HD Update - 4/27/06
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Top StoryNow, Ultra HD! Just when the U.S. and the rest of the world was finally settling into a routine with the HD transition along comes Japanese broadcaster NHK with a demonstration of Ultra High-Definition TV system at the NAB convention. Resolution of the new system is 7,680x4,320 lines, delivering 32 million pixels, 16 times the current 1920x1080 standard that has two million pixels. While Nagamitsu Endo, NHK Enterprises America producer, co-productions, says the system isn’t expected to be ready for consumer deployment until 2025 it already has caught the eye of the industry’s leading HD proponents. And how could it not? Displayed on a massive 20x30 foot screen with 22.2 channels of audio the jaw-dropping material included dramatic shots of dawn in New York City, crowds at soccer matches, cherry blossoms in bloom in Japan, and a killer whale jumping at an aquarium show that was so realistic attendees expected to get wet. “In the early days of HD technology was a moving target and NHK has just raised the bar again,” says Randall P. Dark, president of HD Vision Studios in Los Angeles and one of the true early adopters of HD production gear. “And once again we’re looking at big, bulky technology that is user hostile, very expensive, and will take some time before someone like myself can go in the field and create images with.” Endo says there are only two Ultra HD cameras in the world and he hopes to have one in the U.S. to acquire U.S.-based video. The system features a massive camera that looks like a prop out of “Good Night and Good Luck” and requires a specially built Image Processor, the VP-8400, from Astrodesign. Features of the system include real-time chromatic aberration correction (which keeps colors more realistic) and HD resolution conversion so images shot at the higher resolution can easily be downconverted to current HD standards. Transmission data rates are currently 640 Mbps. The system also features 22.2 channels of audio, making it, eventually, ideal for theater and Imax-like movie going experiences. There are four layers of audio: a lower layer with three channels, a middle layer with10 channels and an upper level with nine channels. Two Low Frequency channels are also in place. “It’s very expensive technology but it’s exciting because it’s a level up,” says Dark. “It’s bigger, better and brighter. I’m just upset that it isn’t American companies that are coming up with technologies like this.” NewsPanasonic Gets Big Beijing Olympics Deal Panasonic has been selected by theBeijing Olympic Broadcasting Co, the host broadcaster of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, to provide all of the acquisition equipment for the organization, a massive deal that includes hundreds of DVCPRO HD cameras and decks. Financial details were unavailable. “It will be the first time the entire Olympics will be shot in HD and DVCPRO HD will be there,” said John Baisley, Panasonic Broadcast president. (NBC did over 300 hours of the winter games in HD).The Panasonic deal topped the list of a number of HD deals signed just prior to NAB. Lehrer Will Get a Better LookWETA Washington, DC, working between PBS and Sony, will add new production gear that will help The Newshour with Jim Lehrer make the move to HD in the spring of 2007. “We’ll be converting the cameras, production switcher and display to HD, a move that will enhance our capabilities and improve the quality, and value, of the programs we distribute” says Joe Burns, COO of WETA. Lehrer says the move will give a whole new meaning to the Newshour’s reputation for depth and breadth. “It will give our viewers a sharper, broader picture of the world around them and we can’t wait. We’re looking forward to delivering a picture that is as wide as the points of view our program represents and a picture with the clarity of thought our program aims to deliver.” The WETA announcement at NAB was one of many HD customer deals announced by Sony as HD steps front-and-center in its booth. Another PBS station, WYCC Chicago, is also moving to HD as part of a new facility, it was announced at the show.. “We’re fully invested in supplying audiences with intelligent, visually superior programming,” says Dr. Wayne Watson, chancellor of the City Colleges of Chicago. “This effort is about much more than taking WYCC into the future: it’s equally about showing highly visible change, economic growth, and development in a poverty-striken area.” HDTV Ready for Third DimensionA new 3D HDTV system designed by NTS, NHK Technical Services, will be ready for deployment some time next year, according to Stuart Uleman, NTS senior engineer and media planning for the system. At the NAB show the company demonstrated the technology on a number of flat panel plasma screens as well as a 202-inch DLP projector system. Each projector had a polarizing filter in front of it to isolate the light for the glasses. “Each projector is a regular 1080p projector,” says Uleman. “But for the TV sets the HD is encoded for 3D and the sets have a polarizing filter in the front which creates the 3D effect.” The 3D TV sets should be available in 2007 or 2008 and will cost approximately $30,000, leaving them out of the realm of