TV Technology - August 4, 2010

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3 Cities in 3D showcases Tennessee

by John Merli
AUSTIN, TEXAS
Weather Graphics page 8
Does HD Lighting Really Exist? page 28
ven people who have spent much of their lives in the picturesque Smoky Mountains will tell you theyve never seen their surroundings quite like this before. While 2D HD probably would have done justice to the many natural and man-made attractions of Gatlinburg, Sevierville and Pigeon Forge in Tennessee, capturing it in stereoscopic 3D brings an added dimension to the subject matter in more ways than one. Now in post-production after a spring shooting schedule, the idea and principle photography for the documentary 3 Cities in 3D throughout the Smoky Mountain region was conceived and shot by veteran HD cinematographer Randall Dark. Other principals for the marketing tool include locally based Cinemarr Entertainment of Sevierville, and CineForm, a software integrator and post house based in Solana Beach, Calif. The 3D tourism production is earmarked for an initial airing on Wealth
3D, PAGE 6
Equipment Reviews page 35
Bigger Is Still Better

Satellite trucks keep rolling, despite the allure of IP video
by Bob Kovacs
ALEXANDRIA, VA.
pages 41-42
TVBusiness
an the net cloud be trusted to ship critical data in real time, and at a data rate suitable for HD video? If purchasers of satellite uplink trucks are to be believed, they
have put their money where their feedhorns are and bought new satellite trucks, according to several of the manufacturers The PACSAT Sprinter, built by Frontof mobile uplink vehicles. The Internet is certainly use- line, has a C/Ku-band 2.4-meter dish. ful and is a great way to ship files when theres enough time. However, when a remote broadcast must get through without a glitch, satellites (and their cousin, terrestrial microwave systems) are the technology of choice in 2010. While a major programming event from a fixed location may benefit from high bandwidth IP connectivity, you will still find an alternate satellite uplink path to the network, said Chris Taylor, key accounts salesman for the Wolf Coach division of L-3 Communications ESSCO. Satellite is still needed for redundancyto lose a live event by an IP contribuBigger, PAGE 16
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TV T e c h n o l o g y A u g u s t 4 , 2 0 1 0
NEWS
1 1 6 8 8 12 A 3D Ode to the Smokies 3 cities in3D showcases Tennessee Bigger Is Still Better Satellite trucks keep rolling, despite the allure of IP video Audio: Making 2.0 from 5.1 The case for a single audio delivery format Digital JournalSome Questions for Mobile DTV Transmitting service is more than just adding an exciter Weather Goes 3D, Interactive Its still the number one draw in local news Closed Captioning Beyond Broadcast New opportunities, challenges via voice recognition, expansion to alternate media Two-Way TV in 2010 Broadcasters phase into social networking Video Profiles & PerspectivesHandling NAS Sprawl Recognizing the problem is the first step
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tvtechnology_100412-G1.indd 1
FROMTHEEDITOR
Vol 28 No 17
August 4, 2010
Telephone: (703) 852-4600 Editorial fax: (703) 852-4585 e-mail: tvtech@nbmedia.com Online: www.tvtechnology.com The staff can be contacted via e-mail using first initial, last name @nbmedia.com Editor-in-Chief: Tom Butts Terry Hanley James E. ONeal Deborah D. McAdams
The Last Word?

oes last months federal appeals court rejection of the FCCs indecency policy of the last six years provide relief for broadcasters confused about the commissions intentions? Yes. Does it resolve the issue? Probably not. Its important to remember that the Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision struck down the commissions policy on the grounds that its vagueness created a chilling effect on broadcasters free speech, violating the First Amendment. The court also noted the obviousthat broadcast is not the only media game in town anymore and that technologies exist today that can help prevent indecent speech from going out over the airwaves.
However, it did not settle the issue once and for all, and its highly likely that we will revisit it again. In fact, as we go to press, Chairman Genachowski, whose response to the courts decision will take into account the commissions commitment to protect children, empower parents and uphold the First Amendment, had yet to tip his hand on what he would do next. Likewise, we are unlikely to see any immediate effects from the decision, apart from a huge sigh of relief from the broadcast community. One could argue that the airwaves are already vulgar enough and that one doesnt have to hear one of the seven dirty words to already be
offended. Nevertheless, its hoped that the broadcast community will continue to police itself over content appropriateness, albeit in a less restrictive atmosphere. But the issue will probably will arise again. The Supreme Court, the final arbiter, has weighed in on indecency a number of times over the last 30-plus years, but as long as an issue as subjective as indecency continues to be a political football, it will be beholden to the whims of whoever occupies the corner office at the FCC. Tom Butts Editor-in-Chief tbutts@nbmedia.com
Managing Editor: Technology Editor: Senior Editor:
News Correspondents: Susan Ashworth, Robin Berger, Steve Harvey, Craig Johnston, Claudia Kienzle, Bob Kovacs, Ian MacSpadden, John Merli, Mark A. Smith and Sanjay Talwani Publisher: Associate Publisher: Editorial Director/Video Group Production Director: Publication Coordinator: Ad Coordinator: Associate Circulation Director, Audience Development: Circulation Manager: Circulation Coordinator: SUBSCRIPTIONS
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Letters
More than One Flavor of IPTV
Dear Bill Hayes:
Send to Editor, TV Technology at e-mail tbutts@nbmedia.com
Im a radio broadcast technician working at the Voice of America in Washington, D.C. Besides being part of a maintenance team that provides 24/7 support to its radio studios, I am chiefly responsible for the care and operation of our in house CATV systemmore than 120 analog (plus a few QAM) delivered to over 1500 users in our building. There arent too many I can lean on here at The Voice about going from an analog (and rugged GI/Motorola modulators and distribution taps) to a digital system. I have to find ways to shoehorn more content, still for the most part analog. Your article IPTV Looks at IPTV , (Digital Journal, Feb. 17, 2010), caught my attention. I am finding there is more than one definition or flavor of IPTV . I believe I have narrowed down what we may need here... a closed and tightly managed (job security?) network... using our existing coaxial (hardline) cable. I think I may have come across a Cisco unit via online search. In your article you said that you find it more appealing to keep the video a standalone data network. I think that is where we are headed as well. The trick may be for us to run as a hybrid (data and RF?) until the transition becomes complete (at this early stage folks do not want to run more cabling or even fiber in this old building). We are concerned that we may need to retrofit all present CATV receptors with set-top boxes driving professional interfaces for audio and video. Ive also been looking for evidence of actual IPTV sets, none found to date. We have concerns about infrastructure, our headend(s) and encoding; transport streams; and distribution to end-user devices. The growing complexity makes me want to ignore it all for the more reliable RF QAM, which may be simpler. We are a bit short on physical space. The thought of running an entirely separate system parallel is more than mind boggling here. We just decommissioned an MATV distribution that served this location for over 25 years! We have approached a few major players in the cable IP business. Their response has been more than lethargic. I do have a local integrator willing to investigate and develop a proposal. Again,
as your written concern mentions, hopes are high that a system can be put in place before end of life happens with obsolete technology and loss of manufacturer support. I guess I should end this ramble with at the speed of government it may eventually get done.
John Croft Jr., RBT & SBE CSRBTE Voice of America Washington, D.C. Bill responds:
CORPORATE NewBay Media, LLC Steve Palm Paul Mastronardi Jack Liedke Denise Robbins Joe Ferrick President and CEO Chief Financial Officer Controller Group Circulation Director Vice President of Web Development
One of the benefits that we had at IPTV when doing our digital conversion was that although we werent doing any significant remodeling, we were not going to reuse any of the existing systems. Sounds like you have a more interesting challenge in trying to maintain the basic RF plumbing while expanding services. Id probably be inclined to go with the QAM system because it is a known and stable quantity with a proven track record of working on the infrastructure that you are dealing with. There are also a lot more choices for vendors and solutions. One of the challenges of trying to blend the old and new is that the solutions tend to be more complex and less user friendly, so unless there is an indispensible application that must be utilized and can only be done in a hybrid environment, Id try and keep it simple for the end users. Ive seen too many implementations of technology where the process of accessing the service is so difficult that the end users opt not too because it is too hard to utilize. At some point youll need to retool the plant entirely and at that point you can bring in the complete solution. By that time the number of options will have increased and the costs will have dropped and the pioneers will have taken all of the arrows. We do everything at IPTV in HD, not because everything gets sent out in HD but because once we committed to doing it, everyone learned how to produce in a single system (HD), plant design was simplified (no stacks of layers of HD, SD, etc) and taking a final product produced in HD and converting to SD or some web based format is simple, cheap and easy. Thanks for the feedback.
Market Groups Carmel King Executive Vice President, Video/Broadcast Division Eric Trabb Vice President Sales, Group Publisher Video Video/Broadcast Division
TV Technology Founded by Stevan B. Dana

TVTechnology (ISSN: 0887-1701) is published semi-monthly with additional issues in April and May by NewBay Media LLC, 810 Seventh Avenue, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10019. Phone: 703-852-4600. FAX:703-852-4583. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY 10199 and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to TVTechnology, P.O. Box 848, Lowell, MA 01853. Copyright 2010 by NewBay Media LLC. All rights reserved. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome for review; send to the attention of the appropriate editor. REPRINTS: Reprints of all articles in this issue are available. Call or write Caroline Freeland, 5285 Shawnee Rd., Ste. 100, Alexandria, VA 22312. (703) 852-4610 Fax: (703) 852-4583. Member, BPA International.
August 4, 2010
TV Technology
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News
Audio: Making 2.0 from 5.1

The case for a single audio delivery format
by Steve Harvey
LOS ANGELES
etadata and quality control have become more important than ever with the switchover to the ATSC standard. With many viewers still watching in SD on legacy analog equipment with stereoeven monosound, producers and post producers must closely monitor, and control, by applying appropriate metadata, the audio downmix destined to be generated in the set-top
box, television set or home receiver. As Jim Starzynski, principal engineer and audio architect, NBC Universal (NBCU) Advanced Engineering, noted, Any time a television station transmits in 5.1, the twochannel version that is heard by the consumer is done within the set-top box, the integrated television/receiver, or in the home theater receiver. Thats automatically the way that it works. That downmix that creates the 2.0 version from the 5.1 is under control of the metadata that is transmitted by the television station. This process is
an inherent part of the ATSC system.

DISCRETE 5.1
This process applies specifically to HD transmission services, of course. NBCUs cable channels, which include MSNBC, CNBC, USA, SyFy, Bravo and others, still maintain stereo standard definition channels according to Starzynski. What is built into the ATSC spec is the idea that the stereo will be derived as a Pro Logic downmix of the 5.1. Knowing this means that you need to be producing in discrete 5.1,
said Roger Charlesworth, executive director of the DTV Audio Group and president of Charlesworth Media. Charlesworth advocates for a single-threaded delivery, the idea that the broadcast plant should generate and transmit only a high-definition picture and 5.1 audio. Through the correct application of metadata both picture and sound will respectively automatically reformat and downmix in the home according to the metadata parameters set by the content producer.
audio, PAGE 10
3D
Continued from PAGE 1
TV , a six-year old network based in San Diego thats been struggling to grow its cable carriage. Although Dark set up one of the nations first HD production houses and continues to run his own shopRandall Dark Productions in Austin, Texasthis was his first major 3D project. He said his biggest challenge was simply defining what the look and feel of the documentary should be. A knee-jerk reaction would have been to punch through that fourth wall and do the familiar one-trick pony effect, Dark said. But 3D needs to be more than objects floating in front of your television. The animation studios have proven for yearsand recently [Avatar] director James Cameron did, toothat a willing suspension of disbelief can happen in 3D and your audience can have a cathartic response to the storytelling. So I want the effect to be a pay-off, not just a trick. Dark said hes always been driven to create video content using cutting-edge technologywhich explained his early passion for the then-emerging medium of HD several decades ago. But 3D technology for its part, is hardly new. Since 3D has been around for many years, I thought there was nothing new I could bring to the party. The latest pioneers of 3D were already creating very cool content and had established successful workflows. But then I saw Panasonics version of [the computer-generated Pixar movie] Wall-e. The idea that a 3D camera could be really portable and truly user-friendly greatly appealed to me. Dark had worked with Shane Marr, the head of Cinemarr Entertainment, on a PSA featuring Dolly Parton (whose Dollywood theme park is located in Pigeon Forge). So Dark successfully pitched the 3D documentary to Wealth TV . Marr said while seeking out a duallens 3D HD camera suitable for occasionally arduous field work, they selected the Panasonic AG-3DA1. This camera made post [production] much easier because theres no need to sync anything up, Marr said. Image files aligned perfectly, once the footage was loaded into the computer. Marr said in post-production, hes using Cineforms Neo3D to mux left- and right-eye views in order to make any convergence tweaks necessary to highlight something in particular. The CineForm software also is being used for color correction. Once thats complete, we import the files into [the editing platform] to start the cut.
ing. This little [6.5 pound] camera only burdens the stereographer with two things one being the parallax aberrations or anomalies that you need to look out for, such as objects getting too close to the camera and creating visual distractions, she said. So operators have to take steps to avoid it. The next thing to pay close attention to are possible framing problems, where, for example, some object enters the frame and at first can be seen by only one eye, left or right. This can cause a very disturbing effect on the part of the audiencedepending on how large that item is, it can feel like linebacker just hit you or like a nervous twitch in your brain, either way the effect is pretty uncomfortable. Although not all 3D projects are shot and post-produced in the same wayCrittenden said 23 different cinema projector configurations were necessitated by screening Avatar in 3D globallyeventual 3D content typically is edited in 2D (HD) as independent Left Eye and Right Eye. Then a final conform in 3D is created at the end of post. But since the 3 Cities in 3D project used CineForms Neo3D software in post-production, content can be viewed in 3D during the editing process. According to CineForm CEO DaPenguins stare back at 3D producer Randall Dark with amusement vid Taylor, This edit technique alat Ripleys Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg, Tenn. lows the elimination of 3D conform entirely and the ability to handle 3D version later. (Using just the left-eye version of prints directly from the editing timeline to electronic a stereoscopic 3D shoot usually produces acceptable 3D distribution or projection files. 3 Cities in 3D is now in the midst of being editing in real time with HD 2D content.) full frame-rate playback to external 3D monitors. EXPANDING Taylor said his software firms key Neo3D applicaACCESSIBILITY tion (dubbed First Light) can work in tandem with First introduced by Panasonic last April at NAB, Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro, and Avid the AG-3DA1 will become available by late August. Media Composer. Panasonics Jan Crittenden Livingston, the new camWere within a days drive of two-thirds of the eras product manager, envisions the compact unit as U.S. population and were very much a tourist desbroader-basing the world of 3D to far more users. tination, said Lori McMahan Moore, executive diWe reduced the cost of entry with the price points, rector of the Smoky Mountain Tourist Development along with the technical wherewithal thats normally re- Council. So from our perspective, its completely quired for dealing with 3D stereography, she said. For marketing. So far Ive seen maybe a minute of the 3D 3D right now, were really helping expand accessibility footage and I was absolutely blown away. So much to television projects, and thats saying something. of 3D is simply depth perceptionnot objects comStill, Crittenden cautions, there are some 3D-centric ing out at you off the screen. It was truly amazing, idiosyncrasies that have to be considered when shoot- Moore said. n Yet neither Marr nor Dark is exactly tossing HD aside for the challenges and artistic allure of 3D. The AG-3DA1 is like shooting two projects at once, Marr said. Youre shooting both 3D and two 2D HD views simultaneouslythat is to say, the left- and right-eye views. It reminds me of something an old instructor of mine use to say. Shoot as much as you can. You can always take away, but you cant add. So I say shoot in 3D and even if you only use the 2D version, youll have the option of going back to the
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News
DIGITAL JOURNAL Bill Hayes
Some Questions for Mobile DTV

