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TABLE OF CONTENTSVOLUME 50 I NUMBER 1 I JANUARY 2008

BroadcaslEngineering®

FEATURES62 High-def video cameras come of age

An industry veteran discuss-es today's HD cameras.

68 Building better EPGsPMCP and BXF communicate key meta -data related to PSIP for on -screen guides.

74 Telephone hybridsToday's hybrids enable two-way, natu-ral -sounding broadcasts.

BEYOND THE HEADLINESDOWNLOAD

14 Change is imminentAs viewing options proliferate,can broadcasters adapt?

FCC UPDATE20 FCC imposes new rules

Stations must file a quarterly form listingvarious types of programming.

DIGITAL HANDBOOKTRANSITION TO DIGITAL

22 Broadcast monitorsMeasuring up, does yourmonitor make the grade?

COMPUTERS & NETWORKS30 Understanding the basics

Read Part I of a two-part tutorialon computer networking.

PRODUCTION CLIPS42 Next-gen audio coding

Understand the theory behindhigh -end audio coding.

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THIS MONTH'S FREEZEFRAME QUESTION

Say what? The FCC's December 2007 Third Periodic Review Reportand Order contains more than 100 different acronyms, abbreviationsand shorthand notations that only a lawyer could love. See if youcan decipher some of the commission's bureaucratic language.

FCC terms: COALS; CDBS; Central location; DTV singletons; FRFA;IRFA; Out -of -core; PCO; PN; PRA; RFA; and SBPRA

The answers are on page 8.

6 broadcastengineering.com I January 2008

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TABLE OF CONTENTSVOLUME 50 I NUMBER 1 I JANUARY 2008

SYSTEMS INTEGRATIONSHOWCASE

46 KMTP-TV delivers unique programmingfrom a new digital facilityThe multichannel station now broadcastsall -digital content to San Francisco viewers.

TRANSMISSION& DISTRIBUTION

52 DTV transmittersStations broadcasting from the SearsTower designed a way to coexist.

COUNTDOWN TO 200956 Building HD news sets

Consider these factors whenpreparing for an HD launch.

NEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWSFIELD REPORT

78 Lawo's mc290 audio productionconsole at Turner Studios

TECHNOLOGY IN TRANSITION80 MPEG splicing

Adjusting the bit rate can resolve splicing issues.

NEW PRODUCTS82 16x9's EX 0.7X and more ...

DEPARTMENTS10 EDITORIAL12 FEEDBACK85 CLASSIFIEDS87 ADVERTISERS INDEX88 EOM

NOVEMBER'S FREEZEFRAME ANSWER

Readers were asked to submit the following missing words in thissentence (the missing words are highlighted in bold font):

The subcarrier to horizontal phase (SCH) refers to the phaserelationship between the leading edge of horizontal sync atthe 50 -percent amplitude point and the zero crossings of thecolor burst. The error is expressed as SCH phase and isexpressed in degrees of subcarrier phase.

READERS WHO ANSWERED CORRECTLY:Jim Barnes, Al van Dinteren, Joseph Zeppuhar

VI&

FREEZEFRAME ANSWER

FCC termsCOALS

COBS

CE ntra I locationITV singletonsFF FA

IR=A

Out -of -core

PCO

PN

PRA

RFA

SBPRA

DefinitionsCable Operations and Licensing SystemConsolidated Database SystemRoof

Stations without a paired channelFinal Regulatory Flexibility AnalysisInitial Regulatory Flexibility AnalysisTV ciannels 52-69Private Cable OperatorPubl c NoticePaperwork Reduction ActRegulatory Flexibility ActSmall Business Paperwork Relief Act

8 broadcastengineering.com ) January 2008

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EDITORIALDEPARTMENT

Invention:60 years later

hat electronic device recently celebratedits 60th anniversary? Not sure? Here aresome hints.

It was called the greatest invention of the20th century.

Walter Brattain, John Bardeen and William Shockleybuilt the first one.

Think germanium.The last hint should have made most of you recognize

the answer as the transistor. This single technology revo-lutionized the electronics world more than any other andmade possible many of the exciting innovations we've allcome to enjoy.

This image of the first point -contact transistor shows howfar the technology has come. Photo courtesy Bell Labs.

For baby boomers, solid-state devices represented thesecond device technology they needed to understand dur-ing their career. The first was tubes. For you younger en-gineers, tubes were vacuum -enclosed glass devices filledwith metal structures called screens, plates and cathodes.Tubes required large high -voltage power supplies, gen-erated lots of heat, and were large and weighty devices.Semiconductors had none of those drawbacks.

Early transistors were small, operated at low voltagesand had only three connections: an emitter, a base and acollector. Depending on your age, you may not even knowwhat emitter, base or collector mean. For that matter, could

a boomer engineer still identify a transistor's emitter, baseand collector with an ohmmeter? Fortunately, that is sel-dom necessary today.

Early transistors were packaged as single -junction de-vices. In other words, a typical transistor consisted of a1/4in-sized package containing only one semiconductorjunction. Boomer engineers grew up building amplifiersand radios with individual transistors named CK722 andCK703.

An interesting aside is that the name transistor was onlyone of six names on a ballot circulated among Bell Labsengineers. Other names on that ballot included: semicon-ductor triode, surface states triode, crystal triode, solidtriode and iotatron. The name transistor resulted from anabbreviated combination of the words transconductanceand varistor.

Raytheon released the CK722 in 1953, making it thefirst low-cost junction transistor available to the generalpublic. It quickly became a hit with DIY electronics buffsas well as broadcasters.

By the mid -'50s, radio manufacturers used the numberof transistors in their products as an indication of prod-uct superiority. A five -transistor radio was considered bet-ter than a four -transistor radio. My aunt had one of thefirst five -transistor Sony pocket radios. We were amazedat how a radio could be made small enough to fit into ashirt pocket. OK, maybe it took a large pocket, but to us,this was revolutionary.

Consider the differences between the simplicity of thatfive -transistor AM -only radio and today's desktop PC witha CPU chip that may contain up to 2 billion transistors.

Sometimes it's fun to look back at technology, if noth-ing else, to remind ourselves of the tremendous advancesour industry has made. It's also worth reminding ourselvesthat others, working in what we'd call primitive conditions,contributed so highly to the technology we enjoy today.

So, the next time you browse the Web, watch HDTVor answer your cell phone, give a nod to Walter Brattain,John Bardeen and William Shockley. Without their vision,we might still be watching fuzzy black -and -white imageson round, 2 lin CRT, tube -based TV sets.

EDITORIAL DIRECTORSend comments to: editor©broadcastengineering.com

BE


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FEEDBACKDEPARTMENT

Doing dialnorm correctlyDear editor:

While I applaud the article "Dialnorm: A good idea gone bad?" from De-cember 2007, you give too much credit to NBCU. So far, only its broadcastchannels (KNBC HD in my market) are doing dialnorm "correctly." Its sat-ellite channels (CNBC, MSNBC, etc.) run with an average dialog of -22dBFSwith the dialnorms fixed at -31dBFS. That's 9dB too loud.

A better corporate example would be Turner Broadcasting in Atlanta.Mike DeHart's group has achieved dialog normalization across its entirebroadcast suite.

Problem withproduct linkDear editor:

I really enjoy reading about newproduct announcements in BroadcastEngineering. One of my greatest frus-trations, however, is when you sendme off to a Web site for more infor-mation, and it's just not there. For ex-ample, you had a write-up about thenew Canon BU -40H pan/tilt camera,and at the end of the announcementit says: "For more information, visit

Mike LillyTime Warner Cable

www.usa.canon.com." But when yougo there, there is no information onthe product. Worse yet, Canon hasno e-mail contacts listed, not to men-tion a terrible search engine. So, aftergetting me all interested, I hit a deadend. Do your writers even check thelinks they recommend? Canon willget a piece of my mind tomorrow byphone. In this day and age, there is noexcuse for a poor Web site.

Thanks for letting me vent.Bob Woodward

Systems Electronic Group

Editor responds:I agree with your frustration.In product information stories, we

use the links provided in companyproduct press releases - in this case,the exact link provided by Canon.

Yes, we do check every link. How-ever, when the company only gives usa corporate link, that's all we can do.

Who's in charge?Dear editor:

When working with a systems in-tegrator, who defines the workflow ofa project? Is this to be decided by thecustomer or the consultant?

RV KrishnanK Konsult

John Luff responds:Any competent consultant should

be able to analyze your operation andrecommend an appropriate workflowsolution. However, sometimes thereare cultural or business reasons whycertain options must be considered,of which a consultant might not beaware. It should be a goal of the con-sultants to conduct interviews withthe customer to elicit all relevant fac-tors from the client before making arecommendation. In the end, the cli-ent makes the choice of final work-flow choices. BE

02.17.09 Countdown to DigitalBroadcast Engineering's weekly online poll

Is your station operating at yourfull DTV-licensed power?

Yes 55%

No 33%

Not sure 11%

Visit www.broadcastengineering.comto take part in the weekly online poll.

Test Your Knowledge!See the Freezeframe question

of the month on page 6.


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Change is imminentAs viewing options proliferate, can broadcasters adapt?

Here we are in another pres-idential election year, andchange is in the wind, notto mention on the tips of

the tongues of every candidate.It should come as no surprise

that change is also on the tips of thetongues of television broadcasters. I'mtalking about the media conglomer-ates that own more than 90 percent ofthe broadcast and cable TV program-ming we watch, local TV broadcast-ers and the multichannel TV services.These changes may represent a threatto the broadcast industry - an in-dustry that has been resisting changefor decades.

According to the BIA FinancialNetwork (BIAfn), 2007 was anotherdown year for local television broad-casters. The financial and strategicadvisory firm serving the media andcommunications industries reported2007 television revenues as $22.2 bil-lion, a 2 percent decrease from rev-enues of $22.7 billion in 2006. (See

BY CRAIG BIRKMAIFR

"Web links" on page 16.)In the face of the Writers Guild of

America (WGA) strike, which has putmuch of the prime time televisionseason on hold, one might predictthat 2008 will be another down year

Local network affiliates wonderwhat role they will play in the futureas the media conglomerates beginto make content available via newoutlets. Near the end of 2007, FOXsold eight of its owned and operated

Local network affiliates wonder whatrole they will play in the future as themedia conglomerates begin to make

content available via new outlets.

for broadcasters. However, that's notwhat is going to happen. BIAfn pre-dicts, instead, that local TV stationrevenues will increase by as much as11 percent in 2008, a 10 -year high.

Broadcasters in Iowa and NewHampshire already know why timesare looking up. It's a presidential elec-tion year. Add to this the 2008 Olym-pics, and 2008 is looking very promis-ing indeed.

FRAME GRAB A look at the issues driving today's technology

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stations to Oak Hill Capital partnersfor $1.1 billion. During 2007, NBCpulled its shows from the AppleiTunes store and then announcedNBC Direct, a service that allowsmany of the network's shows to bedownloaded for free.

Could the Internet dribblebecome a BitTorrent?

For now, the new media that theWGA wants a cut of is still in beta, aterm that NBC uses for its NBC Di-rect download site. Downloading TVshows requires a good broadband In-ternet connection, something that isavailable in a little more than half ofU.S. homes. Mobile TV is even moreof a curiosity as it is still dominatedby the wireless telcos who want to sellthe services as an add-on package fortheir cellular phone customers.

However, Wi-Fi hot spots are pop-ping up everywhere, and new mobilemedia devices, such as Apple's iPhoneand iTouch, can tap into YouTube to-day, as well as a new FOX News videodownload service.

A new study by HorowitzAssociatesreveals the rapid growth in consump-tion of broadband video among adultInternet users. (See "Web links:') Ac-cording to the 2007 report, six out of10 high-speed Internet users watch


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or download online video content atleast once a week, and 86 percent doso on a monthly basis, compared with45 percent and 71 percent, respective-ly, in the 2006 study. News and user -generated, nonprofessional contentare the most often viewed genres, fol-lowed by movie previews and trailers,music videos, and previews and seg-ments of TV shows. The report alsonotes that weekly viewing of full epi-sodes of television shows online dou-bled from last year, with 16 percent ofhigh-speed Internet users now watch-ing TV online on a weekly basis.

On the positive side, the studyshows that television is still the pre-ferred platform for traditional TVcontent. The vast majority (70 per-cent) of Internet users who watch TVonline do so because they missed theepisode on TV. About two out of 10of these respondents say they watchTV shows online to view them a sec-ond time (after having watched themon TV), or that they watch TV showsonline just when they happen to findthem or when someone else tells themabout them.

But this is changing too. In its cov-erage of the recent Consumer Elec-tronics Show in Las Vegas, "The NewYork Times" reported that "televi-sions, enormously wide and remark-ably thin, were front and center, andoverhead:' These new televisionsrepresent the hope of the electronicsindustry - televisions connected to

Web linksBlAfn television market report

www.bia.com/pressiteml.asp?id=1115

Horowitz study of videoconsumption across multipleplatformswww.horowitzassociates.com/bcsprhtml

"Fixated on TVs, and What's onThem"www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/technology/10electronics.html? r=1&th&emc=th&oret=slogin

the Internet and ready to display newforms of on -demand entertainment.

