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Tech-Note #103

Tech-Notes

http://www.Tech-Notes.tv

June 3, 2002

Tech-Note 103

Established May 18, 1997

FIFTH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Sponsored by: Bloomfield & Associates

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Reader comments

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RE: Tech Notes 102

From: Peter H. Putman
phputman@pil.net

Attendance is down at NAB for the same reason it is down at Comdex
and other mega shows. They have just become too damn big and
expensive for everyone. The smaller shows like INFOCOMM, Cedia
Expo, etc are holding their own quite nicely because they are niche
shows that address nice markets.

NAB has tried to be too many things to too many people, and as a
result, they have lost several exhibitors in the product categories I
cover (displays and display interfaces). Missing this year were Electrosonic's large screen division, InFocus/Proxima, Altinex, Digital
Projection, and InLine. Mitsubishi had a modest booth put up at the
last minute.

Some of the display exhibitors I spoke to will probably not return in
2003 because booth traffic was down.

NAB can be a very good show, but it just got too big and maybe a
60,000 - 80,000 size show is best for them.

Pete Putman

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Subject: Who's getting by with what?

From: J. Carl Cooper, CEO Pixel Instruments Corp
Inof@Pixelinstruments.TV

On a Tech-Notes item of interest, I received my TV Today fax from
NAB this morning; the Special May 1 DTV Edition. That fax restates
the May 1 deadline for broadcasting in digital and is full of praise for
the 325 stations, which are now on the air with digital broadcasts. Did I
miss something here? Doesn't that leave some 1350 stations, which
are NOT broadcasting in digital? I wish I could get away with ignoring
the Government's regulations. I'd like to forget about some of the little
deadlines they set up for me to adhere to, like April 15 or January 10.
Why is it that TV stations don't have to tow the line - oh I remember
they contribute coverage and money to the politician's election
campaigns.

Later, Carl

(ED Note: As of this writing, NAB says there are 410 DTV stations on
the air. The difference between what Cooper says here and that
number isn't significant!)

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Subject: Parallel/Serial Bit Error Rate Testers from 1 Kbit/sec to 16 Gbit/sec

From: Tom Waschura
tom.waschura@synthesysresearch.com

In June we will release three new test platforms for BitAlyzer BER
testing that cover serial and parallel applications at data rates from 1
Kbit/sec to 16 Gbit/sec. If you have interest in:


Physical layer bit error rate testing

Very fast jitter measurements

Eye diagrams & mask testing


for applications ranging from:


HDTV

Gigabit Ethernet

SFI-4

Mux/Demux

Satellite/Wireless Communications


Please visit
www.synthesysresearch.com/new_products.htm
for more
information.

Tom Waschura

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Subject: The D-Cineam -- Beyond HDTV

From: Dr. Joseph Flaherty, Senior VP for CBS, Inc.

(Used by permission of HDTV Magazine
hdtvmagazine@ilovehdtv.com
)

Note: Dr. Flaherty concludes his talk to the National Association of
Broadcasters last April by outlining the standardization task that lies
ahead for D-Cinema--TV you sit in. We have presented this piece in our publication since D-cinema is central to fostering interest and
growth in home-based HDTV.

Dr. Flaherty:

The ITU (International Telecommunications Union) has the
responsibility of D-cinema standards in its scope of work, and is an
excellent vehicle to achieve international standardization of the D-
cinema. The ITU has formed a Task Group on D-cinema to pursue the
studies leading to recommendations, or standards, for the D-cinema.

The ITU defines, "The D-cinema as a new service utilizing advanced
television technology designed to emulate the cinema experience by
means of electronic delivery of programs for collective viewing on
screens of cinema-like size in a cinema-like environment." The goal is
to equal or exceed the end-to-end performance of the 35mm cinema
film system, thus enhancing the cinema experience for theater
audiences.

An ITU-R D-cinema Task Group has been formed and directed to
concentrate its D-cinema studies on the generation of lTU International
Recommendations on the digital cinema system and to complete its
work by the end of the year 2003. In this effort the Task group works in
cooperation with both ITU bodies and non-ITU organizations like the
SMPTE, MPEG, ISO, IEC, and the EDCF.

The D-cinema Task Group held its first meeting in Geneva,
Switzerland this year from March 11 to 15. The Task received and
considered 26 contributions; formed three Drafting Groups to review
appropriate contributions and this work resulted in 14 modified
Temporary Documents. This work, in turn resulted in the adoption of
four Temporary Draft Recommendations, three technology Reports,
and four Liaison Statements to other ITU Working Parties and to
MPEG.

The four Temporary Draft Recommendations are:



Expert viewing methods to assess the quality of visual material
in D-cinema applications

User requirements for D-cinema programs intended for
distribution in cinema theaters.

General reference chain and management of post processing
headroom for D-cinema applications.

Tools to evaluate candidate image systems for D-cinema
applications.


At this meeting three Rapporteur Groups to continue studies on D-
cinema applications and requirements, technologies applicable to D-
Cinema, and D-cinema quality assessment and testing for the next
Task Group meeting in September 2002. All interested parties are
encouraged to participate, and to contribute to this work.

As the D-cinema develops it will emerge in a highly competitive
technical quality environment. The original

goal for the development of wide screen HDTV was to match the
quality of 35mm motion picture film projected in the cinema, and to be
able to deliver that quality in the home. The imminent arrival of the HD-
DVD for the presentation of movies in the home will likely provide a
quality of picture and sound equal to or superior than that provided by
current film projection in the cinema and make the "home theater" an
even more attractive reality.

Already today, the revenues returned to the movie studios from analog
videocassettes sales far exceed those from the theater box offices,
and the present growth rate of DVDs assures the continuance of this
trend with even stronger competition for the cinema exhibition of
movies.

Consider that analog VCRs are installed in 88 percent of American TV
homes, and after only three years since its introduction, DVD players
are now installed in 22 percent of those TV Homes and rising rapidly.
VHS cassette replication is falling 9 percent per year, while DVD
replication is growing at 70 percent per year.
Finally: HD DBS service is available nation-wide in the US, and is now
installed in 19 percent of TV Households, providing a further forum for
the presentation of wide screen digital HD movies.

As it is today, the film cinema theater is left with only two particular and
unique attributes: the sense of immediate presence in viewing new;
feature films on the big screen in a cauldron of surround sound and the
sense of communal participation in sharing a communal theatrical
experience. These attributes may become an insufficient audience
motivator when surrounded by a sea of digital HD programs and
movies available to the home theater.

With the constant improvement in consumer HDTV systems, all the HD
distribution services represent an ever-growing competitive threat to
the cinema theaters. To counter this threat, the quality of D-cinema
experience must be dramatically improved to continue to attract
theater audiences. thus, theater owners will need to endorse t