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June 7, 2007
Glendale Government Access Channel Heats Up
Town meetings never looked so good.
The continuing drop in price of HD production gear is allowing Glendale, Arizona’s local cable station to produce news, sports, and information segments in high def. Laurie Berg Sapp, Glendale cable media administrator, says it’s about time. “I’ve worked in broadcast news for more than 20 years and three years ago I decided there was no reason government access TV shouldn’t look like broadcast TV,” she says. “We may be limited on resources and people but the quality should be the same.”
The channel, available to Cox and Qwest Cable subscribers, is on the air 24/7 and will install the equipment in a new HD control and production studio. That includes five Grass Valley LDK 8000 HD cameras, a Kayak HD production switcher, and a Concerto HD routing system. One goal is to have a top-notch facility that can be used by the crush of broadcasters that will descend on Glendale for the Super Bowl next February. There are two studios across from the stadium: one that is 60x50 feet and another that’s 30x40 feet.
“We’ve been working with PMK in Dallas to design the studio and facility and Grass Valley is the cream of the crop,” says Sapp. “We need to have the absolute best equipment to attract broadcasters to use the facility.”
Sapp hopes the facility will be operational by late summer, complete with fiber links to Cardinal Stadium, U.S. Airways Center and the Westgate shopping area. “Our idea is that trucks will pull in and have a wide variety of options,” she says. Sapp believes other cities and towns should also look to HD for government access. “Pretty soon everyone will have to broadcast in HD, and more and more viewers are buying HD sets,” she says. “It’s niche programming, but today just about everything is.”
More importantly, she adds, government access shouldn’t be relegated to second-class status. “We can be just as good as any other facility and our job is to make the programming informative and connect with people,” says Sapp. “The bar on production quality is going up and we need to respond to that and give viewers the same quality they get elsewhere.”
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Scripps Selects JVC ProHD For Newsgathering
The Scripps Television Station Group has selected JVC’s ProHD camera system to facilitate a move to HD newsgathering for its stations. Scripps will purchase more than 150 GY-HD250 ProHD camcorders, 150 BR-HD50sProHD recorder/players, 300 DR-HD10060G HD hard disk recorders and approximately 100 DTV monitors.
The deal follows a purchase last fall of JVC GY-HD250s by WXYZ-TV Detroit. The station upgraded its local news coverage to HD on October 4, 2006, and used the GY-HD250s for its HD coverage of the November election. All Scripps stations will be upgraded. They include KNXV Phoenix, WFTS Tampa, WMAR Baltimore, WXYZ Detroit, WCPO Cincinnati, WEWS Cleveland (all ABC affiliates); WPTV West Palm Beach, WSHB Kansas City and KJRH Tulsa (NBC affiliates); and independent KMCI-TV Lawrence.
“Our industry is in the midst of a major technical upgrade to high definition,” says Scripps Vice President of Engineering, Michael Doback. “JVC's ProHD products enable Scripps stations to provide local news coverage--including remotes-in HD. This is the right solution, at the right time, and at the right price."
JVC’s ProHD GY-DH250 camcorder costs $8,995 and records on MiniDV cassettes or the DR-HD100U hard disk drives at 720p resolution. The camera’s optional camera control unit provides connection to industry-standard 26-pin multicore cabling for power, genlock, R/B gain, black level and intercom up to 330 feet. Robert Mueller, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, JVC Professional Products Company, says the sale is a testament to JVC’s technology. “This purchase positions JVC as a major supplier to the broadcast industry,” says Mueller. “Their adoption of ProHD will confirm the ease of integration from SD to HD for major groups and stations across the country.”
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MPEG-4 AVC Lightens Ultra HD Load
NHK, which began research into HD in 1964, has started public testing of the next-generation Ultra HD standard. That uses MPEG-4 compression to drop data rates to a fraction of what it currently requires to deliver Ultra HD images that are 16 times clearer than current HD formats and 22.2 channels of audio. NHK tapped ATEME to provide the MPEG-4 AVC encoding technology. “NHK Laboratories were looking for a programmable and scalable platform for MPEG-4 AVC encoding,” says Benoit Fouchard, ATEME VP of Worldwide Sales and Marketing. “They wanted to have a solution that would follow a continuous improvement process without being affected by the changes in the semi-conductor industry, such as chips going obsolete or changes in density and performance.”