The "Times" report also noted thatseveral television makers announceda series of partnerships with mediacompanies that will allow deliveryof Internet content, including vid-eos, news feeds, weather and sportsdirectly to the TV, without the needfor a PC.

Comcast's CEO Brian Robertsused the CES stage to announceProject Infinity, an effort by thenation's largest cable system opera-tor to compete more effectively withthe growing number of HD channelsbeing delivered by competing DESoperators.

The Comcast video -on -demandplatform - which currently hasmore than 1300 movie titles availableeach month - will be the major fo-cus of the multiple systems operator's

the commission is investigating acomplaint filed last November thatComcast has been interfering withpeer -to -peer downloads of video us-ing the BitTorrent protocol. Most im-portant to broadcasters was Martin'scomment that there is no chance thatthe nation's shift to digital televisionwill be delayed, regardless of ques-tions and pleas from various indus-try executives.

The real threatBroadcasting exists today because

it is still an efficient way to deliveradvertising messages to large audi-ences. Just ask any politician runningfor office.

Unfortunately, these advertisingmessages typically miss the mark,much like the junk mail that showsup in your physical and electronicmailboxes each day. However, when

Television is still the preferred platform fortraditional TV content. The vast majority ofInternet users who watch TV online do sobecause they missed the episode on TV.

content growth. Beginning next year,Comcast will offer more than 6000movies per month, with more thanone-half of them available in HD.

Roberts also officially introducedFancast, the Internet content portalthat Comcast Interactive Media hasbeen developing for more than oneyear and beta testing since late sum-mer. The ad -supported portal offerscontent to Comcast subscribers, aswell as general Internet users. It willnow provide free content from ABC,CBS, FOX, Lifetime Television, NBC,Viacom and other major program-mers through a Flash -based videoplayer. It will offer more than 90,000videos. And Roberts demonstrated anew technology that ties multiple dig-ital cable channels together to down-load an HD movie in four minutes.

Meanwhile, FCC chairman KevinMartin, speaking at CES, said that

viewers download a program, theyprovide useful demographic data, andthe potential exists to deliver highlytargeted messages for which advertis-ers will pay a premium.

The real threats from new media liein two areas:1. Channel surfing vs. Web surfing. Thegood old days when the family gath-ered around the electronic hearth towatch "Happy Days" are now distanthistory. Appointment television is allbut dead except for a handful of liveTV events. Channel surfing has re-placed appointment TV. Now chan-nel surfing is threatened by the newkid on the block, the Internet -con-nected TV. Why limit your choices to100 channels when the Internet of-fers the potential to find exactly whatyou want to watch, when you want towatch it?2. Advertising efficiency. The second


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threat comes in the new form ofadvertising that will support down-loadable TV, if the viewer does notpay directly for the content. Content

is transformed? The time for funda-mental changes to the business modelthat broadcasters have relied on fordecades is rapidly approaching. It's

It's easy to throw stones; it's muchharder to use them to build a solid

foundation for the future.

providers are looking for ways tohook up their advertisers with realprospects. Shotgun advertising is ex-pensive and inefficient. Google hasgrown into an advertising giant byhelping viewers find what they wantwhen they search the Internet. Theyare now directing their considerableresources at the problem by doing thesame for radio and TV advertisers.

So what is a broadcaster to do as theworld of digital media distribution

easy to throw stones; it's much harderto use them to build a solid founda-tion for the future. Here are two sug-gestions for that new foundation:1. Get connected. Broadcasters havethe ability to proliferate their con-tent via the Internet too. More im-portantly, this effort will pay divi-dends as broadcast stations learnhow to hook up local viewers withlocal advertisers.2. Go wireless. Remember, TV broad-

casting is a wireless medium with vastpotential to reach a new generationof viewers on the move. Relying oncompetitors to carry your bits (andcharging them for the privilege) isjust a short-term profit maximizationstrategy. What happens when peoplestart dropping their extended basicTV packages in favor of a broadbandpackage that can access an entireworld of content? BE

Craig Birkmaier is a technology consultantat Pcube Labs.

111Send questions and comments to:[email protected]

BECapturing the latest industry WogsBroadcast Engineering brings you the thoughtsof broadcast engineers, news directors, photogs,and others with personal views from withinthe industry.

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FCC UPDATEBEYONDTHE HEADLINES

FCC imposes new rulesStations must file a quarterly form listing

various types of programming.

The FCC has announced amajor overhaul of the quar-terly issues and programslist requirement for TV sta-

tion licensees.

New form requirementsInstead of the quarterly report

that stations had to compile andplace in their public inspection filesfor the last couple of decades, thecommission now wants stations to

BY HARRY C MARTIN

"information about efforts that havebeen made to ascertain the program-ming needs of various segments ofthe community," as well as informa-tion "regarding closed captioning andvideo -described content?'

Local inspection filesIn addition to the new quarterly

filing, the FCC is also requiring TVlicensees to make their local inspec-tion files (with the exception of their

In separate concurring statements, bothDemocrat commissioners, Michael Coppsand Jonathan Adelstein, said the change

is aimed at broadcasters who do nottend to local problems and needs.

complete and submit a quarterlyform listing various types of pro-gramming. The types of program-ming include local public affairs, lo-cal election coverage, public serviceannouncements and independentlyproduced programming.

The new form also will require

DatelineFebruary 1 is the deadline for

TV stations in Kansas, Nebraskaand Oklahoma to file their biennialownership reports.

In the following states, February1 also is the deadline for TV, ClassA and LPTV stations that originateprogramming to place their annualEEO reports in their public files andplace them on their Web sites:Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana,Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey,New York and Oklahoma.

political files) available online if theyhave Web sites.

Also, TV licensees must notifytheir audiences about the locationof their public files twice daily. Thesenew rules will be effective in the firstquarter of 2008.

Implications ofthe new rules

The new rules are reminiscent ofthe program -related record -keepingand reporting requirements that ex-isted 25 years ago. One example ofthis is a formalized "ascertainment"standard under which licensees areexpected to confer with representa-tives of various segments of the com-munity to get their views on localneeds and interests.

Commissioner Robert McDowellexpressed concern about these retro-grade measures in a dissenting state-ment, saying the FCC is "heading inthe wrong direction."

The full text of the commission'sdecision has not been released, so itis hard to tell how far the rules willtake the TV industry back in the di-rection of content regulation. In sep-arate concurring statements, bothDemocrat commissioners, MichaelCopps and Jonathan Adelstein, saidthe change is aimed at broadcasterswho do not tend to local problemsand needs. They suggest that thenew reporting requirements may bea step toward more extensive pro-gramming review and record -keep-ing requirements by the agency.

If the commission were going toconsider nonrenewal based on pro-gramming performance, it would alsohave to announce reasonably specificquantitative and qualitative standardsthat would apply in such an analysis.This approach would have seriousFirst Amendment implications.

In the end, it is unlikely the FCCwill set standards that would involvethe agency in analyses of programcontent. BE

Harry C. Martin is a past president of theFederal Communications Bar Associationand a member of Fletcher, Heald andHildreth, PLC.

llSend questions and comments to:[email protected]

BECiipturing the latest industry hlBroadcast Engineering brings you the thoughtsof broadcast engineers, news directors, photogs,and others with personal views from withinthe industry.

Visit www.broadcasteny,

NEWSONESTOPat www.broadcastengineering.com

For more news, visit our Web siteand click on the News

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TRANSITION TO DIGITALDIGITAL HANDBOOK

Broadcast monitorsMeasuring up, does your monitor

make the grade?

Broadcast monitors are inthe middle of a transition,not unlike the digital tran-sition. CRT monitors, used

for decades as the ultimate standardfor judging picture quality and ma-nipulating video processing, are onthe decline. In Europe, a restriction onthe use of certain hazardous substanc-es (RoHS) since 2006 means that newelectrical and electronic equipmentcannot contain certain materials, in-cluding lead, mercury and cadmium.This means that broadcast monitortechnology is changing - and muchof it is for the better.

At last year's NAB show, several newLCD monitors were introduced, withperformance rivaling that of the goldstandard CRT. One manufacturer evenhad the bravado to put its new LCDreference monitor side -by -side with aCRT monitor. With the bezels maskedoff, the images looked impressivelysimilar, the tip-off to this viewer beingthe lack of vertical blanking.

The real daring, though, wasthat the LCD monitor was listed at

BY ALDO cuanNi_

$25,000 - well above that of its CRT -equipped neighbor. Expect that pricedifference to eventually vanish.

Specs and featurespaint a new picture

Digital processing now makes nu-merous features available in high-per-formance monitors. In order to pres-ent a dependable and repeatable ref-

used in a professional TV produc-tion environment in EBU Tech 3320.(The different grades are also called"classes" by some.) The most rigorousrequirements are for Grade 1 moni-tors, which are used as reference de-vices for high-grade technical qualityevaluation of picture capturing, postproduction, transmission and stor-age. Typical applications of these in -

Grade 1 monitors are referencedevices for high-grade technical

quality evaluation of picturecapturing, post production,transmission and storage.

erence, a calibration feature must beavailable and should offer numerouspresets to the user. Various operatingmodes also ensure that the monitorwill always accurately represent theincoming video.

In 2007, the EBU formally definedthree grades of broadcast monitors

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dude camera control, color gradingand content evaluation.

In the official document, EBU rec-ommends that in a Grade 1 moni-tor, the black level should be adjust-able to be below 0.1cd/m2 (nits), thefull -screen (sequential) contrast ra-tio should be above 1000:1, and thesimultaneous contrast ratio shouldbe above 200:1. Grade 1 monitorsshould present pictures at a D65 refer-ence white, and Grade 1 and Grade 2monitors should have no visible pixeldefects. Annoyingly, most nonprofes-sional monitors - and some profes-sional ones - mislabel the brightnessand contrast controls. On these sets,the controls actually set the black lev-el and peak brightness, respectively.

Usually, professional LCD moni-tors will convert the spatial samplingof the incoming video to appropriate-ly render on the display. However, thismay result in new or masked artifacts.To address this, many displays offera pixel -to -pixel mode, wherein eachinput sample is mapped to a specific


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0.9

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0.7 -1

0.6-1

0.5

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1

0.3

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0.1

- - CIE 1931NTSC

- -- - ITU-R BT.601ITU-R BT.709SMPTE CDCI

0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8

Chromaticity X coordinates

Figure 1. Various color gamuts in use have followed CRT technologies.

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pixel. Of course, this will result incropping, when the input resolutionexceeds that of the display, or win-dowboxing, when the reverse is true.Another available option is a blackframe insertion mode that can reducemotion blur by alternating video andblack frames at a 120Hz frame rate. Ofcourse, such a mode will decrease thebrightness of the image, so it cannotbe used at all times. For camera mon-itors, a focus -in -red function displaysobject edges in red when sharp focusis achieved.

LCD monitors are always pro-gressive scan devices. Hence, whenreproducing an interlaced source,the monitor must provide scan con-version in order to display the videoproperly. This conversion must bedone with a very high quality; oth-erwise, it will introduce artifacts thatwere not originally present in thevideo. Usually, some combination ofmotion -compensated interpolation,

together with variable spatial filtering, will be needed.And often several modes will be offered, depending on thecharacteristics of the video.

In addition, some monitors now include an interlacesimulator, which can produce alternating black lines onthe display. By switching the black lines between odd andeven fields, a raster is created that can reproduce many ofthe original line -twitter and spatial -temporal -alias inter-lace artifacts.

Color gamutGamma is the nonlinear input -voltage vs. brightness

transfer characteristic of a display. Originally conceivedas a display mechanism to compensate for camera non -linearity, the concept is essentially a holdover from thecharacteristics of electron -gun image capture. Today, withCCDs in widespread camera use, the gamma correction isused to provide compatibility.

LCD displays, however, have an S-shaped transfer char-acteristic, so gamma matching is done through digitalsignal processing. This also means that the monitor mustinternally use more bits than the video source, so that con-touring does not occur when the compensation is large.Most Grade 1 monitors will allow the user to select fromdifferent gamma settings.

Color gamut (or chromaticity) is the term used to de-scribe the range of colors that can be reproduced in a colorsystem. Various gamuts have been proposed or used overthe years, as seen in Figure 1, together with the original CIE1931 XYZ gamut describing human color vision. While an

24 broadcastengineering.cornlJanuary 2008

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NTSC gamut was proposed many yearsago, it has never actually been used,and has simply become a referencewith which to compare other systems.Instead, SMPTE C (SMPTE RP 145) isused to encode analog NTSC video inthe United States; ITU-R BT.601 (for-merly called CCIR 601 and derivedfrom SMPTE RP 125 and EBU 3246E)is used in Europe; and ITU-R BT.709 isused worldwide for HDTV.