Transmitting service is more than just adding an exciter
JOHNSTON, IOWA
t IPTV we have been going through our strategic planning for the last few months. As we were distilling our visions, one of the items that bubbled to the top was Mobile DTV. The strategic goal is not to turn on Mobile DTV by some fixed date but rather to develop a business plan for deploying the service. There is a not too subtle difference between the two concepts that is not lost on me. The first thing we look at is the budget. In our case the expense is not just what it will cost to purchase the hardware necessary to deploy mobile but also the impact to our existing services. Currently we broadcast a full-time HD service as our primary channel and two standard definition services. Since the State of Iowa specifies that we provide free service to all Iowans, we have to carefully examine any reallocation of bandwidth that would either degrade or reduce our services. We have to be able to demonstrate that any service reduction has a corresponding service improvement. This is one of the primary reasons we didnt jump on the bandwagon for datacasting when it first came out. The services that we evaluated didnt really offer any value to our audience that was in line with our mission; nor did they appear to have a business plan that offered any real indication of sustainability. The fact that most of them have since failed is evidence that we were correct in our initial evaluation and further strengthens our resolve to make sure that if and when we move into Mobile DTV well have a sound strategy that meets our objectives.
LEFTOVER SPACE
our current services or make any significant sacrifice in the quality of those services. We are definitely going to do some experimentation to verify these numbers and confirm this assumption. The rule of thumb for planning band-
broadcast a 750-kilobit service and at that rate, the service would look quite good on virtually all of the mobile and given by Marcus Alexander, NABs Executive Vice President of Television, I learned that the estimated average cost for a station to upgrade to mobile was in the $50,000-$100,000 range. While I agree this estimate is probably a good ballpark figure for a single station to get started in Mobile DTV, it doesnt present a real sustainable planning figure. For this amount, a station could add the necessary hardware to incorporate Mobile DTV data into their data stream and upgrade a single DTV exciter in a transmitter to broadcast the Mobile DTV data. Many stations have two exciters within their DTV transmitters to provide backup in the event of exciter problems as well
questions, PAGE 19
We have to be able to demonstrate that any service reduction has a corresponding service improvement. This is one of the primary reasons we didnt jump on the bandwagon for datacasting when it first came out.
width requirements for the most robust service is about 4:1. Using that as a planning factor and assuming a total of 3 MB being available, IPTV could conceivably portable screens coming on the market. Hardware costs are also a factor that need to be fully developed. According to a recent presentation on Mobile DTV
Weather Goes 3D, Interactive

Its still the number one draw in local news
by Susan Ashworth
SAN FRANCISCO
One recent event has had some impact on our plans for a Mobile DTV service. While working with Harmonic to upgrade our encoders and statistical multiplexer, we discovered that the statmux still had our third and fourth standard definition encoders in the pool and even though they were disabled, they were still taking up almost 2 MB of data space. Some additional changes to the filtering and preprocessing of the active encoders generated another 300 to 500 kilobits of bandwidth. These changes coupled with the overhead we already were seeing prior to the modifications means that we now have about 3 MB of bandwidth that we could use without requiring us to give up any of
t all begins with a dollop of data. One number represents cloud cover, another figure calculates wind speed. In the end, after dozens of complex algorithm calculations and the implementation of detailed satellite and radar imagery, you get this: a vivid, colorful, realistic-looking 3D creation of what tomorrows horizon will bring. Its big business, this development and marketing of local weather. And the old adages still remain: do it local, do it different and do it better than the guys across town. Todays broadcasters are also being pressured to pull together more spectacular weather forecasts with minimal staff and fewer resources. Broadcasters are repeating their ongoing need to do more with less, said Steve Smedberg, senior vice president for Weather Central in Madison, Wis. Between the challenge of the economy and the general pressure to differenti-
data, said Robert Baron, Jr., executive vice president and chief products officer for Baron Services in Huntsville, Ala. Its the key component to building the most complete weather programming for any local station, KTNV-TV in Las Vegas uses Accuweathers CinemaLiveHD, he said. which combines advanced 3D graphics engine with virtual Thats the prisets, custom-built local landscapes, and specially-designed mary focus for all HD weather elements to produce realistic local weather our systemshow and traffic segments. data gets to the system, and how ate themselves, customers like the idea to best use that data in [our weather that there is technology out there that platform], Baron said. The result is the can do everyday graphics and storm Omni 3D graphics solution that showtracking graphicsplus tie in traffic, cases three-dimensional cityscapes, integrate with newsroom systems and detailed terrain and live camera intemigrate it all to various distribution gration. A key feature is the systems mapping and terrain capability, which platforms. allows broadcasters to create a true SMART START representation of weather as its actuThe key is to start with smart data. ally occurring. Stations can also zoom weather, PAGE 19 The primary focus for us is data, data,
August 4, 2010
TV Technology
News
Audio
Everyone understands that were sending an HD picture and were making the SD picture where needed, he observed. The same thing is true of the audio. Adopting streamlined production and post production processes that create a single audio delivery format offers significant advantages. Its the only way you can really QC what the stereo is going to be, stressed Charlesworth, who added, it has implications for people who are mixing TV shows; they really need to be listening to that downmix. But it does require a change of mindset and a break with traditional workflows and the separate creation of 5.1 and stereo audio streams. If we can get out of this schizophrenic thing of having two standards that are side by sidebut they really arentit will make life easier for people, said Charlesworth. Choosing a single-threaded workflow assures predictability and also allows accurate confidence monitoring, he continued. If were going to start with the stereo mix and then were going to upmix and then were downmixing it downstream we really dont know what were getting. Thats why, in terms of stability, people who are thinking strategically are moving toward discrete 5.1. It makes a lot of sense in terms of having a predictable product. Then, anywhere in the production process, you can make a downmix of it and say, That sounds right.
ONE SOUNDTRACK AT A TIME
tal operation, content creators typically generated both a 5.1-channel mix and a stereo mix. These would usually be delivered on the eight tracks of a Dolby-E stream or on discrete videotape channels in order to service both HD and SD
with the owner of a New York facility. Theyre doing commercials and currently do a 5.1 and a stereo. Because theyre used to doing it they slave over the stereo and the client approves it and they send it to the network. There the
Content suppliers really need to audition the 5.1 and the 2.0 version that is created from the 5.1 thats under metadata control, to make certain both meet their expectations. Jim Starzynski, NBC
transmissions. But, with the exclusive adoption of the DTV standard and 5.1 delivery, content creators must get out of the habit of thinking that the stereo deliverable will go to air, said Starzynski. NBCUs deliverables spec calls for a Sony HDCAM SR tape with both a 5.1 and a stereo mix, but the 2.0 mix is strictly for internal monitoring purposes. If they supply us with a 5.1 channel soundtrack, the two-channel version that theyve mixed is only there for archive and protection purposes, just in case we need to screen that tape in an environment that doesnt have 5.1. The two-channel version that the audience hears is the on-the-fly downmix that occurs in the set top box, Starzynski explained. This is the way the ATSC system workswe supply one soundtrack at a time. Post production houses should therefore get out of the practice of needlessly generating two mixes, agrees Charlesworth, recalling a recent conversation
provider has to audition both the 5.1 that theyre doing as the primary deliverable, and a metadata-controlled 2.0 downmix of the 5.1, so that they understand what both are going to sound like. We post those metadata figures in our program spec. We make this process very clear in the main audio section as wellthat content suppliers really need to audition the 5.1 and the 2.0 version that is created from the 5.1 thats under metadata control to make certain both meet their expectations. Charlesworth noted that Pro Logic chips are so ubiquitous, even in lowcost equipment, that theres really no reason not to let home systems handle the metadata-controlled downmix. There are millions of AC3 decoders
In the decade between the introduction of the ATSC standard and the mandated transition to exclusively digi-
stereo gets thrown away. Theyve maybe dashed off the 5.1 or made it a little bit wilder than they would. They need to transition their workflow and mix through the 5.1 to the stereo. In a discrete 5.1 workflow, Starzynski continued, What becomes extremely important is that the content
that are doing this in set-top boxes or DVD players, he said. This is part of the plumbing of the whole planet; you can buy a DVD player at the grocery store and itll have an AC3 decoder in it capable of making a Pro Logic downmix. And the Pro Logic downmix happens in a predictable way. n
10
August 4, 2010
TV Technology
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News
Closed Captioning Beyond Broadcast

New opportunities, challenges via voice recognition, expansion to alternate media
by Joey Gill
PADUCAH, KY.
hancements in traditional captioning as well.

TRADITIONAL CAPTIONING
ongress is currently considering adding new communications accessibility provisions as it updates the 1996 Communications Act. At press time, a bill, H.R. 3101, had been passed by the House Communications Subcommittee, and includes requirements for captions on small screen devices (both broadcast and broadband); re-instating the video de-
Although new enforcement rules for filing closed-captioning complaints went into effect earlier this year, some in the industry dont believe that enforcement will increase. According to Ralph King, CEO and founder of Comprompter News and Automation in La Crosse, Wis., the potential for fines has prompted broadcasters interest in the companys voice-caption-
they wont be fined. Ive had managers call me and indicate that they knew they were not in compliance, and asked for quotes, King said. But top executives were willing to gamble on not getting caught, so they just coast along. King adds that modern voice recognition technologyeither shadow speaking or live talenthas met or even exceeded the accuracy required by the FCC, depending on the quality of the operators. Although acknowledging that
Softels Captioning & Subtitling Workflow extends to a range of media platforms.
scriptions requirement, as well as applying closed-caption rules to Internet streams and requiring video programming with emergency information to be conveyed to the visually impaired. In addition, its likely there will be en-
ing systems. Broadcasters are going to have to eventually shift to a voice recognition system, he said. However, with the perception that enforcement has not increased, decision makers at stations are gambling that
veloper of captioning systems in Farmingdale, N.Y., says the companys new iCap platform does a total makeover of traditional modem connectivity via IP . With a POT modem backup, iCap gives added security from auto-dialers, allows VoiP , minimizes dropouts, and allows logging capabilities, McLaughlin said, adding that, with products like iCap, advances in steno technology are likely to keep that type of captioning a mainstay for years to come. Even encoder/ decoders are changing. According to Renaud Defportes, technical director for Wohler for Europe and Asia, the desire for high density has come to the world of closed captioning encoder/decoder/ bridges. At the Comprompters Caption Central is designed to take studio audio 2010 NAB Show, in directly from the audio board and transcribe it into accurate the company uncaption text. veiled its HDCC200A encoder/ there are several options for voice recog- decoder/bridge available for both Evertz nition systems, Giovanni Galvez, techni- and Open Gear chassis. Defportes says cal developer for Computer Prompting the market is ready for card-type encodand Captioning in Rockville, Md., says ers as there is so much data to manage, we have products for live voice caption- and large facilities can be overwhelmed ing right now, and are ready to take the by traditional RU systems. leap. Although traditional closed captionStill the dominant force in live cap- ing is thought by many to be a simple, tioning, stenography has undergone fully utilized system, Juan Agudelo, naa dramatic change as well. Phillip tional director of sales and marketing, closed, PAGE 20 McLaughlin, president of EEG, a de-
12
August 4, 2010
TV Technology
News
Two-Way TV in 2010
Broadcasters phase into social networking
by John Merli
ALEXANDRIA, VA.
he growing popularity of social networking via electronic media by virtually all demographic groups has not been lost on local broadcasters, who are now being given some options to take it to the next level. That next step for an industry that has spent most of its life as a strictly one-way medium with viewers could allow stations to do what no other industry is capable of doing:
YouTube, the size of a TV market does not automatically determine viewers response to local broadcasters efforts. One of the most popular TV personalities on Twitter is news anchor Amy Wood of WSPA-TV in Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C. (DMA 36). Wood boasted more than 13,000 Twitter followers as of Julylogging more than 25,000 tweets on behalf of her Media General station, focusing on local news. News anchor Kris Ketz, who tweets for KMBC-TV in Kansas City, Mo., (DMA 31), has accumulated more than 3,300
A new product from Quest and Miranda Technologies combines Quests QLive server with Mirandas Vertigo XG platform to handle the processing, queuing and censoring of Twitter messages coming in from viewers.
sharing personal viewer input almost instantaneously with all other viewers via TV broadcasts. In todays most popular social networking venues of Twitter, Facebook and
Twitter Followers for the Hearst station in the past year. I wasnt sure what to think of it, since any form of social media was foreign to me, Ketz said. But soon I found it to be easy and even fun. I an-
chor a local morning newscast and found to our viewers, Delkus said. it a great way to talk to viewers during the Other markets with very active broadbroadcast. caster social networking include Chicago, Ketz also found his Twitter activity to Los Angeles, Nashville, Tenn., Phoenix, be a reliable source of local tip-offs and and San Francisco, according to sister usable viewer input. Ive found it to be publication Broadcasting & Cable. a much, much faster source of informationespecially for breaking news POSSIBLE NEXT STEP Now some technology firms want than the traditional [wire service] which we still rely on. Twitter and Facebook broadcasters to transition into what have become great tools that some in our they see as the next logical step in social networking that appears newsroom use on a tailor-made for local teleregular basis, said visionmixing tweets, Ketz. The anchor MMS (texting), blogs, asrecently expanded sorted Facebook content his social networkand other viewer-generating duties to Faceed data directly into on-air, book, which permits on-screen programming. photographs, video Social TV , a collaband other viewerorative between Avid and generated resources Business Technology, Inc., that are not limited initiative unveiled at the to Twitters succinct 2010 NAB Show, is one 140-character perapproach that leverages message limit. Chief Meteorolo- Kriz Ketz, news anchor, KMBC current mobile technology and standard viewer gist Pete Delkus of WFAA-TV in Dallas-Ft. Worth (DMA 5) text messaging. The system, DekoCast, said social networking via Twitter has al- allows a station to display interactive ready proven to be a useful tool during graphics while viewers contribute an arstorm coverage. Between cut-ins on TV ray of various social media postings. At I can update people on the storm timing, the simplest level, it brings a new way to when they can expect it to arrive depend- interact and connect with viewers, which ing on where they are, and what type of creates [new] revenue opportunities to damage may come with the system. In drive brand sponsorships and increase turn, folks have been great about sharing advertising, said Ernie Jones, account information and sending in pictures. All manager at BTi. Stations can also submit of this gives our station more informa- breaking local news in less than four tionwhich allows us to be more helpful seconds from the field. Now thats news when you want it! Jones said. Miranda Technologies and Quest Research & Development are also among those currently working to advance the end-user experience and make it easier for broadcasters to collect, sort and scrutinize incoming material. The Miranda-Quest system recently had a low-key debut on WNBC-TV in New York (where some of its local media is dubbed LXTV) for its nightly 5 p.m. newscast. Live on-air chatting through Twitter and our LXTVlive Web site has enabled us to connect directly to our LX New York audience in a way that was never possible before, said Fabienne Anstey, vice president for operations at LXTV . Viewers cannot only chime in with opinions as the segments are happening, but also get answers from our hosts and celebrity guests on the spot. Its a truly interactive experience. Glen Maxheleau, Mirandas product specialist for graphics and playout, said being able to use text messaging and Internet-type data from Facebook or Twitter is becoming more important to stations. This kind of interactivity will allow stations to increase their viewer
two way, PAGE 22
14
August 4, 2010
TV Technology
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Bigger
investments, as MPEG-2 HD encoding products have reached the end of development and any future enhancements will likely not be forthcoming.
IS SMALLER BETTER?
tion path failure is still too costly to risk with programming rights and advertisers today. L-3/Wolf Coach just completed an uplink truck for CBS News in Washington, a location well served by high-bandwidth Internet connections. Taylor said that broadcasters need trucks that can get out there fast, set up quickly and deliver top quality. The CBS truck is a Wolf Coach Sprinter satellite mobile unit with redundant MPEG-4 HD, DVB-S2 encoding and RF system, he said. The benefit to viewers is that crews concentrate on the story, not the technology of covering it. Taylor said that the latest MPEG-4 encoders deliver the quality networks demand, and the format has stabilized to the point where an investment today wont be obsolete in a few months. The transition to MPEG-4 HD is being supported with smaller dish sizes and less-expensive vehicle platforms, which are replacing many older 2.4-meter vehicles, Taylor said. Broadcasters have been waiting for MPEG-4 HD encoder technology to stabilize before making
Still, gear is getting smaller and more powerful, so shouldnt uplink trucks be getting smaller as well? We are not necessarily seeing a mass exodus to smaller vehicles, said Jack Vines, Jr., managing partner at St. Louis-based Television Engineering Corp. (TEC). I would say that we are still building more Ford E350 and Mercedes Sprinters than we are smaller trucks of any kind. Vines said that stations are looking for a mobile office as well as an uplink facility. They like stand-up height and headroom, and they want a place where they can edit comfortably as well as a place for talent to either warm up or cool down, depending on the climate, he said. This is always tight on smaller trucks so many opt for something larger, such as a van or Sprinter. Like employers everywhere, stations are interested in doing more with less. With this in mind, Vines is seeing an increasing interest in automating as much
TEC built this uplink van for WMAQ in Chicago.
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of the operation of an uplink truck as possible. There is a perfect storm brewing at TV stations where they have less budget, lower operator skill level [or are training photographers to operate the satellite truck], as well as rising maintenance and liability costs due to masts and generators, he said. The Holy Grail for stations is the ability to streamline newsgathering operations by having a photographer operate the truck in a very simple fashion: The antenna controller automatically locates the satellite each time, a modem shakes hands with the satellite hub and sets power levels. There really isnt much the operator can do except press buttons to initiate these steps. TEC has wrapped this technology into a truck the company calls Evolution. An Evolution truck contains the companys highly automated interface, a simple uplink system that uses a block up-converter (BUC) and a mast-less terrestrial microwave transmitter in addition to a satellite system. The absence of a mast coupled with an under-hood generator in place of an on-board generatorreduces maintenance cost and liabilities that existed with generator fumes and masts.
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Although broadcasters have had a rough couple of years, the builders of uplink trucks seem to have weathered the storm fairly well. One reason is that these same companies build command/control trucks for law enforcement and homeland security, and that market has done well the past few years. Another reason is that the Sprint Nextel BAS relocation had truck vendors hopping to install new transmitters, amplifiers and cables. Now that the BAS relocation is nearly complete, truck vendors will be back to building and managing their businesses as usual. Clearwater, Fla.-based Frontline Communications has seen business stay steady in the past couple of years. Despite the economy, some satellite truck operator businesses continue to
grow, said Gary Britt, director of sales engineering for Frontline Communications. Its driven by breaking news and sports, whose markets continue to grow through expanded programming and new newsgathering organizations. Frontline recently built two uplink trucks on a bus chassisone for CNN and another for ESPN. A bus was used to allow room for a mobile studio in addition to the uplink capability, Britt said. CNN used their bus for the 2008 elections and ESPN used theirs for the 2009 college football season. Britt said that both organizations were pleased with the operation of their bus uplink studios and Frontline has fielded inquiries for similar platforms. Britt also pointed out that broadcasters and production companies often have different requirements for uplink trucks. Ford vans and Sprinter vans seem to be the favorite for local TV stations, he said. The independent contractors and networks seem to be more interested in larger platformsthey have to carry a lot of equipment and need room for the crews to get out of the weather. Like the other truck builders, Britt thinks that the Internet is not yet ready for prime time as a path to reliably carry high-data-rate television programming. The improving Internet hasnt really changed the need for satellite uplinking yet, he said. The quality and reliability of the Internet are just not at the level broadcasters require. Although each truck builder sees the industry through a lens provided by its clients, some trends seem obvious. For example, there are good reasons why uplink trucks still have decent elbow room, despite the shrinking size of the equipment. As for the Internet cloud as a path for real-time HD video, its just not there yet. The Internet is brilliant for transporting files in non-critical time but the reliability doesnt exist to transport glitch-free broadcast-quality HD video. For that, there are satellite trucks. n
16
August 4, 2010
TV Technology
News
Recognizing the problem is the first step

