HDMI Consortium Pubs Part of Spec

HDMI Consortium Pubs Part of Spec

hdmi_logo_41_150HDMI 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

OTA B’casters Won’t Waive Big Sticks

towerIn 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

Second 3-D Truck Underway

Bio-pic-200All 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

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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.

Master Of The (Comms) Universe

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Master Of The (Comms) Universe

Steve Mendelsohn
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”.)

Experience

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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.)

Retroactive: Four Days Notice

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Retroactive: Four Days Notice

I’m not the most current blogger on the web, but in my mailbox this
morning was a link to this webpage from Broadcast Engineering: http://broadcastengineering.com/hdtv/fcc-stations-four-days-file-notice-cease-analog-service-0210/
Note that the byline is dated Feb 10,2009. Note that the text of the
article says "The FCC Feb. 5 released a public notice giving full-power
TV stations until Feb. 9…" So the deadline was the ninth and the
article was dated the tenth. Hope you made the deadline!
Splice Is In, Switch Is Out

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Categories: TV Engineering

Splice Is In, Switch Is Out

Years after I saw the first Master Control program stream splicer at NAB years ago in the A.F. Associates booth comes this pearl of wisdom from John Luff in the January ’09 issue of Broadcast Engineering: “One might argue that a splicer is not a master control system, but to be perfectly honest, it isn’t far from one.”

Just think of how much better the picture quality would be if we used 2-pass MPEG-2 encoding on our primetime shows. (Or even better, how many more digital program streams we could stat-mux if our main program had a lower bitrate.)