The other gamut shown in Figure 1is the Digital Cinema Initiatives' Digi-tal Cinema System Specification. Notethat this gamut (indicated in green inFigure 1) far exceeds most of the oth-ers, especially toward the top of thechart. This means that video shot inthis gamut will have to be color -spaceconverted to display properly in theother gamuts. Interestingly, the algo-rithm for this conversion is not yetspecified, owing to disagreement on

its subjective effects.Other functions that should be

present in Grade 1 monitors are over -scan, H/V delay, mono mode, blue -only mode and image markers. Manyof these displays also support bridg-ing inputs and external sync, as wellas composite, S -video, RGB, Y-Pb-Pr,SDI and HD -SDI input signals; mul-tiple image formats; tally lights; re-mote control; and rack mounting.

Grade 2 and 3 specsGrade 2 monitors have specifica-

tions more relaxed than those ofGrade 1, and are used for control,switching, editing, camera previewand composition, lighting control,camera viewfinders, editing andgraphics generation, and similarapplications where critical picturequality manipulation is not generallycarried out.

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Grade 3 monitors are used forcontinuity, observation, audio pro-duction, signal presence monitoring,video switching and the like. MultipleGrade 3 monitors are often used inlarge arrays to assist live production.With large -screen displays and spe-

Grade 2monitors havespecificationsmore relaxedthan those of

Grade 1."tt.4=7,4=tg,,,arttr=7==re74.....-4Marett

cialized signal processors, it is alsonow possible to replace multiplephysical monitors with a single large-

screen display. Grade 3 monitors arealso used in low -priority situationsfor confidence checking, and are usedas on -camera props.

Daylight viewing roundsout the possibilities

A new feature that has appearedin recent years is daylight viewability.Although this had existed in the past,it was usually limited to small -formmonitors used on handheld cam-era stabilization platforms. With thehigh brightness achieved by using avery high beam voltage on a CRT, thisled to limited device life. Today, highbrightness on an LCD monitor can beachieved by a number of technologies,such as very high output backlights,highly efficient illuminator optics andlow -reflection front surfaces.

As with most technologies, we areseeing an evolution of video displays.Amazingly, it has been just over a cen-tury since the first CRT devices wereinvented. Technological progress, how-ever, seems to be accelerating, and weshouldn't be surprised if other develop-ments are just around the corner. BE

Aldo Cugnini is a consultant in the digitaltelevision industry.



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COMPUTERS & NETWORKSDIGITAL HANDBOOK

Understanding the basicsRead Part I in a two-part tutorial on computer networking.

This month's article will ex-plore networking basicsfrom the perspective ofsomeone who is new to the

subject. Next month, we will look atnetworking for professional videoapplications from the perspective ofsomeone who has general networkingexperience, but who has not workedon networks in this industry before.

Defining TCP and IPTransaction Control Protocol

(TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP) aretwo core protocols of the Internet.They almost always work together,but they are actually two separateprotocols. TCP/IP indicates that anapplication is sending network infor-mation to the TCP layer and that TCPthen sends its packets to the IP layer.From there, the IP layer sends itspackets to a physical medium, whichis almost always Ethernet.

Application

TCP layer

IP layer

Physical layer

Application

TCP layer

IP layer

Physical layer

Figure 1. Two applications are connected over anetwork via TCP/IP and Ethernet. The layering ofnetwork protocols is known as a protocol stack.

Network protocols are layered on topof each other. This allows a designer tosubstitute different networking com-ponents with similar functionality at aparticular layer without having to re-write the entire networking application.Layered network protocols are knownas a protocol stack. (See Figure 1.)

Almost all business networking usesTCP/IP. Let's begin our discussion ofTCP/IP by using an example networkcomprised of a small office contain-ing five computers that are connectedto the Internet using a router.

BY BRAD GILMFR

Assigning IP addressesTCP/IP networks are built using

a numbering system composed ofgroups of numbers separated by pe-riods (e.g. 10.19.8.215). The group ofnumbers is known as an IP address.Each device on a network must havea unique IP address. Another groupof numbers associated with the IPaddress is called a subnet mask (e.g.255.255.255.0). The subnet mask iscommon to a grouping of comput-

the Internet. In the early days of theInternet, developers realized that theyneeded documents to describe howthe Internet functioned. These docu-ments, created by the Internet Engi-neering Task Force (IETF), are knownas Request for Comments (RFC).The IETF also generated a handfulof standards (STD). IETF STD 07 de-fines TCP.

RFC 1918, "Address Allocationfor Private Internets," defines IP ad -

Block IP addresses Subnetmask

Number ofaddresses

Class A block 10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255 255.0.0.0 16,777,214

Class B block 172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255 255.240.0.0 1,048,574

Class C block 192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255 255.255.0.0 65,534

Table 1. Private network IP addresses are defined in RFC 1918 by the InternetEngineering Task Force.

ers and networking devices and tellsindividual workstations the numberof possible computers on the localnetwork.

Before building our network, weneed to decide what IP addressesto use. The range of acceptable ad-dresses for a local network has beendetermined by the Internet Corpora-tion for Assigned Names and Num-bers (ICANN), the governing body of

dresses for private networks. (See Ta-ble 1.) It sets aside three blocks of IPaddresses for private networks. Theblock of IP addresses we use dependson the number of network devices weplan to install.

For our example, I have selected theaddress range 10.19.8.1 - 10.19.8.254,with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.You could choose any valid groupof addresses shown in Table 1. The

IP addresses Subnet mask Number of IP addresses

10.19.8.0 - 10.19.8.255 255.255.255.0 254

10.19.8.0 - 10.19.8.127 255.255.255.128 126

10.19.8.0 - 10.19.8.63 255.255.255.192 62

10.19.8.0 - 10.19.8.31 255.255.255.224 30

10.19.8.0 - 10.19.8.15 255.255.255.240 14

10.19.8.0 - 10.19.8.7 255.255.255.248 6

10.19.8.0 - 10.19.8.3 255.255.255.252 2

Table 2. Depending on the number 01 devices on the network, an IP address blockcan be further divided.


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subnet used for our local network isdifferent from the subnet shown inTable 1. By applying the subnet mask255.255.255.0, we are using a smallnumber of the total number of ClassA IP addresses set aside by RFC 1918.The IP address block can be furtherdivided depending on the number of

devices on the network. (See Table 2on page 30.)

As you can see from the table, thenumber of addresses in a networkcan be altered by changing the sub -net mask. Any subnet mask from255.255.255.0 to 255.255.255.248 willwork in our sample network.

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The subnet mask in a small com-pany network using private address-es is not that important; most use255.255.255.0. Subnet masks becomemuch more important when config-uring routers connected to the Inter-net and in larger corporate networks.

For our example network, I as-signed our first IP address in the block,10.19.8.1, to the router. (See Figure 2on page 34.) A router connects twophysical networks together. In ourcase, it will connect our local (private)network to the Internet. The router isnothing more than a computer withtwo network cards.

The port of the router that is con-nected to the local network is referredto as the local area network (LAN)port. The side of the router that isconnected to the Internet is referredto as the wide area network (WAN)port. The LAN side of the router willuse the IP address 10.19.8.1. The IPaddress for the WAN side is obtainedfrom and assigned by our Internetservice provider (ISP). In this exam-ple, the ISP assigned our public IP ad-dress as 208.148.144.73.

The private IP addresses definedin RFC 1918 are unroutable, whichmeans they cannot be projected ontothe Internet. If you want computerson the LAN side of the router to beable to access the Internet, you willneed to use a translator, commonlyknown as Network Address Transla-tion (NAT).

Almost all routers have NAT builtinto them, and in simple home andoffice routers, this functionality is

configured automatically. The rout-er's WAN address is a public IP ad-dress, which means that anyone onthe Internet can access the router bytyping in the IP address.

The NAT built into the router allowseach workstation to access the Internet,but the actual IP address of the indi-vidual workstation is never projectedonto the Internet. If you were look-ing from the Internet into our samplenetwork, the activity of the individualworkstation would appear as if it werethe WAN address of the router (i.e.


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208.148.144.73). I have assigned thecomputers in our example networkthe IP addresses shown in Table 3.

Each of our network devices has agateway address. This address mustbe present if the users are going toaccess anything outside of our localnetwork. The gateway address tells aworkstation to send all network traf-fic not bound for our local networkto the router.

For example, if you are at a work-station and attempt to go to www.cisco.com, the computer first resolvesthe IP address for www.cisco.com to198.133,.219.25. It sees that this ad-dress is not on the local network andforwards it to the gateway address,which is our router. The router looksat the address, sees that it is not on theLAN side of the router and forwardsthe packet on to its gateway, which isshown in the table as 208.148.114.1.This process continues until the pack-et reaches 198.133.219.25.

This can be illustrated by going toa computer, opening a system windowand typing "tracert www.cisco.com"(without the quotes) and pressing "En -tee (See Figure 3.) Each of the 15 hopsrepresents a router, and the subsequenthop represents the gateway address ofthe previous router. The number ofhops will vary depending on the routefrom your computer to Cisco. RE

Brad Gilmer is president of Gilmer &Associates, executive director of the VideoServices Forum and executive director ofthe Advanced Media Workflow Association.

IllSend questions and comments to:[email protected]

Workstation 110.19.8.11


Router10.19.8.1

Networkhub




Figure 2. Building a simple network requires selecting appropriate IP addresses onthe private side of the network.

lONNI

0.\tracert www clsco com

Tracing route to www.cisco.comover a maximum of 30 hops,

1 15 ms 16 ms 16 ms2 16 ms 15 ms 16 ms3 15 ms 16 ms 16 ms4 16 ms 15 ms 16 msS 16 ms 15 ms 16 ms

6 16 ms 16 ms 15 ms7 15 ms 16 ms 16 ms8 78 ms 78 ms 78 ms9 78 ms 78 ms 94 ms

10 78 ms 78 ms 94 ms11 78 ms 78 ms 94 ms12 78 ms 78 015 94 ms

13 78 ms 78 ms 94 ms14 78 ms 78 ms 94 msIS 79 ms 78 ms 93 ms

[198.'33.219.25]

68.155.202.1209.'49.96.65209.749.96.158299.'49.96.2380.so-1-0-0.611112.ATL5.ALTER.NET [157.130.76.237]

0.so-0-0-0.XL2.ATL5.ALTER.NET [152.63.80.6]0.so-1-0-0.71.2.AIL5.ALTER.NET [152.63.85.225]0.so-1-2-0.11.2.SACLALTER.NET [152.63.10.114]0.so-7-0-0.W.SJC2.ALTER.NET [152.63.113.22]POS1-0.X92.5..X2.ALTER.NET (152.63.56.142]192.97146-0.5615.SJC2.AUTER.NET [152.63.48.81]ciscesys-9w1.customer.alter.net [65.208.80.242]

sjce-dirty-gw1.cisco.com [128.107.239.89]sjck-sdf-ciod-gw2.cisco.com [128.107.239.182]www.cisco.com [198.133.219.25]

Figure 3. When applying a tracert command to your computer, you should seesomething similar to what's shown above.

Computer name IP addresses Subnet mask Gateway addresses

Router LAN - 10.19.8.1 LAN - 255.255.255.0 WAN - 208.148.144.1WAN - 208.148.144.73 WAN - 255.255.255.252

Workstation 1 10.19.8.11 255.255.255.0 10.19.8.1

Workstation 2 10.19.8.21 255.255.255.0 10.19.8.1

Workstation 3 10.19.8.31 255.255.255.0 10.19.8.1

Workstation 4 10.19.8.41 255.255.255.0 10.19.8.1

Workstation 5 10.19.8.51 255.255.255.0 10.19.8.1

Table 3.The above IP addresses were assigned to our example network.


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PRODUCTION CLIPSDIGITAL HANDBOOK

Next-gen audio codingUnderstand the theory behind high -end audio coding.

Today many broadcastersand cable programmersare under increasing pres-sure both to prepare and

to distribute their content to viewersover more diverse pathways. Thesenext -generation distribution pathsoften have limited bandwidth. Thisrequires broadcasters, service provid-ers and operators to use audio andvideo coding systems that allow themto deliver broadcast streams more ef-ficiently while simultaneously main-taining a predictable level of quality.The overall goal of using these newcoding systems is to maintain the pre-established benchmark of broadcastquality.

Today, some networks simultane-ously prepare and deliver contentin the format that their existing andprimary viewers require, as well asin the new formats that several ofthe next -generation service provid-ers (e.g. IPTV operators or downloadservices) require. This simulcast ofcontent is ideal because the next -gen-eration service providers can simplypass through the precompressed lowbit -rate content without having toperform any quality altering process(on the way through their systems).

However, there are many cases to-day in which these next -generationservice providers simply take a net-work's primary signal and transcodeit (i.e. converting it in real time fromone format to another) into a formatthat will yield the lower bit rates re-quired for their network. Unfortu-nately, making this process work typi-cally requires a full decode of boththe audio and video before re -encod-ing into one of the future audio andvideo formats -a process that oftenresults in a degradation in quality.

