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DISH Network to offer Denver residents local TV stations in HD
Mar 7, 2006 3:14 PM, HD Technology Update e-newsletter
DISH Network will launch local high-definition TV channels via its satellite TV service to customers in Denver and 61 surrounding counties.
The stations include: KMGH (ABC), KCNC (CBS) and KDVR (FOX). NBC affiliate KUSA is not part of the HD offering. DISH Network also will deliver the local Denver channels in HD to nine counties in Nebraska.
Broadcast companies to present HD seminars across country
Mar 7, 2006 3:16 PM, HD Technology Update e-newsletter
Omneon Video Networks, Miranda Technologies and Linear Acoustic will hit the road to make a multi-city presentation of "HDTV: Making the Transition," an educational seminar focusing on the factors driving the transition to HDTV as well as the technologies underlying the shift.
Each seminar will address the fundamental elements of working in HD, examine the key system building blocks for HD broadcast infrastructures and include case studies highlighting broadcasters' experiences in making the shift to HDTV. Venues include:
- Los Angeles - May 23
- Washington, D.C., - June 27
- Chicago - Sept. 26
- San Francisco - Oct. 24
- Seattle - Oct. 26
- Miami - Nov. 28
To learn more and register, visit www.hdseminar.com.
Sony to release Blu-ray titles in May
Mar 7, 2006 3:20 PM, HD Technology Update e-newsletter
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) plans to deliver its first Blu-ray Disc titles May 23rd. The release will coincide with the launch of the first commercially available Blu-ray Disc player from Samsung Electronics.
Players from Pioneer and Sony, as well as Blu-ray equipped VAIO PCs from Sony are expected soon after the Samsung introduction.
SPHE and MGM Home Entertainment will first release eight Blu-ray titles in May, with eight more to be made available June 13.
The first Blu-ray Disc titles will include: “50 First Dates,” “The Fifth Element,” “Hitch,” “House of Flying Daggers,” “A Knight's Tale,” “The Last Waltz (MGM),” “Resident Evil Apocalypse” and “XXX.”
For more information, visit www.sonypictures.com/bluray.
Toshiba takes HD DVD message on the road
Mar 7, 2006 5:51 PM, HD Technology Update e-newsletter
Toshiba America Consumer Products has begun a tour of more than 40 cities to help with the March launch of its HD-XA1 and HD-A1 HD DVD players.
The tour is part of a multi-tier campaign to educate retail salespeople and provide them with support materials to help them sell HD DVD players. The road show began Feb. 20 and will continue through April. It will include consumer and media education components as well as retail education.
CEA announces nominees for 2005 DTV Pioneers Awards
Mar 7, 2006 3:26 PM, HD Technology Update e-newsletter
The Consumer Electronics Association announced nominees for the 2005 Academy of Digital Television (DTV Academy) Pioneers Awards to be presented March 15 at the sixth annual DTV Academy Awards luncheon in Washington, D.C.
Nominees from five DTV Award categories will be recognized during a high-definition production highlighting their achievements in the advancement of HDTV throughout 2005.
The 2005 DTV Academy Award nominees are…
Best DTV Program Provider:
DIRECTV
Comcast
Time Warner
Best DTV Leadership (Industry):
Bryan Burns, vice president, strategic business planning and development, ESPN
Peter Fannon, vice president for technology policy, government and regulatory affairs, Panasonic
Marty Franks, executive vice president, planning, policy and government relations, CBS
Best DTV Leadership (Government):
Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK)
Congressman Joe Barton (R-TX)
Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI)
People's Choice:
“CSI” - The Entire Franchise (CBS)
“NFL Monday Night Football” (ABC)
“SportsCenter” (ESPN)
“Lost” (ABC)
President's Award for Outstanding Contribution:
Rick Chessen
For more information, visit www.ce.org.
Insight Media, McLaughlin Consulting seek papers for Projection Summit
Mar 7, 2006 3:36 PM, HD Technology Update e-newsletter
McLaughlin Consulting Group have issued a call for papers for the upcoming Projection Summit that takes place in Orlando, June 5-6.
The first day of the Projection Summit is focused on technology advances in projection, LCD and PDP displays and electronics, while the second day will focus on market trends, opportunities and dangers.
