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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DiViT who wrote (26524)	12/11/1997 8:57:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

Multiplexing works because of more money....................................... ijumpstart.com Experts Say Multiplexing To Precede High-Definition TV <Picture><Picture><Picture> Manufacturers wondering whether to steer their product development toward HDTV or standard definition for multiplexing should continue to plan for a mix of products in the long term. But short-term developmental plans should support multichannel digital broadcasts, according to experts contacted by VTN. "Affiliates will be broadcasting HDTV to the trees for at least 10 years," said Mike D'Amore, vice president of business and technology at Philips BTS. He said multiplexing is a more realistic option than HDTV for broadcasters in the next few years as they switch to digital. It will enable many markets to put out regional news over multiple channels, for example, but could then feasibly switch to HDTV for national programming if such broadcasts are eventually offered. "The beauty of DTV is the flexibility," said NBC's Stan Baron, managing director of technology in New York. "The most important thing is to best serve the viewing publicif they have an extremely diverse community, they may want more multiplexibility." Baron said set-top boxes will likely be the first piece of equipment that consumers will buy to receive DTV, not the presently very expensive 16:9 HD sets. While the potential mass market appeal of set-top digital converter boxes is important, many attendees at the recent SMPTE technical conference in New York noted a profound reluctance of many small to mid-size market broadcast affiliates to go digital quickly, and even fewer say they will hasten to transmit in HDTV. Why? One ABC network executive speaking at the conference cited cost, saying that putting up a DTV transmission tower could cost upwards of $2-3 million per station. "Where does the capital come from to do that?" D'Amore asked. Network sources say that these initial costs for converting stations to ATSC formats may be high now, but that doesn't mean it will stay that way, and the same goes for HDTV over multiplexing. They point to other technologies, such as compact discs and CD ROMs, that were expensive like HDTV sets (for both consumer and manufacturer), that now are relatively inexpensive compared to their introduction to the marketplace. Guy Walsingham, Quantel's vice president for marketing, said there is also a big question over the cost of producing commercials in HDTV, and many advertisers may not be willing to pay extra for the privilege of airing them in high-def. But Walsingham is still optimistic about HDTV's eventual success. "I think HDTV will take, but not at the speed everyone wants it to," he said. Quantity and Quality It is generally agreed there will be some HDTV programming broadcast in major markets in the next few years, but how much and how soon is a question broadcasters like NBC are unwilling to answer definitively. "HBO and some networks have announced they're going to do some things in HDTVeverybody's asking when the content will be delivered to them in high-definition," Baron said. The NBC executive admits it will be at least 10 years before we'll see the mass proliferation of HDTV sets in the consumer marketplace. But, he quickly dismissed the notion put forth by one industry analyst at the SMPTE conference that HDTV will not be as common as standard-def TVs until 30 years into the next cntury. "When people make a judgment based on their knowledge of the present they can't predict the future," Baron said. "Some day you're going to do HDTV [programming] because it's so cheap - why have two systems?" In the meantime, many wonder aloud if some broadcasters will take the route of least resistance and simply up-convert analog material to DTV, calling it "HDTV." But at least one SMPTE governor believes that "pseudo-HDTV" is an idea concocted by the media. "There's a misperception that broadcasters want to go to _pseudo-HDTV,'" said David Walters of Snell & Wilcox. "Stations will not try to pass off a fake HDTV to the public." Walters' company makes analog to digital upconverters and downconverters - a popular booth at SMPTE's conference in November - that he said will be used for DTV systems, and some HDTV will go through their equipment in the near future. (Mike D'Amore, Philips, 310/966-2713; Stan Baron, NBC, 212/664-7557; Guy Walsingham, Quantel, 203/656-3100; David Walters, Snell & Wilcox, 407/332-7814)