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To: Scotsman who wrote (45460)	9/27/1999 9:31:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

Sinclair says "8VSB, Not"......................... www2.digitalbroadcasting.com{C9A31807-70F6-11D3-9A64-00A0C9C83AFB}&Bucket=HomeLatestHeadlines Sinclair Releases Baltimore Results; Hopes to File FCC Petition by Oct. 15 9/24/99 By Tom Butts Contents Sinclair Releases Results of Baltimore Tests ?We Did Not Cook the Books? First Generation Receivers Better Receivers Needed Now -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sinclair Broadcasting hopes to file a petition to the FCC requesting that COFDM be included as part of the ATSC standard by Oct. 15, according to Nat Ostroff, VP of new technology for the Baltimore-based broadcast station group. In advance of the filing, Sinclair will host a satellite conference of all interested broadcasters on Oct. 7 from 2?4 p.m. EST. Apart from the conference, Ostroff says Sinclair has heard from at least 100 broadcasters and that the petition could eventually include 300. Satellite coordinates for the conference are: Telstar 4, Transponder 44. Sinclair Releases Results of Baltimore Tests (Back to Top) Ostroff?s comments came amid a day when Sinclair took center stage at the 49th annual Broadcast Symposium sponsored by IEEE in Washington, DC. Sinclair released the results of its summer-long tests in Baltimore comparing antenna reception for 8VSB, which is the modulation standard for the US-based ATSC and COFDM, the modulation standard for the European-based DVB standard. Sinclair has maintained for over a year now that current DTV hardware being sold to the American public is inadequate for indoor antenna reception and Ostroff?s statements were a stinging rebuke of the current ATSC modulation standard. ?The Baltimore tests demonstrated that the current generation of 8VSB receivers being offered to the public fall far short of the performance necessary to make DTV a success as an over-the-air service,? Ostroff said. ?The designers of these receivers clearly underestimated the complexity of the multipath environment. As a result, the public has been given a very poor image of what over-the-air DTV can deliver.? ?We Did Not Cook the Books? (Back to Top) Ostroff reported the results from 31 out of 70 field tests conducted at indoor and outdoor sites in the Baltimore area. Out of 31 sites tested, 8VSB signals were received in only 11 sites, whereas 31 out of 31 sites received positive COFDM signals. In his remarks, Ostroff attempted to set the record straight amid rampant industry rumors. ?We did not cook the books,? Ostroff said. ?We chose to operate both systems at exactly the same power, which gave an advantage to 8VSB. We optimized the system for 8VSB and took whatever we got for COFDM.? In addition, Ostroff said that in the far field tests (those outside the Grade A signal area), ?no location could be found where 8VSB could be received and COFDM was not received.? ?On the contrary, however, 8VSB failed consistently in any site where complex multipath existed while COFDM provided reliable service,? Ostroff said. Ostroff also maintained that the sites selected were random and not pre-ordained. ?We didn?t pick any site in advance because of its characteristics, contrary to popular belief,? Ostroff said. ?We picked them because we had access.? Ostroff also said that replicating the digital signals with NTSC signals was ?irrelevant.? First Generation Receivers (Back to Top) Ostroff also pointed out the fact that although the COFDM receivers used?a Nokia and NDS?were first generation products, they outperformed the first generation of VSB receivers from Pioneer and Panasonic. In fact, the NDS receiver used was manufactured in March 1997. ?COFDM in a two year old receiver far outperformed the 8VSB receivers manufactured in 1999, barely three months before the tests began,? Ostroff said. Ostroff accused consumer electronics manufacturers of ignoring multipath problems in VSB, and now the public is dealing with the consequences. ?The need for indoor reception was ignored during the design phase of the ATSC receiver system,? Ostroff says. ?It was felt that at that time that it was just too difficult to define the indoor reception environment. However, broadcasters recognize that cable may not be required to carry their signals and as such it is now essential that DTV reception be ensured with simple, inexpensive antennas that don?t require adjusting.? Ostroff also pointed out that the growing importance of mobile DTV reception should not be underestimated, but that the developers of the ATSC standard ignored the need for such capabilities. Better Receivers Needed Now (Back to Top) Commenting on the recent noise surrounding new chips from Motorola and NxtWave, which claim to solve the multipath problems in VSB, Ostroff maintained that, so far, those products are too far in the future to deal with today?s issues. ?We must demand better performance of VSB receivers and we mean better performance now,? Ostroff says. ?Or we will need to look elsewhere for a safety net to allow us to recover our investment in DTV.? Complete results of the Baltimore tests are available on Sinclair?s website, sbgi.net.