Those who wish to present at the Projection Summit should submit abstracts by March 15. The emphasis of presentations should be on the impact new technologies and market trends have on the big screen display market, but with special attention to the impact on the professional AV market.
Submit abstracts to Chris Chinnock at: chris@insightmedia.info.
Hollywood Post Alliance announces HPA Awards
Mar 7, 2006 3:54 PM, HD Technology Update e-newsletter
The Hollywood Post Alliance has announced the creation of The HPA Awards to recognize creative and technical excellence in the art, science and craft of post-production. The awards will be presented during a gala show Nov. 2.
The HPA Awards will recognize excellence in categories including color grading, editing, audio post production and compositing. The HPA also has announced special awards, including the award for Outstanding Contribution to Advancing the Field of Post Production, and Engineering Excellence Awards.
The period of eligibility began Sept. 4, 2005, and will end Sept. 4, 2006. Entry forms will be available on June 8, and submissions will be accepted June 15 - Aug. 15.
For more information, visit www.hpaonline.com.
HD Spotlight
‘Samaritan’ shot with solid-state HD camcorder
Mar 7, 2006 4:03 PM, HD Technology Update e-newsletter
 “Samaritan’ director of photography Robert Pitman shoots with the Panasonic AG-HVX200 hand-held camcorder. |
The HVX200 combines multiple HD and SD formats, and multiple recording modes and variable frames rates with the benefits of P2 solid-state memory recording.
The production team included producers Richard and Ethan Marten, Joshua Levy, Jonathan Guion, producer/director/screenwriter/editor Kimball Carr and Director of Photography Robert Pitman.
The DVCPRO HD P2 camcorder offers full bandwidth, contribution quality HD with independent intra-frame encoding, 4:2:2 color sampling, and less compression.
Currently in post-production, the feature entailed 81 set-ups over the course of two evenings of location shooting. Star Circle plans to exhibit the 30-minute short via high definition streaming media stations in theaters, as well as to take it on the festival circuit.
Editing is being done with an Apple Mac G5 Quad Processor workstation using Final Cut Pro HD Studio. The production team will edit in native 720p 24 resolution and deliver in several formats, including streamed and compressed formats for Web delivery, standard and high definition DVD, as well as HD exhibition into screening rooms and theaters direct from a workstation via final HD media source.
Star Circle rented the HVX200 from Zacuto Rentals in Chicago.
For more information, visit www.panasonic.com/hvx200.
Mago Films shoots ‘Surfing the Menu’ with JVC GY-HD101E
Mar 7, 2006 4:19 PM, HD Technology Update e-newsletter
 Mago Films shoots “Surfing the Menu” with its new JVC GY-HD101E. |
Unlike the previous two seasons, this season’s “Surfing the Menu” was shot with the production company’s new JVC GY-HD101E.
In previous series, Mago Films shot mainly with a single DigiBeta. The cooking sequences for each episode were all shot on one day with two DigiBetas, requiring the second camera to be flown in. Rather than rent the second camera, Mago Films sought to acquire its own camera, which could seamlessly match the DigiBeta.
After much research, the company settled on the JVC GY-HD101E. For “Surfing the Menu 3,” the JVC GY-HD101E has delivered high-detail close-ups with color depth. It’s also been used as a second camera option for pick-up shots and extra coverage. The footage from the JVC GY-HD101E has been downconverted to SD and edited with the DigiBeta footage.
For more information, visit http://pro.jvc.com/prof/main.jsp.
Soundoff
‘Way-out-of-the-box thinking’ may be critical to success of broadcasters
Mar 7, 2006 4:40 PM, HD Technology Update e-newsletter
The National Association of Broadcasters will honor S. Merrill Weiss with its 2006 Television Engineering Achievement Award.
Weiss, a consultant in electronic media technology and management, has nearly 40 years of experience in broadcasting. He is internationally recognized for his development of new television technologies, including digital video compression.
He conducted the experiments that led to the first digital television standard (CCIR Recommendation 601) in 1981and has been involved in the development of virtually every DTV standard since. He has served with the FCC Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service, the Advanced Television Systems Committee and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.
HD Technology Update approached Weiss weeks after Congressional passage of the budget reconciliation legislation bill with language establishing a date for switch-off of analog television transmission. Weiss provided extensive insight into possibilities and pitfalls broadcasters will face. HDTU will present the first half of the interview in this edition and the second in its March 21 issue.