NHK's Ultra HD technology includes a resolution of 7,680 x 4,320 pixels. The prototype super-fast cameras can capture data at a rate of 4,000 frames per second and the audio component is 22.2 (as compared to today’s 5.1 surround sound). All of that requires a tremendous amount of bandwidth. For example, 18 minutes of uncompressed Ultra HD footage consumes 3.5 TB of data, and one minute of uncompressed footage consumes 194 GB. The use of ATEME’s MPEG-4 AVC compression technology dramatically reduces the bandwidth requirements while maintaining quality.
In 2005 NHK first made an attempt with a multi DSP (Digital Signal Processors) platform but soon found it was short of horsepower for what the company wanted to do. That was when NHK found out about ATEME and its FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) approach.
“What was difficult at first was the gap between our MPEG-4 culture and NHK's MPEG-2 culture,” recalls Fouchard. “They had a wealth of experience that they wanted to apply to MPEG-4 encoding, but had no idea how we were doing it. And we found it difficult to explain. But today I think the technical communication is quite smooth and the cooperation is becoming more efficient as a result.”
Despite the large amount of data being encoded there is no delay increase or latency of encoding. “We have plans to support live broadcast shows and the latency will have to be similar to that experienced with HDTV,” says Fouchard. Using MPEG-4 AVC drops the bandwidth of Ultra HD to 128 Mbps. By 2020 that will drop to less than 50 Mbps, including 22.1 channels of audio. Ultra HD cameras, recorders, encoders and projectors are being developed now and 2009 will mark the introduction of the full specification for Ultra HD.
NHK estimates that satellite transmission tests will begin in 2011, and by 2020, Ultra HD will be ready for household broadcast.
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HD Weather Systems Hit Record High
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Bob Baron
President and CEO
Baron Services |
After just a year of offering High Definition weather solutions, Baron Services has emerged as the dominant provider of HD weather displays. More than 20 stations nationwide, including ones owned by Hearst-Argyle, ABC and Belo, use VIPIR HD, FasTrac HD and/or StormWarn HD to give weather maps a new sense of clarity. Bob Baron, Baron Services president and CEO, discussed the role HD weather systems are increasingly playing at TV stations.
Q: When stations are adding HD capabilities are they simply adding an HD version of their previous system or are they changing to another system?
A: It is a mix of both. We have some clients that are becoming Baron Clients for the first time while other stations have had VIPIR or FasTrac and have upgraded the system to the HD version. The HD system is completely new hardware and is the best technology available in the market. It is true HD out of the box and does not require any up-converting.
Q: One of the challenges with HD/SD is the need for center-cutting a 4:3 image. But a weather map could be in 16:9 so both SD and HD viewers have a full-screen experience. Are stations doing that? Should they be?
A: Yes, we have heard that some of our clients are broadcasting in full HD. They leave space on the sides for those who have HD at home. They set their systems in SD so that the SD viewers can see banners, time clocks etc., but some clients use the entire screen for those who can see the HD. And we think they should take advantage of the additional space to give viewers a complete look at the weather conditions. In addition, this gives meteorologists an opportunity to share even more information with the viewers.
Q: Why do you think HD for weather is important? Does it change the way viewers receive weather information?
A: Being able to view current weather in high definition changes the viewing experience. With HD, viewers are able to see the map and data much clearer and crisper, which is important when tracking severe weather.
With the 16 x 9 resolution, viewers and meteorologists can get a larger picture of what is happening. Additionally, if a station has HD and for some reason, it goes down, the standard definition is there to back it up. If a station only has standard definition, there is only analog to fall back on. All of our stations with the HD solution offer viewers more information, clearer and faster. The higher resolution presents a new realm of possibilities.
--Interviewed by Ken Kerschbaumer
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Two Cordillera Stations Make HD Move
(From a May 21 article in Broadcasting & Cable)
Cordillera Communications' owned- and-operated KVOA Tucson, AZ, and WLEX Lexington, KY made the leap into HD news for roughly $2 million per station. “We see the transition to high-definition for local news being an inevitable step,” says Tim Gilbert, president/general manager at WLEX. “We don't think 'anytime soon' will be the perfect time to do that. If we are going to wait for the perfect time to do this, it is not going to get there. So let's begin to service that portion of the audience who has adopted high-definition.” While the move hasn’t resulted in new revenue, the response to WLEX's hi-def launch “has been overwhelmingly positive,” says Gilbert.