This article series will focus on themost important and often overlookedfactors when considering a next-gen-

BY JFFFRFY C. RIFDMILLFR

eration audio codec in applicationswhere transcoding (from one formatto another) cannot be avoided. In par-ticular, it will examine what to expectin terms of quality when two differentaudio coding systems are used in tan-dem and include a brief explanationof the standardized methods used to

was quite different to the listener. Thesignal with the injected white noisehad an annoying background hiss.The signal with the shaped noise wascharacterized as having good qualitybecause the noise distortion was be-ing partially or completely masked bythe signal itself.

Human listeners need to be involved toassess an audio coding system.There aretwo standardized methods for assessing

the perceived quality of audio codingsystems that involve human test subjects.

test the quality of audio coding sys-tems. In addition, it will also explorehow to interpret test results and mostimportantly, define broadcast quality.

Quality measurementThe term quality is a key concept

in audio coding, yet it is also quitechallenging to describe or measurein objective terms. Using traditionalmethods, such as signal-to-noise ra-tio (SNR), to assist in quantifyingthe perceived audio quality of anyaudio coding system will often leadto little success because measures licethis do not consider psychoacousticprinciples.

In the late 1980s, researchers Bran-denburg and Johnston from Bell Labspresented an interesting case support-ing the need for something other thana simple objective measure. Referredto as the 13dB miracle, the research-ers presented two processed audiosignals, each having a measured 13dBSNR. In one of the signals, they in-troduced white noise, while the otherwas injected with perceptually shapednoise.

Even though the SNR was identicalfor both signals, the perceived quality

Based on the case just described,it is clear that human listeners needto be involved at some level to assessthe quality of an audio coding sys-tem. Fortunately, there are two stan-dardized methods for determiningthe perceived quality of audio codingsystems that involve human test sub-jects. They are both standardized bythe International TelecommunicationUnion (ITU) and referred to as:

ITU-R BS.1116-1 (Methods forthe Subjective Assessment of SmallImpairments in Audio Systems In-cluding Multichannel Sound Sys-tems); and

ITU-R BS.1534-1 (Methods forthe Subjective Assessment of Inter-mediate Quality Levels of CodingSystems), also known as MUSHRA,which stands for MUltiple Stimuliwith Hidden Reference and Anchor.

Assessing audio codersIt can safely be stated that the per-

ceived difference between a codedaudio signal and the source (that is,the reference) has a direct correlationwith quality, and the term impair-ment (often used in this discipline)can be thought of as the difference

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between the two. Another importantterm used when assessing audio cod-ing systems is transparency.

Transparency is used to describecoded audio signals where the codingsystem under consideration is operat-

grade of 1.0 is reserved for annoyingimpairments. The ITU-R BS.1116-1grading scale also has a relationshipto a standardized quality scale, whichis defined in ITU-R BS.1284-1 andshown in Table 2.

Impairment Grade

Imperceptible 5.0

Perceptible, but not annoying 4.0

Slightly annoying 3.0

Annoying 2.0

Very annoying 1.0

Table 1. ITU-R BS.1116-1 grading scale

ing at a data rate such that listenerscannot reliably distinguish betweenthe source (the reference) and thecoded signal itself (where the sourceaudio is encoded and then decoded).Therefore, the goal of any subjectivelistening test is to use a variety of testsignals and then identify and gradehow annoying audio impairments arewhen the codec is operating within itsregion of transparency and below itsregion of transparency.

It is important to note that differ-ent test strategies and methods aretypically used to assess coding systemand data rate combinations that fallwithin each of these categories. Whencompleted, the results of these testsare intended to assist us in determin-ing whether an audio codec operatedover a range of data rates will con-sistently perform at a known level ofquality for a specific application.

ITU-R BS.1116-1The ITU-R BS.1116-1 method is

the more critical subjective listeningtest methodology of the two listedpreviously. It is typically used to as-

sess audio coding systems that in-troduce impairments small enoughto be undetectable without strictcontrol of experimental conditionsand proper statistical analysis. Thegrading scale is based on a (continu-ous) five -grade impairment scale, asshown in Table 1. A grade of 5.0 isconsidered to be transparent, while a

The BS.1116-1 method itself is adouble-blind, triple -stimulus withhidden reference type of test. A sub-set of a test session is a trial that be-gins with the presentation of a set ofstimuli (the reference and two testitems) and finishes with the test sub -

each of the test signals compared withthe known reference. They can freelyswitch between any of them. Becauseone of the test signals is actually the(hidden) reference signal, the listen-ers should be grading it as a 5.0, andthe remaining test signal should re-ceive a grade based on the listener'ssubjective assessment of the degrada-tion. If listeners are unable to reliablyperceive any differences between thetest signals, the audio coding systemand the tested bit rate are said to bein the particular codec's region oftransparency.

Coding marginIt is obvious that tests like this often

include signals coded at multiple bitrates in an effort to quantify the cod-ing margin of the coding systems inquestion. Coding margin is the differ-ence between the quantization noisefrom the codec/bit rate combination

Coding margin can be thought of as thedifference between the quantization noise

from the codecibit rate combinationand the masking threshold.

ject grading each of the test items.For each trial, the listener is pre-

sented with three signals or stimuli.One signal is the uncompressed ref-erence signal (which is always knownto the test subject), and the remainingtwo are the test signals, one of whichis identical to the reference and theother of which is the same signal cod-ed at a particular bit rate of interest.

Listeners are asked to assess andthen grade the impairments between

Quality (ITU-R BS.1284-1)

and the masking threshold. Gener-ally speaking, operating a codec at ahigher data rate will typically yield anincrease in coding margin.

What about the criteria for select-ing listeners? When assessing smallimpairments, it's important thatthe test subjects are expert listenersand have experience detecting smallimpairments introduced by audiocoding systems. This often involvesscreening test subjects before and

Impairment (ITU-R BS.1116-1)

5 Excellent 5 Imperceptible

4 Good 4 Perceptible, but not annoying

3 Fair 3 Slightly annoying

2 Poor 2 Annoying

1 Bad 1 Very annoying

Table 2. ITU-R BS.1116-1's grading scale compared with ITU-R BS.1284-1's scale


after to determine their ability tocorrectly identify the hidden (un-compressed) reference. The size ofthe final listening panel often con-sists of 20 to 30 expert listeners.

What about test material? BS.1116-1 requires that only critical materialbe used to expose differences amongall of the audio coding schemes beingtested. Critical material stresses theaudio coding system in question andmust be investigated and sought outfor each system that's tested.

There is not auniversal set of

audio testmaterial that

can be used toassess all audiocoding systems

for all conditions.

It is not uncommon to find sev-eral of the same audio test sequencesamong different subjective evaluationtests. However, there is not a univer-sal set of audio test material that canbe used to assess all audio codingsystems for all conditions. This keyaspect of the testing process is abso-lutely crucial because failing to findtruly critical (stressful) test sequencesfor each audio coding system will re-sult in inconclusive test results.

More to comeFor a detailed explanation of the

MUSHRA test method, please seethe extended version of this articleon the Broadcast Engineering Website, at http://broadcastengineering.com/issue_20080101. And in a futureProduction Clips article, we'll tacklepart two of this audio coding series,defining broadcast quality, as well astandem coding losses and their effecton perceived quality. BE

Jeffrey C. Riedmiller is senior broadcastproduct manager for Dolby Laboratories.

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SHOWCASE

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delivers unique programming froma new digital facilityBY RUSSELL BROWN

KMTP-TV has been a partof San Francisco broad-casting for 16 years,bringing ethnically di-

verse programming to its viewersas an independent public televisionstation. During this time, the stationrented studio and office space anddepended on equipment donationsfrom local TV stations.

When the FCC mandated the tran-sition to digital, KMTP was housed inthe bottom floor of a one-time brew-ery, running with hand-me-down

a--A-11--

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equipment and a 40 -year -old analogtransmitter. The station saw the digi-tal transition as an opportunity toupgrade its entire operation, whichincluded purchasing a new transmit-ter and a hi. ilding of its own.

The planning stagesIn 2004, KMTP installed new

Thomson Grass Valley analog anddigital transmitters at Sutro Tower.Fortunately, a community digitalantenna system had already beeninstalled in 1999, so this made the

I

Top:The main technical room features amonitoring rack with a Leader LV7720rasterizer and Panasonic BTLH picturemonitors. The rocm also includes anencoder a routing switcher, patch bays,video servers and automation.

Bottom left: The four monitors on theleft wall are used fir off -air monitoring.The center monitor is switchable. Theright one is off -air nalog and includes arouting switcher. The computer stationon the left is run in Crispin automation.The right workstation handles videoserver monitoring file ingest, as wellas playlist creatior and editing.

Bottom right: Th a facility houses aThomson 10X analog transmitter and aThomson DCX dig tal transmitter. Bothare IOT water-cool ad.

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process a little easier. However, the sta-tion still had to fit the new transmit-ters in the same room as its existingGE UHF transmitter. The engineerscut a hole in the wall to the stationnext door and brought the cabinetsand HVPS through it. They ran theDTV transmission line up to the roofand into the combiner building. Thenthey connected it to the mask filter,which was also installed in 1999.

The digital transmitter and its exciterare controlled from a digital workstationthat has two computers, one for systemcontrol and the other for setting up thedigital exciter.

It took time before KMTP couldfind a suitable and affordable building.Because of the technology downturnseveral years ago, the station found abuilding in the heart of Silicon Valleythat fit its budget. The new building islocated near Stanford University in thecity of Palo Alto, about 30 miles southof San Francisco.

Its 21,000sq-ft space is more thanenough room for the station's pres-ent needs. It even gives KMTP extraspace, which allows the station to rentout sections of the facility to on -airclients. An added bonus is that thebuilding includes two classrooms,

which the broadcaster plans to use inthe near future.

In order to stay within the budget,economy and simplicity were the pri-mary goals of the design for the newfacility. The new facility was a freshstart for the station, because most ofits existing equipment would not beneeded in the new facility.

The station decided that the newfacility should be all -digital, using

KMTP installed a Video Technics Apellavideo server, which is based on a gigabitnetwork.The server can be expanded inthe future as the station grows.

SDI, SMPTE 259M, video and AES/EBU balanced audio throughout,with any analog equipment converteddirectly to digital. KMTP wanted tostart out with four SD digital chan-nels, which required a fully auto-mated, multichannel master controlroom that could be run by a smallstaff or left unattended at times. Be-cause of the station's small staff size, itwas decided that all tape ingest wouldbe accomplished within the facility'smaster control, which meant puttingall the VTRs within it.

The heart of the station's systemincludes three main components: thevideo servers, an automation system

and a routing switcher. Each part iscrucial to the success of the new mul-tichannel facility.

Video serversThe first step was selecting the vid-

eo server, which needed to have sev-eral output channels and at least twoingest channels. It also needed to beexpandable to handle future growth.KMTP would have liked to build in

The heart of thestation's systemincludes three

main components:the video servers,

an automationsystem and a

routing switcher.Each part is crucialto the success ofthe new facility.

HD capability, but it was outside of thestation's budget. Therefore, the stationdecided to handle HD capability as acompletely separate playout system inthe future.

KMTP installed a Video TechnicsApella video server because it hasmany of the functions and the ex-pandability the station required. Theserver is based on a gigabit network.Digitized audio and video travel overthe network from ingest to storage orstorage to playout.

Storage is handled by a CipricoDiMeda 1700 NAS server. If morespace is needed, NAS can be easilyadded to the network.

The chassis hold a maximum offour playout/record channels. Eachchannel can be used for ingest orplayback, and the chassis are connect-ed to the network with just one cable.KMTP uses two chassis with a totalof six channels.

The video server allows off -

the -shelf PCs to run software that


enables the station's staff to view anyclip on the server and edit it as wellas add voice-overs to any video clip.This feature is important to KMTPbecause the station produces foreignlanguage news programs. It allowsthe station to add voice-overs to pre -produced segments without using itslimited number of edit bays.

A hot folder on the NAS allows thestation's Final Cut Pro editors to dropcompleted files into it. Then the filesare processed and placed on the videoserver automatically and ready to beplayed on -air. The same editors canalso browse the contents of the NASand pull files off of it.

AutomationKMTP was determined to find au-

tomation that was stable, reliable andbacked by excellent customer service.

Four Samsung DTB-H260F set -topboxes are connected to audio and videodistribution amplifiers.

The station selected a four -channelCrispin RapidPlayX 2000, which in-cludes free lifetime support. In orderto facilitate the marriage of the serversto the automation, Video Technics sentan Apella system to Crispin to ensurethat the two systems would commu-

nicate to one another when the equip-ment arrived at the new facility.

Routing switcherLastly, KMTP needed a routing

switcher to tie the system together.The station couldn't afford a dedi-cated master control switcher for eachchannel, so it decided that the routingswitcher would act as its master con-trol switcher. This obviously meantthe station needed a reliable SD digitalrouting switcher that fit the budget.

KMTP went with a Sigma Electron-ics ADX router with 64 inputs and32 outputs. It can be expanded up to128 x 128, but even at its present size,the station will not use all of it forsome time.

The station also purchased sevenSigma SYX control panels. The AESaudio is balanced, and the facility uses

The main transmitter racks include adigital rack on the left, monitoring inthe middle and analog on the right. Themonitors on the top are digital off -air,analog off -air and cable.

