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News
Mobile video service set to launch in the United States
Jan 9, 2006 2:43 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
Crown Castle Mobile Media has changed its name to Modeo and announced plans to deliver live mobile TV to the top 30 markets across the United States this year and next. At the CES convention in Las Vegas last week, the company demonstrated the Modeo service with device manufacturers Motorola and Nokia.
Last year Modeo tested its DVB-H mobile broadcast network throughout the Pittsburgh area using a series of terrestrial transmitters from Axcera and Harris. The company plans to launch the service commercially during 2006 in select major U.S. markets, including New York City. Modeo is currently working on a nationwide deployment of its network to the top 30 U.S. markets, with launches targeted throughout 2007.
Modeo will target a broad range of mobile devices including cell phones, laptops, portable media players, and personal digital assistants with an easy-to-use service that delivers live news, sports, music and entertainment programming.
Modeo also wants to be the first mobile broadcast network to support podcasting. Subscribers will be able to download dozens of video podcasts and hundreds of audio podcasts each week directly to their mobile device. Video services are designed to be broadcast in digital TV quality at QVGA resolution at up to 30fps.
Mobile entertainment industry analysts, including Frost & Sullivan and IDC, project the mobile video market will exceed $1.5 billion by 2009.
Modeo is a subsidiary of Crown Castle International. For more information, visit www.modeo.com and www.crowncastle.com.
TV platform migration to continue in 2006
Jan 9, 2006 2:49 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
Television content owners began the New Year with an intense drive to move their shows beyond the traditional television set to a wide array of new pay-per-program display platforms. It’s as if a la carte pricing — a controversial idea only three months ago —occurred overnight thanks to new technology.
Starz Entertainment Group last week announced a new subscription service that will allow the downloading of full-length movies, music concerts, and other video programming through a Website.
Vong, the new $9.95 a month service, combines Internet distribution with premium content viewing on computers and portable video devices.
Starz, which operates pay movie channels under the Starz and Encore brands, is owned by Liberty Media, the company controlled by cable entrepreneur, John C. Malone.
Using RealNetworks technology, Starz, since 2004, has offered a movie download service called Starz Ticket. However, that service, which will continue, does not allow the downloading of films to mobile devices. With Vongo, Starz will embrace Microsoft’s Media Player software that allows films to be viewed on portable media players.
The announcement, the New York Times reported, coincides with what is expected to be the introduction of several new low-priced portable video players at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Vongo, now available for Windows PCs only in beta form at www.vongo.com, will eventually offer a base of about 1000 movies that can be viewed on up to three devices for the $9.95 monthly fee. A version for the Macintosh computer platform is promised soon.
Separately, the Times reported that Starz will also offer Vongo through Sony’s Connect download service. Until now, Connect has mainly sold music, but executives involved with Sony told the newspaper that the company will soon announce an expansion to video downloads as well.
Starz has thus far been unable to work out an arrangement for Vongo to run on Apple’s video iPods.
Similar video download services from Google and Yahoo were also announced at CES, in which subscribers will hook up their computers to a TV screen to watch traditional TV.
DIRECTV and Slingbox embrace Microsoft’s Media Center
Jan 9, 2006 2:59 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
DIRECTV has announced DIRECTV2Go, a new service for portable media players. Using the Microsoft Portable Media Center, it will allow subscribers to transfer programming content from their DirecTV Plus DVR to a wide variety of non-Apple portable media players.
DIRECTV will also provide customers with top programs from NBC and the cable networks — USA, SCI FI and Bravo — within hours after they air, commercial free, for 99 cents each.
Sling Media, makers of the Slingbox, will offer an upgrade to its existing hardware that allows consumers to use a wide range of mobile devices to watch home television programming anywhere. The current Slingbox allows remote TV viewing on computers over a broadband connection.
The new mobile client works with any device that uses Microsoft’s Windows Mobile Platform versions 4.0 or 5.0. A visual version of a remote control pops up on the screen allowing the user to choose whether to watch television live from their home cable set-top box, satellite receiver, or a program previously recorded on a DVR.