by Karl Paulsen
PITTSBURGH, PA.
Handling NAS Sprawl
nstructured data, including media files, is growing at a phenomenal rate. Organizations faced with addressing this growth, and who have implemented NAS (network attached
nual growth rate) for unstructured data [source: IDC market research] compared to transactional data, projected to increase by only 21.8 percent. To address this expectation, high-performance NAS systems are employing data reduction and hardware accelerator technologies to reduce the amount of data that must be stored. New NAS-centric products now
With the advancements in gigabit Ethernet, especially 10 GigE coupled with the just recently ratified 40 and 100 GigE standards (IEEE 802.3ba); converged networks employing bandwidth intensive applications, such as those for videoon-demand and social networking, may depend more on NAS than fibre channelbased SAN to meet storage requirements.
ENGINEERED STORAGE SOLUTIONS
As the number of NAS devices on the network increases, the headache of managing the overall storage structure gets quite complicated.
storage), are now having to rethink their strategies. Between 2008 and 2012, expect to see a 61.7 percent CAGR (compound an-
include cloud data storage and scale-out NAS, with each continuing to evolve as scalability and performance demands increase.
This paradigm shift will force improvements in NAS management, file virtualization and even storage in the cloud.
Traditionally, NAS systems were bound to a capacity limit based upon the file system space that they could address. Additional constraints on NAS are affected by the controller cache size, the number, and the type of processors employed in the NAS-head. When addressing these issues, especially when huge volumes of data consisting of enormous file sizes are accessed by multiple applications, powerful specifically engineered storage solutions are necessary. Clustered NAS is just one solution being offered by entities that had heretofore focused on IT-centric systems but now look to the evolving editing and animation rendering requirements driven by motion picture digital intermediate (DI), 3D-stereoscopic, and releases in upwards of 20-30 formats per segment for every form of media created. Smaller enterprises have been adopting NAS solutions for years, driven by the simplicity and relatively inexpensive
NAS, PAGE 24
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18
August 4, 2010
TV Technology
05/05/2010 14:53
News
Questions
as accommodating software upgrades. Not too many of us are comfortable with upgrading an exciter and having problems develop and not having a fallback. Upgrading the primary exciter to incorporate Mobile DTV capabilities without upgrading the backup exciter would mean that a failure in the primary exciter would result in the absence of mobile service despite the restoration of primary broadcast service. This assumes that the transport stream that has mobile data multiplexed into it can be used to drive a non Mobile DTVcapable exciter. This is a question that I have not yet received an answer to. If this is not the case, then the station will have to have the facilities to revert the stream back to a traditional non-Mobile DTV state. This might be acceptable for an operation that is experimenting and trying to develop a Mobile DTV strategy but it would be risky for an operation that depends on reliable mobile services.
TRANSMITTER ISSUES
to add additional transmitter power or sacrifice some horizontal power to drive the vertical transmission system. This may mean risking audience at the fringe to try and gain coverage for mobile services close in. With IPTVs mission being to serve all Iowans, this could mean putting viewers at risk for whom we are the only terrestrial service available. That would be a tough position to justify. These are some of the fundamental
elements that we are just now beginning to analyze so that when we do develop our Mobile DTV plan, we have as full an understanding of all of the costs. I have been around a number of people and projects for whom deploying the technology is the strategic goal but the real success comes when the technology is deployed to either augment or create a successful business. There is no doubt about the fact that the technology
works and that once it is deployed the performance will improvejust look at what has happened with terrestrial DTV. Technology is a manageable challenge, but I think the real substantive challenge confronting the fledgling Mobile DTV industry is finding a working and sustainable business model. n Bill Hayes is the director of engineering for Iowa Public Television.
Many stations have a primary and a backup transmitter, which presents even further challenges. At six of IPTVs nine transmitter sites our primary transmitter is an Axcera Visionary transmitter and the backup is a Harris Diamond. Both Axcera and Harris incorporate into their exciters dynamic control of the output RF signal to correct for linearity and power. Both use different methodologies and although we can and have used one manufacturers exciter to drive the other manufacturers transmitter, it required that we disable the auto-correction circuitry. Depending on the amount of correction that typically is applied and the stability of the passive RF system and the environment, the absence of auto-correction may be problematic and would definitely not be a good long term solution. Conceivably we could upgrade one of each type of exciter at each site and just do a wholesale transmitter switch in the event of a primary exciter failure. But that assumes that the backup transmitter system has enough output power to provide adequate market coverage. At our sites this is the case but at many commercial broadcast facilities, their backup transmitter is a lower-powered DTV system that was used to provide coverage to their city of license pending the end of analog and the installation of a full-power primary DTV system. Dropping 7 or 8 dB would have a noticeable effect on the primary DTV service and might make Mobile DTV unreceivable. None of the figures take into account the addition of circular or elliptical transmission facilities. How much additional vertical power is needed is debatable but a station running its DTV transmitter at its maximum capability will either have
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TV Technology
August 4, 2010
19
News
Closed
for the National Captioning Institute in Chantilly, Va., says such options are still being improved upon. Although our latest products are focusing on the Web and mobile, even the existing 608/708 system in use today can do much to enrich peoples
viewing and listening, he said. For example, not only is Oprah closed captionined in English and Spanish, there is an Oprah sounding actor speaking Spanish on the SAP. According to Agudelo, approximately 60 percent of closed captioning users have no impairment, and there is some information to indicate that kids from homes that use closed captioning read better.
FILE BASED
In todays production environment, if it isnt live, its likely been created using file-based editing. Closed captioning in post production has become more simplified in recent years. For such purposes, RadiantGrid builds a media services workflow platform, from end to end, according to Kirk Marple, president and chief software architect for the Redmond, Wash.-based company, which
If youre reading this, you know that print advertising works

Even without pictures.
develops transcoding and media workflow software. Marple says their products can marry captioning to content in the file domain, creating a caption XML file, and can extract closed captioning into textual file formats such as SAMI, for use in other media publishing applications such as DFXP , H.264, and SilverLight. When asked about file-based closed-captioning compliance issues on large asset libraries, EEGs McLaughlin points to the companys Caption Legalizer, which conforms data signals to standards, [and] has acted as kind of a wonder-drug for a lot of issues. Another approach to accurate file-based captioning is to export the EDL list. According to CPCs Galvez, creating closed captioning based on EDLs helps accuracy and eliminates problems, as streams can vary depending on their intended path; for example, some would not contain black added for local commercials.
MOBILE, HANDHELD AND WEB
Many broadcasters in the United States are streamingon occasion some type of programming, and with the recent adoption of A/153, many will soon start broadcasting Mobile DTV. Closed-captioning technologies for these formats already exist from several manufacturers. Sam Pemberton, CEO of Softel, a U.K.-based provider of closed-captioning and subtitling technology says the company has technology for a number of devices. We have closed-captioning technologies for a variety of target platforms, not just television; DVDs-Blu-ray, the Web, mobile, and digital cinema. Pemberton simplifies the companys technology as Early, Late, or Live Binding, adding that while some mobile/Web systems create a separate stream for subtitles, new technologies such as HTML-5 allow captions to arrive in the primary stream and be displayed in the familiar TV manner.
3D CAPTIONING
TV Technology. Get inside these pages, get inside the industry.

Eric Trabb 212-378-0400 x 532 etrabb@nbmedia.com
Some manufacturers are already working on closed-captioning issues for 3D, but early results are mixed. Integrating a 2D footprint into a 3D image doesnt work well, said Tony Zare, product manager, modular products for Evertz Microsystems in Burlington, Ontario. Zare says while there is not a standard for 3D closed captioning yet, they want to be prepared. According to Zare, the characters could have top and bottom dimension, or side by side dimension, or both. Either way our fourth generation encoder is ready, with SD-HD, 3G, and 3D capabilities, he said. Even the monitoring for 3D closed captioning is a bit special. Thats why we added 3D to our multiviewer line. EEGs McLaughlin agrees. Were big on 3D closed captioning, and we want to be ahead of the standard. n
20
August 4, 2010
TV Technology
News
Social
bases, as well as their revenues. Broadcasters already are utilizing their Web sites to collect live viewer feedbackso why not take the extra steps required to use these online comments in their on-air product? Maxheleau said. Clinton Ash, Quests president,
points out that traditionally, television and radio were one-way mediums. Now with the advent of these new social media technologies, the broadcast paradigm is shifting from a one-way information flow to a two-way flow [and] stations can actively engage their viewers as never before. The system combines Quests QLive server with Mirandas Vertigo XG platform. QLive handles the processing,
queuing and censoring of Twitter messages coming in from viewers. The system subsequently times and configures viewer comments to be displayed on-screen using Mirandas Vertigo XG processor, which is also a SD/HD real-time data-driven character generator. The processor is also capable of multilevel character generation for animations, still images and clips playback.
STATIONS REMAIN CAUTIOUS
David Schleifer, a former Avid executive who is now CEO of FYItag, a social networking consultancy in Andover, Mass., said many local broadcasters remain cautious about using social networking to any major degree, especially within their branded on-air product. I think theres been a lot of kicking and screaming and, quite frankly, its a trend they should get ahead of, he said. Its inevitable, not a question, that social media is here to stay. I think its critical for broadcasters and all content producers to learn how to talk to their audiences.
Its inevitable, not a question, that social media is here to stay. I think its critical for broadcasters and all content producers to learn how to talk to their audiences. David Schleifer, FYItag
FYItag is planning to launch a product in August designed to help broadcasters manage their social media. (As of early July, it had not yet counted any local stations among its client base.) Its product has been in closed beta testing for much of the summer. What were working on will give viewers and broadcasters a way to talk to all the various social media venues at once, said Schleifer (i.e., Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, blogs, MMS, chat, e-mail). You need to be across many social networks because no single one of them has all your viewers, Schleifer said. Even Facebook, which is now really huge, still doesnt have everyone you want to reach. So at the back end, we want to streamline the process of directing viewers to all of a broadcasters assets and then we aggregate all the responses from an array of social media back into one place. According to Mirandas Maxheleau, Smartphones and the Internet are emerging technology when it comes to broadcastingand its only a matter of time before they all become part of mainstream media and local newscasts although [news staffers] will still require control of that on-air content prior to its transmission. n
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NAS
costs of implementation and growth. Not surprising, providing the wrong NAS selection canand willresult in unexplained performance degradation issues. For one, a bandwidth-starved network infrastructure will affect the ability to take advantage of the less costly NAS solu-
tion, virtually crippling the system even though the proper NAS storage components were utilized. For primary storage (i.e., main memory accessed by the processor or active storage as in NLE or online videoservers), a NAS solution may be insufficient if the bandwidth and/or IOPS (input/output operations per second) cannot be properly moderated. For applications where content is not
accessed for editing, such as finished, to be transcoded or in process rendering, NAS may be the right solution depending upon the file volume sizes and accessibility requirements of the content delivery platform. For data that is not compressed noting that most media files are already compressed as MPEG or JPEGone of the techniques for reducing the volume of active primary storage is to
Working with a
use an inline compression appliance. Primary storage has little duplicated data; unlike that of archive or backup data sets. Thus, for this instance, the technologies utilized in data deduplication have limited or no value. Of course, the most effective data reduction technique for the overburdened primary storage is to purge inactive data through the archive process. Tiered storage is another technique utilized in managing the primary storage overflow problem. Here, the NAS solution may lend itself well to keeping relatively inactive data on a second near-line storage tier. Moving stagnant data off primary to secondary storage not only returns storage capacity to the primary, it improves system performance by not having to continually manage the store itself.
THE ROOTS OF THE PROBLEM
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As the number of NAS devices on the network increases, the headache of managing the overall storage structure gets quite complicated. This problem has become known as NAS sprawl; and can be handled by employing scale-out NAS, file virtualization, adding more sophisticated management tools or moving to cloud storage services. The role of the storage administrator is burdened by the growing demands of increased storage requirements. Not unlike what the approaches used by systems administrators to control PC sprawl (which ranged from ignoring the problem to military scale lockdown), the roots of managing the problem begin with NAS consolidation and branch out to NAS virtualization. It may further include data protection and backup policies aimed at protecting and preserving the NAS solution investment. Clustered and parallel access systems are yet another approach to addressing NAS sprawl. A further technique includes NAS virtualization, otherwise known as NAS aggregation or global namespaces. This technology is analogous to block storage virtualization where the data migration and management are transparent to the storage infrastructures seen by the operators. In short, the issues facing NAS implementation must be addressed as enterprise storage continues to grow. Dont get trapped into an unmanageable situation that is often misunderstood by the money provisioning side of the organization. n Karl Paulsen is a technologist and consultant to the digital media and entertainment industry. Karl recently joined Diversified Systems as a Senior Engineer. He is a SMPTE Fellow, member of IEEE, SBE Life Member and Certified Professional Broadcast Engineer. Contact him at kpaulsen@divsystems.com.
For more information, or to schedule a demonstration, call 800.231.5870 or visit logitekaudio.com

