By Lou Montana, Montana Engineering
Consumers want a better
viewing experience!
Consumer
electronics sales show no signs of slowing from their pace. There were over 1200 exhibitors at this year’s
show. . The CEA (Consumer Electronics Association, formerly
CEMA) reported that factory sales last year exceeded $80 billion, a 6% increase over 1998.
Almost half of the gain was attributed to video products, largely made up of DVD and large
screen projection sets. What does that tell you? ….Consumers want a better viewing
experience, and DTV and HDTV may lead the
next wave.
CEA reports that after 15 months, total
“sales- to-dealers” of digital TV capable sets to the end of 1999 will be
120,000 units and that “sales- to-dealers” levels could reach 600,000 units for
year 2000, leading to 10 million by the end of 2003, followed by 10 million more in 2004
and 2005 and 10.8 million in 2006. It was reported that at the end of 1999, there were
more than 100 DTV stations on the air reaching over 50% of the U.S. population. (Of note,
there are four in Detroit and three in Seattle.) Add to that, that the entire
population of the US has access to HDTV signals from Direct-TV and EchoStar’s
“Dish Network”.
Although, most stations are either
simulcasting their NTSC channel at 480I or up converting to 1080I, 720P or 480P, levels of
HDTV-original programming are expected to
increase in 2000. ABC will broadcast the Super Bowl in 720P, as they have all Monday Night
games this season and CBS will broadcast the NCAA Men’s “Final Four”
Basketball tournament in March in 1080I. Along with these special events, the networks are
broadcasting at least one HD program every week. ABC broadcasts the World of Disney every
Sunday and NBC provides the nightly Jay Leno show in 1080I. HBO offers an HD channel
available on Direct-TV and EchoStar of which 50 % is unconverted 16:9, 1080I HDTV. This
year, Discovery and Showtime will also be launching HD programming services.
So, it is no wonder that there was an
air of optimism at the Show that DTV was here to stay. Albeit, with some hurdles still in
front of it.
CEA went to great lengths to put DTV at
the forefront. Program guides were available to help find DTV products, a large
information kiosk was in the lobby of the convention center and a live HD production, from
a studio in the lobby, was distributed throughout the show floor. A digital cable head-end
system was installed to feed the show floor with over five different HD streams so
manufacturers would have access to HD programming at their booths. On Saturday, the NFC
wild card game, produced by ABC with the Panasonic 720P production truck, was received
live from satellite, re-encoded and fed live through the hall.
Displays
Over 15 manufacturers were showing DTV
receive hardware. These “receivers” came in two forms: as DTV “sets”,
with integrated receivers/decoder; and as display only devices that require outboard
receiver/decoders. The displays, either integrated with a receiver/decoder, or not, came
in many different flavors: 30” to 38” Direct View; 42” to 65” rear
projection, using either CRT, LCD or “SLM” technology (spatial light
modulation); and lastly 42” plasma. Almost all were 16:9. Native resolutions tended
to be 1080I although some like Panasonic were both 720 P and 1080 I. Most of the plasma
displays are 720P only.
Areas of confusion remain:
What is the native format of the
display?;
Is format conversion being applied to
the content?;
And, what is the original format of the
content?
These questions make evaluations and comparisons difficult. For example, the NFL game was brought in over C-Band satellite at 45 mbps and then re-encoded back to ATSC at 720P. One set from Panasonic was 720P native and the pictures were outstanding. Other sets would convert the feed to 1080I and the results were not as good, which could leave one with the wrong impression of the capability of HD.
Price points are falling. A 16:9
Direct-View 30” display retails as low as $2499 US and receiver/decoders capable of
receiving ATSC signals off-air as well as NTSC and Direct-TV, retail for $649. Most of the
integrated DTV sets however fall in the $5000 to $10,000 range. Plasma displays, also very
prominent at the Show, were in the $15,000 to $25,000 range. Other display only units
varied from $5,000 to $50,000.
New at this show were rear projection
displays using spatial light modulation techniques. Texas Instruments, the inventor of the
DLP technology, was showing a prototype 52” set at 1280 x 720. Apparently, Hitachi
and Mitsubishi will also use this technology. Product is due Q3 2000. JVC introduced
61” display ($6000) which makes use of their D-ILA technology and was probably the
best picture in the under $10,000 range. This is the same technology they developed with
Hughes and used in their high-end projectors for electronic cinemas. It achieves 1280 x
1028 resolution and brightness approaching CRTs. It will be available in Q2.