HD Technology Update: Even before the Feb. 17, 2009, end date of analog transmission has arrived, MPEG-2 — a government mandated component of the digital television transmission system — is being replaced in terms of compression efficiency by MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 and VC-1. The consequence for broadcasters is a situation in which they are saddled with a technology that prevents them from maximizing the full potential of their services. In other words, they can’t fully partake in the multicasting opportunities that a more efficient compression scheme offers. Are broadcasters just out of luck or is there a way that the situation can be ameliorated?
S. Merrill Weiss: First, it’s important to understand the context in which broadcasters have been mandated to use MPEG-2 and the opportunities to use MPEG-4 and other advanced coding technologies.
MPEG-2 is mandated by the FCC through its adoption of the ATSC Standard for Digital Television. It is required to be used for delivery of one free, over-the-air TV service that is comparable in quality to an NTSC program.
There’s nothing that requires broadcasters to use MPEG-2 for all of their video services. In fact, today there are examples of advanced coding being used over broadcast transmitters, but the data for those coding systems is sent as so-called “private data.”
So, technically, there is no real constraint on broadcasters using advanced coding. As a practical matter, though, there are issues of getting receivers capable of handling advanced coding into consumers’ hands. Those issues relate to the willingness of the consumer electronics manufacturers to build receivers of that sort.
Up to this point, it hasn’t been possible to get the advanced coders adopted into ATSC standards, although there has been a lot of work going on to write the necessary documents.
The reason is that consumer electronics manufacturers are concerned about abandoning consumers who have purchased receivers with only MPEG-2 decoders. They have been looking to broadcasters to indicate when and how they would use the advanced coding so that receiver manufactures would know there will be content appearing, based on advanced coding, for those receivers. It is the old chicken and egg problem: broadcasters want receivers to be built before they offer content, and receiver manufacturers want there to be content before they build and sell receivers.
The issue for broadcasters that differentiates them from satellite broadcasters or cable operators, although cable perhaps to a lesser extent going forward, is that the other content delivery operations have control of their receivers. They have closed systems, where the broadcast environment is one in which there is an open system, and broadcasters don’t have control of receivers except through the adoption of standards. Unfortunately, broadcasters have been very much underrepresented in the standards bodies, so the votes haven’t been there to get the approval of the documentation of the advanced coding standards on the ATSC committees.
HDTU: It seems odd that broadcasters would be under-represented in a body that has such an important impact on their future. Why is that?
MW: There are a lot of consumer electronics manufacturers who are members of ATSC. The ATSC consists of whoever joins the group and shows up to vote. So, the broadcasting community has been outvoted by the consumer electronics manufacturers that belong to the ATSC and have been there to vote. It is also the case that there are some broadcasters who do not believe that advanced coding techniques should be adopted into ATSC standards, and they normally vote against moving such standards forward.
What you have is a small amount of cable representation, and when it comes to broadcast standards, the cable members usually abstain. When you get into the contentious issues, it generally becomes broadcasters on one-side and consumer electronics manufacturers on the other. The ATSC has a two-thirds rule that says you have to have two-thirds approval in order to get things passed, and sometimes it’s hard to get even 50 percent to move things forward.
It’s been a question of broadcasters not working together enough to develop a cohesive position on some of these issues and then coming (to ATSC meetings) to get standards adopted. These standards are voluntary, other than the ones adopted by the FCC. Even if the advanced coding methods were adopted as standards, that still doesn’t require consumer electronics manufacturers to build them into receivers.
Some kind of understanding has to be reached between broadcasters and consumer electronics manufacturers about what content will be available using these advanced coding technologies and in what time frame it will be available so consumer electronics manufacturers will find it sufficiently attractive to begin putting that advanced coding into the receivers.
To make the transition happen, it’s necessary to have decoders for these advanced coding techniques in the receivers as soon as possible so at some point in future the industry can begin offering such content.
That will encourage the sale of receivers that have the advanced decoders and over time cause the universe of receivers to be equipped with the advanced coding technologies.
HDTU: On the one hand there’s Moore’s Law stating that the number of transistors on a chip doubles every two years, the consequences of which imply that increasingly efficient compression schemes are right around the corner. On the other hand, broadcasters live in the world of government regulations and large capital outlays. As a result, won’t broadcasters always be several steps behind competitive media distribution alternatives?