2009 Logitek Electronic Systems, Inc.
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TV Technology
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local drama all into its own, said Barry Myers, CEO of AccuWeather in State Continued from PAGE 8 College, Pa. We designed the system to capitalize on the special attributes that viewers on a virtual ride through layered national news cant possibly havethat weather data and over lifelike 3D ter- local stations can do a much better job rain. of providing accurate, detailed weather Local stations are also warming to the to its audience. idea of creating 3D models powered by Companies like AccuWeather have actual weather conditions. When Tropi- responded with technology that allows cal Storm Alex appeared in the Gulf of users to see the formation of a storm on a local levelfrom flooding on a certain street to detailed information on which neighborhoods will be first hit by a storm. For stations whose viewers are often in the direct path of severe weather, technology like Weather Centrals ESP:LIVE has been used to track This 3D cityscape of Chicagos skyline is combined with storm pathways and Baron Omnis Range Height Indicator (RHI) to show build individualized viewers a coss-section of the storm. threat scenarios. The system can create a Mexico earlier this year, station WVUE- scene where viewers are pulled through TV in New Orleans was able to create an virtual clouds down to a street-level view image of the expanding storm literally to see where the storm will hit. while on the air, Baron said. They were Another burgeoning trend is the inable to tell their viewers exactly when termingling of traffic and weather rethe storm had switched to a hurricane, porting. Theres more and more exciteBaron said. All that was instantly seen ment [over the combination of weather] on air. with traffic, Baron said. Combining weather and traffic together allows staTHE LOCAL ANGLE tions to make both segments more comSince its weather that often draws pelling, he said. viewers to local news broadcasts, theres After opening its doors as a traffican urgency to wrangle hyper-local specific solution in 2001, Beat the Trafweather information into every broad- fic saw an opportunity last year to offer a cast. Viewers have many sources for traffic solution that combined elements national news stories, but weather is a of weather reporting. Were moving
Weather
forward in a bigger way [with weather reporting features] after seeing a quite of bit of interest [from customers], said Andre Gueziec, founder and CEO of Beat the Traffic in Santa Clara, Calif. The goal was to create a fluid traffic presentation that doesnt clutter the screen and uses HD for maximum visual impact. Because weather and traffic are local to a metro area, providing hyper-localized information is a key component, Gueziec said. Industry experts also point to the power of interactivity to entice and retain viewership. AccuWeather, for one, introduced a set of interactive touch controls earlier this year built around a touchscreen device that more quickly integrates elements, such as 3D animations and transitions, from one scene to another. Using touch-controlled switchers and finger-driven zooms, a local weather presenter is able to present a weather story as it unfolds. This touchscreen technology allows you to engage the viewer in a new way, as though they themselves were interacting directly with the weather elements, Myers said. The Omni weather system from Baron also offers interactive event capability, allowing stations to see wind moving or water rising, and last year allowed station WTVT-TV in Tampa, Fla. to show viewers how weather was causing the delay of the Space Shuttle launch. The system allowed [the station] to cover both breaking news and weather together, Baron said. Interactivity is also a key feature within the RadarTouch touchscreen from Orad, which includes a software module that allows talent to interact with graphics on both monitors in the studio or with
virtual graphics on a hard set, said Shaun Dail, vice president of sales and marketing for Orad.
ACROSS PLATFORMS
Perhaps nothing has encouraged broadcasters to consider the power of mobile and social networking as the weather. Different stations and group owners have different perspectives on how social networking can be integrated into their broadcast plans, but I think momentum is growing, said Weather Centrals Smedberg. [Weather forecasting] technology has the capability to draw in those viewers who dont regularly watch local weather as well as capture those users who spend a lot of time on mobile devices. Up to this point, one of the biggest hurdles for broadcasters has been how to understand and make their Web, social and mobile media presence viable, AccuWeathers Myers said. Earlier this year, the company announced support for Facebook and Twitter as part of CinemaLive HD, which allows a stations weather team to automatically post graphics, video and headlines to social media sites as well as to a stations Web and mobile sites. Other tools for distributing news and alerts to mobile and Web sites include Weather Centrals 3D:LIVE Fusion, which offers a social networking tool that automatically posts updated information to a stations Facebook and Twitter page. One of the biggest challenges in working on multiple platforms is maximizing the time of the talent, Baron said. Omni has the capability to take various sources and by switching within master control, allow the weather department to be admiral of their own ship. Added Orads Dail: Cross-platform is definitely an emerging trend. As television in general moves more to the Web, there are some things we see emerging more quickly. Breaking news is certainly one of them, and weather, when significant, is another. A number of stations looking to set their weather presentations apart have taken other approaches. Station KATVTV in Little Rock, Ark., has begun an all weather channel on one of its digital subchannels. The station has become an affiliate of the AccuWeather Television Network to provide quick access to conditions in key cities around central Arkansas. [The channel] enables our meteorologists to partner with AccuWeather to deliver our viewers continuous weather coverage for every community in our DMA, said Mark Rose, general manager of KATV . [The channel] doesnt compete with local stations, but instead supplements their own weather by offering a continuous drive back to their own local news channel, Myers said. n
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August 4, 2010
TV Technology
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Features
LET THERE BE LIGHTING
Bill Klages
What Am I Missing?
was recently reading a lighting periodical when I came across a lightinginstrument manufacturers claim that stopped me cold. A very popular and useful LED fixture was being touted as HD friendly. Perhaps the copywriter responsible for this catchphrase needs a reality check and a review of the meaning of HD. The last I heard, HD meant high definition. This manufacturer was claiming that the softness of light emanating from his fixture would result in an HD image that would be more flattering to a persons features. His implication was that the higher resolution of the HD camera causes unflattering images. I would have felt more comfortable if the statement had been that unflattering lighting, soft or otherwise, might be more evident under the higher resolution of the high-definition camera viewed on a monitor capable of reproducing the high-definition image.
how close it is to the image quality of motion picture film. Experienced entertainment lighting professionals are generally comfortable with their own personal methods for flattering the human faceand will have numerous approaches in their bag of tricks. One of those schemes might
HDTV
Even though I am amazed by the incredible image quality of todays video cameras, particularly those designed for film acquisition, I would be the first to admit that the benchmark for HD is represented by results obtained using 35mm film. In other words, we have been experiencing HD for at least 60 years or more at our local movie house. The measure of the success in the development of the HDTV has always been
"HD Lighting" Fixture
even be accomplished, for example, without any change in the lighting by the use of a diffusion filter. If his objective is to use a soft main light approach, as suggested by the press release, he has a multitude of fixtures as well as grip devices and configurations at his disposal. It becomes a choice of how much and to what degree of softness he desires.
His decision might also be influenced by more realistic factors as space or convenience, and yes, even cost. So, it would have been more helpful if the copywriter of the HD fixture advertisement explained the advantages of the new fixture rather than emphasize the softness of his product in a marketplace that has a great selection of large aperture soft sources already. In reality, the fact that the new fixture in question does have some major improvements over current fixtures of equivalent softness should have been reported and noted. The ill-advised HD friendly statement could have another adverse result. It could offend the image maker: lighting designer, director of photography, gaffer or lighting tech. It might be taken as an assumption that he or she is unable to choose a proper soft-lighting source for high definition. Luckily for the manufacturer of the fixture who I am sure has good intentions, most lighting people are straight thinking, common sense individuals who will choose a proper instrument after some investigation and use and evaluate performance with a high degree of objectivity and not take offense.
A SILLY IDEA
label. This label will have large bright fluorescent yellow letters that say HD. Placing this label on your lighting instruments will announce to even the casual observer that you have up-to-date instrumentation that meets the stringent requirements of high definition. This label can be attached to every fixture in your complement (although I suggest that instruments that are showing their age and are no longer performing properly not be marked). The replacement of these unwanted fixtures could now be justified as they do not meet the standards of HD lighting. Of course, any instrument whose history includes being used in film production during the 1930s should get a unique label, perhaps starred as *HD* to show that it was used to make HD, circa pre-World War II.
PITY THE CHIEF ENGINEER
I just had a funny thought. Rather than discuss the pros and cons of whats suitable or certified for HD or any other D, lets design, and distribute a
There is another undesirable result that could happen. In the conversion to a digital and HD format, most TV stations have had to exercise great ingenuity in the use of their limited resources to complete the conversion. Additionally, this conversion has also placed a great strain on station personnel in all areas who are trying to meet deadlines. Most stations do not have a staff member with even limited lighting experience. In many cases, the responsibility falls upon the chief engineer, whose plate is full with a million details as a result of the crush to complete his work. The last thing on his mind is the lighting of his new HD news set. As a result, he probably can only rely on his intuition and common sense to light his stations live studio production. Reading the truckload of trade magazines hes subjected to each month, he may be intrigued by a press release of a special lighting instrument intended to be HD friendly. Problem solved? No, Im afraid not. Mislead by this claim, he may invest heavily in a quantity of these new devices. The depth of his situation becomes a harsh reality when he cant even obtain better results than he experienced before with his complement of non-HD instrumentation. In many cases he may swallow his pride and employ the services of an experienced lighting person, who gets exactly the envisioned result by using the old conventional instrumentation (only properly employing the HD units as appropriate). When probing the professional about how he did it, the reply may be that, in order make the new set work, HD or otherwise, precise control (particularly of ambient spill light) was necessary. Softness had to be obtained by methods other than large aperture sources because of the control required.
SILLY IDEA #2
Of course, why stop at HD? With 3D approaching at incredible speed, can

MISSING, PAGE 32
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Features
PodcastsDont Forget Good Audio
AUDIO BY DESIGN
Mary Gruszka
rom slick to schtick, its fun to explore the wide range of podcasts that are available. While I enjoy listening to the more professionally produced re-broadcasts of radio or TV shows, I have a certain fondness for many of the self-produced, often quirky, homebrew shows from enthusiasts sharing their interests or hobbies. As the content varies, so can the audio qualityfrom very clean and crisp to noisy and distorted, and sometimes even in the same program. While a podcast need not necessarily be of broadcast quality, neither should audio quality be ignored just because podcasts tend to be more informal or that they emanate as a low bit rate computer file. Bad audio quality, unless perhaps a conscious aesthetic choice, tends to detract from the message being delivered. Getting into podcasting isnt that hard, but it does involve some financial outlay. Besides a computer, youll need some audio gear and recording/editing software.
And then youll need to find a podcast host. Some are free; others charge for their services. Lets look at the production side. Theres a tendency to jump right into the gear, but wait! Think first about what your podcast will entail. The answers to the following questions will help you select the right gear. Where will the podcasts be recorded? In a fixed location or all around town? How many people will be speaking at any given time? Will it just be you, the podcaster? Or will you have a co-host some or all of the time? Will you want to interview guests, and how many at a time? Do you plan to have music in your podcast? (if so, watch those copyrights); Will you be doing telephone interviews? If you plan on starting out more simply at first, how might your podcast expand in the future?
GOING SOLO
If its just going to be you and your
voice in the podcast, then a pretty simple setup will suffice, with a USB microphone and some recording/editing software, which should include an MP3 encoder. But what type of microphone? Where will you be recording? The microphone isnt the place to go cheap. You may be tempted to use the built-in microphone in your computer or some really inexpensive models meant more for voice commands or Web conferencing. But dont. Gary Beebe, special projects engineer at Broadcast Supply Worldwide, noticed that when podcasters first start out, they tend to buy condenser microphones in
the $100 price range, but these kinds of mics are extremely sensitive and they pick up room sound, he said. A more appropriate mic would be a large dynamic in the $400 range, more like the kind broadcasters use. Thats quite a difference in price, so compare and listen, ideally in the space where youll be recording, and use really good monitoring headphones or loudspeakers (more on that in a minute). If youre using poor monitoring equipment you may not hear the difference, but your listeners might. While youre trying out mics, make sure youre not overloading the mic preamp youre using (in the computer or USB device). If youre used to pro gear, you may find that the computer devices have more limited headroom. Consider the speaking style youll be using in your podcast. Is it a nice conversational tone, or tending towards a ranting, raving, screaming style? If you start hearing distortion, back off the mic. Start speaking less loudly or consider a different preamp. Then theres the space where you will record your podcast. If this is a do-ityourself project, chances are you wont be using a professional recording studio (although, if you have access to one, take advantage of it). So first look for a quiet room, perhaps not facing a busy street.
PODCASTS, PAGE 32
TV Technology
August 4, 2010
29
Features
Designing an On-channel DTS and Repeater

