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To: Don Dorsey who wrote (33394)	5/23/1998 4:33:00 PM
From: DiViT	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

re: Broadcom They don't have decoders (yet?) just front end solutions. Broadcom needs an MPEG A/V decoder, plus OSD and a CPU. Reportedly, Cube's next decoder will have all these built in. That is an awful lot to bite off and as far as I know, Broadcom doesn't have a CPU alliance at this point. I don't really expect such a solution from them for 12 month minimum. Additionally, the qualifications for new decoders take a long time. They would be hard pressed to turn only the decoder technology licensed from GI into deployable silicon this year. Indications are that GI will start deploying these boxes in Q3. Also, the Broadcom PR only discusses the DCT-5000 which is a next year(?) box. broadcom.com

To: Don Dorsey who wrote (33394)	5/25/1998 9:59:00 AM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

End-to-end MPEG. These editing companies are using DVx chips............................................. tvbeurope.com "There are beginning to be MPEG broadcast-quality video cameras (likeBetacam SX) that produce good images," says Michael Sporer, Avid's vicepresident of engineering and advanced development. Divergent Technology Although Avid uses M-JPEG as its compression method, and is about toship DV-based systems, it has now started to extend its OMFI file format toaccommodate MPEG as well. Meanwhile, "FAST is well down the road developing MPEG-2 for editingpurposes (4:2:2P (I), 'Editing MPEG'). The native digital editor, blue.,due to ship later this year, already incorporates this technology," saysHeckel. However, he adds that "still, around 80% of all productions worldwide aredone with analogue equipment, and there has been a lot of investment madein both M-JPEG and DV compression systems. MPEG has the technologicalpossibility to replace every other video format, but people do not throwaway their equipment from one day to the other. "I am always surprised when I see that most TV stations still work mainlywith linear editing equipment. MPEG-2 will make inroads, but will notreplace everything immediately." Bob Pank, technical communications manager, Quantel, believes MPEG maydevelop the same way as PAL. It started as a compressed distributionstandard, which then proved unable to cope with the demands of postproduction, which is why post went component. He believes the idea of a universal solution for production went with theQuad format 20 years ago and isn't likely to come back again. "The historyof technology is that it is divergent. This means that people can do whatsuits their purposes best." There is a 4:2:2@high level format for HDTV, which might be suitable forhigh end use, but Al Kovalick, principal architect, video communicationsdivision, Hewlett-Packard, says no one has made the necessary chips and hedoubts that it will take off. Indeed, he doubts there will ever be auniversal format. "There are always so many reasons to have variations."Chris Daubney, senior director, Panasonic Broadcast Europe, believes thereis no need for a single end-to-end format, but "if you are going to try tohave a front-to-back system, where everything is the same from scene toscreen, MPEG is a way of doing it. If the legislators said there must beonly one standard, then the only current way, in principle, would be MPEG.DVCPRO, because it is a more complicated process, would not be able todeliver a low cost decoder."

To: Don Dorsey who wrote (33394)	5/25/1998 10:14:00 AM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

JVC's(Divicom partner) Digital-S.................................... vidy.com The Digital-S 4:2:2 Advantage By George Avgerakis As the digital revolution sweeps through all strata of the professional production marketplace, camcorders and VTRs are increasing in quality and declining in cost. Spending more than $50,000 for a high-quality 4:2:2 digital camcorder or VTR is increasingly hard to justify, especially for broadcasters faced with the looming costs of the DTV transition. DTV-ready receivers are expected to be on the market in less than two years, with a demand for programming to follow. Most anticipated standards of DTV are based on 4:2:0 digital component video, which carries half the chrominance of 4:2:2, but is still an improvement over NTSC. Producers using 4:2:2 will have the highest quality DTV resolution because 4:2:2 converts nicely to 4:2:0. Producers using 4:1:1 DV formats will lose half their chroma (4:1:0) when they convert to DTV. The price requirements of 4:2:2 video have been daunting in the past, but this is changing. JVC Professional Products' Digital-S format combines both affordability (cameras in the $12,000 range, VTRs in the $10,000 range) with quality (4:2:2 component digital). As VIDEOGRAPHY readers know, Digital-S is not digital S-VHS (see "Industry Digitalization: A Tutorial on JVC's Digital-S Format," 3/97). The only commonality between the formats is their JVC pedigree and use of half-inch tape. As Digital-S proponents like to point out, the format's 50 Mbps data rate is the minimum required for lossless digital dubbing. Those DV formats operating at 25 Mbps may not yield artifact-free dubs; 50 Mbps DV doubles its tape speed, which halves its maximum record time.