MW: It doesn’t have to be that broadcasters are always several steps behind. There are a couple of possibilities of things broadcasters can do to speed up the process. It is also the case that some of the other industries may not move forward as quickly as you might think.
Once cable has millions of set-top boxes in the field with MPEG-2 in them, they generally won’t be changing them out to MPEG-4 at least until they fully depreciate them. Where you tend to see new technologies develop is where there are new services coming online rather than replacement of MPEG-2. For instance, DIRECTV pushed real hard to get MPEG-4 AVC into use to support their new local-into-local HDTV service. So, broadcasters won’t be so far behind when you are talking about already rolled-out applications.
Another possibility is that broadcasters could do some things if they choose to that would advance the rollout of receivers. Some of these things might not be politically or economically attractive — for example, subsidizing the development cost or even the purchase cost of broadcast-capable receivers having advanced decoders in them — such as encouraging over-the-air reception, as opposed to other avenues of signal delivery, by offering a service to consumers similar to what satellite and cable operators do, by making antenna installations available or offering a place for consumers to call when the set-top box doesn’t work.
That is way-out-of-the-box thinking compared to what the industry is used to, but if broadcasters want to be competitive, they may have to think about being competitive with what consumers expect when they pay for services from satellite and cable operators. And you can see that kind of approach beginning in USDTV, where consumers will pay a monthly fee, and they will expect that the support they will get will be equal to what they would get from the local cable operator.
So being competitive with cable, for instance, doesn’t just mean having the same technology, it means being competitive on a broad scale with respect to the overall characteristics of the service.
Tell us what you think! HDTU invites response from our readers. Please submit your comments to editor@broadcastengineering.com. We'll follow up with your comments in an upcoming issue.
A Glance At The Stats
Sales of LCD TVs boom
Mar 7, 2006 4:26 PM, HD Technology Update e-newsletter
LCD televisions are projected to be among the top three fastest-growing consumer electronic devices between 2003-2009, according to a recent report from In-Stat.
With a combined annual growth rate of 52.3 percent, LCD televisions were second to digital audio players at 57 percent and just ahead of DVD recorders at 52.3 percent, according to In-Stat.
The report, “It’s All in the Eye of the Consumer: 2005 Consumer Electronics Roll-up” also found that analog television sales will decline by 15.3 percent on a combined annual growth rate basis as they are squeezed out by digital televisions.
For more information, visit www.instat.com.
Study shows solid home theater base in Western Europe; HD to propel expansion
Mar 7, 2006 4:33 PM
A Nielsen Entertainment Research study commissioned by DTS has found a growing base of home theater and surround sound owners throughout the Western European marketplace. The study showed a broadening demographic base of surround sound owners and the impact of surround hardware ownership on DVD consumption habits.
The research focused primarily on the United Kingdom, France and Germany, which account for 67 percent of total Western European DVD spending levels. Fifty-six percent of consumer spending on audio hardware equipment is generated from these countries followed by Italy, Spain and Holland at a comparable 9 percent each.
The study found a third of Western European households have some configuration of a home theater system, which equates to more than 50 million households. In the United Kingdom, France and Germany combined, more than one-third of DVD households owned a home theater system at the end of 2004. Eighty percent of those home theater owners have 5.1 or greater surround sound with five or more speakers. At the end of 2005, more than 102 million Western European households were expected to own one or more DVD players.
These figures are reinforced by the marked increase in consumer spending, coupled with the availability of DVD titles, and a steady decline in software prices. By the end of 2004, Western Europe had spent almost $12 billion in DVD software sales alone, a 40 percent increase from the previous year.
In addition, with HD-ready displays in Europe forecast to rise over the next five years to slightly more than 30 million units, an upward swing in consumer adoption of home theater systems in Europe is anticipated.
For more information, visit www.dts.com.
HD Products & Reviews
Merging Technologies ships Version 1.2 VCube software
Mar 7, 2006 4:51 PM, HD Technology Update e-newsletter
 Version 1.2 software for the VCube is free to all users. |
Version 1.2 includes:
- Quick settings for both SD and HD. From a single control panel, users may now adjust settings to match image format, frame rate, pixel aspect ratio, synchronization and reference signals.
