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Digital Television Transition Update

Day two of the NAB Broadcast Engineering Conference featured a DTV update session that included reports from Japan, China and Korea, as well as the EU (covered here and above).

The set of presentations was moderated by Graham Jones, director communications engineering at NAB (Washington, DC). Panelists included Hiroshi Asami, director of broadcasting technology at the ministry of internal affairs and communications (MIC) (Tokyo, Japan); Jian Qian, Ph.D of Chongqing Television (Chongqing, China); Bernhard Baumgartner, director of product management (Europe) at Harris Broadcast (Rankweil, Austria); and David Wood, head of new technology, European Broadcasting Union (Geneva, Switzerland).

Asami-san of Japan’s MIC started things off with a good review of DTV transition status for Japan, Korea and China. In Japan, details were given on a “Prefecture” level for DTTB implementation that started in December 2003 with the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya areas. Asami-san reported that one year later, (Dec 2004), over 18M households, or 35% of Japan’s TV households, had DTV coverage. By Dec 2005, he forecasts 27M households, or 57% population coverage, and in Dec 2006, DTV will be available in all prefectures, with 23M households, or 79% of the population.

Asami went on to report that all Japan broadcasters are providing “pure HD programs” now — that is, programming produced and transmitted by 1080i HD format, not simply up-converted signals. Of these, 90% of NHK programs are in HD and 60% of the Private Networks produced are in HD, including news, sports and drama. Penetration of DTV receivers in Japan by February 2005 reached 2.4M units, with the lion’s share (1.3M) going to LCD-TVs with embedded tuners. There were also 0.6M CRT sets with embedded tuners and 0.4M PDPs with digital tuners. Digital set-top boxes were not so popular in Japan, with only 0.1M units deployed by February 2005. Asami noted that a full 90% of DTV receivers are HDTV integrated (with DTTB tuner for terrestrial and satellite delivery of 1080i signals and 10Base-T connection).

Japan’s strategy for digital transition includes closure of analog broadcasts in July 2011. This is mandated by the Japanese Radio Law. The government agency MIC hopes consumers will have replaced all analog receivers by that date, and it plans to collaborate with broadcasters and the CE industry to make this happen. When asked specifically, Asami said there were no plans for the Japanese government to subsidize consumers’ transition to digital to help make the July 2011 time frame.

As usual, Japan demonstrated its unique penchant for intra-industry collaboration, this time between broadcasters and mobile operators, as Asami-san concluded his talk on Japan with an update on ISDB-T mobile digital reception. This included a scheme to receive mobile HDTV broadcasts via “dual-layered hierarchical multiplexing,” using 13 segments of bandwidth to deliver the voice and HD signal (see image). The approach can also support up to three SDTV digital signals in lieu of bandwidth-hungry HD. The technology supports video, data and Internet via streaming of TV programs to a mobile operators communications server at the back end, delivering HD to mobile phone users.

NAB attendees found it most interesting that Japanese broadcasters delivering DTV signals will not need a separate license to leverage this spectrum for DTV reception on mobile devices like cell phones, smart media players, and commercial broadcast to moving vehicles, including city busses and trains.

The ISDB-T implementation includes the MPEG-4 (AVC/H.264) video compression. Prototype receivers are being developed by manufacturers now, with pilot broadcasting on the air and data service already in place. The official service will launch in March 2006.

The next update from Asami-san was on Korean DTV, which currently has KBS, EBS, MBC, and 11 local TV stations broadcasting in digital. Satellite broadcasting in Korea consists of Skylife (owned by KT), and Satellite DMB (a TU Media company) will begin satellite broadcasting in May of this year. Asami noted the country is standardized on the ATSC standard (same as US), and currently, 80% of households in Korea have access to DTV. The government has mandated 20 hours of DTV programming per week from broadcasters, which will increase to 25 hours per week in October this year, and move to 100% HD broadcast programming by the year 2010, when analog shutoff is scheduled to occur.

Penetration of DTVs in Korea has been rapid, with 1.7M sets sold between 1999 and 2003. In 2004, an additional 560K sets were sold, with 150K set-top boxes, bringing the total sales of DTVs and STBs in Korea to 2.4M units. Like Japan, Korea is looking to mobile digital video broadcasting as a market driver. The country has standardized on a variant of digital audio broadcasting (DAB) the Koreans call DMB (digital mobile broadcasting). Focus markets include mobile (car AV), portable (cell phones and PDAs), and fixed (audio and laptop PCs). Transmission signals from broadcast centers can be sent to consumers via DMB satellite or DMB terrestrial. Services are set to begin in May 2005.

Asami-san’s final presentation was on China’s TV market, in which he reported 400M TV receivers representing 93% of households, a 13-channel CCTV nationwide network, a host of provincial TV stations (like Beijing TV), and a cable TV penetration rate of 30% with 100M households.

On the topic of DTV transition, the country is taking a step-by-step approach, with the primary focus on digital cable, which began in 2003. The plan includes a direct broadcast satellite launch in 2005. With China’s terrestrial DTV standard still under development, the country plans to roll out terrestrial DTV service in 2008. Official closure of analog TV should occur in China in the 2015 time frame. There was no mention of HDTV in the presentation.

Building on Asami-san’s China DTV coverage, Dr. Jain Qian of China Chongqing TV Corp. provided more details on DTV in China. Qian first gave revised figures on the total number of TV households in China, stating 340M TV households (versus the 400M reported by Asami-san of Japan’s MIC — above).

