This Week in Engineering

I’ve been off working on other people’s blogs, so here are some of this weeks interesting engineering stories:

• Sony Sets its Sights On News Automation Biz
• CBS: No 3D Broadcasts Without Sponsor
• Mobile DTV: In search of a business model

Turnover Storm in TV ? Let’s See.

Jon Picoult, founder of Watermark Consulting, wrote an interesting article in the Jobs section of Sunday’s New York Times. Picoult predicts that there is an impending “storm” of turnover of employees in downsized companies who were left “holding the bag” – shouldering the burden of short-staffing.

Picoult goes on to say: “People are not equipment… Companies that recognize this fact will … become more communicative, more appreciative, more connected and more civil. In a word, they become more human.”

There are many different management philosophies. There is the military model and the “warm and fuzzy” model, for example. I work better, faster, harder under the “warm and fuzzy.” How about you?

Cablevision Not Murdoch’s Only Problem

Cablevision’s battle with NewsCorp over retransmission fees is not Rupert Murdoch’s only regulatory problem at the moment. Leo Porter began his post titled “Why the Web Mustn’t Become the New TV” with the news that “A consortium of rivals are gathering to impede media tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s bid to gain total control of [British] cable outlet BSkyB.”

The anti-Murdoch consortium wrote to the British government last week saying “We believe that the proposed takeover could have serious and far-reaching consequences for media plurality.” Besides a group of UK newspaper publishers, the letter was also signed by executives of the BBC and BT, the UK’s biggest telephone company.

Some 3DTV Reading

Although aimed at a UK audience, you engineers might want to read two articles that I ran across. The first is a report done by ZetaCast for UK regulator, Ofcom, to provide an independent report evaluating the likely bandwidth requirements for future TV services.

The second is an article from TeamCast in the European Edition of the September 2010 edition of SatMagazine. The objective of this article is to provide some key elements that explain how 3DTV can be conveyed over an 8MHz DVB-T2 (QAM) channel, however there are some interesting calculations about the increase of bit-rates for various 3D encoding schemes.

Sony Googles TVs

Sony has announced four new TVs plus a Blu-ray player with built-in Google TV. The models will come with built-in Wi-Fi and a RF QWERTY keypad remote.

The models will be able to download content from the Android Market early in 2011. Sony also says that the Intel® Atom® powered models will “also feature Dual View, allowing users to watch television while tweeting about what they’re watching, checking their fantasy football scores, or finding related content on the web.”

(Engadget has a hands-on review.)

The Sony models join the previously announced Logitech “Revue” Google TV box.

What Is The Fate of Film ?

Broadcasting & Cable ran a feature this week on the increased use of Digital SLR cameras to shoot parts of primetime shows along with an on-line sidebar. Along with the trend toward digital projection in theaters, things do not bode well for those who manufacture, develop and transfer film for a living.

According to B&C, one big reason for the growing popularity of DSLRs is the fact that they offer very large imaging sensors in a relatively small camera. Those big sensors provide outstanding performance in low light, a strength that has led to their extensive use in a number of popular TV shows and high-end commercials.

Your thoughts – will film become extinct? Please comment.

Debate: Journalism’s Leaky Condom

Quite a little debate going on between Jeff Jarvis, Marc Reeves and Roy Greenslade on whether there should be a wall between editorial and sales. In college and in the real world where I worked, I had always thought that there should be a wall. Jarvis says that the old model is broken and we need to go back to the older model; like that of a small town newspaper, where the owner both sells the ads and writes the articles.

Click on the three names above. Read their posts and comment on their stands.

Guglielmo Marconi – Son of Italy

In honor of Columbus Day, a note about Guglielmo Marconi, known for the development of the radio telegraph. Marconi was the first to be recognized for transmitting radio signals over long distances. He went on to build high powered radio stations on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The US division of his company went on to become what was once known as RCA. The broadcasting division of RCA lives on as the NBC division of NBC-Universal, Inc.

ABC Buyouts Hit NABET

This weeks NABET buyouts affect employees of ABC Daytime as well as ABC News. With last January’s move of All My Children to Disney’s Prospect Studios, this spring’s retrenchment of ABC News, the long ago death of ABC Sports and the continuing trend of automating control rooms – it looks like hard times have come for many union brothers and sisters.

FLO’s Demise A Lesson for OMVC ?

What lessons does the impending shutdown of FLO TV have for the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC)? Probably just one: It is not good to be way out front with a new technology or be too late out of the gate.

Our friends at the ATSC wanted the best engineering solution rather than the most flexible. (Like CODFM.) It was only when the bean counters made the engineers realize that over-the-air television was a non-issue for 90% of the country, that thought was given to the potential market of non-stationary TV devices. (A revenue loss of 10% per year will make people rethink their business model.)

So will Mobile DTV take off or has the past 15 months of digital transmission soured the potential mobile audience?

(Thanks to Engadget.)