Sony supports making the Active Format Descriptor (AFD) feature o...

enables a DTV receiver to adapt its screen contours automatically to suit the dimensions of an incoming digital video signal. Sony said that without AFD, viewers often were confronted with situations in which DTV broadcast content was “displayed inappropriately” with “pillar bars” on the left and right of the screen and “letterbox” bands across the top and bottom. It said the resulting smaller “postage stamp” image in the middle of the screen had caused viewer confusion and was “a detriment to the DTV service.” Sony said consumers often knew that “something’s wrong” with their DTV picture, but they didn’t know how to fix it. Mandating AFD also would be beneficial to DTV set makers because it would allow manufacturers to “mitigate the effects of uneven screen aging,” Sony said. It said Commission action to make AFD mandatory for broadcasters would “ensure that the framework is put into place to alleviate this problem and remove a potential obstacle to the digital TV transition.” Sony said the FCC should determine an appropriate phase-in period to “minimize the burden” on broadcasters, which typically could incorporate AFD functionality into existing digital broadcast equipment through software upgrades and modifications. CEA and other CE makers also support making AFD functionality mandatory, but the NAB and MSTV don’t think a mandate is necessary. Broadcast groups in past filings at the FCC have praised AFD as “a valuable enhancement to the DTV standard,” but said “market forces” would be adequate to assure that broadcasters used AFD in “appropriate circumstances.”