Editors Note: This article includes references to several PERL scripts/modules that can be downloaded via CPAN.org. Direct links will be posted with this article on TVTechnology.com. After installing SPLAT, download USGS and SRTM elevation databases for the areas in which you are interested and ated using the ln -s command in Linux. After generating the splat_data.txt files using the command lines above, the files
RF TECHNOLOGY
Doug Lung
ished I recommend renaming it to knbcmain_splat_xy.txt then creating a symlink for use in the next script. Repeat the process for the next two sites; then create symbolic links to splat_ xy1.txt, splat_xy2.txt and splat_xy3.txt. Combine the three files into multi_xy3. txt by running the 3xymulti-3.pl script: perl 3xymult-3.pl For the next step, you will need the Geo-distance module for PERL. It is used
f you have been following the discussions and debates about single-frequency networksdistributed transmission systems or on-channel repeaters using two or more transmitters transmitting at exactly the same data on the same frequencyyouve seen them touted as a magical way to free up TV broadcast spectrum for broadband and condemned as a curse that will wipe out TV reception. This month Ill show you how to determine single-frequency network interference using the digital on-channel repeater network I first described in my November 2009 article A Digital OnChannel DTV Repeater (DOCR) Service as a starting point. Ive refined the software I use to analyze interference between multiple onchannel transmitters and added map layers to make it easier to determine if predicted interference is in areas where reception was predicted to be good before the extra transmitters were added, or if, as is often the case, in areas where the signal was predicted to be weak before the repeater was added.
Fig. 1 shows the areas of predicted interference from the repeaters. Fig. 2 shows the maximum signal available from the three transmitters. Notice that the gold area circled in blue in Fig. 1 has a strong signal, but falls outside the receiver equalizer mask by more than 2 dB.
use the utilities provided with SPLAT to convert them to the format SPLAT uses and to fill in holes in the SRTM elevation data. Here is a command line I used to generate the coverage data: Splat -t knbc.qth -L 4 -d /home/dl/Topo/srtm/ -R 240 -ano knbc-main_splat_data. txt -metric Refer to the SPLAT documentation for information on the command line parameters. I havent taken the time to add command line arguments to my PERL scripts, so the data files need to be renamed or, preferably, a symbolic link (symlink) created to the name the script is looking for before it is run. Symbolic links are cre-
RUNNING THE SCRIPTS
A set of PERL scripts that process the text output available from SPLAT is used to analyze interference. You can find more information on SPLAT at www. xmtr.com/splat. While a version of SPLAT is available for Windows, I strongly recommend running it in Linux. Linux can either be installed on its own partition or on a virtual machine such as Oracles VirtualBox (www.virtualbox.org.)
need to be processed to eliminate duplicate entries and sorted so that they can be combined in the master file that will be used to generate the interference maps. Link the appropriate data file to splat_ data.txt before running the sp3gridproc. pl script using PERL. Many Linux distributions include PERL. For more information on PERL, visit www.perl.org. You will need the Math-Round module, which is available via CPAN.org, to run the sp3gridproc.pl script: ln -s knbc-main_splat_data. txt splat_data.txt perl sp3gridproc.pl This script will produce several files. The only one you need to keep is the splat_xy9.txt file. When the script is fin-
to calculate the delay in seconds from each of the three transmitters to the point being studied. This module, available on the CPAN Web site, uses the Haversine Formula to calculate the distance between two coordinates. The multidelay-3tx-KNBCRF205.pl script reads the multi_xy3.txt file and writes a delay_xy3.txt file. For each cell where at least one of the transmitters has a signal there is a line with the latitude and longitude (multiply by 1200 to convert to integer), followed by the field strength for transmitters 1, 2 and 3 and the delay to the cell from transmitters 1, 2, and 3. To calculate the delay, the coordinates of each transmitter must be entered into the location variables $tx1lat, $tx1long, $tx2lat, $tx2long, etc. at the top of the script.
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Features
DISPLAYING THE RESULTS
The last step is to create the image files and Google Earth kml file showing the maximum signal strength, maximum echo delay, field strength difference, receiver equalizer failure and best transmitter. The 3xy2png-multi-3tx-20100717KNBC-RF205.pl script creates these files. It reads the delay_xy3.txt file and uses that data to create the map. There are three variables that have to be modified in this script$tx1offset, $tx2offset and $tx3offset. These variables are set to the amount of delay to be added to the output of each transmitter. For this analysis, I used the main transmitter as the reference (offset = zero) and for the repeaters added 7 microseconds to the free space delay from the KNBC Mount Wilson tower to the hypothetical repeater sites at the Arco Tower and Dodger Stadium. PERL needs another module to generate the PNG files used as overlays on the Google Earth mapGD, available online. See www.cpan.org/modules/INSTALL.html for help installing PERL modules. If youve made it this far, you are probably wondering if it is worth the effort to analyze DTS and on-channel repeater interference. Ive been using and tweaking these scripts for two weeks and after seeing the predicted interference for one design, Ive dropped plans for a repeater site that originally looked promising using a simpler interference/delay model. The 3xy2png-multi-3tx-20100717KNBC-RF205.pl script plots interference using the median performance of the most popular NTIA-certified DTV converter boxes available in 2009 based on a study conducted for the Metropolitan TV Alliance (MTVA) in New York City by the consulting firm Meintel, Sgrignoli and Wallace. You can modify it to use other equalizer masks. I recently received an e-mail from Andy Whiteside from Acrodyne Services describing some digital on-channel repeater (DOCR) tests he conducted. His testing found locations where the presence of the repeater signal caused a loss of reception. He explained, Analysis of the location of these sites in relation to the main and repeat transmit antennas led us to believe that the problem was caused when the main and repeater signals were of similar amplitude, but with a large time separation, as might be the case for a receive site between the main and repeater antennas. The main signal will always be seen as a pre-echo, arriving at the receiver before the repeater signal. If the time separation is large and the signals are comparable in strength, even the late generation receivers cannot lock to one of the signals reliably and the presence of the repeater signal will cause loss of reception. If you look at the maps created by my scripts, you will notice many failure areas are due to pre-echoespink or gold in the color code I used. The 3xy2pngmulti-3tx-20100717-KNBC-RF205.pl
script lists the color codes for all images as remarks in color definitions. The files used to create the maps are available at www.xmtr.com/splat/rf205/. To see the output without running the study simply copy the .kml file and the PNG image files to a directory and open the file in Google Earth. All overlays are opaque when first loaded. Use the transparency fader in Google Earth to view one or a combination of the image overlays. Fig. 1 shows the areas of predicted
interference from the repeaters. Fig. 2 shows the maximum signal available from the three transmitters. Notice that the gold area circled in blue in Fig. 1 has a strong signal, but falls outside the receiver equalizer mask by more than 2 dB. These and additional figures are available at www.xmtr.com/rf205/. Im still testing and modifying the scripts. Some of the interference areas are quite far from the low-power repeaters, leading me to question whether the
scripts are over-predicting interference. The scripts arent intentionally userhostile but I havent spent any time making them user-friendly. My focus has been on making the scripts work and provide useful output. If you come up with bug fixes or other improvements please let me know and Ill share them. Comments are welcome! E-mail me at dlung@transmitter.com.
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Features
Podcasts
Then consider the room acoustics. Most domicile rooms tend to be rather reflective, with hard parallel surfaces. You may need to re-arrange some furniture; add some floor carpeting; put books on
As you edit your podcast, then good quality monitor loudspeakers will aid you in evaluating audio quality. Other useful items to include in your gear list are pop filters (a screen placed in front of the mic), perhaps an audio processor, and an MP3 player to preview your podcast before posting it.
If youre not familiar with audio mixers, and find too many knobs and buttons intimidating, take some time to (gasp!) read the manual to learn how to properly adjust levels and set other parameters like equalization and compression. Many manufacturers post their manuals on their websites, so you can research before you buy.
Suppliers of broadcast and audio equipment are other good sources of information and can offer podcast packages. Their technical sales people have just about heard it all from new podcasters of what works and what doesnt. Consider their experience, even if it means upping your budget. They may help prevent you from making unnecessary mistakes.
You may be tempted to use the built-in microphone in your computer or some really inexpensive models meant more for voice commands or Web conferencing. But dont.
shelves; or set up some cushions around your recording setup to help absorb some of the reflections. There are professional sound control products you could use for absorption or diffusion. As you adjust your setups and as you record, its important to listen critically to the results. Thats where good quality headsets come in, again, not a place to scrimp. You want to hear everything thats going on so you can decide if those are the results youre looking for. And, as in recording studios, when youre recording your podcast, keep the computer or external loudspeakers off to avoid feedback or a reverberant sound.
ADDING ELEMENTS
If youre planning a podcast with more than one element, then youll need an audio mixer. Count how many mic inputs youll need for co-hosts and guests, including your own. If youre planning on playing music, youll need stereo line inputs for such devices as CD and DVD players, portable music players, and portable recorders. For phone-ins, youll need a telephone hybrid. The total will determine how many channels youll require. If possible leave room for future additions. Many small mixers are now equipped with a USB interface to make computer connections easier.
Another useful tool is an audio processor, which becomes more important with the addition of guests, who may not be as mic savvy as you. If people have trouble staying at a constant distance from the mic, said Beebe, the mic processor will help keep the levels constant in addition to suppressing background noise.
GETTING MORE INFORMATION
Experiment as you go through this process and youll see improvement with each podcast. As a last tip, this time from Wayne Davis, sales engineer, from Sweetwater: Record the best quality you can. It will be better in the long run. Mary C. Gruszka is systems design engineer, proect manager, consultant and writer based in the New York metro area. She can be reached via TV Technology.
Product reviews and individual manufacturers websites can be good sources of information, but keep in mind that the most popular or most hyped piece of equipment may not always be appropriate to your podcastanother good reason for spending the time upfront to figure out exactly what you want to do.
Missing
we look forward to a new lighting instrument category that is 3D, or better yet, 3D certified and HD compatible? Some imagination can be used in the design of this new label. Perhaps the label should have a holographic image that shows movement, yes, like 3D (but still HD compatible, of course).
BACK TO BASICS
Now that Ive gotten the HD issue off my chest, we can return to less controversial subjects. I would rather not revisit a discussion of color temperature; that subject has been beaten to a pulp. I think it would be more useful to return to the real world and everyday lighting problems. Next, I plan to discuss how to handle the lighting of the more typical camera and subject movement. Let us see how friendly that will be. Bill Klages would like to extend an invitation to all the lighting people out there to give him your thoughts at billklages@roadrunner.com.
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August 4, 2010
TV Technology
Features
If Id Only Known Then What I Know Now
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Craig Johnston
ouldnt we all have been better managers from the get-go if wed known then, when we made that move from worker bee to manager bee, what we know now? Of course, and there are hundreds of books a year written to help make that transition. Save your $25 or trip to the library, go to the New York Times Web site, and search for the name Tachi Yamada. In a regular Sunday Times feature called Corner Office, the writer interviews top executives, in this case Mr. Yamada, an M.D. and president of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations Global Health Program. Mr. Yamada started off with his technique for delegating: I dont micromanage, but I have microinterest. I do know the details. I feel like I have intimate knowledge of whats going on, but I dont tell people what to do.
pany as manager, to think how youd change about half or more of the staff, look at what employees arent bringing
change, and that people who have moved a lot, even when they were growing up, may be the best at adapting to
value, I think, is a sense of humor. Its engaging, its delightful, but its also a reflection on not taking yourself so seriouslyespecially if the sense of humor is self-deprecating. It gives you a sense that they understand that theyre not so important. Ill let you look up the interview to get all of his advice, completely in his own words. But probably the best lesson I wish Id learned from Mr. Yamada when I became a manager would have been about giving feedback.
"I think, in this modern world, you really have to be sure that your work force has the experience of being elsewhere." Tachi Yamada, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
change. I think, in this modern world, you really have to be sure that your workforce has the experience of being elsewhere. That experience then has the ability to ensure that you will be comfortable with change, he said.
MIXED MESSAGE
Tachi Yamada
EMBRACE CHANGE
He also has strong feelings about the super-connectedness we all have, cell phones, portable e-mail and Internet. He relegates certain parts of the day to getting and reading his e-mails, but when hes talking to you, hes not about to be interrupted. We didnt have cell phones or e-mail when I started to manage, but I let myself be interrupted way too much. I know theres a temptation, or at least Ive had the temptation, when you change jobs and walk into a new com-
to the picnic, rather than what they do have to offer. It would be a pretty rare situation where you could make wholesale changes anyway. But Mr. Yamada said he directs his energy on their potential: if I spend my time focusing on everything thats bad, Ill get nothing done. He continued: Everybody has their good points. Everybody has their bad points. If you can bring out the best in everybody, then you can have a great organization. If you bring out the worst in everybody, youre going to have a bad organization. That said, he made it clear that employees have to be ready to embrace
I watch enough sports on TV that Ive heard over and over why evaluators of athletic talent want to know how fast a player can run. You cant coach speed, they will say. In the same way, Mr. Yamada looks beyond the specific job skills when hes hiring. Native intelligence is critically important. I dont think you can train people to be more intelligent. Ill let you read through his interview to see how he determines whether or not someone has that native intelligence. But theres another trait he looks for. One underestimated and important
One of the things Ive learned is that it doesnt matter how many good things you say, the one bad thing is what sticks, he said. So if I have something negative to say, I will say it. I will be clear about it. But I wont try to couch it in a lot of positives, because people have a natural tendency to not want to hear a negative message. So I try to do it as quickly as I can, and I try to do it in the moment. But I also try to give positive feedback in other moments. To try to mix the two is often very hard, because the positive messages get lost in the one negative message, and the negative message gets garbled. If Id only known then what I know now. Craig Johnston is a Seattle-based Internet and multimedia producer with an extensive background in broadcast. He can be reached at craig@craigjohnston.com.
TV Technology
August 4, 2010
33
Product Review
Equipment and product reviews from professionals in the video industry

Video Processor
Harris X50 Frame Synchronizer/Converter

by Joey Gill
guess its truethe more things change, the more they stay the same. Years ago in the analog world, if video arrived at your facility in less than pristine condition, the first thing to try would be running it through a frame sync. Of course, from an engineering standpoint, we knew beforehand if that magic box would help or not. For those less enlightened, the event was almost like Christmas if it improved the video. While the world of DTV has raised the bar on video content, there are still times when signals need to be timed, and/ or adjusted in the digital plant. For such occasions, products such as the new Harris X50 are more than up to that challenge.
FEATURES
Nucleus control panels and CCS Navigator software. For manual control there are four GPI inputs and outputs. Test signals havent been neglected either, as there are built-in generators for audio and video.
and pressed the Enter button. This revealed a list of several choices including Proc, Color Corrector, Frame Sync, Analog Video, Test Signal, ARC 1, ARC 2, and more. I chose Proc and was offered
FASTFACTS
Application
Frame sync, proc amp, aspect ratio conversion, transcoding
Key Features
1 RU size, ease of operation, cost effectiveness
Price
The Harris X50 frame synchronizer/converter MSRP $4,295; available options include 3 Gbps software keyed $1,995; optical fiber transceiver, $1,000; AES adaptor cable, $25
The 1RU X50 tips the scales at slightly more than eight pounds. It operates at 100 to 240 VAC, draws about 75 Watts, and has an operating temperature range between 41 and 95 degrees F. Its feature set is large, including frame sync/delay, proc amp, noise reduction, clipping, color correction, motion detection, up/down/cross/aspect ratio conversion and more. The two aspect ratio converters provide full control over H/V size and position, along with audio embedding/de-embedding, sync, gain, inversion and delay, and also 16 channels of audio processing. It also passes Dolby Digital and Dolby E. Video interfaces include analog composite and component. As mentioned, there are two SDI channels and these feature auto-sensing for .27/1.5 Gbps, sampled video, with 3G being an option. EDH/CRC error monitoring and insertion are included and theres an HDMI output for video and audio. Audio interfaces include eight channels of analog, four channels of unbalanced AES, and four groups of embedded. The X50 is compatible with both 608 and 708 closed captioning, along with Teletext and embedded audio metadata. AFD/widescreen signaling is also supported. Ethernet connectivity is available for control and monitoring, along with SNMP. Theres a built-in Web server, and a local control panel as well. The X50 is compliant with both X85/75 and
Two power supplies are included for extra reliability. Options include optical fiber I/O and the aforementioned 3 Gbps connectivity. The front of the unit sports an SD memory card slot and five status LEDs. Theres also an LCD panel for status and menu selection, with an adjacent roller knob and pushbutton select system. There are also other operational controls, as well as 18 small LEDs to flag alert situations such as field rates, AFD, Dolby, test pattern and the like. Signal interfaces are on the rear and include power, reference loop-through, various flavors of video inputs, including that delivered via fiber (optional).
IN USE
Once the X50 was unpacked, my first order of business was to power it up. The display came up with the familiar Harris logo, and after about 10 seconds the main menu was displayed, showing Video, Audio and Reference. By scrolling down with the units roller knob, I found a number of other useful system setup selections, including input video choices, output formats, and audio choices. I next connected SMPTE 292 1080i video from two HD studio cameras to SDI inputs 1 and 2. The X50s SDI outputs were connected to a router that feeds an HD monitoring station in our tech core. I had to remind myself that although there are two SDI I/O channels, the unit is a single-channel box. The camera one video appeared on both SDI outputs and when I removed the SDI 1 input, the outputs reverted to the second input source. Moving on, I decided it was time to frame sync/proc/and/or ARC the heck out of something. I scrolled down to Video
further choices including Black Level and Luma Gain. I selected Luma Gain and the display turned into a slider knob, with 6 dB of adjustment. When I tried the slider my initial reaction was that the adjustment was a bit on the coarse side. (Interestingly, the word coarse appeared in the upper right portion of the display.) I found that when I clicked the roller knob, the adjustment became fine, and the display text changed to fine. I then selected the frame sync functionality, allowing me to Force Freeze the picture. I stopped my evaluation here, as other duties called. A couple of days later, I made it back to the X50 for more exploration. After hooking up the cables, a picture appeared instantly, but after playing with the controls for a few minutes, I noticed that the wrong news anchor was on the screen and that the picture was frozen. Apparently, Id neglected to hook up the input cable and I was viewing the image from the previous session. It still looked good. After connecting the SDI input to some fresh video, I scrolled the menu over to Scaler 1 and explored several of the settings found there. There are presets for anamorphic, 4:3 pillar box, 16:9 pillar box, and more. Theres also a custom setting to allow manual dimension entry, with an aspect ratio lock feature. For filling out pillar box spaces, theres a choice of black, red, green, orange, and grey at several selectable intensities. Other menu items included a system setup, which revealed the units version, serial number, license info, fan status and IP information. By pressing and holding the status button, I was able to bring up the alarm menu, with alarms for missing video and/or audio, muting, missing AFD,
Contact
Harris Broadcast 800-231-9673 www.broadcast.harris.com
core overheating, fan failure and more. My next evaluation was IP connectivity. Ill admit to calling the folks at Harris in connection with this, as I didnt initially realize it was as simple as connecting a CAT-5 cable to my laptop from the X50 and then typing the IP address into the Firefox browser. Connectivity was a snap, and the menu tree is basic, but powerful. All of the same menu items available on the front panel are available via browserbased control. During the next week or so, I powered down the laptop and X50, trying to make IP connectivity difficult. I could not; it was rock solid.
SUMMARY
I honestly expected the browser-based control to be easier than the single knob menu control on the front panel. However, I found them both easy to operate, with a learning curve of zero (if youre familiar with the toolsets involved). The broadcaster in me would like to see some filtering on the chassis ventilation system; however, thats about the only thing I can suggest to make the X50 better than it already is. In true Harris form, with promised free code updates, the X50 you buy this year is likely to be seeing several decades of decades. Joey Gill is chief engineer at television station WPSD in Paducah, Ky. He has been with the station for 25 years and has worked in broadcasting since 1977. He may be contacted at respond2jgill@yahoo.com.
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August 4, 2010
TV Technology
Product Review
camera accessory
CBL Color Balancing Lens