ADC PPA3-14MKI126NS audio patchbays, as well as Belden1800A digital au-dio cable. The facility is outfitted withSwitchcraft VPP26K3HD75T videopatch bays and uses Belden 1694 digi-tal video coax for SDI video cabling.

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SYSTEM DESIGNSHOWCASE

MonitoringThe new facility required all new

monitoring equipment because thestation switched to digital. Engineersinstalled four 17in Panasonic BTLHmonitors, which handle SDI -HD,SDI -SD as well as analog inputs. Themonitors come in a one-piece design,making them easy to mount.

The station's budget only allowedit to purchase one SDI waveform/vector scope rasterizer, so it installeda Leader LV7720. The main unit ismounted in the equipment room anduses a VGA splitter, another feed goesto master control where it is an inputon a KVM switch at the dubbing po-sition. The facility also includes a Sig-ma TSG490Y sync generator with SDItest patterns and AES test tones.

In master control, there are threework positions:

automation, where all four chan-nels are controlled;

workstation, which gives the stationaccess to the video servers and a placeto create and edit playlists; and

dubbing, where VTR ingest is ac-complished and clips can be tram-ferred into the video servers.

The only equipment KMTP keptfrom its old facility was its Beta andU-Matic VTRs, which are mountedin the MCR racks for ease of use. Thesatellite receivers are also mounted inthe MCR racks.

Contrary to the rest of the facility,monitoring in master control is most-ly analog, which was done for purelybudgetary reasons. Off -air monitor-ing of the station's DTV signal is ac-complished through four SamsungDTB-H260F set -top boxes, each tunedto a different channel. The STBs areconnected to Thomson Grass Val-ley 8550 audio DAs and Hedco VDA100 video DAs, which in turn feedTatung TLM1503 15in monitors, a

VMIRon Wells, main supplierKTMP-TVRussell Brown, chief engineerDoug Benson, Kelly Quan, Bianca Brown, Joy Brown, Phil Hartman,

construction assistants

Videotek RS12A analog switcher andHarris Leitch Panacea Lite Digital12 x 1 switcher in master control. Onedigital router output is converted toanalog and fed to the same switcher,which is then connected to a MagniWV560 analog waveform monitorand a Tatung V32GCGI 32in moni-tor/DTV receiver also in the MCR.

EncodingThe encoding system is comprised

of four Harmonic MV45 SD encod-ers as part of an NMX statisticalmultiplexer. The system uses a GUIinterface to monitor and control theencoding system, from tracing andrecording faults such as a bad videoinput to changing the bandwidth pri-ority of any channel. It is easy to use,and it can automatically switch in aspare encoder if one fails, as well assend an e-mail to let you know.

The output of the stat mux is con-nected to a Thomson Amber multi-plexer, which is where the Programand System Information Protocol(PSIP) data is added to the transportstream. KMTP also uses the compa-ny's Pearl PSIP generator to create thePSIP data.

Computer networksThe technical room uses five

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different computer networks, notincluding the Internet. The stationkeeps all its IP address ranges separatefor security purposes. All the networkrouters and switches are located inone rack to make it easier to monitorall the systems. This also allows engi-neers to patch any system to the Inter-net when remote access is needed.

Studio productionequipment

For studio productions, KMTPpurchased three Canon XLH1 cam-corders, which double as studio andfield cameras. They have genlock andSDI outputs so the station can usethem in the studio.

The facility's Broadcast Pix 2000production switcher features bothanalog and digital inputs and outputsas well as a DVE, built-in video clipplayback and Inscriber TitleMotionDV V4.3.1 CG. The system can becontrolled from its control panel orvia the network browser.

The station's two classrooms willbe used for equipment training. Inaddition, the classrooms may be usedto teach classes in video engineeringand production. BE

Russell Brown is a chief engineer forKMTP-TV

Ana. hi Art t a.

ADC PP.A3-14MK1126NS audio patch bays

Belden1800A digital audio cab e1694 digital video coax

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TRANSMISSION & DISTRIBUTIONSYSTEMS INTEGRATION

DTV transmittersStations broadcasting from the Sears Tower

designed a way to coexist.

When the DTV ruleswere first announced,or even offered forcomment, broadcast-

ers started to worry about how asecond channel could be accommo-dated within the framework of theirexisting facilities. Transmitter spacecould be handled by, at worst, addingon to buildings, but antennas andlines were often a problem, especial-ly on older towers that were built todifferent specifications than today'stowers. For stations that were tenantson sites where space was a problem,either regarding the building or thetowers, the problems quickly becamereal and difficult.

The layout of theSears Tower

In Chicago, D.L. Markley and As-sociates was hired to work with theSears Tower and broadcasters to de-termine what their needs would beand find a way to accommodate newhardware. The building operationsmanager determined the transmitterspace needs and came up with a plan

BY DON L MARKLEY

On the Sears Tower, three multiplexers were squeezed into what was previously arestroom off of what had been an old observation deck.

that gave each station the amount ofspace it needed - which wasn't nec-essarily what each station wanted, butit worked.

It was quickly determined thatwhile the transmitters would fit,there simply wasn't enough verticalreal estate to get everyone on the air

FRAME GRAB A look at the consumer side of DTV

HDTV owners happier with image quality than programming37 percent of viewers think HD programming selection is average

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Source: Nielsen Media Research www.nielsenmedia.corn

while all the analog antennas werestill in place.

I'm sure that everyone has seenthe antenna installation on the SearsTower. Just watch an NFL game fromthe aesthetically challenged SoldierField Stadium. Shots often includethe Sears Tower, clearly displaying theantenna layout.

The original structure consists oftwo towers, totally enclosed in ra-domes, mounted on top of two hugesteel cylinders. The walls of the cylin-ders have not been penetrated by any-thing other than small openings forcables to maintain structural integrity.

The towers are in three levels, witheach level being smaller than the onebelow it. Each level does not havemore than one full-size UHF antenna,with some VHF activity on the lowerlevel. The west cylinder has a coupleof VHF antennas mounted on its faceunder a large fiberglass bubble. Thosetwo antennas, now used as auxiliary,were once used for some of the early


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measurements and data gatheringconcerning circular polarization forVHF TV.

Other than the second space downfrom the top of the east tower, therewasn't room for anything new. Chang-es would either have to be made bycooperation between the existing ten-ants or something new would have to

be added to the installation. In the fi-nal analysis, both paths were taken.

Resolving an issue of spaceWith little significant objection, the

tenants worked out their problems.This involved using some new space,to be discussed in a bit, and reconfig-uring an existing antenna.

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The antenna at the top of the westtower was a big unit designed for5MW ERR Through a series of ma-neuvers, both after and prior to theDTV problem, that antenna was re-configured. It was removed and re-placed by three DTV antennas, lov-ingly referred to as the triple -stack.

The new technology and muchlower power requirements for DTVenabled three channels on the an-tenna space. The antennas were di-rectional, which is the norm for theUHF stations on the building. To thenortheast lies Lake Michigan. Thestations run out of steam in that di-rection before hitting the other side,so the use of the directional antennais obvious.

The building was originally de-signed to accommodate broadcasterswith a tower/cylinder combination.Like most designs, that worked for a

With littlesignificant

objection, thetenants worked out

their problems.

long time - until DTV came along.In trying to work out a solution to thereal estate problem, the structural en-gineer on the project mentioned thatthere were four load platforms on theroof, located between the cylindersand the building corners. The struc-tures could hold a fairly good load forfuture uses, whatever those might be.

At first, not much thought wasgiven to those platforms as theyweren't thought to have the neces-sary mechanical loading abilitiesto hold a self-supporting structure.Anything mounted on those pads onthe east side would have to at leastget the top antenna near or abovethe cylinders for good service. Thesame applied in part to anything onthe northwest pad due to shadow-ing from the west cylinder.



Eventually we decided to installmonopoles on the pads, which couldbe anchored by a couple of braces tothe cylinders. That greatly reducedthe horizontal loading problem forthe rooftop pads. The vertical loadswere acceptable. Due to the shadow-ing that would occur over parts ofthe market area, we used the two eastmonopoles for auxiliary service onlywith multiplex panel antennas.

Next came the juggling act. Wecontacted the manufacturers of theseantennas to determine the specifica-tions of their units that could handlethe projected power and pattern. Thatdata then went to the structural engi-neer for analysis and approval from aloading point of view, which then wasused as a filter for the proposed an-tennas. Finally, one was selected andwas used on both the northeast andsoutheast monopoles.

In a similar fashion, a high -powerpanel antenna with the same patternwas installed in the last available spaceon the east tower. That antenna couldaccommodate two stations at 5 MWeach or several lower power antennas.It was installed easily as it was not setin place in one unit but was actuallyconstructed on the existing tower. Af-ter that, the only problem was gettingall those signals to their respective an-tennas. The numbers included threesignals into the new main, five into oneauxiliary and seven into the other.

Manifold technologyHandling all those signals wasn't

easy. High -power multiplexers aretraditionally large structures. How-ever, the space for those units was notbig. Therefore, we needed multiplex-ers that did not take up much space.The search quickly settled on mani-fold technology. UHF use at highpower is normally done by using awaveguide base with waveguide filterson directional couplers installed intothat base.

All the stations were accommodat-ed, and there is some growth poten-tial. Although, to do so the new mul-tiplexers may have to be broken up

into two pieces, with the new sectionsbeing connected to the old by cables.

ConclusionSo far, we have discussed this an-

tenna project as though no prob-lems were encountered. That wasn'tthe case. There were enough prob-lems some terribly significant

- to fill another article. Look forthe next article in this series in theMarch issue of Broadcast Engineeringmagazine.

Don L. Markley is president ofD.L. Markley and Associates.

BE

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COUNTDOWN TO 2009SYSTEMS INTEGRATION

Building HD news setsConsider these factors when preparing

for an HD launch.

With more stationsmaking the leap toHD newscasts, im-portant lessons are

emerging about preparing the front -of -the -camera visual elements to looktheir best in HD and 16:9.

PlanningThe first, and most important,

consideration in preparing for an HDlaunch is to allow adequate time tointegrate all departments. This factorholds true to everything from install-ing equipment, designing graphicsand building a set.

WFTV-TV in Orlando, FL, launchedits HD newscast in June 2006. Coordi-nating each department's expertise intechnology, workflow and day-to-dayoperations filled gaps in knowledgeand pooled information to create bet-ter solutions faster for staffers havingsimilar problems.

It took the station 10 months totransition to HD, a time frame thatworked well for news operation man-ager Dave Sirak and his colleagues.However, Sirak says that having aclear plan is key to any changeover.

At KCRA-TV in Sacramento, CA,director of marketing Jessica Rap-paport headed up the station's HDconversion with the station's assistantnews director and director of engi-neering. Planning began more thana year in advance, and she says, "thethree of us were practically joined atthe hip for that entire time."

A hybrid worldWith a realistic, collaborative plan

in place, the next challenge stationsmaking the transition to HD face isthe fact that today's studio sets andgraphics are hybrids. They need towork in the 16:9 aspect ratio as well as

BY MICHAEL P. HILL

WFTV-TV debuted its first HD newscasts in July 2006 with a new set fromFX Group.

the still -dominant 4:3 screen size.Russ Nelligan, creative services di-

rector at Hearst -Argyle's WCVB-TVin Boston, says his crews pay close at-tention to what viewers in both for-mats see. During a recent team cover-age newscast, the station contemplat-ed using the array of LCD monitorsin the station's tech standup center todisplay multiple live shots for anchorsto toss to - something it wasn't de-signed to do. But during experimen-tation, getting the shot framed wideenough to allow for the more rectan-gular 16:9 screen size caused the im-ages on the monitors to be too smallfor viewers to discern.

Not all shots that work well in oneaspect ratio work well in the other,says Glenn Anderson, senior designerat FX Group in Orlando, the companythat designed sets for WCVB, KCRAand WFTV. He says it's important toremember that shots for 16:9, whichkeep active elements within the 4:3center zone, require wider framing.Once everyone is viewing in 16:9, thiswill no longer be an issue.

To ensure everything looks its best,WCVB staffers have access to both 4:3

and 16:9 monitors throughout the sta-tion and are constantly reviewing hownewscasts look in both aspect ratios.

Designing graphicsWCVB's biggest challenge has been

designing on -screen graphics that areeffective in both 16:9 and 4:3 whilekeeping in mind that essential infor-mation can't spill into the left or rightside of the 16:9 screen. The stationlearned that creating a bottom -of-the -screen graphics ticker that com-municates as effectively in 4:3 as 16:9requires a little give and take.

Nelligan and his team also had tocarefully consider where the station'sfamiliar "5" bug would be placed on-screen. They didn't like how the bugfloated in the middle of the screenfor 16:9 viewers. In the end, WCVB'smaster control was configured to out-put two versions of its bug, one foreach aspect ratio.

WFTV's bug placement wasn't anissue because the station's graphicspackage was developed to closely in-tegrate the logo when lower thirds aredisplayed. Its designers did, however,have to ensure the graphics worked


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with both the WFTV "9" and its sisterstation, WRDQ-TV's "27," becausethe two share newscast facilities andproduction.