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LodgeNet Gets HD Content From NBCU
(From a June 5 article at BroadcastingCable.com)
Hotel television provider LodgeNet Entertainment has signed a multi-year licensing deal with NBC Universal that will make high-definition movies from the Universal film studio available on LodgeNet's video-on-demand platform.
The deal includes NBCU's approval of LodgeNet’s in-room high-definition (HD) technology solution, which uses the "Pro:Idiom" content security system developed by TV set manufacturer LG Electronics, to protect NBCU's premium content throughout the hotel video distribution chain.
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Voom Serves Up Meat Loaf
(From a May 21 article in Broadcasting & Cable)
High-definition programmer and Rainbow subsidiary VOOM HD Networks is teaming with independent production firm Atlas Media Corp. to create an HD documentary focused on the robust rock star Meat Loaf. With a working title of "Meat Loaf: In Search of Paradise," the production will feature behind-the-scenes access to Meat Loaf, including rehearsals and performances during the first leg of the singer's worldwide tour. It is due to make its U.S. television premiere on Voom's Rave HD music channel, carried by satellite operator EchoStar, in the fourth quarter.
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Compressed HD Video Will Not Equal Quality on Cable, DBS
(From a May 31 article at Multichannel.com)
When Disney streams HD-quality programming over the Internet, expect the images to be less than stellar because the encoded bit rates are far below the MPEG-based HD streams from cable operators and broadcasters. Skarpi Hedinsson, vice president of technology for the Disney-ABC Television Group, said his group has tested HD-resolution video compressed at between 850 kilobits per second and 2 megabits per second. Cable providers typically encode HD streams at roughly 12-19 mbps using the MPEG-2 format, but even the more-efficient MPEG-4 standard requires at least 5 mbps for HD video displayed on large-screen TV sets.
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Operator Adds HD A&E, HGTV, Food Network
(From a May 31 article at Multichannel.com)
Comcast New England expanded its HD-programming lineup, launching high-def versions of A&E, HGTV and Food Network in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The cable operator said the HD networks are available on both Comcast legacy systems and systems Comcast acquired from Adelphia. Comcast now offers 24 HD networks in New England, including HD feeds from CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox; Versus/Golf Channel; ESPN; TNT; Universal; National Geographic; and Showtime.
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Time Warner Boasts of Virtually Unlimited HD Capacity
(From a June 4 article in Multichannel News)
Saying that it will be able to boost channel capacity to carry more HD networks, Time Warner Cable plans to deploy switched-digital-video technology on one-half of its systems nationwide by the end of 2007, according to chief operating officer Landel Hobbs. Hobbs acknowledged that Time Warner’s direct-broadcast satellite rivals have done a better job of marketing HDTV offerings. “Shame on us because we haven’t really done a good job of marketing [HDTV],” Hobbs said at a Deutsche Bank Securities conference in New York.
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Echostar Rolls Out HDTV Receiver
(From a June 4 article at Multichannel.com)
EchoStar Communications and its Dish Network are launching an HDTV receiver to complement their premier line of ViP set-top boxes. The ViP222 is an advanced MPEG-4 dual-tuner receiver that powers two rooms, one in HD and the second in all-digital standard-definition. The ViP222 also features on-screen caller ID, a host of interactive services through DishHOME interactive TV, picture-in-picture and parental locks.
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Wal-Mart’s Flat-Panel Expansion Mixes Up Shelf Share
(From a June 4 article in TWICE)
TV additions at Wal-Mart helped shake up shelf-share positioning in key digital television categories in May, according to a TV shelf-share intelligence report from Current Analysis West, an NPD Group company. Vizio's LCD TV shelf share jumped from 1.8 percent in April to 5.9 percent in May with the move, Current Analysis said. At the same time, Wal-Mart dramatically increased its overall LCD TV assortment. Last month, the chain carried 28 models from 10 manufacturers nationwide. That jumped to 36 LCD TV models from 11 vendors. Current Analysis said the increase resulted from a slew of new LCD TV releases from Sanyo, Polaroid, Funai, iLO and Vizio.