the average consumer but a possibility for use at museums, theme parks and other public attractions. The International Olympic Committee museum in Lucerne, Switzerland already has a system in place and several theaters in Japan already use them. Disney has already shown some interest in the technology. The cost, however, should drop once set construction moves to mass-production. “Right now the filters are all hand built so it’s a tedious process,” says Uleman. Because the 3D signals do not require any additional bandwidth for transmission one scenario for the future could involve cable operators or even broadcasters creating a 3D HD channel that could show special events or movies. Shooting the material, however, does require some special gear. Like the IMAX 3D movies two cameras are required to sit next to each other with each recording to a different VCR. NTS also co-developed a 3D zoom lens with Fujinon so both lenses zoom at once. “We do the post production twice and voila, 3D HDTV,” says Uleman. The potential to bring 3D to the home could lead to an explosion in 3D production. “The set wouldn’t just be for 3D so a consumer can have one set for both 3D and 2D,” adds Uleman. Q &AThe Expanding Harris World 
Tim Thorsteinson
Q. When it came to HD Harris used to be strictly transmission. But after acquiring companies like Leitch and Videotek you’ve added many more HD products like video servers and other gear. How do you think the transition to HD is going and how is it impacting the new Harris?
A. We have a very broad product offering that is pretty much now all HD. And even places like Germany are getting involved in HD as we just completed a million dollar deal last month that was all HD. They’re really gearing up for the World Cup which is going to be in HD. It’s really become a global market. We have HD servers and automation involved in a project with BSkyB [in the UK] right now. Q. Does that mean U.S. customers will be able to ride a falling price curves because the market is larger? A. We used to get a 10% premium for HD equipment but now I think that within 24 months HD will be the same price as SD, with the exception of the camera acquisition side. And most of the equipment will be switchable between SD and HD. In fact, it’ll be hard to find analog gear. Q. At both Grass Valley and Leitch you drove research and development pretty hard and invested in it. Now you’re under the larger Harris umbrella. Does that change your approach to R&D? A. There’s no reason we can’t invest more than the rest of the industry in R&D. And I used to joke at Grass Valley that if I was going to be fired it would be because I overspent on R&D. The Kalypso switcher and other products required heavy investment in the front end. But it’s the life blood of the business. If you want to keep the margins up and differentiate you have to invest in R&D. It’s a vicious circle but somebody has to have faith. Otherwise you’ll be in the other spiral where your margins deteriorate, you don’t get the new products, and ultimately the business model stops working. We also have the opportunity to leverage some of the government R&D investment that’s done into the product side of the business. We can’t really productize that but we can use the technology and you’ll see some of those products in the next six months. ---Interviewed by Ken Kerschbaumer Briefing Room ABC News Using ProHD Unit (From an April 24 article on Broadcastingcable.com)ABC’s Good Morning America has been using the JVC HD100 ProHD HDV-format high-def camera to capture the opening shot of Good Morning America from ABC's Times Square studio in New York. ABC also utilizes cameras for ABC News productions to inter-cut material shot on high-end HD cameras. ABC's London news bureau now has three HD100's implemented with Avid Express non-linear editors. For more...
ESPN Offers an HD Assist (From an April 24 article in Multichannel News)ESPN says Time Warner Cable, Adelphia Communications Corp., Cablevision Systems Corp., Comcast Corp., Charter Communications Inc. and Mediacom Communications Corp. are expected to begin running promos designed to help operators deal with the estimated 8 million high-definition set owners who have not ordered HD programming to go with it. For more...
Chyron Introduces HD Branding System (From an April 24 article on Broadcastingcable.com)Chyron Corporation has developed a turnkey branding system called Channel Box that is switchable between high-def and standard-def formats and is designed to be used with broadcasters' digital television channels. For more...
Sony Ups HD Marketing Plan (From an April 24 article in Twice magazine)Sony says it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars in the next 12 months to promote its Bravia and SXRD HDTV sets. Why? Because current campaigns have helped both HDTV sets top consumer electronics sales list. For more...
Martin Focusing on DTV via Cable (From an April 25 article on Multichannelnews.com)Ensuring that every analog-only cable subscriber can view digital-TV signals is "critical" to completing a smooth transition to all-digital broadcasting in February 2009, Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin said at the NAB Show. For more...
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