In related news, DIRECTV will launch a new service this year, in tandem with its DVR service, that will allow subscribers to watch TV programs from FOX before they appear on TV. It’s the first such service of its kind and signals a change in network TV strategy to keep its content exclusive to affiliated stations.
USDTV to roll out in Norfolk, VA
Jan 9, 2006 3:03 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
U.S. Digital Television (USDTV), the program service that uses over-the-air digital broadcast signals, will deploy its set-top boxes in Norfolk, VA. It’s the fifth market for USDTV and the first on the East Coast.
The company said it would begin broadcasting this spring in the Norfolk/Hampton Roads market over the new digital TV facilities of LIN TV.
USDTV will offer Norfolk subscribers more than 30 all-digital channels from local stations and the company’s lineup of cable networks.
The service includes ESPN, Discovery, Disney and the FOX News Channel for $19.95 a month with a guarantee that the price will not increase for two years. The Starz premium movie channel is also offered for $6.95 a month.
In November 2005, USDTV announced a $25.75 million funding agreement with major media investment partners, including: FOX Television Stations, Hearst-Argyle Television, McGraw-Hill Broadcasting, LIN TV, Morgan Murphy Stations and Telcom DTV.
Google to offer video download service
Jan 9, 2006 3:07 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
Google has unveiled a new service called Google Pack. The service allows users of its site to buy videos from content partners in an upgrade to its video-search service.
In a Wall Street Journal report, Google said it would allow users to buy television shows or other videos that can be downloaded onto their computers. The newspaper said Google is likely to unveil partnerships related to the new service with CBS and the National Basketball Association.
Google plans to introduce a software package with offerings from its own library as well as from other companies.
FCC & Industry Updates
Tate, Copps take oath as FCC commissioners
Jan 9, 2006 3:11 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
 Deborah Taylor Tate takes the oath for her first term as an FCC commissioner. She was appointed to serve out the remaining term of former chairman Michael Powell that ends in 2007. |
Though both commissioners got Senate approval in the final hours of the 2005 session, the FCC is still one commissioner short. The vacancy creates a political tie, with two Republicans and two Democrats — a situation that makes it hard for the body to resolve controversial issues.
President Bush has yet to nominate a replacement for Kathleen Abernathy, who resigned last month. It is unknown when that appointment might be made.
Copps was named to a second full term, which ends in 2010. Tate was appointed to serve out the remaining term of former chairman Michael Powell. She will serve until 2007.
Gates: We’ll get IPTV right
Jan 9, 2006 3:21 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
In his CES keynote at the annual convention last week in Las Vegas, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates did what he has done a thousand times before: painted a grand vision of a converged future where seamless communication and entertainment is where you want it when you want it.
But this year he made a quick mention of a topic that tarnished Microsoft’s image in 2005: Internet Protocol Television (IPTV).
“This is the year that the lead customers, AT&T and Verizon, are rolling out in commercial deployment,” Gates said in his CES keynote address. “Over the course of this year these deployments will really scale up into very large numbers, and that’s when you’ll really start to see the innovation come in, and people recognize that it blows away the previous video platform, and allows for an opportunity to create lots and lots of new things.”
Though Gates claimed in the keynote that the 2005 trials had been very successful, there were numerous news reports to the contrary.
Recent delays in deployment of the software by two European telephone companies caused second thoughts by Microsoft’s clients and competitors. Industry reports said that AT&T and BellSouth have asked other technology vendors about providing alternative solutions to fill in the holes in case Microsoft is unable to fulfill its promises.
ESPN to accept HD commercials
Jan 9, 2006 3:24 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
Beginning April 1, ESPN will begin accepting 16x9 high-definition commercials for its two simulcast HDTV services: ESPN HD and ESPN2 HD.
