Add “Dyle” to Your Vocabulary

The folks at the Mobile Content Venture have branded their digital-access ATSC Mobile DTV services with the name “Dyle“. John Merli wrote about it in the August 24th edition of TV Technology.

What does this mean for the consumer? Well most vendors will not have smartphones, tablets or portable TV’s capable of mobile reception for sale until late 2012. So forget about buying a TV set for your car this Christmas. It will still be a portable DVD player under the tree , more than two years & three months after the analog TV shutdown.

Steve Rutt, Video Pioneer, Dead At 66

From the New York Times:

“Steve Rutt, an engineer, inventor and artist whose early video animation system made images expand and contract and leap and dance, and in so doing helped propel the video-art revolution of the 1970s, died on May 20th in Manhattan.”

READ THE COMPLETE NY TIMES OBIT HERE.

Steve, who I knew through renting editing equipment from his company, was a respected member of the New York post-production community.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE RUTT/ETRA Video Synthesizer CLICK HERE.

Parkervision Lives at ABC News

It looks like this morning’s America This Morning was the first “broadcast” network news show to be aired using an “automated control room”, in this case a Ross OverDrive system. More details as they become available.

UPDATE: World News Tonight officially began using the ACR on Wednesday, July 20th. Former ABC News Senior Broadcast Producer Stu Schwartz said “From my experience, the humans are usually better than the machines…but we’ll see. Too bad technology has trumped the human factor.”

I can’t wait to see what happens 15 years down the road. Will there be anyone left that could direct, switch or mix a major live breaking news special report? Maybe ABC will have to hire Joel Almeida !

Electronic Couch Potato

Tired of loosing your husband every Sunday to the NFL Red Zone ? Now have your real husband on Sunday while his electronic alter-ego monitors his favorite football game! With the Electronic Couch Potato™ from Pixielmetrix, your husband will be free to help you hang those curtains while the ECP monitors the football Quality of Experience from his spot on the couch.

According to the manufacturer, the box can even control your cable or satellite box through its built-in IR controller.

[Really though, this appears to be a useful box, but I had to make fun of what its called.]

This Week in Engineering 11/01

And this week I’m out of town visiting my dad, so once again I am passing on some stories I found interesting from TVNewsCheck.

3-D Related:
Consumer Reports Tests 3D TV Sets
Study: 20% of Viewers Might Have Trouble Watching 3D on Television

Other Posts:
The Second Coming Of Centralcasting
Oprah Winfrey Talks-Up Cisco Video-Chat Product

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

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.

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.)

From 3D Summit: “Scr-w You!”

UPDATE: It looks like I may be wrong about this. Please read the comment.

An interesting dispatch from Variety‘s annual 3D Summit (courtesy of the AP): If you were counting on viewing this year’s 3D Hollywood movie titles on your brand new 3D set any time soon, you may be disappointed. Because of studio / 3DTV manufacturer bundling deals, only three features and three documentaries will be on the shelves and playable on any 3D Blu-ray /3DTV combo.

For example, a Sony 3-DTV buyer won’t be able to watch DreamWorks “How To Train Your Dragon” because that movie will be tied to the purchase of a set from Samsung Electronics Co. And Disney said that its 3-D movies “Alice in Wonderland” and “Bolt” would be available exclusively to people who buy certain sets from Sony Corp.

I’d like to how they are doing this… (HDMI handshaking perhaps?) In any case, I hope that these exclusivity deals end soon, or there will be lots of 3D Blu-ray returns after Christmas!

Trouble in 3D City?

Trouble, oh we got trouble,
Right here in 3D City!
With a capital “T”, that rhymes with “D”
And that stands for Drool.

According to a press release from The Nielsen Company and a blog post in the New York Times – people who have actually viewed 3D TV say they are less likely to buy a new 3D set than people that have heard about 3D TV but have not actually seen it. In Sam Grobart’s NY Times post, he suggests that the deal breaker could just be having to wear those 3D glasses.

(Click on the white space in the graphic to see it full size.)

(With apologies to Meredith Willson.)

IFA: 3D Adds Depth to TV Landscape

Chris Nuttall of the Financial Times filed this report from the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin. Nuttall said that the rumored Toshiba eyeglass-less 3D TV was not demoed. The report also had a list of what Nuttall considered to be the “best gadgets” at the show, including Apple’s “Apple TV”.

Graeme Wearden of The Guardian also highlighted Panasonic and Sony’s 3D announcements including a 3D projector by Sony. Panasonic announced a 3D IPTV service that would allow stereo movies to be downloaded to it’s TVs and Blu-ray players.

And for a more pessimistic view, see Harry McCracken’s blog post.

Audio Follows Video, Right?