Getting readyOne way to familiarize production

crews with hybrid formats is to do aphased introduction of the new tech-nology. Sirak and his team used thisstrategy at WFTV. The station was us-ing its HD studio cameras in the weeksleading up to the launch, giving cam-era operators the chance to practiceframing for both aspect ratios. Then,as the launch date grew closer, news-casts were produced from the new HDcontrol room, although the signal leav-ing the building was still analog.

WCVB took a similar approach byproducing its nightly newsmagazine"Chronicle" in HD prior to taking itsnewscasts HD earlier this year.

Nelligan says that another way togradually transition to HD news isto do so during the midday newscast.Most midday broadcasts run only 30to 60 minutes, so it's a good practicerun to give crews several hours towork out any issues before the non-stop slew of early evening newscasts.

Shot -by -shot planningHybrid sets require careful plan-

ning of every shot used in a newscastbefore construction begins. Begin-ning with one -shots and working outto wider shots such as four -shots andtosses is the best way to approach this,Anderson says. FX stresses the impor-tance of using 3-D computer render-ings for accurate shot previews.

Not only is it crucial to avoid an-chors encroaching on each other'sshots, but attention must be paid towhat's behind the anchors. WhenWCVB uses its rear -projection screenfor nonweather stories, crews are cau-tious to avoid having weather-themedgraphics from the adjoining weathercenter appear in the wider 16:9 shot.

Something that looks good in oneshot won't always look good in an-other shot, Rappaport says. Her teamrecognized the detail that goes into

shot planning. They spent hours ad-justing which graphic and video feedswould be displayed in the dual moni-tor walls behind the anchors.

In the end, the most important rolea set and its shots play is to help news-casters tell stories. Decide how youwant to do news, and then design theset around that, Rappaport says. Sheurges stations to consider what shotsthey like in addition to what shotsthey'd like to see on the new set, in-cluding those for special coverage andfranchise reporting.

Refreshing a set?When gearing up for HD, many sta-

tions consider refreshing their news

contrast between light and dark inbackground materials and graphicsdoesn't need to be as high in HD, saysMack McLaughlin, CEO at FX Group.HD cameras tend to make things lookmore like humans see them, he says.

WCVB learned the contrast lessonthe hard way. The station's creativeteam developed a unique cityscapebackground for its main anchor areathat featured stylistically blurred outeredges. Within days of debut, the sta-tion received hundreds of complaints.Many viewers found the blur distract-ing, while others found it disappoint-ing after spending thousands on anHDTV. Nelligan says viewers wantedclarity, and they felt they weren't get-

KCRA-TV unveiled its HD newscasts on Feb. 12, 2007, with a new set. The stationfound it was more cost-effective to replace its old set with a new design.

set instead of replacing it. However,replacing an old set with a new designis usually more cost-effective in thelong run - and gets better results.

A refresh can often cost almost asmuch as a new set, and most oldersets don't hold up under the crisperHD resolution, Anderson says.

KCRA originally considered reno-vating its then six -year -old set but re-alized it needed to start from scratch.You go into the studio and realize thatHD is a completely different ballgame,Rappaport says. Her team found theold set's layout and surfaces wouldn'twork in HD.

Depth vs. clarityAlong with HD's more vivid pic-

tures comes a note of caution whenconsidering set backgrounds. The

ting it. WCVB tackled the issue head-on by contacting every viewer whoregistered a complaint. The stationsent them samples of the proposedreplacements and then picked thebest one based on viewer feedback.

Material quality also plays a bigrole in how a set will look on -air,McLaughlin says. It's important toensure that HD -ready sets are built byexperienced turnkey fabricators whodon't skimp by using subgrade ma-terials. Cameras can no longer makelow -quality laminates look like ex-pensive, fine -furniture woodwork.

HD sets must be carefully main-tained. KCRA, WCVB and WFTV relyon a custom -selected assortment ofcleaning supplies provided by theirset design firm to keep things lookingwell -cared for.


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Lighting and makeupThe challenges of HD don't end

with the set and graphics. Lightingand makeup both play a key role inhow the talent and the set look. Com-bining stellar makeup with profes-sional lighting is key for making HDlook 3-D, McLaughlin says.

Professional lighting design shouldbe installed by a trained expert andmaintained on a regular basis. WFTVgets periodic visits to fix lamps thathave slipped or burned out.

Regarding how a talent's makeupshould look for HD, the generalrule is less is more. Try to achievea natural look for the anchors andreporters. Makeup should be clean,lightweight and color -correct. Finermolecule HD makeup offers bettercoverage and, when applied with anairbrush, looks more natural. Heavi-er SD makeup absorbs more light,looking blotchy.

WCVB-TV viewers found the stylistic blur behind the anchors distracting.

Let cameras do the liftingAnother way to help on -air talent

look their best is to use the advancedfeatures found in most HD cameras.WFTV uses the skin detailing featureon its Sony HD 1500 studio cameras,using the camera control units to ana-

lyze and automatically enhance talentimages over a wide range of skin tone,imperfections and hair color.

Sirak appreciates how this technol-ogy softens skins tones but still allowsviewers to see extreme detail in an an-chor's tie, jewelry or hair, for example.

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WCVB contacted each person who complained about the stylistic blur (shown inphoto on page 60) and showed them samples of proposed background replacements.Ultimately, they selected a more traditional cityscape (shown above).

Even non -HD viewers notice clearerand sharper images of the set and tal-ent. The station's clearer picture hasattracted some viewers from the other,non -HD stations in the market.

The real challenge for HD will come

when field cameras move to HD andtalent in the field lose the selectiveflesh tone soften feature installed onthe studio cameras, Sirak says. Hiscrews shoot in 16:9 SD when coveringstories in the field.

Lessons learnedIn the end, KCRA, WCVB, and

WFTV all learned valuable lessonsduring the HD conversion process.Being part of a station group al-lowed them to share the wealth ofinformation. Rappaport and herteam were closely involved with sis-ter station WESH's HD conversion,which launched Nov. 1, 2007. She saysshe wishes her team had been moreknowledeable about the HD processbefore they started and that theylearned something every day.

Still, that shouldn't be a discour-agement, McLaughlin says. He pointsout that everyone is learning newthings all the time about HD. It's arapidly changing area that makesthis an exciting time to be in the TVindustry. BE

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January 2008 I broad castengineering.com 61

For the San Francisco vs. Carolina NFL game at theCarolina Stadium, the production crew relied onthis Thomson Grass Valley LDK 8000 camera to helpcapture the Panther's only home game win of theseason.

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BY DAVID BIRDY

rom live sporting events tonews and entertainment,high -definition cameras arethe wave of the future. And

they have become a fixture on manymovie sets and TV compounds.

Low-cost HDTV sets, new cameratechnology, fiber optics, MPEG-4and faster CPU processors are mak-ing HD affordable and dependablefor both consumer and professionalapplications.

As consumers grow to expect high-er quality images, broadcasters andcontent producers will increasinglymove to HD production. All roadslead to heavy demand for native HDprogramming.

To better understand the playersin this space, let's take a closer lookat some of the HD camera optionsavailable. While not every type andmodel of HD camera will be dis-cussed, these units are representativeof what's being used today to createHD programming. These thoughtsare based on my 20 years of experi-ence as a broadcast engineer.

What is available?Ikegami, Sony and Thomson Grass

Valley all make triax- and fiber -basedHD cameras that are used for live sportsand entertainment productions. Pan-asonic and Sony are key makers in thestandalone, onboard recorder cameramarket. A new player, RED DigitalCinema,. just delivered its first roundof RED ONE HD cameras in Septem-ber 2007. Marketed as an HD digitalcinema camera, the unit provides a12 megapixel CMOS imaging system.The camera has generated a lot of in-terest. We'll have to see if it can deliveron the claims. Now, let's look at someof the cameras available.

Thomson Grass ValleyLDK 6000 mk II

Three 9.2 million HD-DPM (Dy-namic Pixel Management) and CCDs(9.2 megapixels) coupled with 12 -bitA/D conversion and native formatswitching from 720p to 1080i are allstandard features for the ThomsonGrass Valley LDK 6000 mk II camera.

2008 I broadcastengineering.com 63

FEATUREHIGH-DEF VIDEO CAMERAS COME OF AGE

It was the first widely used HD cam-era to incorporate triax-based opera-tion. Triax connectivity is an attrac-tive option to facility providers andbroadcasters because it makes camerasetup quicker, and the cabling is lessexpensive to install and maintain forvenues.

When triax lengths exceed 3000ft,a triax repeater is available, doublingthe triax reach to 6000ft. By replac-

The Thomson Grass Valley LDK 6000mk II offers the option of 720p or 10801output without crossconverting.

ing the triax base station and cameraadaptor with a SMPTE fiber base sta-tion and camera adaptor, it's possibleto achieve more than 13,000ft of dis-tance by adding a 110V power sourceto the camera. There are several third -party solutions that provide two sin-gle -mode fibers in a cable along withbreakout boxes at both ends.

In addition to the advantage of in-corporating triax, the LDK 6000 mkII also offers the option of 720p or1080i output without crossconvert-ing, which is an attractive option forboth broadcasters and truck owners.

Sony HDC-1550One of the newest additions to

Sony's live broadcast cameras is theHDC-1550. The 1550 is a speedy workhorse, configurable as a handheld oras a studio camera. The cameras usethree newly designed 2/3in 2.2 mega -pixel progressive -scan Hyper HoleAccumulation Diode (HAD) CCDs.The new imaging system boasts a sen-sitivity rating of F10 at 20001ux. Thecamera provides 14 -bit A/D conver-sion and the ability to output all HDformats and frame rates, including1080p 60f.

The company's engineering teamdecided to keep a SMPTE systemon the base station side and cameraside, and then convert the SMPTE fi-ber to triax as needed. By adding theHDTX-100 and HDFX-100, thesecameras can operate on triax up to4500ft using a 110V power sourcelocated at the base station. The cam-era end uses triax into the HDFX-100and a SMPTE four -pin hermaphro-dite cable from the HDFX-100 to thecamera.

Ikegami HDK-79ECIkegami recently integrated CMOS

imaging technology into the HDK-79EC. The CMOS system is cost-ef-fective to manufacture and requires20 percent less power than a compa-rable CCD imaging device. This cam-era features three 2/3in 2.2 megapixelCMOS images sensors. The AltaSens

Ikegami's HDK-79EC uses three 2/3in2.2 megapixel CMOS imaging sensors.

ProCamHD 3T sensors offer an im-aging system -on -chip (SoC) solution.The company's Tapered -Rest technol-ogy reduces fixed pattern noise.

The standalone handheld camerafits into the SE -79D system expanderkit. This includes a 9in low -lag colorLCD viewfinder for use in a studioconfiguration. Two camera adaptorsconvert the SMPTE four -pin her-maphroditic cable to triax. The TFC-790 CCU -side unit of the convertersystem is placed on the base stationside, and the TFH-790 unit is on thecamera side to achieve operation over4500ft of triax cable.

In perspectiveThe above three HD broadcast cam-

eras work on both SMPTE fiber andtriax. By adding the appropriate third -

party adapters, these cameras can alsooperate on single -mode fiber.

Each camera chain has a specificpower -up sequence. Sometimes, mul-tiple power -up sequences may beneeded to get both ends of the camerachain working together properly.

Now let's look at some standaloneHD camcorders.

Panasonic AJ-HDC27HVariCam

Panasonic's AJ-HDC27H VariCamuses three 1.1 megapixel CCDs witha sensitivity rating of F12 at 20001uxto achieve a dynamic range of ninef-stops. The onboard recorder usesthe DVCPRO HD tape format at mul-tiple data rates up to 100Mb/s. Pana-sonic developed CineGamma to helpthe video look more like film by in-creasing the dynamic range throughgamma setups.

This camera has a loyal following.The ability to shoot video at 24p -or any variable frame rate from 4p to60p - generated interest, especiallywithin the film industry. Each timea variable frame rate is selected, thecamera re-records frames. Shootingat 30p (29.98) frames and recordingat 60p (59.94) frames, the image willbe recorded twice. For acquisition ata frame rate of 24p (23.97), the math

The Panasonic AJ-HDC27H VariCam canshoot at variable frame rates from 4p to60p.

is more complex and uses a mixtureof fields combined into frames, com-monly referred to as a 3:2 pull down.The DVCPRO HD recorder is al-ways recording at a rate of 59.94. Forselectable frame rates, the recorderuses pull -down technology, recordingmore frames as needed.

The 24p camera does not record in


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the same fashion as a film camera, butthe end result is similar. The camerayields a 24p look by showing half ofthe progressive frames that were shotat 59.94. The onboard DVCPRO re-corder allows a camera assistant to

reload tapes and keep track of timecode and frame rates in a similar fash-ion as with film reels. This was one ofthe first HD cameras offered at an af-fordable price and has garnered wideappeal.