ESPN will allow an advertiser to produce a single commercial for both SD and HDTV. Each commercial, which will be produced center cut to accommodate displays on both ESPN and ESPN HD or ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD, will be aired simultaneously on the HD and SD services.
ESPN HD and ESPN2 HD will combine in 2006 to deliver more than 600 major events plus more than 2000 programs totaling more than 6500 hours in HD featuring live programming, movies and series.
Telestream names new president
Jan 9, 2006 3:27 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
David Heppe has been promoted to president and chief operating officer of Telestream, from his former sales and marketing position. He replaces Dan Castles, who will retain his title as chief executive officer and will play a more active role in helping to guide the company’s Flip4Mac business.
Castles said he hopes to bring Telestream technology to markets beyond broadcast, while letting Heppe manage the company’s daily activities among its core workgroup and enterprise solutions business.
Heppe’s spent the past seven years overseeing Telestream’s worldwide sales and marketing programs, most recently as senior vice president of sales and marketing. Prior to Telestream, Heppe served as managing director of TDK’s European Communications business unit in the United Kingdom. Heppe holds engineering degrees from the University of Nevada and Stanford, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
For more information, visit www.telestream.net.
New Products & Reviews
Sanyo intros small HD video camera
Jan 9, 2006 3:39 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
 The HD1 features an ultra-clear 2.2in, Sanyo-developed, OLED display with 210,000 total pixels. |
The camera was introduced at the CES convention in Las Vegas last week.
The key to the Xacti HD1’s ability to record HD video is its high-precision large-scale integration for image processing. The camera executes a vast number of calculations in a short period of time. It enables the HD1 to realize image processing functions such as high-definition 720p processing, real-time MPEG-4 compression and noise reduction.
The HD1 features an ultra-clear 2.2in Sanyo-developed Organic Light-Emitting Diode display with 210,000 pixels. The display flips out from the camera and rotates up to 285 degrees on axis for taking video or still images in otherwise difficult locations.
The HD1 has a 10x optical zoom lens with a maximum aperture of f/3.5 in both wide and telephoto angles, allowing for clear images in lower light situations.
The camera can record both 5.1 megapixel still images and high-definition (1280 x 720-pixel) digital video at the same time to an SD memory card. It can record more than 21 minutes of 720p HD video on a 1GB SD card or more than 42 minutes on a 2GB card. Alternatively, HD1 users can select to record in SD mode (640 x 480 pixels at 30fps progressive) for up to two hours on a 2GB SD card.
Band Pro offers new Carl Zeiss Telephoto DigiZoom lens
Jan 9, 2006 3:45 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
 The new Telephoto lens will be manufactured at the Carl Zeiss Optics factory in Oberkochen, Germany. |
Band Pro Film & Digital has added the new Carl Zeiss Telephoto DigiZoom (17-112mm T1.9) lens to its offerings of camera accessories. Representing the second zoom in the company’s line of precision lenses, Band Pro now offers the entire series of prime lenses in the Zeiss DigiPrime family.
The new Carl Zeiss Telephoto DigiZoom focuses to 22in from the image plane, or 11in from the front of the lens. It also offers the ability to focus tightly on objects as small as 66mm x 117mm.
The new optic shares many of the same design features of the Zeiss DigiPrime series, such as industry standard-pitch zoom, focus and iris gears, and brightly marked, and oversized windowed cine scales. It also features a 95mm front diameter.
The new Telephoto lens will be manufactured at the Carl Zeiss Optics factory in Oberkochen, Germany, and marketed worldwide exclusively by Band Pro Film & Digital.
For more information, visit http://bandpro.com.
Canopus debuts PCI Express version of Edius NLE
Jan 9, 2006 3:54 PM
Canopus now offers a new Edius NX real-time mixed HD/SD video editing system based on PCI Express (PCIe) standard.
By supporting PCI Express slots common on the new dual-core capable platforms, the PCI Express version of Edius NX makes the speed and versatility of dedicated NLE hardware affordable to both SD and HD editors. Since Edius NX offers native editing and real-time processing of a variety of SD and HD formats, editors who haven’t made the move to HD can use Edius NX now, and grow with it when they finally do make the transition.