Sharp’s LCD technology used in
their LC-R60HDU uses their proprietary CG-Silicon technology and can achieve 1080I and a
400:1 contrast ratio. Probably the best video
I saw in the floor. It should be for $50,000!
There was also a preponderance of
plasma displays. Most of the plasma displays were only 1280 x 768, while the Fitjitsu was
the only 1024 x 1024. All the others depend on internal scalers to down-convert a 1080I
image to 720P.
Some manufacturers were introducing
direct-view CRT based displays. Industry pundits suggest that this is where manufacturers
need to offer more product. Although, the big sets are nice and are inticing to the early
adopters, it is felt that what will be needed is smaller Direct View CRT, 16:9, TV sets in
the 32” range, preferably with a flat screen. The “average” viewer does not
have the room for the large, >60”, sets.
Sony announced that they would also be
introducing a complete line of 1080I sets this year. Some 4:3 and some in 16:9.
At least a dozen manufacturers were
showing set top boxes. These outboard receiver/ decoders could decode all of the ATSC
formats but most would convert to 1080I. Outboard receiver/decoders are in the $1000 to
$3500 range. Some included NTSC tuners with a line doubler and many had Direct TV
receivers as well. Most interface to the display via component analog video ( Y Pr, Pb, or
RGB) . (The industry has not settled on copy protection so boxes with 1394 interface were
not readily evident. More on copy protection later.)
One from Hughes for the Direct TV
system is designed to receive the Direct TV HD signal, as well as, off-air ATSC
broadcasts. It will also convert the digital off-air signals to 480I to allow users to
watch these on a standard NTSC set. Other features include an NTSC tuner to receive
off-air analog broadcasts and the ability to scale any signal to either 4801 or 1080I. It
also provides a Dolby Digital 5.1 output.
TeraLogic showed a PC card, for $300,
with built-in ATSC tuner, 8VSB demodulator and ATSC decoder that fits into a PCI slot
which will enable DTV reception on your computer. There were also announcements of low
cost down-converters (<$300) to allow viewing of ATSC signals on standard televisions.
These “transcoders" will offer reception of digital ATSC and NTSC analog
broadcasts and also feature Dolby digital decoders to allow viewers to receive audio in
full surround digital even though they may still be watching on an NTSC TV set.
Sony announced that they will also
offering a set-top box for Direct-TV reception as well as cable set-tops. Sony will also
be offering TIVO “personal video recorder” boxes, the service and technology
that allows viewers to record programs onto an internal hard drive with 20 hours of
storage. They claimed an HD version of the TIVO PVR would also be introduced this year.
Sony will be shipping all components with their version of the IEEE1394 interface called
“i-link”. They will be using the “5C” copy protection on all
interfaces.
Both EchoStar and Direct TV were
showcasing their HD service. Direct TV had an impressive exhibit of six different set-top
boxes connected to displays, all in the 60” or more
range. Each of the set-top boxes had built in satellite receivers as well as NTSC
and ATSC tuners. The interface between all of the boxes to the sets was analog component.
The pictures were very good on all the displays, although there were differences between
each display, which were all in the $7000 range. I was unable to find out if the feed we
were watching was encoded at 1280 H pixels as Direct TV has stated in the past. Even so,
the pictures were very good.
The Echostar demo was a little lower
key with one Phillips 65” display. Echostar is also running HBO and one demo channel
for retailers. Their set-top is satellite receive only and will retail for about $600.
Coming this spring will be the same box with a built in DVD player for less than $1000.
Missing from the Show were DTV products
with interfaces to cable systems. The industry, CEA and NCTA, are only now approaching a
consensus on the definition of a integrated television receiver that is comparable to
today’s “cable ready” TVs.
CEA recently formed a working group to
develop the definition of a “cable ready” set for use on digital cable systems
that might be carrying DTV ATSC signals. This
group has produced a specification, which outlines all of the characteristics of a digital
cable system and the receiver to be built into the display. It has gone out for review by
Members and could be ratified at a January 20 meeting. It would then become an EIA
standard. With this standard, the consumer electronic manufacturers can build integrated
sets that can connect to any digital cable system. Viewers will be able to receive DTV
signals as well as premium and PPV digital programs on their DTV receiver without the need
for a special set-top box.
