LAS VEGAS -- FCC Chmn. Martin wants cable to carry all of TV stations’ digital signals, backing broadcasters’ desire for multicast must-carry and marking his latest departure from his predecessor. Martin told NAB here he'd like the FCC to review a 2005 ruling under Chmn. Michael Powell, who said must-carry would violate cable operators’ First Amendment rights (CD Feb 11/05 p1). “That was one of the missed opportunities for the Commission,” Martin said in a Tues. keynote. “If a majority was willing to relook at that, I think that would be a good opportunity.”
Year-to-date DTV shipments passed 3 million units in week 13 ended March 31, CEA said. This is the earliest DTV has hit that mark in any year since its introduction. The 3,068,030 DTV units shipped as of March 31 include direct- view, LCD and rear-projection and plasma models, plus analog TVs fitted with built-in ATSC tuners under an FCC mandate for all sets 25” and larger. Shipments of analog-only sets in the year’s first 13 weeks were down almost 1/2, to 2,352,969 from 4,561,850 in the same year-earlier period, CEA reported.
Brazil may be near a decision on a DTV standard, ending the last big battle for market share among DTV standards from the U.S. (ATSC), Europe (DVB) and Japan (ISDB). A delegation led by Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim Thurs. signed a memorandum of understanding for Japan to help Brazil develop a “Japanese-Brazilian system” for DTV, AFP reported. But a final decision on the standard would be up to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio da Silva, Amorim said.
The “attenuation” of buildings is a “critical factor” in determining whether an unlicensed wireless device can cause harmful interference to over-the-air TV reception and that device’s ability to “autonomously detect” vacant TV channels if it’s to operate reliably, CEA told the FCC in an ex parte filing Wed.
Year-to-date factory DTV shipments have surpassed those of standalone direct-view analog TVs for the first time, CEA reported. The milestone was passed in week 12 ended March 24, when 2,341,358 DTV sets had been shipped in 2006 vs. 2,226,344 for analog TV only. Adding in analog TV/DVD and other combos, analog direct-view still held a slight lead. CEA’s weekly DTV shipments include LCD, plasma, direct-view and projection sets, as well as analog sets containing built- in ATSC tuners required by the FCC. Beginning March 1, under Commission rules, all TV sets shipped with an analog NTSC tuner also must have a digital ATSC tuner built in. The mandate will expand to all sets shipped after March 1, 2007.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is starting work on a voluntary Energy Star specification for digital TV converter boxes with a meeting in June or July of those interested. In a “Dear Stakeholder” letter to business, state govts., nonprofits and European and Canadian counterparts, Katherine Osdoba, Energy Star product mgr.- consumer electronics, said the first meeting will be “key” because the agency will begin developing a draft specification. She said the EPA is tracking work on energy limits for DTV adapters (DTAs) in states such as Cal. and N.Y. and in Canada, Australia and China. The agency’s work on converters will “involve some forecasting,” she said, because unlike other Energy Star products, DTV adapters aren’t yet on the market.
Intel engineers are learning how to get DTV broadcasts to moving notebook PCs, Intel representatives said. Standards are set, with DVB-H covering the 82% of the mobility market outside China, Japan and S. Korea and set to deploy first at the end of 2006. Nomadic use already is being handled with ATSC in N. America and with DVB-T in all but the 3 E. Asian nations, Manny Pitta, a mgr. in the company’s mobile platforms group, told the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco Wed. ATSC, despite previous doubts, could serve the nomad market, meaning stationary TV reception away from home or office, he said. China, Japan and S. Korea each have unique standards. The problem of Doppler shift, a result of receiver motion, prevents mobile reception of HD and restricts it to nomadic use, said Ernest Tsui, principal engineer-wireless communications architecture. HD can be received at up to 10 mph only, SD up to 50 and low-resolution broadcasts at up to 100, he said. Two antennas are best for optimizing reception, Tsui said. Tests while driving in the San Francisco area showed a single antenna provides a 68.3% chance of successful reception, but 2 provide 85.9%, he said. “After that there was a point of diminishing returns and complexity,” Tsui said: “Multiband compact antennas with good gain are called for.” Fortunately, a notebook can hold the required components, he said. Antennas should be as far as possible from each other -- or polarized -- and from other transmitters, which can offer interference. Intel is developing high-gain, high-bandwidth monopole antennas for that, Tsui said. He told developers antennas should provide more than 4 dB gain, fit into a notebook lid and be low-cost. Network infrastructure is important, too, he said. To avoid frame freezes, coverage should be 95%, well above the FCC recommendation of 50%, he said. Networks should be single- frequency, he said: “They fortunately are being built as we speak.”
At least 5 bills targeting energy efficiency standards on CE products are in state legislatures but unlike last year none includes DTV converter boxes. Industry sources say heavy lobbying that caused the defeat of bills last year contributed to the quiet withdrawal of the proposals by advocates pushing power limits on a range of products. “That is probably in recognition of the argument that having a standard for that device [DTV adaptors] is invalid,” said one executive.
A 3-in-1 TV tuner chip for ATSC, NTSC and digital cable reception is shipping from Microtune, the Tex. company said Tues. Its MicroTuner MT2131 is smaller than a thumbtack, Microtune said. Its size and $3 price slash the bill-of- materials cost 60% and enable manufacturers to deploy a tuner across all TV models, sizes and prices -- from multituner, giant-screen home theaters to small, affordable LCD TVs and inexpensive DTV set-top converter boxes, the company said. The MT2131 was engineered to solve 3 technical problems commonly identified as sources of DTV dissatisfaction -- picture break-up from interference, picture freezing and picture loss, Microtune said. The chip also is claimed to significantly improve TV reception using antennas in attics.
Europe may lead in HDTV technology but its success remains dependent on the U.S., where most content is produced. That’s the message set-top maker Pace Micro Technology plans to deliver at today’s 3rd European HDTV Summit in London, where panelists include terrestrial and satellite broadcasters, CE companies, content owners and producers. Neil Gaydon, Pace dir.-worldwide sales & mktg., in comments, released in advance of the Summit, alluded to Europe’s adoption of the DVB-S2 standard for HDTV, which uses the MPEG-4 H.264 advanced video codec in place of lower compression MPEG-2 used in the U.S. ATSC system. “However, until more HD content is generated in this region, we will still have a high dependence on the U.S. for the best quality content -- which is essential for any HD operator to make a success out of offering HD premium channels.”