Qian reported there are currently 115M cable subscribers, representing 34% TV penetration. China’s cable TV network is based on 6500 cable service providers nationwide, with over 2000 prefecture-level cable systems, 1000 enterprise systems, and 3500 community systems, as opposed to a single national cable provider. There is a vast cable infrastructure serving this diverse group, including a 4M Km cable network with a 40K Km backbone.

In China, TV regulation is controlled by the SARFT (State Admin of Radio, Film and TV), which also runs and owns broadcasting stations. SARFT has instituted three key policies on DTV. These include: “Three Step-forward Timetable,” “Four-platform Market Structure,” and “Once-for-all DTV Switch-on.”

The three steps are cable-satellite-terrestrial, with a goal of 30M DTV subscribers in 2005. Qian stated this is an overly optimistic goal, and it will be difficult to reach even 10M in this time frame. The Four-platform Market Structure includes a DTV integration platform, a transmission platform, a consumer access platform, and the ominous sounding “supervisory platform,” which includes a “big brother” type oversight in all the previous areas.

Clearly, this is not a free market system operating here. In the analysis section of the presentation, Qian outlined that the main barriers to DTV development in China. These include:

Qian ended the session by posing some key questions the Chinese, themselves, must consider if they want to truly see development of DTV: Can China construct a healthy industry value chain under the current market structure (status quo)? Are government promotions a positive or negative for DTV development in China? Given market demands, is a brighter future too far away [in the current command environment]?

Turning to Europe, Bernhard Baumgartner, director of product management (Europe), Harris Broadcast (Rankweil, Austria), spoke on the technical side of DTV and, in particular, the prospect of DVB modulation supporting HD transmission.

First, regarding HD in Europe, he stated that while no mutually agreed upon format has emerged, HDTV production is continuing by broadcasters, private industry and education. He also reported that Belgian satellite system Euro 1080 is operational, as well as HD plans from Sky (UK), Premiere World (Germany) and TPS (France).

Turning to HD formats, Baumgartner said experts agree that progressive scanning produces superior pictures to interlaced, and that 1080p would be the optimum, but it remains technically too demanding for broadcast today. He also mentioned that the European regulatory body EBU (European Broadcasting Union) (Geneva, Switzerland) has recommended 720p as the starting point for HD broadcast.

The nuts and bolts of the presentation focused on a required bit rate table for good to excellent-quality images from various CODECs at 720p, and 1080i and 1080p formats (see image). Baumgartner concludes that for effective spectrum use, H.264 (MPEG-4) or VC-1 (WM9) compression is required.

In determining whether adaptations to the existing DVB modulation scheme are required to broadcast in HD over DVB-C, DVB–S or DVB-T, Baumgartner concluded that no changes are needed to existing DVB broadcast equipment (see image).

In considering whether adequate frequencies are available for HDTV using DVB-T, Baumgartner answered yes, stating that typically, four-five analog channels are transmitted via one digital channel, and the use of single frequency networks (SFNs) further reduces the amount of required channels.

The presentation concluded with the belief that the European broadcast industry is well positioned, with fully digital networks for cable, satellite and terrestrial available; the existing infrastructure can be used to broadcast HD; the system is flexible enough to handle the inclusion of new codecs into the DVB standard; and the EU is in a position to choose the most modern and future-proof technology. The one caveat to this rosy outlook was that European broadcasters shouldn’t wait too long to move to DTV, in that alternative (IP-based) platforms may soon be in a position to compete for distribution of HD content.

To underscore this conclusion, David Wood, head of new technology, European Broadcasting Union (Geneva, Switzerland), gave the final presentation of the session on why HD will work now in Europe. Among the primary drivers for success of HD are: the affordable flat-panel HD displays, HD optical discs on the horizon, the HD consumer equipment that is also looming (available by next CES?), and the proliferation of HD content from all parts of the world.

Wood spoke of Europe’s measured logical route to HD, by starting with the lowest-risk/lowest-cost delivery options – which he said probably means digital satellite Pay TV and looking for content that will lead viewers to HD – probably big sports events. Other actions the EBU is planning include helping the public with sensible HD purchasing decisions, starting with the “HD-ready” logo program that gives consumers assurance of a certain minimum standard (like support for 720p and 1080i and DRM support like HDMI/HDCP).

Some positions the EBU is taking toward HD include the assumption that all HD receivers will be flat panels, and that most will be WXGA. It also expects that emission standards for HDTV should be based on progressive scanning, including 720p/50 for now, moving toward 1080p/50 in the long term. CE equipment will accept both 720p and 1080i formats, and broadcasters will be able to select either format, even on a program-by-program basis. Because of this, HD production equipment should support 720p/50, 1080i/25, 1080p/25 and 1080p/50 in the long term.

The preference toward progressive scanning is based on what Wood reported as “some ubjective evaluations” of both 1080i and 720p images done by the EBU (see image), where 720p came out “slightly ahead” in perceived quality.

Wood also offered a comprehensive “eye chart” on the outlook for HDTV in Europe, in areas including production content, technology, distribution and consumption.

The time frame covered was 2004 through 2011+.

He concluded his talk with some advanced thinking the EBU has done on HD delivery in three generations. 1G-HD would be 720p or 1080i via MPEG-2, 2G-HD would consist of 720p50 or 1080i50 via MPEG-4, and 3G-HD represented 1080p50, 60 MPEG-(n)/WM(n) to start in the next 6 to 12 years.

On the production side, the EBU sees one strategy for 1080p production in stages it calls Mezzanine compression levels, or ML for short. This includes: ML1 camera to recorder, a very light compression; ML2 general post-production; light compression, preserving processing headroom and capable of at least 10 generations of reproduction; and ML3, which would be used for archives (see image).

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