At the heart of the Edius NX system is Edius Pro nonlinear editing software, which provides real-time, mixed format editing of uncompressed SD, HD, HDV, DV, MPEG-2, and MPEG-1 formats. Edius Pro delivers increased quality and real-time performance through the company’s variable-bitrate Canopus HQ codec.
Edius NX with PCI Express compatibility includes real-time HQ batch capture from 1080i and 720p HDV cameras and decks.
When combined with the company’s HD Expansion Kit, Edius NLEs on the Windows platform deliver full frame-rate real-time HD playback from the timeline directly to an external HD video display.
For more information, visit www.canopus.com.
KVBC installs OmniBus automation for new weather channel
Jan 9, 2006 3:59 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
NBC affiliate KVBC-TV/DT, in Las Vegas, has upgraded its OmniBus Columbus automation system to enable efficient playout of a new digital channel, a localized 24-hour NBC Weather Plus channel with a minimum of human intervention.
The Columbus automation system has simplified the launch and maintenance of this new channel, providing a playout schedule along with associated router control for commercial server playout, the network receiver source, and local prerecorded weather content. The OmniBus automation system is providing playout for KVBC’s main channel while delivering local content along with NBC’s national weather feed.
Viewers of KVBC’s new weather channel can watch NBC national weather combined with local weather programming and commercial playout in a 15-minute block, and updated program blocks are presented 24 hours a day in a wheel format. The new channel requires only that the station's weatherman initiate recording of clips while the production crew runs the camera and microphone audio.
With control of the master control switcher and graphics devices, OmniBus’ Columbus automation system enables operators to precompile graphics packages and news items. As a result, a single operator at KVBC is able to play out complex sequences during weather programs and bulletins.
For more information, visit www.omnibus.tv.
Schneider Optics offers universal HD wide angle converter
Jan 9, 2006 4:04 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
 The Century HD Compact .8X wide angle converter enables camcorders with 72mm lens front ends to get 20 percent wider coverage throughout the zoom range. |
The converter enables camcorders with 72mm lens front ends to get 20 percent wider coverage throughout the zoom range. Featuring universal screw-on threads for easy installation, the .8X fits most DV/HDV cameras.
Weighing 10oz, the new Century HD lens converter offers a length of 1.14in and a width of 3.54in at its broadest point.
For creative light management, the converter comes with a rectangular sunshade, made of lightweight, rugged polymer. It also features 86mm front threads to accommodate standard screw-on filters.
The HD Compact .8X features multicoated glass elements for crisp, high-resolution images with low distortion.
For more information, visit www.centuryoptics.com.
VDS GameTrak System on Center Ice for NHL
Jan 9, 2006 4:12 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
 The VDS GameTrak system for NHL Center Ice displays game schedules, scores and clocks, game situation information, as well as overtime indicators for each game in progress. |
The NHL/Dish Network Center Ice system is the fourth GameTrak system provided by VDS to the NHL. These channels are also available to viewers in Canada on ExpressVu and Rogers and in the United STates on InDemand. Based on the VDS GameTrak Suite, the NHL Center Ice Channel is a distributed system, consisting of a central data collection and storage hub located at VDS’s facilities. Dedicated graphics systems are located at multiple head-ends for localization purposes and connected back to the main hub via an Internet VPN connection.
The VDS GameTrak system for NHL Center Ice displays game schedules, scores and clocks, game situation information, as well as overtime indicators for each game in progress. It also provides fans with league standings and team stats and records as well as game previews and summaries. Viewers also can see game scoring summaries as well as NHL news and promotional information in a lower-third format, with live operator input.
For more information, visit http://videodesignsoftware.com.