The issues are from over however. The
cable industry has been working on the “Open Cable” standard based on using an outboard
set-top box. They are reluctant to let anything outside of this specification be called
“cable ready”. In addition, the “open cable” box would interface over
1394 to an ATSC decoder in the display. As
such, they would like to see every set equipped with a 1394 interface but the CEA wants to
avoid mandating this and unnecessarily adding cost to the set.
At the CES Show, during a luncheon
address, FCC Chairman Bill Kennard declared: “If the industry cannot solve the
problem (compatibility standards for digital TV) by April, we will
On the matter of copy protection, there
are currently four proposals in front of the multi-industry Content Protection Technical
Working Group. The Digital Copy Transmission Protocol (DTCP) proposed by the 5C group (
Sony, Matsushita, Intel, Toshiba and Hitachi) is believed to have the greatest support for
various applications, including digital cable boxes. The Motion Picture Association, whose
members control whether content is released
for broadcast, appear to be leaning to 5C but have now stated that the copy protection
schemes must also protect against re-transmission over the Internet. Another recent issue,
the Motion Picture Association has proposed that the resolution at any video output be
limited to 640 x 480 if the signal is not copy protected.
One of the other challenges with the
rollout in the US has been interoperability of receivers with various ATSC encoders. The
CES and ATSC Implementation Subcommittee organized a test after hours at the Show. ATSC
bit streams encoded with eleven different manufacturers were distributed over the cable
system using 8VSB modulation. Content consisted of actual programming provided by
broadcasters and various test signals, most notably the “flash pip” signal used
to check for lip sync. These bit streams were played in sequence from a Sencore bit stream
server. Set manufacturers could then assess their product’s operation against each
stream. If any problems were noted, the encoder manufacturers were available in a
“bullpen”, next to the Show floor, to answer questions.
The newest challenge facing DTV is the
debate over the modulation scheme chosen in the ATSC standard. Both Zenith and Motorola
hosted demonstrations at the Show of 8- VSB receiver performance and in Zenith’s
case, they compared 8VSB to COFDM performance. The tests demonstrated that the newest
generation of receivers performed better than those used in the Sinclair tests and showed
a 5dB advantage in C/N over COFDM. Tests were also conducted to test for white noise
threshold, ghost performance and impulse noise performance. In the impulse noise tests,
8-VSB showed a 20-db advantage over COFDM. For more information you can contact Zenith.
I was told that FCC staff was invited
to witness the tests. There in no word yet what action the FCC will take in response to
the petitions it has received to include COFDM in the standard. There is obviously a lot
of pressure from CEA to maintain the status quo.
Some other interesting DTV products:
A product from Sencore called the
“VSB player” records and stores ATSC video and audio bit-streams. It has a 16
GByte hard drive and can store 100 minutes. It also has an 8VSB modulator and a built-in
DVD-ROM drive. It sells for $7000. It is this unit, or a lower end model, that is being
used by retail stores in the US as a source of content for display demos in showrooms.
A highlight for me, were the prototype
HD DVD players. If HD content could be purchased by the consumer, it will help to drive
the sale of HD sets thus creating a base of HD receivers for when the Canadian
broadcasters finally begin to broadcast a digital signal. Pioneer and Zenith’s parent
company LG Electronics had units on the floor. The LG rep predicted it was two years away
at a price of somewhere around $2500. It requires industry standardization as well as
development of copy protection acceptable to Hollywood. The LG machine had 2-hour
capacity. The Pioneer unit with a 27.4 G Byte disc, is capable of 4 hours at 18 mbps at
1920 x 1080I.
In the meantime, we will have to make
do with progressive scan (480P) DVD players. These players take advantage of the fact that
DVDs are in their native form progressive and can produce very good pictures when played
on a progressive scan display. Toshiba, Panasonic and Pioneer are now providing expanded
product lines.
JVC showed a digital VHS machine
capable of recording HD material. This machine is apparently available in Europe and Japan
for about $3000. It has every kind of input including 1394. It had a built in MPEG encoder
and offer two quality levels of recording; 14.1 Mbps and 28.8 Mbps with 5 and 2.5 hour
playing time respectively. Tape stock, depending on length, is $10 to $15.
Panasonic continues to offer their
D-VHS machine that can record ATSC content but it requires the Panasonic outboard set-top
with 1394 interface in order to play and record. It uses a proprietary copy protection
scheme. It sells for $1000.
Visitors to this show I’m sure
will be preaching the gospel of HDTV and will be looking for product. They might not buy
just yet but it seems that the industry is hearing that more and more consumers want high
quality images and sound. This can only lead to more affordable product and more buying.