I very seldom watch the 10 PM news on the Fox New York O&O (WYNY – aka “Fox 5 NY”), but tonight my wife and I were watching “Glee” and I hung around for the newscast. At the end of one of the live field reports on Hurricane Earl (at the Jersey shore, in the dark, in front of a snow fence), up comes the two-box and away goes the field reporter audio (cutting off the sig-out and eliminating any chance of 2-way banter.) I guess that’s what happens when you use an automated system instead of an audio person…

(I’m not even going to comment on how instead of doing a live shot where you can’t see anything – the truck operator would have been better used as an audio board operator in the studio. It’s the news, stupid and the reporter HAS to be LIVE on the scene even though there is NOTHING TO SEE.)

3D Tennis Added to US Open Coverage

According to this release from the USTA, CBS will be providing 3-D coverage of some Center Court matches from the Arthur Ashe Stadium during the US Open. As of now, some matches will be available on DirecTV’s n3D channel with the possibility of carriage on some cable systems.

And according to Broadcasting & Cable, CBS Sports Exec VP of Operations and Engineering Ken Aagaard says that the network plans to produce the middle weekend – Saturday, 9/4 through Labor Day, 9/6 – and the final weekend – Saturday, 9/11 & Sunday, 9/12 in 3-D. According to B&C, CBS has secured a sponsorship deal with Panasonic, who also underwrites DirecTV’s n3D channel.

UPDATE (9/2): It looks like 3-D coverage will be exclusive to DirecTV.

Local TV for Devices on the Move

The New York Times today printed an article on mobile DTV.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK TO THE NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE.

UPDATE 9/14/10: Local News, Info Are Mobile DTV’s Big Draws

Related:
Mobile DTV – Too Little, Too Late?

HDMI Consortium Pubs Part of Spec

HDMI Licensing, the agent that represents the HDMI founding members (Hitachi, Panasonic, Philips, Silicon Image, Sony,  Technicolor, and Toshiba) is making available the part of the HDMI® 4.1 specification that deals with 3D display formats.

This will provide production companies, networks and transmission companies with the information they need to determine if their 3D programming will display on HDMI® equipped sets.

OTA B’casters Won’t Waive Big Sticks

In comments filed with the FCC’s Broadband Task Force on January 27th, the NAB and the Association For Maximum Service Television (MSTV) said that a proposal from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and the wireless trade industry association (CTIA) to free-up additional spectrum was unacceptable.

The proposal calls for over-the-air broadcasters to transition from today’s high power single transmitter DTV infrastructure to one based on multiple DTS single-frequency network transmitters. The NAB and  MSTV filing said the plan would create loss of service to viewers resulting from increased coverage gaps and interference.

READ THE ENTIRE BROADCAST ENGINEERING ARTICLE HERE

Second 3-D Truck Underway

All Mobile Video has announced that it will build a 3-D HD remote truck utilizing Sony gear. The only other 3-D truck is NEP’s Supershooter 3D, which will be used to broadcast the Feb. 25th Harlem Globetrotters game on ESPN.

The All Mobile Video unit will incorporate 3D camera rigs from 3ality Digital, while NEP’s truck uses 3D HD camera rigs from PACE.

Remain Calm

The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (C.A.L.M.) Act (H.R. 1084) was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives Dec. 16th, 2009. The Act requires the FCC to adopt specific broadcast loudness standards within a year of enacting it.

No vote appears to be scheduled in the Commerce Committee on the Senate version of the bill. (S.2847) UPDATE: The Senate passed the bill on September 29, 2010. The House will need to re-vote on the revised bill when in reconvenes after the November 2010 elections.

The ATSC has already approved a Recommended Practice on loudness, but just like with health care legislation, just because one house of congress passes something, doesn’t mean it’s a done deal.

How Many Homes Actually Get HD?

According to a study by Frank N. Magid Associates, about 28% of US households have HDTVs and receive some sort of HD program service. (With thanks to Broadcast Engineering.)

Master Of The (Communication) Universe

And a shout-out to Steve Mendelsohn, the frequency coordinator for the New York City Marathon and game day coordinator for the New Jersey Jets.
Steve is a veteran of two networks. When the com signal leaves, you need to call Steve. (And he’s got the tales to prove it.)

(Photo from the TV Technology feature "NFL Finds the Right Frequency".)

Thimbleful Of Knowledge

One Acorn Too Many

I guess us TV engineers don’t visit YouTube often enough. Funny video
about repairing a microwave fading problem:

One Acorn Too Many

(Courtesy of www.Tech-Notes.TV)

Experience

"Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables us to recognize our errors
each time we make them again."

(From some engineering magazine that I read while I was trying to become
an Electrical Engineer.)

Man Crushed Under Weight of 34 TeraBytes

More of a reminder to me to read this post about Final Cut Pro Asset Management than anything else. Looks interesting.