by Carl Mrozek
ith all of the attention given to the latest and hottest in camera technology, its easy to overlook fundamentals (such as proper color balance), which can affect image quality as much as the model and price of your camera. Without adherence to the fundamentals of photography in general, and videography in particular, you wont be harnessing your cameras true potential, whatever that might be. The best lighting and techniques in the world cant guarantee a beautiful picture if your color balance is off. For many video shooters, color balancing (or more correctly, white balancing), is a fairly mindlessthey just aim the lens at a fairly flat white surface, making sure the frame is filled, and then depress the white balance button until the camera lets them know its happy. Some shooters may not balance again until lighting changes from daylight to tungsten and/or from bright to dim. If youre shooting outdoors under fairly sunny skies without any supple-
you really should re-balance every time the quality or intensity of the light hitting your subject shifts. The question remains about what to use as your white reference. Some shootersnotably black and white photographersswear by grey cards. As a result, most camera meters mimic this process (or at least we use this process to evaluate their results). Video shooters tend mostly to use a white card for their balancing. Theres another method which provides both balancing options, and this is the color balancing lens (CBL), a unique patented system for achieving beautifully balanced color images
Photo by Carl Mrozek
FASTFACTS
Application
Critical ENG, EFP and studio shooting with mixed light sources
Key Features
Compact, easy to carry, very accurate color balance
Price
MSRP for 60 mm, $90; 85 mm, $125; 110 mm, $150; 220 mm, $575
Contact
International Supplies 800-999-1984 www.internationalsupplies.com
FEATURES
CBLs Color Balancing Lens
mental lighting you may get through the day without re-balancing, provided that the orientation of the subjects to the sun is fairly consistent. However, to be safe,
The CBL is a composite of several thin discs sandwiched together into a thick disk, which is white on one side and grey on the other. The white side is a bit like an ice cream sandwich, with a white vanilla filling sandwiched between two wafers. The bottom layer is the CBLs grey polycarbonate casing, and the upper layer is the clear lens ele-
ment. The thick white middle layer is really an outer ring with several concentric circular prisms, plus several slightly raised circles in the inner core. Also there are some two dozen geometric slits and grooves arranged in an interesting array of square and diamond patterns. These overlay a mirror which reflects
CBL, PAGE 40
TV Technology
August 4, 2010
35
Product Review
Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Collection

by Michael Hanish
post-production toolset
pdates and expansions of Adobes Creative Suite have become roughly a yearly ritual. With the previous versionCreative Suite 4 we were focused primarily on if and how the integration worked between applications. With the new version, Creative Suite 5, the news has to do with dramatically increased performance levels, evolving feature sets and interoperability, and the joys of design once, then output for many purposes.
FEATURES
The Master Collection contains 15 applications (Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat Pro, Flash Catalyst, Flash Builder, Flash Professional, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Contribute, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Soundbooth, Encore, and OnLocation), three components (Bridge, Device Central, and Dynamic Link), and the new CS5 Live online services (Review, BrowserLab, Story, and Acrobat.com). With so many applications and so little space, we will try to focus on new features primarily of interest in the realms of video and interactive media production. The feature that has gotten the most overall attention, and deservedly so, is the 64-bit support in Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Media Encoder. In general, if you have the hardware and software to operate in 64-bit mode, this means a couple of things: overall speed and performance boosts from faster processing and the ability to access more RAM; and the need to update all plug-ins when available (and many already are) to their 64-bit versions. For the record, 32-bit apps and plug-ins run fine in 64-bit systems, just slower. One of the specific performance boosts in 64-bit systems is the Mercury Engine, a 64-bit native and optimized, GPU-accelerated, multi-threaded playback engine that speeds rendering and effects preview, as well as playback, by as much as 80 to 90 percent, depending on format and task. If the system has an NVIDIA GPU with CUDA technology, the Mercury Engine leverages that GPU for even faster renders, previews, playouts, encodes and effects. There are some new additions to the stable of applications that is CS5. One of these is Flash Catalyst CS5, a Flash design tool that is focused on creating user interfaces, Internet applications, Web sites and the like, and allows you to transform static artwork into interactive interfaces and content, all without having to author code. Another batch of new additions is the CS5 Live on-line collaborative services. These are com-
plimentary and not fully implemented at the moment, but are soon to move to a subscription model, which will allow users to pay for the only services they need. Review is a browser-based forum for viewing and comment, available by invitation from within Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign (and eventually from within Premiere Pro); comments then appear in a Review panel inside the host application. BrowserLab is a simple way to test Web-based content in a variety of browsers and under a variety of operating systems by sending a sort of snapshot of a locally authored page and observing the results, even comparing things with an Onionskin mode. Story provides an online collaborative environment for developing scripts and shots lists, complete with tagging, metadata, and formatting tools. Acrobat.com is being developed as a full-fledged collaborative environment, complete with
formance bump derived from 64-bit processing, longer RAM previews, and faster everythingthe new Roto Brush, which is a quick, semi-automated, and surprisingly accurate way to mask a foreground object and separate it from the background. Theres also AVC-Intra and RED camera support, including the Mysterium-X sensor and the latest Color Science. The package also includes Apply Color LUT effect, to allow application and testing of custom LUTs in a variety of formats; DigiEffects FreeForm (a wide variety of 3D design options); as well as updated Color Finesse (color correction) and Mocha (planar tracking). New features in Premiere Pro, (aside from the benefits of 64-bit status), include native support for AVC-Intra, the latest RED builds, AVCCAM, DPS, XDCAM HD 50, and Canon and Nikon DSLR formats (joining an already impressive list of natively
FASTFACTS
Application
Media production, publishing and distribution in almost any format for almost any destination
Key Features
Performance boosts in all tools; 64-bit compatibility; improved interoperability and interchange among apps
Price
Price: MSRP $2,599
Contact
Adobe Systems 714-280-1345 www.adobe.com
IN USE
Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Collection user interface
conferencing, live discussions, presentations, online apps, and, in general, everything you could want to create and use in an online workspace. All of which brings us to some briefly noted, selected improvements to some of the applications we have all grown quite used to using. For more details on whats new and improved, check in at the Adobe Web site. Photoshop adds tools for more precise edge detection, and thus better and easier selection and masking. Theres also a content aware fill feature which can remove an element and replace it with details that blend with the backgrounds content, lighting, colors, even noise. There are also new painting tools, including high dynamic range creation, a mixer brush (defines multiple colors on a single tip and controls the mix with the underlying colors), Repouss (3D extrusion from 2D artwork, with surface control); and Automated Lens Correction. Perennial workhorse After Effects getsaside from the massive perwww.tvtechnology.com
supported codecs); Ultra keyer; open workflows with ProTools, Final Cut Pro and Avid. Illustrator CS5an application that is daily playing a larger and larger role in my workflow for video, Web, and motion graphics workboasts wide improvements in drawing, stroke, and brush modes. Theres the Align to Pixel Grid function (which forces objects to the nearest pixel edge, thus keeping edges sharp); 1, 2, and 3 point Perspective Grid (as a drawing aid) and Perspective Selection Tool (as an aid to selecting and moving planes of objects). Flash Professional CS5 boasts a new text engine with improved typographic, layout and editing controls and wider language support. It includes Spring (a dynamic physics engine) for the Inverse Kinematic system, which provides more realistic multi-object interactions; theyre numerous enhancements to drawing and video embedding tools, scripting, and integration with other elements of Creative Suite.
I jumped into Creative Suite 5 with both feet as soon as I got access to it for this review. My test beds were a Mac Pro 8 core tower with 16 GB RAM, and a MacBookPro laptop with a Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB RAM. The first thing I had to do was upgrade both systems to Snow Leopard, aka Mac OS X 10.6, in large part to take advantage of the 64-bit nature of some of the key applications in the suite. Id been avoiding doing this for some months while waiting for the plug-ins and all the other components that I use daily to be available for the newest OS. All went smoothly, quickly, and well, by the way. The first thing that you cant help but notice about CS5 is how fast the 64-bit aware applications and processes are. Speed boosts vary with task and system, but I regularly saw, and felt, things operate at three to five times faster than the benchmarks of a year or so ago with a 32-bit system and CS4. In the course of my tests for this review, I used all the applications and workflows I have become accustomed to over the years, and tried to stretch a bit with some of the tools that are newly available. Overall, I have to say that everything performed as advertised, at least, and often better. All of the key new features for individual apps mentioned above work, work well, and are really worthy additions to each applications feature set. What really caught my attention while reconstructing my workflow with Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, and Premiere Pro (primarily)aside from how easy it was to move program material (timelines, documents, and the like) from one app to anotherwere two of the additional components that hadnt
adobe, PAGE 39
36
August 4, 2010
TV Technology
Cameras Camera Accessories Receivers Transmitters Tapes Carts Reels VCRs VTRs Tubes Video Production Equipment Help Wanted
TV Technologys Equipment Exchange provides a FREE listing service for all broadcast and pro-video end users. Brokers, dealers, manufacturers and other organizations who sell used equipment on an occasional basis can participate in the Equipment Exchange on a PAID basis. All free listings run at the discretion of the publisher. Call 1-703-852-4610 for details. Submit your free listings on your letterhead and state the make, model number, a brief description, sale price and complete contact information and mail it to: TV Technology, 5285 Shawnee Rd, Suite 100, Alexandria VA 22312
ANTENNAS/TOWERS/ CABLES WANT TO SELL
CAMERA ACCESSORIES WANT TO SELL
LENS REPAIRS
Save $1000s off the cost of buying a new antenna! Channel 39 PSI 16-bay omni-directional antenna. Please email vic@wcvi.tv or call 340-718-9927 for additional information. Pirod U-26.0 x 300 ft. selfsupporting tower, a thirty foot extension is included, gd cond, please email mcfeed@mca.k12. pa.us for more information or phone 570-339-1500 ext. 3136.
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Mackie D8B digital audio console (3), call for price; SSL 6000E audio console parts, modules & total recall, call for price; ADC DAL3-14MKIINS digital audio patchbay, BO; GVG 8550 tray w/8-8551 audio DAs, BO; GVG AMX-170, BO; Wohler MLH4, BO; Otari MX-5050, BO; NVision NV4002 w/8-DA4055 4-chnl mixminus/router, 6-NV9055 remote cntrl panels, call for price; Sony MXP-2936 36-chnl audio mixer, BO; Vistek V1606 w/4 audio DACs, BO; Sony AC-P700 pwr sply for MXP 700 mixers, BO; Yamaha SU400 PS switcher, BO; JBL/Urei 5549, qty 3, call for price; Yamaha OR2 mixer, call for price, Neve Logic 1, call for price; Neve Libra Live parts, call for price. 908-8799590 or www.mccom.tv. Tascam M2524 24-chnl mixer, $1200/BO; Tascam DA98, $1200/ BO; Tascam RC848 & MU8824 RCU & meter panel, $1200/BO; Tascam DA88, $400/BO; Crown D75, $200/ BO; Tascam CD-401MKII, $200/ BO; Sennheiser MKH815T shotgun mic, $300/BO; Tascam DA30, $200/BO. John, 414-380-2302 or jwork399@sbcglobal.net.
CAMERAS WANT TO SELL
Sony CCU-355, call for price; Sony CA-55A, BO; Sony BVFV20W, $900; Sachtler Video 18P w/pedestal CII, Dolly, 2 handles, call for price; Fuji A17x7.8 BERMM28C digipower lens w/2X, call for price; Canon YJ19x9B4 IRS SX12 internal focus lens, call for price; Canon J14ax8.5B4 IRS SX12 IF lens w/2X, call for price; Canon J15ax8.5B4 IRS SX12 IF lens w/2X, call for price; Canon YJ18 x 9B4 IRS SX12 internal focus lens, call for price; Fuji A18x8.5 BERM 2/3 lens w/2X, BO; Fuji A14x8.5BEVM w/2X, call for price; Fuji A18x8.5FEVM B3 VGrip 2X, BO; (2) QTV VPS-15/ SL 15 teleprompters, BO; Vinten Merlin Arm, call for price; Sony DXF701, call for price; Hitachi RU-Z1 CCU, Hitachi VF-157 viewfinder, call for price; Hitachi CA-Z32 camera adapter, call for price; Sony CCU-M7, call for price; Ikegami RCU-240 remote panel, BO; Ikegami VA95SA adapter, BO; Sony AC-500 AC adapter, call for price, Sony CA-3A adapter, BO; Sony CMA-8, call for price; Sony VA-5 adapter, BO; Tiffen 190C circular Ultra Polar filter, BO; Libec LS-70 2C system, call for price; Sony MSU-350, BO; Philips FDL-90 Quadra PAL film to tape, call for price; BTS/Thomson FDL-60 film to tape 16mm & 35mm, call for price; Lipnser Smithc CF3000 film cleaner, rebuilt, call for price; Sony FVS-1000 Vialta HD film to tape telecine. 908-879-9590 or www. mccom.tv Century .8x wide angle adapter 85mm clamp-on ring, zoom-thru, Pelican case, $225; Angenieux T15x8.3 1ESM AIF 2/3 lens w/2x converter, one owner, $1400; Lee Video Hood mattebox, 85mm bellows w/two rotating 4x4 slots, $75; Anton Bauer Ultralight II on-camera 12v light, $50. mail@jeromenoonan.com or 413-237-2362.
DIGITAL EFFECTS WANT TO SELL
Focus Optics. Service and repair of broadcast video lens. Fujinon, Canon, Nikon, Angenieux, etc. We have the fastest turnaround in the country. We also repair lens that have bad inpact damage. Call Stuart at 800-234-lens or www. focusoptics.com.
ADM (audio designs and manufacturing) 70s era consoles and parts. Al @ agrunwel@ twcny.rr.com. TV shows from the 1950s 1970s audio or video. Variety shows, talk shows, sports programs, newscast, etc. Leave a message, Ron, 925-284-5428 or ronwtamm@yahoo.com.
MONITORS
SERVERS WANT TO SELL
Tektronix PDR-204D w/LVS cntrlr, call for price. 908-8799590 or www.mccom.tv.

