The problems with DTV..........................
tvbroadcast.com
While MPEG-2 encoder manufacturers are struggling to improve the quality of encoding for the most challenging 1080i at 30 fps HDTV format, decoder manufacturers are struggling with the cost of the chips and memory required to decode the two million-pixel HDTV formats. Leading MPEG-2 decoder vendors, including Philips Semiconductors, STMicroelectronics, Mitsubishi Electric Corp., and Toshiba Corp., each described their own unique memory-compression schemes in papers delivered during the ICCE sessions.
At issue is the cost and complexity of the decoder chips and memory required to implement an all-format decoder, especially for lower cost DTV receivers that must downconvert the HDTV formats for presentation on lower resolution displays. The decoder integrated chip (IC) vendors indicated that their ultimate goals in reducing decoder complexity are the same: to reduce the amount of memory required for MPEG decoding and leave enough memory; and memory bandwidth for DTV graphics and other user interface applications.
One of the primary applications for these reduced complexity chips is in the set-top decoders being designed for the emerging OpenCable specifications. These specifications are being developed by Cable Labs to comply with requirements for the unbundling of in-home equipment set forth in the 1996 Telecommunication Act (for more information see the OpenCable website at www.opencable.com).
On June 11, The FCC established new rules requiring that "navigation devices" for connection to networks operated by multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) be opened to competition by July 1, 2000.
The FCC order also requires that the cable industry must separate the security functions required for interconnection with their networks by this date, and prohibits the cable industry from selling or leasing set-top boxes with integrated security functions after January 1, 2005. According to the FCC order, MVPDs covered include cable television, multichannel broadcast television, direct broadcast satellite (DBS), multichannel multipoint distribution service (MMDS), and satellite master antenna television (SMATV).
Manufacturers of set-top boxes for interconnection to DBS networks are specifically exempted from the provision requiring the set-top and security functions be separated, as these products are already available from multiple vendors that are "unaffiliated" with the MVPDs that offer services via DBS.
How Could This Happen?
The real DTV "show-stopper" identified during panel sessions at ICCE relates to the interconnect between set-top decoder boxes being developed to the OpenCable specifications and the DTV decoder boxes being designed by consumer electronics manufacturers as separate components for connection to new HDTV and existing NTSC displays.
Over the past few years, intellectual property owners, primarily the Hollywood studios that produce motion pictures and television programming, have been working with consumer electronics manufacturers, and DBS and cable MVPDs, to develop solutions for content management.
The embryonic market for DVD players was derailed for more than a year while Hollywood worked with the consumer electronics industry to develop encryption standards that prevent the copying of content on DVD discs.
As soon as these standards were worked out, Hollywood raised another red flag related to the interconnections between these DVD players (and cable set-top boxes) and other components to which they may be connected-including VCRs (both analog and digital), computers, and television receivers. Unfortunately, somehow manufacturers developing digital television receivers failed to notice the red flags.
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