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To: BillyG who wrote (35357)	8/21/1998 2:32:00 PM
From: DiViT	Respond to of 50808

Lucent christens digital TV endeavor 1st HDTV encoder shipped David Schwab 08/20/98 The Star-Ledger Newark, NJ FINAL Page 037 (Copyright Newark Morning Ledger Co., 1998) It's just a box, 24 inches high and 26 inches wide, about the size of a small television. But it contains the computing power of 50 top- of-the-line PCs and took some of the world's leading engineers and scientists 10 years to design and build. Lucent Technologies yesterday shipped its first digital TV encoder from the company's Murray Hill headquarters, sending the unit on its way to the first of a group of televisions stations that will begin beaming digital signals in November. Before the crated device was loaded onto a truck- destined for Cincinnati- engineers and executives planned to gather on the loading dock of Lucent's Building 2 for a champagne sendoff. ''It's a christening, like for a battleship," said Chris Pfaff, a spokesman for Lucent Digital Video, a wholly owned venture of Lucent. "But we're not breaking anything." Each unit costs between $90,000 and $450,000. The shipment is yet another signal that HDTV- super-clear, high- definition television- is on the way. But for most consumers, HDTV is probably still a long way off. The first HDTV sets are expected to be available at some area stores in October- for about $7,000. That's for a 56-inch, projection-style television. Some retailers say it will be four or five years before HDTV assumes the got-to-have-it status of CD players, thanks mostly to the high cost of the units, the limited digital programming so far and some still unsettled technical issues. ''I don't think it will be until about 2002 or 2003 that it will become 'Hey, I've got to have one of these products,'" said Rick Jones, president of Edison-based Tops Appliance City. In addition, most customers are satisfied with the quality of today's less expensive, analog televisions, he said. A conventional projection-screen television can be had for $1,000. Supplies of the new digital gizmos will be extremely limited to begin with, which is one reason Jones predicts Tops won't have enough to meet demand when they eventually hit the shelves. ''There are always people who want to have the latest and greatest who have a fairly high disposable income," he said. Barry Watkins, a spokesman for Nobody Beats the Wiz, said digital televisions will be sold by early fall. He could not say how much they might cost. Twenty-six television stations nationwide, including WCBS in New York, have volunteered to start digital broadcasts in November. The Federal Communications Commission has ruled that network affiliates in the 10 largest markets, including New York, must follow by next May. All others will go digital by 2003, though they must keep broadcasting conventional analog programs through at least 2006. Lucent is shipping the encoders to the broadcast division of Harris Corp., which sells the units- called a FlexiCoder- to television stations nationwide. In January, Harris and Lucent announced an alliance to sell HDTV equipment in North America. Harris, a $3.8 billion electronics company based in Melbourne, Fla., already supplies about 60 percent of conventional television transmitters. The encoders are assembled in Murray Hill, a process that takes between seven and 10 days. Inside are six boards of chips, supplied by Lucent and IBM, which reduce the television signal from a camera into the computer language of ones and zeros- a far more complex task than reversing the process, which is done by decoders atop television sets. ------------------------ Sounds expensive!

To: BillyG who wrote (35357)	8/21/1998 4:44:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