SIGNAL PROCESSING WANT TO SELL
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WANT TO BUY
Panasonic BT-LH1760W, call for price; Panasonic BT-LH1710, call for price; Sony PVM-20M4U w/ SDI, call for price; (2) Sony BVM20F1U w/SDI & BKM-10R, call for price; (2) Sony BVM-20E1U w/ SDI & BKM-10R, call for price; Ikegami TM20-20R w/SDI option, BO; Sony PVM-14M4U w/SDI, call for price; (5) Sony PVM-14M4U, call for price; Sony BVM-14F1U w/ SDI & BKM-10R, call for price; (3) Sony BVM-14F5U w/SDI, call for price; Sony PVM-20M2U, call for price; (4) Panasonic WV-BM503 triple B/W, call for price; Sony PVM1945Q, call for price; (2) Ikegami TM9-1D SDI 9 color monitors, call for price; Sony MB-520 & MB-502 rackmounts, call for price. 908879-9590 or www.mccom.tv. JVC 9 field monitor TM910 SU with A/B, blue check, cross pulse, mono, underscan, S-Video, 12v DC or 125/250 AC, $225. mail@ jeromenoonan.com or 413-2372362.
Chyron Aprisa 100, BO; (5) DPS465 SDI frame sync w/AES-2400, call for price; Chyron Maxine 601, call for price; Teranex Xantus One HD down converter, Pinnacle Lightning 2-chnl SDI still store parts, BO; Chyron Infinit 060 SDI, BO; Videotek SDC-101 SDI color corrector, Leitch Still File 3-chnl SDI Still Store, call for price; Prime Image TBC/Freeze II, BO; Tektronix ECO-422, BO; Abekas A42 Still Store, BO; GVG 8500 w/8-8503 video DAs, BO; GVG 9520A sync gen w/TSG, BO; For-A CCS-4360 color corrector, BO; Leitch MGI 3701 SDI motion logo gen, call for price; Miranda Playstore SDI still store, (3), call for price; Miranda Easy Key A/B SDI keyer, call for price; GVG 7510 proc amp, BO; Prime Image TBC+, BO; Sony MPUF100A frame syncs, call for price; Prime Image Time Machine, call for price; Tektronix SPG-422, BO; Tektronix TSG-170D, BO. 908-8799590 or www.mccom.tv. AMX VSS2 video sync sensor w/ AXB-Vol3 volume control & PC1 power control 19 rack mount, no plugs in back of it, works good, $25 + shpg. 231-733-4040. Leitch SCH meter, $100/BO. John, 414-380-2302 or jwork399@ sbcglobal.net.
STATIONS WANT TO SELL
2 plastic spot reels 6.5 or 8 diameter, as used for quad video. Wayne, Audio Village, 760-3200728 or audiovlg@gte.net.
Americas Paradise FCC Licensed Full Power TV Station serving the U.S. Virgin Islands. Low operating costs and cash
Panasonic AJ-HPX3700 P2 Varicam, call for price; Panasonic AJ-HPX2700 P2 Varicam, call for price; Panasonic AJ-HPX500, call for price; Panasonic AJ-HPX300, call for price; Panasonic AG-HPX170, call for price; Sony DXC-D30 w/ DSR-1, Fuji 16X lens, call for price; Panasonic AJ-SDX900, BO; (2) Hitachi Z2010A triax studio cameras, call for price; Panasonic AJ-SDC915, BO; (3) Hitachi Z2010A multicore studio cameras, call for price; Sony UVW-100 w/ lens, BO; Ikegami HL-57 w/Sony BVV-5, Canon 14x8.5 IF lens, BO; Sony DNW-7 w/Canon lens, BO; Sony DNW-9WS w/Fuji 17X lens, call for price; Sony BVP-370 w/ Fuji 15X lens, & CCU-900, call for price; Panasonic AG-DVC7, $500; Sony DXC-755 camera & CCU, BO. 908-879-9590 or www.mccom.tv.
Abekas Dveous Dual Twin, call for price; GVG Gveous Single Twin, call for price; GVG Kyrstal parts & pwr splys, Abekas A51, BO; Abekas A57, BO. 908-879-9590 or www. mccom.tv.
EDITING EQUIPMENT WANT TO SELL
Sony BVE-2000, BO; Sony RM450, call for price; GVG VPE-241 editor, BO; GVG VPE-141, BO; Panasonic AU-A950 editor, BO; Panasonic AG-750 editor, BO; JVC RM-820U, BO; Sony DMW-505NL XPRI SD/HD non-linear; Sony BVE9100, BO. 908-879-9590 or www. mccom.tv. Creative video blaster editor w/ Adobe Premiere elements 3.0 incl, never opened, new, $30 + shpg. 231-733-4040.
TV Technology
August 4, 2010
37
EquipmEnt ExchangE
flow positive. Great Opportunity for a Commercial or Religious Broadcaster. Please reply to: usvitvstation@gmail.com for further information.
SWITCHERS WANT TO SELL TEST EQUIPMENT WANT TO SELL
Panasonic AV-HS450 multiformat switcher, call for price; GVG M2100 digital master cntrl switcher, call for price; Snell & Wilcox Magic Dave 4D, call for price; GVG 3000-2 12 SDI & 20 analog in, call for price; GVG 4000 switcher boards, call for price; GVG 200-2 loaded, call for price; Pesa 24x16 Lynx VA router, BO; GVG 20 Ten video only router, BO; GVG 3000/100CV/200/Master 21 boards & ps, Grass Valley Master 21, call for price; GVG Performer SD, GVG 7000 128x96 SDI w/128x128 stereo audio & 48x32 analog video, call for price; Philips Venus audio & video router parts, call for price; Ross RVS-424, call for price. Philips Venus 160x128 SDI video router, BO. 908-879-9590 or www.mccom.tv. GVG 100, $800/BO; GVG 110, $800/BO. John, 414-380-2302 or jwork399@sbcglobal.net.
WANT TO BUY
Leader LV-5800 HD Scope, call for price; Tektronix WFM601A, call for price; Leader LV-5100D digital waveform, call for price; Tektronix 1760, call for price; Tektronix 1750A combo wfm/vec, call for price; Tektronix 1750 combo wfm/vec, BO; Leader 5870 combo wfm/vec, BO; Tektronix 1730/1720 wfm/fec, BO; Tektronix 1910 digital signal generator, Tektronix 1740A combo wfm/vec, BO; Tektronix 1740 combo wfm/vec, BO. 908-879-9590 or www.mccom.tv.
TRANSMITTERS/ EXCITERS WANT TO SELL
Sony DNW-A100, call for price; Sony BVW-75 & BVW-70s call for price; Sony UVW-1800 w/4chnl audio, call for price; Sony PVW-2800 (2), call for price; Sony PVW-2650, mint, BO; Sony PVV3, BO; Panasonic AJ-D580, BO; Panasonic AJ-D351, BO; Sony BVW-60, BO; Sony UVW-1800, call for price; JVC BR-D80U digital S, call for price; JVC BR-S800U & BR-S500U, call for price; JVC BR-S622U, call for price; Sony DVR-28, call for price; Panasonic AJ-D250, call for price; Panasonic AJ-D455, call for price; Panasonic
AJ-D450 &D440, BO; BTS BCB75, BO. 908-879-9590 or www. mccom.tv. Sony PVV3 Beta SP dockable rcdr in gd cond, hours A-495, B-388, C-1301, Macie maintained, $1500; Sony DSR1 dockable DVCam rcdr in gd cond, hours A-557, B-405, C-1146, Macie maintained, $1700; Sony BCT30MA tape stock, new 10 tapes/30 minutes, $45; Sony PDV64N tape stock, new 8 tapes/64 minutes, $64. mail@jeromenoonan. com or 413-237-2362.
Sony PVW-2800, $2400/BO; Sony PVW-2600, $1200/BO; Sony UVW1800, $1600/BO; Sony UVW-1600, $900/BO. John, 414-380-2302 or jwork399@sbcglobal.net. Sony DSR-45 Mini DVCam rcdr/ plyr, great shape, lw hrs, $2000/BO; Sony BVE-910 edit cntrlr w/BVE-910 edit cntrl unit, $500/BO; Sony BVW 75 Betacam SP rcdr/plyr, 4-chnl audio, lw hrs, good shape, $2500/BO; Ampex/ Sony CVR/BWV 65 Betacam SP plyr, 4-chnl audio, medium hrs, good shape, $2000/BO; Ampex ADO 100 special effects, $500/BO. 619-698-4336.
USED TRANSMITTERS From Harris, Acrodyne, Axcera, TTC, Emcee, etc. 954-792-7207 or visit www.transmitterwarehouse. com.
VCRS/VTRS/ RECORDING MEDIA WANT TO SELL
Wanted: Digital video communication decoder/video switchers, any MDS model. Steve, 817-909-1508.
Panasonic AJ-HD1400 new, call for price; Sony DNW-A75, call for price; Sony DVW-A500 (7), call for price; Sony DVW-500, call for price; Sony J3 w/SDI, call for price; (5) Sony DNW-75, call for price; Sony BKDW-515 panel, call for price; Sony DVW-A500 PAL, call for price; Sony BVW-75 PAL, call for price; Sony BVW-70 PAL, call for price; Sony SVO-5800, call for price; (2)
ADVERTISERS INDEX
While every care is taken to ensure that these listings are accurate and complete TV Technology does not accept responsibility for omissions or errors. pAge 40 27 32 5 18 12, 33, 42 10 17 15 3 40 21 43 30 44 35 Advertiser AJA Video B&H Pro Audio Beat The Traffic Blackmagic Design Calrec Audio Ltd. Canare Corp of America Cobalt Digital Commercial Microwave DAWNco Decimator Design Eartec Ensemble Designs Evertz Microsystems Ltd. Front Porch Digital Harris Corporation Kino Flo Inc. WeB site www.aja.com www.bhproaudio.com www.beatthetraffic.com www.blackmagic-design.com www.calrec.com www.canare.com www.cobaltdigital.com www.cmtfilters.com www.dawnco.com www.decimator.com www.eartec.com www.ensembledesigns.com www.evertz.com www.fpdigital.com www.broadcast.harris.com www.kinoflo.com pAge 31 28 24 14 19 2 7 9 41 29 22 1 11 16 13 40 Advertiser Linear Industries, Inc Litepanels Logitek Marshall Electronics Matrox Intl Miranda Technologies NewTek, Inc. Omneon Pixel Power Inc Renaissance Electronics Corp. Screen Service BT S.P.A. Snell & Wilcox Studer The Tiffen Company Wohler Technologies Xintekvideo, Inc. WeB site www.linear-tv.com www.litepanels.com www.logitekaudio.com www.lcdracks.com www.matrox.com www.miranda.com www.newtek.com www.omneon.com www.pixelpower.com www.hxi.com www.screen.it www.snellwilcox.com www.studer.ch www.lowel.com www.wohler.com www.xintekvideo.com
Advertising sAles representAtives

U.S. CENTRAL, NEw ENgLANd & CANAdA: VYTAS URBONAS 212-378-0400 x 533 Fax: 708-301-7444 vytas@nbmedia.com U.S. wEST: PETE SEmBLER 650-238-0324 Fax: 650-238-0263 psembler@nbmedia.com U.S. SOUThEAST ANd mid-ATLANTiC: miChELE iNdERRiEdEN 212-378-0400 x 523 Fax: 301-234-6303 minderrieden@nbmedia.com iTALY: RAFFAELLA CALABRESE +39-02-7030-0310 FAx: +39-02-7030-0211 rcalabrese@broadcast.it
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38
August 4 , 2010
TV Technology
EYE ON
CBS News D.C. Fiber Diet

by James Careless
WASHINGTON
EYE ON FIBER
Organization relies on fiber transport for field newsgathering

FIBER TRANSPORT IN D.C.
central to our field ENG operations.
oday, fiber transport has become a necessity not just for cross-country connections, but for covering ENG news in HD and the always-busy news scene in Washington, D.C. For CBS News, which has a long history in fiber optic communications, dating back almost 30 years, fiber is becoming a necessity for its live news hits. In fact, two of three CBS owned-and-operated satellite uplink trucks have been equipped to accept fiber optic feeds directly from the Sony PDW-700s, PMW-EX1Rs and PMW-EX3s that CBS News crews use. Each of the two trucks is equipped with a portable MultiDyne LiGHTBoX bidirectional field fiber transport unit. The battery-powered LiGHTBox can accept multiple fiber-optic inputs from various sources (HD, audio, Ethernet and data), and then combine them into a single multichannel feed for transmission over a long distance fiber optic link. When HD came in, we knew we had to switch from copper to fiber, says Mel Olinsky, CBS News director of bureau operations and the person in charge of the networks ENG field units. With copper and SD, you could send signals up to 1,000 meters from the camera to the SNG truck. But HD cuts that margin down to just 200-300 meters at best, which is unacceptable. In contrast, fiber has a virtually unlimited range, which makes it ideal for HD ENG work.
CBS News Washington Bureau has fiber-optic links to all the major sites in the capital. These links connect to the White House, U.S. Capitol, House and Senate buildings, Pentagon, Supreme Court, Homeland Security, State and Treasury Departments; and Andrews Air Force Baseplus all CBS News microwave receive sites and teleports.
CBS News control room HD47
PROS AND CONS
The circuits are a mix of analog, 270 MHz, and HD lit/dark fibers, said Bob McKinley, CBS News director of operations in DC. Were currently in the process of eliminating the analog circuits as we upgrade our remote facilities to HD. In addition, we are connected to CBS News in New York with two OC-12 fiber circuits. The reason CBS News has analog fiber optic circuitswhich are being replacedis due to its early adoption of fiber transport in the early 1990s. We are in a three-story building in Washington, surrounded by taller buildings, making it impossible to do microwave reception
from our roof, McKinley said. We were dark fiber, CBS News D.C. maintenance forced to have all microwave receive sites technicians must now keep the network off-premise, and the microwave receiver operational. In our current economy outputs were fed to the bureau through when all headcount is getting closer scrufiber circuits. For security reasons, within tiny, the maintenance department needs various buildings it is also mandated that to have sufficient capacity to take on this we operate in fiber, due to the higher secu- added work. And this can also dictate the rity afforded fiber over copper cable. investment made with the electronics to Initially, CBS News relied on lit fiber light the dark fiber... modular systems, transport; namely fiber-optic circuits pro- where the various components can be vided by telephone carriers that are always replaced relatively inexpensively [i.e. on on, and thus always being charged for. an expense budget], turned out to be the However, the advent of dark fiber best approach for the CBS News dark unlit fiber transport that CBS News has fiber network in DC. installed by vendors and then maintains itselfis providing the networks Washington bureau with a less expensive way to cover the news. The primary benefit of dark fiber for CBS News is one of cost savings, said McKinley. At locations that require multiple signal paths, it is possible to multiplex eight or more HD feeds on a single fiber. Obviously CBS News needs to invest in the electronics to multiplex, light and decode the dark fiber feeds. Fiber played a vital role in CBS coverage of Depending on construction and Super Bowl XLIV in February fiber splice costs, for CBS News in Washington, once we get above three The bottom line: Fiber transport or four feeds from a common location, keeps CBS News on top of whats hapthe economics usually favor the dark pening in Washington, D.C. As it fiber approach over the lit service. makes financial sense to install new That said, relying on dark fiber has dark fiber, we will do so, McKinley its risks. With lit fiber service, if a fiber concludes. Typically we are always goes bad, you pick up the phone, call the looking at locations in the D.C. area carrier, and they dispatch one of their that can be better served for newsgathtechnicians with their spare parts to fix ering purposes if permanent circuits the problem, McKinley said. With were available. n an invaluable tool for keeping track of assets, coordinating inter-application workflows, and setting up batch processes such as file conversion and renaming. Media Encoder is a simple batch media transcoder, and now 64-bit aware. One of the things thats particularly handy about it is that it will start encoding as soon as an item is brought into the single control/batch window, making it very handy to set up in conjunction with a watch folder. It is very easy to set and preview parameters and create new presets. Media Encoder is clearly set up to be direct competition to Apples Compressor, which ships as a part of Final Cut Studio, and in my recent use, surpasses it by far in speed, quality, ease of use, and dependability.
SUMMARY
CBS News first deployed fiber transport for the 2008 Super Bowl, Olinsky notes. We then used it to cover both the 2008 Democratic and Republican National Conventions, and have been running with fiber transport since then, he said. Its faster, extends our distance, has much more capacity and doesnt run into the hub-and-spoke problems that copper-based networks can experience. Of course, every silver lining comes attached to a cloud. In this case, the issue is fibers lower level of durability compared to copper cabling. Copper stands up better to being driven over than fiber, which breaks and cant stand up to sharp bends, Olinsky said. As well, you cant splice fiber in the field the way you can copper; all fiber terminations have to be done beforehand. Finally, you need to have active equipment at both ends of the fiber, which we dont with copper. These limits notwithstanding, Olinsky is very impressed by fiber optic transport. We couldnt do what were doing with HD ENG without fiber, he said. It is that
Adobe
really made a huge impression on me, nor found much of a place in any of my workflows, up until this point. These are Bridge and Media Encoder. Bridge is a catalog, access and transfer utility that has only gotten better over the past few years. Once its pointed to a volume or directory, it immediately produces a catalog of all files in the hierarchy, providing thumbnails and previews when possible. It works with all manner of image, sound, movie, and PDF files, as well as Camera Raw. Bridge supports extensive metadata, keywords and sorts, collections, batch processing in Photoshop, Fireworks, and Illustrator, and has direct links to Soundbooth (for audio editing) and Encore (DVD and Blu-ray authoring). Its become
complete as far as media creation, presentation, and delivery systems, with the exception of dedicated 3D modeling and animation. Adobe seems to be very aware of the needs of its target users as it adds features, functions, and interoperability. One hopes that it can keep its developers eyes on the goal and not get lost behind program and/ or bloat. The complete Suite price delivers a lot of bang for the buck, though it may very well be overkill for many users, who would be advised to check out other more specific collections in the Creative Suite stable. Creative Suite, no matter the collection, continues to advance to possibilities for integrated media production, flexibility, speed, and functionality. Michael Hanish operates Free Lunch, a video/audio/multimedia production house near Guilford, Vt. He may be contacted at michael@freelunchmedia.com.
All of the elements of Creative Suite 5 Master Collection are incredibly
TV Technology
August 4, 2010
39
Product Review
CBL
back the light beams refracted at different angles by the slits and grooves in the CBLs condensing lens core. The colored light refracted by the circular prisms IN USE I tested the 110 mm CBL which is is also reflected back to the camera via the two-tiered lens element. The idea geared for a broad variety of cameras behind this is to bend light into many from DSLRs to various Pro HD camwavelengths, ultimately reflecting all the corders. I used it mainly with a Canon XL H1 HDV camcorder equipped with colors in the spectrum. The goal of this disk sandwich is the Canon 20X lens and a 1.5x extender to sample the full color spectrum and from the 16x9 folks, as well as with a enable cameras to achieve full color bal- Canon 28-300 mm digital still lens ance, as opposed to the standard white adapted to the XL H1 with Canons balance based on medium grey, and EF-XL mount adapter. For much of my originally designed for black and white evaluation I shot wildlife at the higher ProductShowcase-banner 12/28/09 2:32 PM end Page of 42 the tele range, with color balphotography. The CBL is supposed to9:31 work particuTVT 12.02.09.PS 11/19/09 AM Pageanced 44 for bright daylight, as well as for larly well with SLR cameras, and claims sunset and some in-between conditions. to be the only light balancing device for Initially, I was careful not to alternate digital cameras using full color balance between the CBL full color-balance readmethodology. The units grey side is made ing and the balance done with a white up of 13 different materials selected to card, until it became apparent that there produce the most consistent and accurate was little difference in most shooting color balance feasible in direct sunlight, situations. However, by the time the herons were flying to their night roosts, and also under studio lighting. The CBL comes in four sizes: 220, the color temperature got noticeably 110, 85 and 60 mm. All but the 220 mm hotter and redder, and I did rebalance size fits easily into a coat pocket, even to keep the foliage crisp and green. It when protected in their velour carry- was then that I found the results with ing pouches, and are easy to pack along the CBL device were consistently more natural looking and reliable. Hence, I when shooting. The CBL kit includes a compact mainly used the unit during evening pocket guide for the lens, with tips for hours, as it did a better job of averaging using it effectively under many condi- the extremes of light then, including the
tions and with different cameras. (Theres a separate section for DSLRs too.) The guide includes a number of color photos that compare balancing results of the CBL vs. standard white balance and grey card methods.
hot reds of the setting sun and the blues and magentas of back lighting. I found that I could rely on the CBL unit to help avoid color shifts, particularly in the green region where such shifts are most obvious. And as I was capturing to HDV, I really wanted to avoid color correction and any additional processing that might affect image quality. The consistently accurate readings obtained with the color balancing lens helped me do that with a few exceptions. One of these was when I hurriedly rebalanced with the subject about two feet from the lens and I couldnt see the image clearly in the viewfinder. (I probably filled less than the recommended 60 percent of the frame). The CBL unit excelled in mixed lighting conditions. I tried it with various combinations of tungsten, fluorescent, daylight LEDs and daylight color temperatures, and consistently came out with better flesh tones and more natural colors. (They often seemed slightly warmer, but appreciably more natural looking.) This was particularly true at low light levels.
SUMMARY
with a simple white card. However, in comparing the CBL balance to standard white balancing techniques in broad daylight, or with plenty of LED or tungsten lighting indoors, both often yielded identical or nearly identical results. I did have one slight issue with the device though. This was when I was shooting around sunset, with the suns rays at a very low angle. As I was shooting alone, I had no way to elevate the CBL off the ground by the three to four feet needed to get above vegetation level and out of deep shade conditions. The unit does come with a strap which could be attached to a pole with arm staked into the ground, but thats another gizmo waiting to be devised. The CBL devices consistency and superior performance in mixed lightingalong with its extreme portabilitystill makes it a handy accessory and one that serious cinematographers should consider. This is especially true if you want to avoid extensive and meticulous color correction in post production. The device is cheap insurance against having to do so; but dont expect it to operate like some kind of a magic wand. Fundamentals of photography and common sense still apply. Carl Mrozek operates Eagle Eye Media, based in Buffalo, N.Y., which specializes in wildlife and outdoor subjects. His work regularly appears on the Discovery Channel, The Weather Channel, CBS, PBS and other networks. Contact him at eagleye11@ gmail.com.
For the most part the CBL color balancing lens performed as advertised, delivering natural looking color-balanced images under most lighting conditions. However, it performed best in mixed lighting environments, regardless of the color temperature blend, and consistently eclipsed the results obtained
FiDO SDI/Optical Converters

