homeentertainment-expo.com/>.
- *November 17-19, Makuhari Messe (Tokyo area), InterBEE
<http://bee.jesa.or.jp>.
- ***January 26-28, Rancho Las Palmas Marriott, California, ***The
Technology Retreat*** <http://www.hpaonline.com>.
* - 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. There will be no memo the week of June
14, and the memo the following week will be late.
Confused about something in the memo? Please first check out the second
post-script to the January 5 memo here:
<http://www.digitaltelevision.com/mondaymemo/mlist/frm02052.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:
