TOP STORY
- Motorola, Sony Back New Wireless HD Standard
Four major consumer electronics manufacturers and Motorola have set up a consortium to develop a new standard that will allow high-definition content to be moved wirelessly around the house between TVs, set-top boxes, PCs, Blu-ray players and other consumer electronic devices. more » » »
NEWS
- Shooting ‘SNL Digital Shorts’ in HD
While “SNL Digital Shorts” have been one of the most popular features of Saturday Night Live, the production of these popular segments poses huge production challenges. Typically, the scripts for segments aren’t approved until late on Wednesday night and they must be shot, edited and delivered in a completed form before the show’s Saturday night airing. more » » »
- Fujitsu Sees Increased Demand for MPEG-4 Encoders
While very few stations offering local news in high-definition have yet to make the move to offering true HD content from the field, a growing number are looking to upgrade their satellite news gathering (SNG) and electronic news gathering (ENG) operations to HD, said Dan Dalton, director of new product development at Fujitsu Computer Products of America. more » » »
Q&A
 Q&A: Snell & Wilcox’s Joe Zaller
The rapid transition to HD has boosted demand for Snell & Wilcox’s Kahuna switcher, which is designed to help broadcasters handle several formats as they move to HD. Company VP of corporate development Joe Zaller talked about their work for multichannel players and the booming international markets. more » » »
BRIEFING ROOM
- NBC's Multiplatform Push
(From an August 4 article in Broadcasting & Cable)
NBC's Olympic coverage from Beijing should make technophiles leap for joy, both for the production quality and sheer volume of action. The 2008 Summer Games are the first where all sports will be covered with high-definition cameras, thanks to a commitment by the Chinese government and host broadcaster Beijing Olympic Broadcasting to have a fully hi-def infrastructure in place. Some 2,200 hours of live streaming broadband coverage of 25 sports will also run, plus another 3,000 hours of on-demand video including highlights and encores. more » » »
- NBC's Plans for a Beijing Bonanza
(From an August 4 article in Broadcasting & Cable)
After being criticized in the past for limited and delayed Olympic coverage, NBC is now going to an unprecedented extreme. Of 3,800 possible hours of Olympic competition, the network will air 3,600, with 1,400 running on television and another 2,200 being streamed online and every jump, stroke or kick on NBC and its HD channel, Universal HD, will be delivered in HD. The array of programming options is NBC's nod to changing viewing habits and an aggressive play to snare as many “viewers” as possible for an event that is costing the network nearly $900 million (part of an overall $4.2 billion Olympic TV package for the Summer and Winter Games from 2006-12). more » » »
- NCTA Supports MPAA Waiver Request
(From a July 31 article at Broadcastingcable.com)
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association asked the Federal Communications Commission to grant studios the ability to selectively block copying of HD movies via output controls on cable set-top boxes. The NCTA, which supported the FCC ban on selectable output controls, also supports waiving that ban for studios that say they want to try delivering HD movies to multichannel-video subscribers before they are released on DVD but they need to be able to prevent their copying to protect that DVD window. Other multichannel-video providers like DirecTV and AT&T also support the waiver. more » » »
- CBS' Evening News Goes HD, Quietly
(From a July 29 article at Broadcastingcable.com)
CBS' Evening News with Katie Couric began broadcasting Monday night in 1080-line interlace HD, supported by a new multimillion-dollar control room that CBS spent the past year-and-a-half building. Although the HD video looked pristine, the start of the broadcast was plagued by audio problems that forced many affiliates to switch back to the standard-definition broadcast for the first half of the program. The audio problem was fixed and the HD feed was fully restored midway through the broadcast. more » » »
- Intel to Sponsor CBS HD Content Online
(From a July 24 article at Broadcastingcable.com)
CBS Interactive is now offering a bevy of HD CBS shows on the CBS.com Web site under an exclusive sponsorship with computer chip giant Intel. CBS, which previously disclosed plans to upgrade its video player to support HD content, is now providing full episodes and clips of CBS content such as CSI, Survivor, How I Met Your Mother, Big Brother, The Amazing Race and The Big Bang Theory in the 720-line-progressive HD format in the “CBS HD Gallery.” more » » »
- IFTA to FCC: Deny Studios’ HD-Movie Request
(From a July 31 article at Broadcastingcable.com)
The Independent Film & Television Alliance asked the Federal Communications Commission to deny the request by the major Hollywood studios to prevent the copying of some HD movies. The FCC has a prohibition on selectable output controls on set-top boxes, but the studios want to be able to selectively prohibit the copying of HD movies they want to deliver to homes via multichannel-video providers before they are released on DVD. Not being able to protect those selected outputs, the Motion Picture Association of America argued, would create an "unacceptably high" risk of illegal copying and distribution. more
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- CMC Plugs Digital, HD
(From an August 4 article in Multichannel News)