Broadcast Quality
FiDO-R: Single channel Fiber to SDI converter
with dual SDI outputs
Universal Analog / Digital / Analog with looping SDI output Transcoder Model FiDO-2T: Dual channel SDI toSDI-313 Fiber converter
FiDO-TR: SDI/Fiber transceiver A Universal analog-to-analog, analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog transcoder for 525/625 TV systems. It converts any components or composite inputs to any other components and composite outputs, as well as to SDI. It also converts SDI input to any composite and components outputs. Internal analog color bars test signal. Digital sampling with 10-bit accuracy. Digital processing with 12-bit accuracy. Adaptive 3 or 5-line comb filters. www.aja.com Quality antialias filters at the inputs and outputs. 1.800.251.4224
Priced under $1500.
FiDO-2R: Dual channel Fiber to SDI converter FiDO-T: Single channel SDI to Fiber converter
SDI to Analog Converter Model SDI-110

A true 10-bit SDI to Analog Converter! Fully equalized and re-clocked SDI output! NTSC or PAL output! Professional quality wideband components and composite outputs! Selectable luminance sharpness filters! Adjustable video output levels! Internally generated color bar test signal! Budget priced! List $895. Two independent units in 1 RU cabinet also available. Xintekvideo Inc. Stamford CT (203) 348-9229
www.xintekvideo.com.
SDI to NTSC Converter Model SDI-1 NTSC to SDI Converter Model SDI-3
When you wish to monitor digital video on an analog monitor, you will appreciate the digital loop-through capability of the Model SDI-1 and the AC coupled analog output. List $295. To convert from NTSC or PAL to SDI, our Model SDI-3 provides outstanding performance with 10-bit accuracy, for the low price of $345 including power supply. Both units come in a fully shielded aluminium box.
Xintekvideo Inc.
1.530.274.2048
Stamford CT (203) 348-9229
Xintekvideo Inc.
Stamford CT (203) 348-9229
40
August 4, 2010
TV Technology
Business and Technology Intelligence

Deborah D. McAdams, Senior Editor dmcadams@nbmedia.com www.televisionbroadcast.com
Federal Court Boots FCC Indecency Rules
Retrans Turf Wars
NEW YORK
Should we be afraid?
The notion that Time Warner and its big pay TV allies are part of a group designed to protect consumers is about as credible as BP executives joining Greenpeace, Wharton said in one of his more colorful pronouncements. Greenpeace, however, did generously offer to redesign BPs logo. No such olive branch has been extended in the current retrans snit. Broadcasters instead are urging lawmakers to refrain from changing retransmission consent rules and thereby helping cable companies punish viewers with higher bills. The phrase showed up in letters sent to the New York City Council and two of the states Congressmen. It seems the New York contingent has fallen in with the ATVA, because who doesnt want to protect consumers in todays changing TV environment? Conjuring danger from which consumers must be protected is a cottage industry in Washington, D.C., after all. It allows politicians and lobbyists to jut their chins and feel righteous. No one really believes people are going to be injured by retransmission consent negotiations. And no one really cares. What they do care about is creating the impression that the other guy is responsible for escalating cable and satellite TV bills. Whether or not retransmission consent rules end up being reformed, one outcome is certain. Pay TV will not get cheaper.
f I didnt know better, Id think I was in grave danger from retransmission consent. Scores of businesses recently lined up to protect me from itor from the lack of it, depending on perspective. And here I was walking around thinking imminent threats involved only UV rays, environmental toxins, airborne viruses, terrorism, nuclear war, assorted psychopaths and the San Andreas Fault. But no! The new American Television Alliance was formed to ensure consumers are not harmedor their favorite shows held hostagein negotiations for carriage of broadcast programming. OMG, I thought to myself as a single-syllable word. Have retrans negotiations become turf wars? Are Anne Sweeney and Brian Roberts running around my neighborhood with Glocks? That would make for awesome copy! The ATVA is having none of it, however. Its members intend to prevent broadcasters from using consumers as pawns in retransmission negotiations. Thats because the ATVA is comprised of an immaculate Good Samaritanry that includes Verizon, AT&T, Cablevision, DirecTV, Dish Network and Time Warner Cable and others. One can rest assured their motives are entirely altruistic, unless one is Dennis Wharton of the National Association of Broadcasters.
federal appeals court threw out the FCCs indecency rules last month. A three-judge panel with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit effectively invalidated the commissions indecency policy, stating that it violates the First Amendment because it is unconstitutionally vague, creating a chilling effect that goes far beyond the fleeting expletives at issue here. The case involves an FCC crackdown on spontaneous cursing by celebrities on TV, reaching back to 2002 when Cher dropped an F-bomb on Fox. The FCC under the direction of former Chairman Kevin Martin issued the ruling against fleeting expletives in an indecency dragnet generating $4.5 million in fines. Under federal law, content is considered indecent if it describes or depicts sexual or excretory organs or activities [and] the broadcast must be patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium. Martins predecessor, Michael Powell, had waved off Bonos use of an exclamatory F-word on the 2003 Golden Globe Awards because there was no sexual connotation. Though Fox was not fined, it challenged the FCCs censures as violations of the First Amendment. CBS and ABC were also censured and joined the lawsuit. The Second Circuit Court sided with Fox, et al, on the premise the FCC hadnt provided proper notice for the policy change between Powells and Martins tenures. It did not take up the constitutional question. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the FCC in April 2009, and directed the lower court to rule on the First Amendment challenge. Last months ruling is the result. The 32-page ruling, written by Judge Rosemary Pooler, addresses how both media and culture have changed since broadcast indecency rules were established. The rules rest in part on broadcast being the single-most pervasive media in the country, which is no longer the case. The judges cited the availability of the V-chip, allowing parents to block content, and took issue with the FCC for deeming some vulgarities censurable while letting others go. The court said that the FCCs application of indecency rules chilled a vast amount of protected speech dealing with some of the most important and universal themes in art and literature. Sex and the magnetic power of sexual attraction are surely among the most predominant themes in the study of humanity since the Trojan War. The digestive system and excretion are also important areas of human attention. By prohibiting all patently offensive references to sex, sexual organs, and excretion without giving adequate guidance as to what patently offensive means, the FCC effectively chills speech, because broadcasters have no way of knowing what the FCC will find offensive. The judges said their decision didnt suggest the FCC couldnt create a constitutional indecency policy, but rather that the one in place fails constitutional scrutiny. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said the FCC was reviewing the courts decision in light of our commitment to protect children, empower parents and uphold the First Amendment.
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approach to spectrum policy that does not jeopardize broadcasting. We have no quarrel with incentive auctions that are truly voluntary, he said. We are concerned, however, that an arbitrary goal of reallocating 120 MHz of the spectrum currently designated for broadcast televisionmore than 40 percent of the current allotmentwould create a number of serious engineering and practical difficulties. Smith goes on to say that the presupposed 120 MHz reallocation was found unfeasible by a recent gathering of top broadcast engineers. They considered channel-sharing, advanced compression, cellurization of the broadcast architecture and improvements in VHF reception. No approach was found provide efficiencies adequate to yield 120 MHz without harming TV reception. Smith noted that the broadcast television industry just spent more than $10 billion to complete the government-mandated transition to digital broadcasting. During the process, stations returned 108 MHz of spectrum to the government--spectrum that has already been auctioned to wireless service providers and allocated to public safety, but which has yet to be deployed, he said. Smith asked that spectrum policy adhere to four principles: continued access to digital multicasts, and to mobile DTV in the future; undiminished signal strength; protected allocations for broadcasters who dont turn over spectrum; and no new spectrum taxes. We stand ready to work constructively through a fact-based process that remains truly voluntary and founded upon the engineering realities of sound spectrum management, he said. The Obama Administration gave the FCC 10 years to free up the 500 MHz. The commissions own timeline comprises 64 proceedings, new and established. A TV spectrum reallocation Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is tentatively scheduled to be issued in the third quarter of this year for a resulting Order to be completed next year. Auctions are to be scheduled for 2012-13, with the spectrum hand-over in 2015. One point Smith did not get tough on was a spectrum inventory. Bills have been circulating in Congress calling for one, and another was introduced last month. The Spectrum Measurement and Policy Reform Act is the most detailed bill yet, and the first to authorize the FCC to share revenues with broadcasters who voluntarily relinquish spectrum for auction.
FCC Frees Up Mobile DTV With Analog Tuner Waiver

WASHINGTON
he Federal Communications Commission has released mobile DTV from a regulatory obstacle. The commission waived a requirement that mobile digital broadcast TV receivers include analog decoding technology. We consider the petitions jointly and conclude that a waiver is in the public interest because it would facilitate the introduction of television receivers with mobile DTV tuners that are designed to be used in motion, the FCC order stated. As a condition of the waiver, however, we require that responsible parties clearly disclose to consumers that a specific device does not have the capability to receive analog signals, and, where applicable, standard non-mobile digital signals. Dell, LG Electronics and Hauppauge filed petitions to waive the analog-tuner requirement, which originated from a 1962 law ensuring all TVs had UHF reception. The so-called All Channel Receiver Act directed that all TV sets had to be able to tune in all frequencies
allocated for television broadcasting. It was amended in 2002 to accommodate the digital TV transition, which concluded last June. The analog tuner requirement remained in place, however, because low-power TV stations and translators continue to broadcast in analog. The mobile DTV standard, ATSC M/H or A/153, was adopted last October, just two-and-a-half years into development as broadcasters raced to get into the mobile video market. Handheld viewing devices debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, but it wasnt until May that the analog-tuner requirement came into question. LG, Dell and Hauppauge said analog tuners were inappropriate and unnecessary for mobile DTV receivers. They said the mandate was a burdensome obligation that would actually diminish the value of these devices to consumers. LG said including an analog tuner would mean splitting the input from the reception antenna, diminishing the signal strength by 3 dB and in turn, reducing the overall reception area. Only devices dedicated to A/153 reception are covered by the waiver. late June when President Obama issued a memo directing the FCC to secure 500 MHz of spectrum for its Omnibus Broadband Initiative. The goal of the initiative is to create a nationwide, wireless broadband network. It includes a proposal to reallocate 120 MHz of broadcast TV spectrum for NAB President Gordon Smith broadband, and a mechanism for imposing new license fees. Smith implored Summers to consider a holistic
NAB Chief Says No New Spectrum Taxes

WASHINGTON
roadcasters who dont voluntarily hand over spectrum for the administrations broadband shouldnt be charged new fees. Gordon Smith, head of the National Association of Broadcasters, made the point in a letter to an Obama Administration official last month. Stations that choose not to participate in a voluntary incentive auction must not be subjected to onerous new spectrum taxes that would make it increasingly difficult for stations to finance local programming, operations and newsgathering efforts, Smith said, in a letter to Lawrence Summers, director of the National Economic Council. Summers was the administrations point man in
42
August 4, 2010
TV Technology www.tvtechnology.com
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