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Plasma Makers Agree to Swap
(From a May 24 article at TWICE.com)
Matsushita and Hitachi agreed to supply each other with key large plasma-display-panel screen sizes, the companies said. Under the agreement, Matsushita, which markets the Panasonic brand, will supply Hitachi with 103-inch panels starting this year, while Hitachi will sell Matsushita forthcoming 85-inch panels beginning in the next fiscal year.
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DisplaySearch: Q1 TV Sales Sluggish
(From a May 23 article at TWICE.com)
Global TV unit shipments fell 21 percent in the first quarter of 2007, but rose 4 percent to 45.5 million sets year to year, according to DisplaySearch’s just released Quarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report. DisplaySearch said blended TV prices fell 1 percent quarter to quarter while rising 5 percent year to year to $524, the lowest value since the first quarter of 2006. LCD and plasma TV prices continued to experience rapid price erosion, falling 22 percent and 33 percent year to year to $936 and $1,562, respectively.
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HDTV Choices Not All Black and White
RockyMountainNews.com reports that Edward Kelley, a Boulder physicist, has gone deep inside different HDTV displays to figure out what consumers should be looking for when buying a set. He runs the Flat Screen Display Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder. But don't ask Kelley to recommend a specific brand or whether to go with LCD, plasma or micromirrors. He concentrates on how to properly measure the performance of any sort of display in terms of color, brightness, grayscale rendering and other factors. Plus, he says, different environments call for different screens. In Kelley's lab, a demonstration plasma display mirrored back much more room lighting than the LCD next to it but outclassed the LCD when the lights were turned down.
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Canadians Ride HD Learning Curve
Canada.com reports that many Canadians who recently purchased an HDTV set are now figuring out how to optimize their displays. Topping the to-do list is simply understanding if the TV set is truly HD capable or whether it is an “EDTV” that can only display 480 or 576 lines of resolution. And when it comes to adjusting the HD set the recommendation is simple: increase the contrast and lower the brightness. "A quick and easy way to vastly improve picture quality--right off the bat--is to crank up the contrast on your television almost to full and reduce the brightness down to below half," advises Chris Porteous, president of La Boutique Electronique. "It makes blacks blacker, colors richer, and gets rid of the washed-out look many HDTVs have."
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South African DBS Viewers Will Have HD For World Cup
News24.com reports that Sentech, the South African satellite operator, intends to launch at least one HDTV satellite channel in time for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, according to Dr. Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, the South African Minister of Communications. Sentech will also build a second teleport to provide additional capacity needed for the 2010 satellite uplink requirement. Cabinet approved the move for the Digital Migration process to be switched on by November 1, 2008 with the analog signal switched off on the same date in 2011. The minister also said there would be set-top boxes in order to give all people access to digital signals using their analog TVs.
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Belo Station Offers Lessons Learned in Move to HD
Broadcast Engineering reports on the HD production lessons Belo’s KING Seattle learned since the station first aired a local evening magazine show in HD in 2003. Willie McClarron, Jr., manager of broadcast operations for KING and KONG, said the one thing the stations learned about HD is the infrastructure needs to support moving much more data. The station also recommends building towards 16:9 production, whether for HD or SD viewers (field content is still acquired on SD gear and upconverted). Says McClarron, “I’ve been through other transitions that haven’t been nearly as smooth as this one.”
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Si TV to Launch First HD Network for U.S. Latinos
WorldScreen.com reports that Si TV will launch the first HD channel for U.S. Latinos next year. The 24/7 channel will offer shows shot in HD (Si TV is in production on two high-definition series for 2008) and will include music, reality and comedy. It will be offered through Verizon’s FiOS system and will tap into a market that is expected to have a buying power of $1.2 trillion by 2010.
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How Stations Gear Up For HD
Television Broadcast reports on the steps TV stations need to take to offer a high-quality HD experience. Along with the new gear is blocking and staging techniques and possibly even a new set. It’s also important to have proper lighting (a custom kit is between $150,000 and $200,000) and new graphics gear that is HD capable, not just upconverted SD.
For more…
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