Capture MPEG-2 still images? You need an MPEG-2 stream first. A request for proposals................................ A -- RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT-PROTOTYPE MPEG-2 STILL IMAGE SOFTWARE Commerce Business Daily Company Multilink Microsoft NOTICE TYPE: Potential Sources Sought NOTICE DATED: 081898 OFFICE ADDRESS: National Imagery and Mapping Agency, NIMA/PCE MS D-88, 4600 Sangamore Rd, Bethesda MD ZIP CODE: 20816-5003 SUBJECT: A -- RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT-PROTOTYPE MPEG-2 STILL IMAGE SOFTWARE SOLICITATION NO.: SOL NMA202-98-RA-001 RESPONSE DEADLINE: DUE 090898 CONTACT: POC Brian Wolfe, Contracting Officer, wolfeb@nima.mil requesting proposals to prepare prototype computer software and associated demonstrations (based on core COTS software components) to extract NITF 2.0 still images from MPEG-2 MP@ML (ISO/IEC13818) motion picture image streams/files. NIMA requires extraction of still images from MPEG-2 MP@ML, and desires to extract images from MPEG-2 4:2:2@ML and MPEG-2 MP@HL. NIMA requires generation of NITF 2.0 (JPEG) still images and desires generation of NITF 2.1 (JPEG) still images. Proposer may use existing core software components based on existing COTS products as a starting point for the prototype/demonstration code. Such COTS products could include MPEG-2 playback/shuttle/freeze frame interface software, where any desired frame out of the MPEG-2 sequence can be viewed. The proposed prototype software would ingest the selected MPEG-2 frame and then convert it into an individual NITF still frame, compatible with any other standards compliant NITF still image reader. If required, the proposer shall also loan to NIMA any specialized MPEG-2 hardware for further demonstrations of the software for a period of one month after the final software demonstration. The costs of associated COTS MPEG and NITF software licenses (one user) must be included in the delivered cost. The software and demonstration must be completed within six months ARO, where a shorter completion time is desired. Evaluation criteria of equal value are (1) technical merit, (2) cost realism, (3) proposer's marketplace experience in the development of MPEG-2 Encoders/Decoders (hardware and associated software) (4) experience in NITF still image/formats/software development and (5) ability to conduct contract/agreement administration to include report submissions via the internet. Proposals shall be submitted electronically via simultaneous e-mail to wolfeb@nima.mil and longsw@nima.mil or file transfer protocol to ftp://164.214.2.59/contracts/pub/pce with a simultaneous e-mail notification of the transfer to wolfeb@nima.mil and longsw@nima.mil. An e-mail acknowledgement of receipt shall be returned to all proposals received by the due date/time which is 2:00 p.m. on September 8, 1998. Notification of selections (or status of evaluation if additional time is required) shall occur via e-mail from the Contracting Officer not later than September 15, 1998. Cost proposals shall be submitted via electronic spreadsheet containing no external cell references and must be readable by [ Microsoft ] Excel (Office 97 version). Technical proposals shall be readable by Microsoft Word (Office 97 version). Available funding is $40,000.00. Proposer may propose any legal vehicle to include a contract subject the Federal Acquisition Regulation, a grant or cooperative agreement subject to the DoD Grants and Agreement Regulation, an other transaction for prototype subject to Section 845 of Public Law 104-201 (a sample can be viewed at afmc.wpafb.af.mil AFMC/PK/pkt/otjump.htm) or an other transaction for R&D pursuant to U.S.C. 2371. If an agreement pursuant to U.S.C. 2371is proposed, 50% cost share is required to be incorporated into proposal, though cost share is not an evaluation criteria. The proposer shall ensure and acknowledge in the proposal that all information technology such as: hardware; software; and firmware delivered under any resulting contract/agreement t that is also required to perform date/time processing involving dates subsequent to December 31, 1999, be Year 2000 compliant pursuant to the following definition: Year 2000 compliant means, with respect to information technology, that the information technology accurately processes date/time data (including, but not limited to, calculating, comparing, and sequencing) from, into, and between the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and the years 1999 and 2000 and leap year calculations, to the extend that other information technology used in combination with the information technology being acquired, properly exchanges date/time data with it. In addition, the following clause shall apply to any resulting contract/agreement: As provided in 10 U.S.C. 2422, no person may, except with the written permission of the Director, National Imagery and Mapping Agency, knowingly use the words "National Imagery and Mapping Agency" or "Defense Mapping Agency", the initials "NIMA" or "DMA", the seal of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency or the Defense Mapping Agency, or any colorable imitation of such words, initials, or seal in connection with any merchandise, retail product, impersonation, solicitation, or commercial activity in a manner reasonably calculated to convey the impression that such use is approved, endorsed, or authorized by the Director, NIMA. Whenever it appears to the Director, NIMA that any person is engaged or about to engage in an act or practice which constitutes or will constitute conduct prohibited by paragraph (a), the Attorney General may initiate a civil proceeding in a district court of the United States to enjoin such act or practice. Such court shall proceed as soon as practicable to hearing and determination of such action and may, at any time before such final determination, enter such restraining orders or prohibitions, or take such other action as is warranted, to prevent injury to the United States, or to any person or class of persons for whose protection the action is brought. (end of clause). IMPORTANT NOTICE: DFARS 252.204-7004 "Required Central Contract Registration" (Mar 1998) applies to all solicitations issued on/after 1 Jun 98. Lack of registration in the CCR database will make a proposer ineligible for award of a contract/purchase order. Please ensure compliance or initiation of compliance with this regulation when submitting your proposal. Call 1-888-227-2423 or access via internet at ccr.edi.disa.mil for more information. Proposer's DUNS number (and CAGE code if one has been assigned) must accompany proposal in order to verify CCR registration. At a minimum the following shall apply to any award made pursuant to this announcement Executive Order 12549, Debarred/Suspended status; Public Law 100-690, Drug Free Workplace; DoD Directive 5500.11, Nondiscrimination in Federally Assisted Programs, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; Section 1352, Title 31, USC (Public Law 101- 121, Section 319), Limitation on Use of Appropriated Funds to Influence Certain Federal Contracting and Financial Transactions. Proposers are encouraged to fax a certification (referencing NMA202-98-RA-001 and signed by an individual with the authority to bind the proposing entity on any resulting contract or agreement) regarding the proposer's status and compliance with these minimum requirements to the Contracting Officer, Brian Wolfe, at (301) 227-5573 or (301) 227-2218. RECEIVED: (I-230 SN238553) (Copyright 1998)