Comcast Media Center is stocking up on high-definition programming for smaller cable operators and gearing up an option that would let them take their systems all-digital more easily. At the Independent Show here, Comcast Media Center announced it has signed transport agreements for 14 additional HD channels, bringing to 20 the roster of HDTV channels that will be available through Headend In the Sky. The additional high-definition services, which represent eight programming groups, will be delivered via the Comcast Media Center’s Quantum MPEG-2 programming service. more » » »
- Cranking The HD Heat
(From an August 4 article in Multichannel News)
The high-definition arms race continues to escalate, with aggressive lineup expansions unveiled by Dish Network, DirecTV and Verizon Communications’ FiOS TV. At least for now, Dish Network and Verizon seem to be ahead in the battle to roll out the most national HD networks, as both said they plan to offer up to 150 national HD channels by year's-end. Dish Network’s news followed DirecTV’s announcement that it plans to raise its HD channel count to 130 starting in mid-August, and that it is launching local HD channels in 44 new markets. Meanwhile, Verizon said it is offering 100 HD networks to FiOS TV customers in the New York metro area and Cablevision Systems Corp. is increasing its free HDTV count to more than 60 by adding 15 more HD networks. more » » »
- LG Links To Netflix Via Net-Powered Blu-Ray Player
(From a July 31 article at Multichannel.com)
LG Electronics this fall plans to debut a Blu-ray DVD player that includes the ability to stream movies and TV episodes from Netflix, directly to subscribers’ TVs. LG’s BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc Player will play high-definition Blu-ray discs, “upconvert” standard DVDs to 1080p resolution and allow Netflix subscribers to watch some 12,000 titles streamed over the Internet. Pricing for the unit has been reported to be $400 to $450. more » » »
- Cox Scores 2010, 2012 Olympics Carriage Pact
(From a July 30 article at Multichannel.com)
A little more than a week before the start of NBC Universal’s 2008 Olympic coverage, Cox Communications has confirmed that it has reached a distribution deal with the programmer for the 2010 Winter and 2012 Summer Games, making it the first MSO to officially confirm an extension of the current NBCU Olympics deal, which expires at the end of this year. NBC has the U.S. television and digital rights to the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and the 2012 Summer Games in London. more » » »
AROUND THE WEB
- Study: Blu-Ray Players Still Facing Obstacles
Video Business reports that the prognosis for mainstream Blu-ray Disc adoption is mixed, as consumers remain reluctant to buy into the format’s set-top players but are increasingly purchasing PlayStation 3 consoles. According to a new study by ABI Research, more than half of the 1,000 consumer respondents said they have no plans to purchase a Blu-ray set-top in the near future, explaining they have other spending priorities. About one-quarter of respondents did say they are likely to buy a set-top but not until 2009. That attitude could spell trouble for the large number of new Blu-ray models launching through this year. more
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- The Real Story of HDTV Standards
Popular Mechanics takes a hard look at what it calls “the lawless lands of broadcast television, where the quality of the [HD] picture that ends up on your expensive hi-def set is determined by a bunch of fuzzy math.” In the lengthy discussion of the various factors that can degrade and reduce the quality of HD images, the article notes the varying quality of HD signals reflects, in part, the fact that “there's no real regulation over high-definition picture quality at all….Behind the scenes, content producers, broadcasters and cable and satellite providers are engaged in a constant tug-of-war over bandwidth and video quality, with no hard metrics to even define what looks acceptable.” more » » »
- Scripps Taking News HD With 100 Fujinon Lenses
TV Technology reports that Scripps Television Station Group has purchased more than 100 Fujinon HTs18X4.2 BERM lenses with 2X extenders, designed for use with JVC GY-HD250 cameras as part of its plans to upgrade the groups 10 TV station so they can begin offering local HD news. As part of the process, Scripps was also working to integrate its tapeless workflow, a move that also contributed to the purchase of the Fujinon lenses. The digital workflow includes storage on Focus Enhancement FireStore disk drives and editing on Mac laptops running Apple Final Cut Pro. more » » »
- Dish Will Be First To Offer 1080p HD Content
BetaNews reports that Dish will be the first to offer "full HD" 1080p resolution and that the DBS provider will expand its HD channel lineup to 150 by the end of the year, with 17 new HD channels immediately being added. To support the new 1080p programming, Dish is sending out an upgrade to all MPEG-4 HD DVR receivers that would allow the units to display content in that resolution. The company says the update should roll out to all of its subscribers by early August. As part of the rollout, Dish will offer a 1080p version of I Am Legend for free to those who have the HD boxes through its pay-per-view offering. more
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- HD Comes to South Africa
MyBroadband reports that the dominant pay TV provider in South Africa, MultiChoice, recently began offering a high definition personal video recorder (HD PVR) decoder and plans to launch a single HDTV channel, with more to follow at some unspecified date. The first HD content will be the Beijing Olympic Games; after they finish airing the MNet HD will take over the channel and offer a mix of HD series, movies, sporting action and once-off specials in 720p. more » » »
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