Frames and fieldsThe confusion is endless when we mix film and video terminology and then usenaming conventions derived from each medium to explain frame rates and howthey are converted. Variable frame rate broadcast cameras use old theoriesderived from telecine machines to accomplish variable frame rates. Here's aquick look at the basics of fields and frames and why we convert them.

Films broadcast on television are converted with a film -to -tape transfermachine called a telecine. The first telecine was a camera shooting aprojected film recorded on tape then played back at 59.94 for use on broadcasttelevision. Why 59.94? The electric system in the United States is 60Hz; pictureflicker is avoided by maintaining video playback and acquisition at 59.94Hz tomatch the 60Hz power cycle.

To comply with broadcast standards, film is shot at 23.97fps. That is half ofthe NTSC rate of 59.94 fields, making up 30 frames. To even the math, thetelecine machine scans in one progressive frame of film and then breaks thatframe into two fields -field one with odd lines and field two with even lines.The film frames are split into two fields by odd and even lines, yielding eightframes. The two new frames are added by combining four fields into twoframes derived from the original frames for a total of 10 frames.

The original film frames are split into odd and even fields and now yield Al A2B1 B2 Cl C2 D1 D2. Two frames are then added by combining fields to createnew frames made up of Al andB2 and B1 and C2. These aretwo separate fields derivedfrom different frames that arecombined to form a new frameof video. These new framesare referred to as the dirtyframes, as they are a mixtureof two different frames now infield form combined to makeone new frame of video.

The result is now [Al A2] [AlB2] [B1 C2] [C1 C2] [01 D2]. This

is where cadence comes intoplay. The combined dirty frames always need to be in sequence and shouldnever be an edit point. Some NLE software assumes a 3:2 pulldown and willnot edit on a dirty frame. Early nonlinear editors would need to carefullycalculate an edit point based on finding the lead frame and counting odd oreven frames to avoid mixed frame edits.

Originalfilm

frame

ABCD

Videofield(odd)

Videofield(even)

===.

Resultingvideoframe

ABC

D

Many multiple camera shoots have had long, agonizing edit sessions to matchframes and audio. Preplanning frame rates for each shot and keeping an accuratelog is the best approach to multiple camera, multiple frame rate projects.

Sony HDW-F900The HDW-F900 HD HAD imag-

ing system is equipped with three2/3in CCDs ASA rated at 320 with adynamic range of nine f-stops. Thesystem is made up of three 2.2 mil-lion pixel CCDs, resulting in 1920 x1080p resolution.

Imaging control features help tosoften the crisp edges, making the pic-ture appear more film -like. This systemcan record segmented frames (PsF) fora 24p look. Segmented frames are re -

Sony's HDW-F900 camera can recordprogressively segmented frames.

corded in progressive frames, and thendivided into two fields: one with oddline information and one with evenline information. The user can select23.97PsF, 25PsF or 30PsF, or interlaceversions at the same frame rates.

Camera setup values and gammacurves can be plotted on a computerand then transferred to each individ-ual camera using a memory stick. TheF900, with an onboard HDCAM re-cord deck, has gained wide acceptancefrom many DPs and HD producers.

RED Digital CinemaRED ONE

The RED ONE from RED DigitalCinema has finally hit the streets. Thiscamera is often touted as a revolution-ary device providing impressive statsat a reasonable price. It is being mar-keted specifically to digital cinema art-ists and independent filmmakers.



The camera's ability to add hard-ware to the main body allows this unitto be rigged on a variety of mounts. Atthe center of this system is the Myste-rium sensor, a 12.2 megapixel Super35mm CMOS imaging block capableof delivering 4520 x 2540 at 30fps and4:4:4 sampling rates.

The data management system offersmultiple format outputs and multipleframe options ranging from lfps to30fps at 4K and lfps to 100fps in 2K.The sensor captures the image usingthe REDCODE RAW codec. This is awavelet -based compression schemethat records the image RAW withoutcolor bias. While recording RAW cancreate some image monitoring issues,all of the image's data has been re-corded without color modification.

Once recorded, the media is openedwith a desktop application. The filesare then colorized and converted towhatever file formats are desired. This

might be uncompressed RGB or com-pressed 4:2:2 video formats, includingProRes, DNxHD, DV100 or M-JPEGQuickTime movies at 720p or 1080p.

The media is copied from the Corn-pactFlash storage card to the comput-er's hard drive, or it can be mounteddirectly as a drive when the RED digitalmedia drive is used. The spinning disk

RED Digital Cinema's RED ONE featuresthe REDCODE RAW codec, whichrecords images without color bias.

storage drives are two 180GB drivesconfigured as RAID 0, which provideswide bandwidth and transfer rates, butnot data redundancy.

HD captureManufacturers continue to push

the envelope in finding innovativeways to capture and broadcast eventsin HD. One high -definition cameraeven made a trip to the moon on-board the Japanese explorer Kaguyain October of 2007. It sent back spec-tacular footage, including a scene ofthe earth setting behind the moon.

The next frontier for HD is 3-D im-aging, and a few pioneers have alreadystarted down the trail. The movie"Speed Racer" is now in production,and a 3-D Hannah Montana concertwill be shown as an encore compan-ion to her sold -out live concerts. BE

David Birdy is the director of engineeringwith Digital DNA productions.

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art. The FM..w

dg better EPGsPMCP and BXF communicate key metadata

related to PSIP for on -screen guides.

The ATSC implementa-tion of MPEG-2 technol-ogy provides broadcasterswith tremendous potential

and ample bandwidth to deploy tra-ditional and innovative broadcast-ing services. To make the most of thepotential, traffic, automation, ingest,content management and transmis-sion subsystems must interoperateharmoniously in real time.

Previously, many broadcast systemsvendors propounded proprietarydata interfaces and all -encompassingsolutions. The first decade of digitalbroadcasting was limited by the costand difficulty of implementing andtesting proprietary interfaces for eachdevice needed to seamlessly transmit

,Y JOHN VVILLKIi.

video, audio and data services. By onecount, more than 200 interfaces need-ed to be supported.

As an example, a traffic systemcould be expected to communicatewith a PSIP generator using oneinterface and protocol, exchangeschedules and as -aired log informa-tion using one or more other inter-faces, and communicate with au-tomation or content managementsystems via yet another interface.When new systems were adopted inthe facility, each of the existing de-vices would need to be reconfigured,updated or replaced to support eachnew device. Expecting devices from avariety of vendors to work faultlesslyin real time with such arrangements

is unrealistic and expensive for bothstations and vendors.

Compatibility andinteroperability are key

Fortunately, the visionary ideas oftwo engineers - and the ATSC andSMPTE subcommittees that devel-oped their ideas into complete speci-fications - has enabled broadcastersa clear path to dynamic digital ser-vices. This means making sure thatall future broadcast systems supporteither the Programming MetadataCommunications Protocol (PMCP)or the Broadcast Exchange Format(BXF), or both.

These two compatible and interop-erable protocols have widespread


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FEATUREBUILDING BETTER EPGs

support among broadcast vendors.The adoption of nonproprietary in-terfaces for these mission -critical sys-tems foretells a future where vendorsconcentrate on features and particularadvantages instead of developing anddebugging interfaces that they defend

nels and the programming eventson each virtual channel. (For moreinformation about PMCP, see "Weblinks" on page 72.)

Fred Grenier of Thomson GrassValley helped develop the Pearl PSIPgenerator, which could be integrated

to ensure the protocol answered theirneeds and desires. XML interfaceswere new to the broadcasting systemsfield, so finding the right group to de-velop the specification involved con-vincing others of the value of non-proprietary interfaces.

<?xml version="1 .0" encoding="UTF-8"?><PmcpMessage xmlns="http://www.atsc.org/pmcp/2004/2.0" id="4947205" origin="Traffic" originType="Traffic"dateTime="2003-12-18T09:32:47Z">

<PsipEvent duration="PT30M" action="add"><Eventld channelNumber="57-3">

<InitialSchedule startTime="2003-12-18T09:40:00Z"/></Eventld><ShowData>

<Name lang="eng">Caillou</Name><Description lang="eng">Big Brother Caillou</Description><ParentalRating region="1">

<Rating dimension="Children" value="TV-Y"/></ParentalRating><Audios>

<Ac3Audio audiold="1" lang="eng"/></Audios><Captions>

<Caption608/>

<Caption708 service="1" lang="eng"/><Caption708 service="9" lang="spa"/><Caption708 service="10" lang="fre"/><Caption708 service="59" lang="ger"/><Caption708 service="60" lang="ita"/><Caption708 service="63" lang="por"/>

</Captions></ShowData>

</PsipEvent></PmcpMessage>

Figure 1. A PMCP message can set the start time and other information for a particular EPG event. Figure courtesy of theATSC.

unto death. For broadcasters, the pro-tocols mean that decisions on futuresystem purchases will be based moreon price, value and features instead ofwhich system supports the interfacesof existing systems.

The story behind PMCPPMCP, specified in ATSC A/76, es-

tablished an eXtensible Markup Lan-guage (XML) schema for exchangingdata elements used by Program andSystem Information Protocol (PSIP)generators to describe virtual chan-

with the company's Amber multi-plexer. With multiplexers and en-coders available from many vendors,this tie-in minimized the potential ofPearl. Grenier devised an XML datainterface that extended the utility ofthe PSIP generator. All that was re-quired was for the other systems thatcommunicate with PSIP generatorsto support the interface.

As a practical matter, the interfacehad to be developed and adopted by astandards development organization,enabling interested vendors and users

In due course, the ATSC board of di-rectors decided that the work should bethe basis of an ATSC voluntary specifi-cation for the transmission of metadatawithin a broadcast facility. The ATSC Sispecialist group was chartered with thetask of fashioning the specification, un-der the direction of the NAB's GrahamJones, Si chair at the time. The ATSCpublished the first version of the PMCPspecification in late 2004.

How PMCP worksPMCP exchanges data used to create

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PSIP in the form of XML text mes-sages. A message can be sent as a filedownload or transmitted to otherdevices using Transmission ControlProtocol (TCP) and Internetwork-ing Protocol (IP) or User Datagram

the analog and digital signals of astation; each of the virtual channels;and "Events" (what viewers wouldcall programs), V -chip ratings andtime parameters. An abstract elementlabeled "Show" permits defining a

Many automation and traffic systemsvendors support PMCP, as do pro-gram management vendors.

The Internet Assigned NumbersAuthority (IANA) assigned port3821 for PMCP communications, so

<?xml version 0" encoding JTF-8"?_

<BxfMessage id="urn:uuid:ABCCDDDD-2222-22E3-9AFF-0038338391E1" mnsageType="Information"dateTime="2006-08-16120:44:43.16" origin="Traffic System" originType="Traffic" destination="Automation"userName="Traffic System User"xmlns="http://smpte-ra.org/schemas/2021/2007/BXF" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"xsi:schemaLocation="http://smpte-ra.org/schemas/2021/2007/BXrBxfSchema.xsd">

<BxfData action="add"><ContentTransfer transferld="urn:uuid:ABCCDDDD-1111-22E3-9AFF-0038338391E1" transferType="Purge"

priority="Normal"><Content user="Traffic User">

<ProgramContent><ContentMetaData>

<Contentld><HouseNumber>311</HouseNumber>

</Contentld><Name>A2: SIGN ON</Name>

</ContentMetaData></ProgramContent>

</Content></ContentTransfer>

</BxfData></BxfMessage>

Figure 2. Shown here is a BXF message that purges media by adding a new purge order for Media #311. Figure courtesy ofSMPTE.

Protocol (UDP) and InternetworkingProtocol (IP) communications pro-tocols. Even when using the connec-tionless UDP/IP, message delivery canbe assured. Periodic "heartbeat" mes-sages signal a device is truly alive. (SeeFigure 1 on page 70.)

Within the XML message wrapper,a PMCP message can add, update,read or delete one or more items ofdata stored in a PMCP-compliantdevice. Top-level elements describe

Web linksSMPTE 2021 BXF standard;

www.smote.orgATSC A/76 defining PMCP;

www.atsc.org/standards/a76.htmlXML Spy; www.altova.comXML Writer; www.xmlwriter C0111

TV program regardless of when it isscheduled to air.

Upon receiving a PMCP message,a device validates the message againstthe schema. If all the elements are wellformed and comply with the schema,the message is processed into the dataforms needed by that device. WhilePMCP messages might be in textualform, the data is dense and verbose.XML data is about as easy for humansto use as is the HTML source code ofa Web page.

Although adoption by some ven-dors lagged for a while, now all ven-dors of dynamic PSIP generators inNorth America support PMCP as astandard or optional feature. Pro-gram listings from TitanTV.com areavailable in PMCP form, but cur-rently, Tribune Media Services hasn'tannounced support for the protocol.

aside from security concerns, a PSIPgenerator doesn't need to be in thesame area code as the device thatcontrols it.

The birth of BXFIn 2006, under then -S1 chairman

Art Allison (of the NAB), the PMCPspecification was extended to includeall metadata elements needed to an-nounce Advanced Common Appli-cation Platform (ACAP) data broad-casting services (specified in ATSCA/101), and to make minor editorialcorrections in the schema.