- MPEG-2 and DVCPRO 50 codec support for playback and capture.
- HD-2K VCube now allows direct playback for HDV video (m2t files) and video capture is now properly handled at 23.98fps with a 29.97 time code reference.
Chesapeake Camera adds Fujinon HD ENG-style lenses
Mar 7, 2006 4:56 PM, HD Technology Update e-newsletter
 The Fujinon wide angle HA22X7.3BRD HD lens is one of two models Chesapeake Camera has added. |
The gear includes Fujinon’s HA13X4.5BRD and HA22X7.3BRD wide-angle HD lenses. Precision Focus Assist is a built-in feature that addresses precise focus issues in HDTV production stemming from the format’s shallow depth of focus and the lack of size and resolution in camera viewfinders. The rental company is supplying the lenses to its documentary and field production clientele.
Using Precision Focus Assist, a selectable area of the video image is sampled as the focus point. The camera operator can adjust the user selectable point with a roller-ball type of controller, similar to a computer mouse, to position the focus point.
For more information, visit www.fujinonbroadcast.com.
University of Dundee receives media desk from Custom Consoles
Mar 7, 2006 5:00 PM, HD Technology Update e-newsletter
A Custom Consoles Media Desk and auxiliary furniture form the centerpiece of a new video suite now sits in the Interaction Design Laboratory at the University of Dundee in the United Kingdom.
The Media Desk houses HDV editing equipment, enabling students to obtain practical experience with 1080i and 720p digital cinematography, as well as standard definition television program production. The desk has dual work surfaces finished in Marmoleum with hard-molding edges. Overall desk dimensions are 5.91ft x 3.61ft front to back. Both work surfaces can be individually adjusted in height from 2ft to 3ft using rotary handles.
For more information, visit www.customconsoles.co.uk.
Tiger Technology introduces MetaSAN software version 2.1
Mar 7, 2006 5:07 PM, HD Technology Update e-newsletter
Tiger Technology has released version 2.1 of its MetaSAN software. The software offers File Sequence Optimizer, Dynamic Disk Optimizer and support for Apple Macintosh OS X Tiger 10.4.
File Sequence Optimizer for Windows and Linux offers 3-D animators, colorists, and special effects artists working on digital intermediates using image file sequences to store images transparently inside a single packed file and eliminate disk fragmentation problems. A typical pack holds 100 frames.
Dynamic Disk Optimizer for Windows operating systems is a RAID and Stripe Set Optimizer utility that lets users align disk chunk sizes when formatting their drives with the application’s reading pattern to improve performance.
For more information, visit www.tiger-technology.com.
ATTO Technology introduces FastStream 5300
Mar 7, 2006 5:15 PM, HD Technology Update e-newsletter
ATTO Technology has unveiled the FastStream 5300 storage appliance, which addresses the need to add RAID protection to critical data without suffering the performance impact associated with traditional solutions.
Designed as an external device that integrates into existing SCSI storage, FastStream adds data protection and storage networking with fast performance, user-friendly one-click installation and smooth data streaming. Applications such as high definition video editing, 2K digital production and transactional environments can benefit from the ATTO FastStream 5300’s more than 480 MB/s performance.
ATTO FastStream 5300 features a one-button setup wizard that simplifies installation and configuration. It is JBOD and RAID-0, 1-, 5-, and 10 configurable.
For more information, visit www.attotech.com.
Oxygen DCT launches new HDTV products
Mar 7, 2006 5:17 PM, HD Technology Update e-newsletter
Oxygen DCT has added several new HDTV products, including the OxBox 9B11DA-C stand-alone sync generator.
The OxBox 9B11DA-C is a multifunction, tri-level sync generator and digital-to-analog converter. It works at 1080 progressive and interlaced standards, 720p at 50Hz, 60Hz and 59.94Hz and 1250/50i.
The new OxBox Midi 9B11DA-6 is a compact, stand-alone, six output universal HDTV/SDI distribution amplifier. It detects the input signal standard and equalizes the signal for output, whether it’s HDTV (1.485Gb) or SDI (270Mb) standards.
The new OxBox Micro 1320 plug-in fiber series replaces earlier products, providing automatic detection and handling of HDTV or SDI signals.
For more information, visit www.oxygendct.com.
