ATSC SEES MAY COMPLETION OF DTV RECEIVER GUIDELINES
TV manufacturers and broadcasters hope to complete a draft of a set of voluntary performance guidelines for DTV receivers by next May, said Mark Richer, pres. of the Advanced TV Systems Committee. Simply agreeing to sit down at the negotiating table represents a huge step forward for DTV, he said. Broadcasters and TV manufacturers have been arguing for years over who’s to blame for spotty DTV reception, with broadcasters blaming tuners and manufacturers arguing that broadcast signals are weaker than allowed by the FCC.
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The FCC actually suggested the 2 sides come up with their own performance guidelines to break the stalemate and avoid a govt. mandate. ATSC in June announced the formation of a working group chaired by John Henderson of Hitachi America to draft the “performance practices.” Under ATSC bylaws, performance practices do not carry the weight of ATSC standards but still must go through the same consensus-based requirements for adoption.
“Traditionally, manufacturers don’t believe standards are very helpful,” Richer said. “Performance practices make a lot of sense, because it’s just a recommendation, and therefore leaves more room for design flexibility and product innovation.” Despite good progress, the technical challenge facing the working group is “pretty daunting,” Richer said. For example, simply optimizing a tuner’s reception can sacrifice its ability to filter out competing signals, he said.
MSTV Senior Vp Victor Tawil said he hoped the ATSC effort would lead to greater uniformity of DTV tuner design and performance, giving broadcasters a better opportunity to test their systems under varying conditions and to offer better service. “Before this, the manufacturers didn’t even want to talk about performance, so we're encouraged,” he said. “The voluntary effort seems to be the way to go for now, but if it doesn’t work, the broadcasting groups might be forced to look for [FCC] intervention, possibly in the form of regulation.”
The working group meetings are going well, said Michael Petricone, CEA vp-technology policy. “Working together on a voluntary basis is much more effective than mandates,” he said. “Ensuring optimal reception requires looking at the entire broadcast chain, not just tuner performance. But I think both parties are interested in ensuring effective over- the-air transmission.”
Meanwhile, the NAB and MSTV told the FCC in a joint reply that the record demonstrated widespread support for the establishment of DTV receiver performance standards. Standards will help improve the quality of DTV tuners, which will assist in establishing consumer confidence in broadcast DTV and promote completion of the digital transition, they said. NAB and MSTV said several parties opposed to the idea of standards had directed their comments at nonbroadcast radio services such as wireless and satellite. They urged the FCC to continue to monitor and promote the voluntary industry effort to develop DTV receiver performance standards and should continue to oversee and “actively foster” the ATSC working group. If ATSC discussions fail, the Commission “should be prepared to take appropriate action,” they wrote. They also said the FCC had broad statutory authority to promulgate DTV receiver performance standards but didn’t need to invoke that power “at this time.” However, the CEA said it believed the FCC’s authority in that area was limited. The NAB and MSTV said the standards should be used to address existing DTV reception problems and not be used to justify the introduction of unlicensed devices in the broadcast spectrum. -- J.L. Laws, Brigitte Greenberg