Texas Instruments unveils single chip for mobile phone TV
Jan 9, 2006 4:26 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
 The new Hollywood chip allows digital television signals to be received on low-cost mobile phones while maintaining long battery life and compact phone size. To view an enlarged image of this digram, click here. |
Texas Instruments (TI) has developed a new single-chip processor that allows broadcast digital television signals to be received on low-cost mobile phones while maintaining long battery life and compact phone size.
TI’s Hollywood chips integrate a mobile TV tuner and demodulator into one piece of silicon using the standard 90 nanometer digital process. Consumers should expect to find the first mobile phones with the new chip by late this year.
Previously, TV functionality necessitated three individual chips to handle the RF, baseband, and memory portions of the circuit. Primary standard support for the new chip includes DVB-H, which is being deployed worldwide in Europe, the United States and parts of Asia. ISDB-T is being deployed in Japan.
DVB-H and ISDB-T use orthogonal frequency division multiplexing technology that provides good spectral efficiency and immunity to the multipath to offer improved mobile TV performance. In addition, the Hollywood design is compatible with TI’s family of OMAP applications to deliver high-quality video and stereo audio.
For more information, visit www.ti.com/hollywoodpr.
Rohde & Schwarz enables mobile measurement of DVB network coverage
Jan 9, 2006 4:32 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
 The TSM-DVB is available in combination with the R&S ROMES Coverage Measurement Software to provide proactive information about transmitter signal quality. |
TSM-DVB is now available in combination with the company’s R&S ROMES Coverage Measurement Software to provide information about transmitter signal quality. In addition, coverage and potential error sources can be clearly, quickly and economically displayed on a Windows notebook PC.
The R&S TSM-DVB DVB-T Diversity Test Receiver replaces traditional network coverage measurement methods that require enormous effort and a large number of personnel including the need to meet CCIR guidelines with a 10m high antenna at a test station, and reception tests while the vehicle is moving. The mobile measurement provides quick and reliable measurement values up to speeds of 100km/h.
The test system supports all DVB-T modes including the hierarchical modes across all 6-, 7- or 8MHz bandwidths. The test instrument is equipped with two antenna inputs and two demodulation channels. Due to its power supply of 12V, it can be easily connected to a vehicle at any time.
For more information, visit www.rohde-schwarz.com.
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Czech TV buys VCube hard disk recorders
Jan 9, 2006 4:42 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
 VCube is a video hard disk based video player/recorder system designed specifically for use in audio post production. |
VCube is a video hard disk-based video player/recorder system designed specifically for use in audio postproduction. It can operate as a stand-alone unit, or as part of a multisystem network fully integrated with Pyramix through standard Ethernet. It offers sync to PAL, NTSC, 24fps film and all the HDTV frame rates.
For synching pictures, the VCube recorders work in the Czech National TV audio post production facility with 12 Fairlights and a Dolby-equipped dubbing theatre with custom built ADRs. Each of the VCubes has been customized to the particular requirements of the national TV station.
Czech TV currently broadcasts on two terrestrial channels and several satellite channels.
For more information, visit www.merging.com.
Enco announces content adaptive processing for Omnia audio processors
Jan 9, 2006 4:48 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
Enco, a provider of digital audio delivery systems, has introduced CAP, a content adaptive processing option for its digital audio delivery system (DAD).
CAP enables the automatic adjustment of Omnia audio processor settings to match program needs. Audio processing characteristics can be grouped in DAD’s library so that when a particular class of music, voice track, commercial or other classification appears in the on-air play list, pre-sets are made in real-time to Omnia processor settings.
CAP allows operators to match their audio processing automatically, without manual intervention, ensuring the consistent desired sound for programming. CAP eliminates compromises to audio quality introduced by accepting a single audio processor setting across an entire broadcast of varied content.
Enco’s CAP option is available now in DAD Version 5.0. CAP supports IP-connected Omnia 3, Omnia 5 and Omnia 6 series audio processors. Omnia, a Telos company, makes audio processors for FM, AM, TV, HD radio and DAB, Internet, and audio production.
For more information, visit www.enco.com and www.omniaaudio.com.