One of the founding members ofthe ATSC group for PSIP MetadataCommunication during the devel-opment of PMCP was Chris Lennonof Encoda Systems (now a part ofHarris Broadcast). For years, Encodahad been trying to leverage its pro -


prietary traffic system interfaces intoa strong position in automation andsimilar systems.

Lennon had a different idea. Hewanted to create an XML schemathat would overcome the forest ofproprietary traffic system interfacesamong traffic, automation, playout,switching and program managementsystems. He had wanted the ATSC toform a group to develop his idea intoa published specification, but beforework on PMCP started, he was told totake his idea to SMPTE.

By the time of publication of thePMCP standard, SMPTE formed anad hoc group chaired by Lennon todevelop his idea into a full specifica-tion. Eventually, that group becamea full SMPTE working group calledS22-WG10 on Data Exchange in theTechnology Committee on Televi-sion Systems Technology. The result-ing standard, SMPTE 2021, or BXF,should become a final SMPTE specifi-cation this year. Some system vendorshave already installed BXF-based sys-tems. (For more information aboutBXF, see "Web links.")

Comparing BXF with PMCPFor a specification like PMCP or

BXF to benefit users and vendors, itmust address a variety of needs andbe adopted by a wide spectrum ofvendors. Even before publication,it is safe to say that will be the casewith BXF. Virtually all traffic, auto-mation, ingest, and content and pro-gram management system vendorsare members of S22-WGI0 and havefully participated in the developmentof SMPTE 2021.

The remit of PMCP is much sim-pler than that of BXF. For example, aPMCP message might tell a PSIP gen-erator to change the title and descrip-tion of the TV program that beginson channel 51 at 9:30 p.m. tomorrow.A PSIP generator, once given the in-formation and instruction, can trans-mit the appropriate bits at the correcttime without any further interaction.

By comparison, the BXF protocolhas to enable synchronizing and co-

ordinating transitions and switchesbetween programs and commercials,along with graphics overlays, effectsand voice-overs to transmit seamlessmultimedia presentations. BXF uses amessage structure similar to that usedwith PMCP. The two protocols arecomplementary and interoperable,with no overlap in functionality.

There are four types of BXF mes-sages: request, information, heart-beat and message status request.Where PMCP supports timing ac-curate to the second (with optionalframe -accurate timing), BXF timingis specified to the millisecond. (SeeFigure 2.)

Both PMCP and BXF provide forthe exchange of private data elements,permitting implementers and users toextend data exchanges without break-ing either protocol. Using XML toolssuch as XML Spy or XML Writer,even humans can create valid PMCPor BXF messages, albeit slowly. (See"Web links" for more informationabout XML Spy and XML Writer.)

ConclusionJudging by the number of broad-

cast -oriented XML schemas that arecurrently in development or use, thisIT -centric system of handling databetween disparate devices has clearlyreached the tipping point. You don'tneed to think back very far to remem-ber a time when most digital broad-casting systems employed proprietaryinterfaces.

So, the next time you see Fred Gre-nier or Chris Lennon, thank them formaking true digital broadcasting notonly simple, but, in truth, possible.BE

John Willkie is the founder of EtherGuideSystems and is a member of the ATSC Siand SMPTE S22-WG10 subcommittees.

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TeleWhen conditions don't make it possibleto send a live video feed, broadcastersrely on telephone hybrids to get thenews back from the field.

honeif El LOS

BY BENNETT LILES

For decades now, a central old QKTs and push -to -talk phone phone hybrid was developed to allowcomponent of many live couplers could handle the one-way the most natural sounding two-waytelevision broadcasts has reports reasonably well, but the tele- conversation possible in an interfacebeen an interface with tele-

phone lines. Frequently used to sendmix -minus signals on a one-way tripback to the originating point for par-ticipants in remote locations, the hy-brid only uses its send capacity to takean aux out from the control room au-dio production console. (See Figure1.) The more demanding applica-tion is when two-way conversationsare needed for live call -in programsor live inserts from reporters whocannot, at that place and time, setup a video feed. (See Figure 2.) The Figure 1. A simple hybrid circuit

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FEATURETELEPHONE HYBRIDS

between broadcast audio gear and thewildly varying conditions on the plainold telephone service (POTS) line.

Managing sound leakageEven with the advances made in

design, the analog hybrids still requirea little interaction and gain ridingby the audio operator for the clean-est result. An experienced TV soundoperator can anticipate the flow ofa conversation and slightly duck thestudio talent's mic while the caller is

Caller

talking, and duck the caller when theshow host or a guest speaks up.

While it helps to avoid a hollowacoustic echo, especially when stu-dio guests are monitoring the callerthrough a speaker, this technique isalso necessary to combat the tradi-tional bane of the telephone hybrid:trans -hybrid leakage.

Trans -hybrid leakage has been asource of some confusion. The leak-age is the distorted, phase -shifted,tinny -sounding talent speech cross

Studio guests

armStudio host

Studio H

speaker IFBost

Bidirectionaltwo -wire conduit

Studiomics Caller

audio

Caller audio

Local hybrid Local studio mixerAux out

Mix -minus

Off -air 4 -Program sound

On -air

Figure 2. An example of a live call -in using a hybrid system

talking into the caller signal. Thishappens because the telephone circuitis a two -wire conduit carrying bothreceive and send on the same copperpair while the broadcast equipmentoperates separately in the send andreceive roles.

The amount of trans -hybrid loss inthe hybrid determines, in large part,the amount of trans -hybrid leakage.

Impedance matchingImpedance matching is key in tele-

phone hybrids. Loading coils, trans-formers, repeaters and a host of othercomponents cause the impedancecharacteristics on circuit -switchedlines to vary considerably. Throughthe push of the button selecting thenext caller or reporter, the line condi-tions can change dramatically. Enterthe digital signal processing (DSP)hybrid.

DSP has become the primary en-abling technology to allow telephonehybrids to take their next big leap intechnology. Once the A/D conversionhas been made to the incoming sig-nal, mathematical computations canmanipulate it on a level impossiblewith all analog hardware.

The software performing the in-terface employs a complex techniquecalled convolutional least mean square

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adaptive filtering. This compares thesend and receive signals and producesa leakage profile in the form of an er-ror rate. The error signal drives theimpedance matching network com-ponents to constantly adapt and finetune the nulling function on the hy-brid to suit the line conditions. On areasonably good phone line, a digitalhybrid with its adaptive DSP functioncan produce a trans -hybrid loss abouttwice that of an analog device.

Establishing toneAnother key in the adaptation pro-

cess is that the reference used to mea-sure momentary trans -hybrid loss indB must be a broadband signal ratherthan a tone or series of tones. Whena call is established on the digitalhybrid, it sends out a burst of noise,which only the caller hears. The ini-tial settings take hold in less than asecond, and as the call continues, thevoices are used to adjust the balanceon the internal impedance matchingnetwork, including automatic gaincontrol. Of course, SNR is a criticalfactor determined by the basic de-sign and quality of the componentsused in the DSP functions. The bitcount in the audio path and the dis-tortion level in amplification also fig-ure prominently in performance andhave a profound effect on automaticgain control (AGC), ducking func-tions and noise gating, which in turnspell out the overall performance ofthe hybrid.

Freeze gating is essential in the at-tempt to automate the most naturalcharacteristic possible in the hybrid.In this, the automatic gain will not riseand bring up noise during pauses inthe caller's speech. The effect avoidedhere is known as pumping or breath-ing and is quite obnoxious when thereis a constant background noise levelsuch as a large crowd. When the callerspeaks again, there is no initial blastof clipped sound before the compres-sion again takes hold.

The AGC works in concert withthe ducking function. This essentiallyperforms the same task that the sound

operator used to do in the old analogdays of riding gain on the hybrid out-put and the studio microphones tomaximize performance above thatprovided by the trans -hybrid loss fig-ure alone.

Many DSP hybrids have a manualsetting on the ducking function. Atthe extreme, it can be set to cut offthe caller audio completely while thestudio sound is active. However, thisproduces a sound that resembles theecho cancellation typical of manyvideo conferencing systems. The dif-ference is profound.

Take for instance, the smoothlyconversational effect between hostand remote guests on a programsuch as the PBS "NewsHour" and thechoppy interchange with echo can-cellation on a conference room videocall. The former uses one-way satellitefeeds with hybrids carrying only mix-

minus into the guests' IFB earpieces(for perfect acoustic isolation), whilethe other handles everything on openspeakers with no human hands ridinggain or anticipating the flow of con-versation. (See Figure 3.)

Systems at workIn the real world of live production,

there now exists a variety of systemson the market that not only workbehind the scenes to balance the nec-essary impedances, gains and equal-ization necessary to minimize trans -hybrid leakage, but also offer someintuitive tools to enable easy manipu-lation of caller and send audio withpush-button ease. At the same time,devices today can provide sophisti-cated features in hardware that can becarried and set up on remote.

Studio devices such as the AVTMAGIC ISDN system interface withcomputer control to provide visualdisplays showing the various audiochannels in use, dual -tone multi -frequency (DTMF) dialing from thecomputer screen, call queuing, four -wire ISDN interfaces and all -digitalAES/EBU inputs. Each caller can beassigned a priority and receive aninstant, fully automated mix -minus



audio signal. Call screeners can op-erate multiple systems remotely, andall the callers can be conferenced. Thedisplays include hold, pre -talk, calldrop, forwarding functions and indi-cators, along with ladder -style audiometering. Priorities such as VIP canbe assigned for callers, or the callerwith the longest hold time may be au-tomatically switched on -air wheneverthe call change is activated. Singlelines can be locked, and all lines canbe dropped at once with a single but-ton push. On some systems, even thecallers can exercise a degree of con-trol in situations such as game show

exchange (PBX) handset interfaceand a cell phone interface. Any of thetelephone feeds can be sent down anaudio line as mix -minus sources, andthe unit can connect via Bluetooth toany cell phone or laptop computer.The device even has separate batterycompartments for hot -swapping bat-teries and staying up and running thewhole time.

The latest phase of telephone hy-brid technology has seen these unitsmigrate from control room rack spac-es of their own to light, versatile andportable field units, incorporating allthe essential remote audio functions

Remote hybrid

1

Telco link

Local hybrid

Mix -minus

Off -air 4---On-air 4 -

Remotestudiomixer

Aux out L Guest IFB

1111

Guest mic

Remote studio guest

0 Local studio guests

Mics

Local

I Speaker

Aux out 4Router

studio Remotemixer audio

Program sound

Uplink

Downlink

Figure 3. An example of a remote communication loop using hybrid systems

formats by using DTMF analysis. Thesystem can read DTMF tones and ac-tivate functions either internally orperform tasks completely outside ofthe telephone system such as activat-ing scoreboard displays.

New hybrid technology has alsorevolutionized things at the other endof the line. When reporters are out inthe field, they can perform many ofthe audio routing tasks that formerlyhad to be centrally controlled at thestation. Devices like the JK Audio Re-moteMix 4 have incorporated a tele-phone hybrid and keypad into a fieldmixer along with a private branch

and capability into one physical in-strument. At the same time, the stu-dio gear has morphed with computersfor unlimited command and control.And to think, it all started with a fewlittle passive black matchboxes stuckon the side of a telephone. BE

Bennett Liles is a writer and TV productionengineer in the Atlanta area.

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FIELD REPORTNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

Lawo's mc290 at TurnerThe production console helps the studio meet the

growing demands of a live audio control room.

While the transition toHD programming hascreated new opportu-nities for creativity

in the studio, it also places far greaterdemands on the equipment needed toproduce such content. The broadcastproduction division of Turner providesturnkey services for film, video and au-dio production for all of the company'sentertainment networks. The sheernumber of audio channels and theneed for better control over numerousmultichannel sources placed increas-ingly insurmountable demands on theprevious mixing system in our largestlive audio control room. After evaluat-ing numerous products, we purchasedand installed a Lawo mc290 productionconsole for our Audio Control Room22 (ACR22) in August 2007.

DSP capacityThe key consideration was chan-

nel count/DSP horsepower. The newconsole is built around the LawoNova73 HD core. Our system in-cludes seven 48 -channel DSP cards- with six in use and one for failover.

BY FRINN THORP AND RICK PERRY

The Lawo mc290 production console allows Turner Studio's Audio Control Room 22to effectively handle the 200 channels -to -mix for "Major League Baseballand other live shows.

We took advantage of the flexibilityof Lawo's MADI-based DALLIS I/Osystem so that there was essentially norewiring of the existing infrastructurerequired. Other than adding fiber forinterfacing MADI with the new I/O

Other than adding fiber for interfacingMADI with the new I/O frames,

there were very few changes made,as this was primarily an issue of

expanding DSP capacity....1111.11.MMIRVIMOMPWRIPMApppme

The production control surface isconfigured as 48 channel faders withfour free controls each, plus 16 cen-ter -section faders in a 12ft frame. Thesystem's I/O structure encompasses256 AES, 96 mic/line, 48 line, plus 112MADI inputs for 512 total inputs,along with 256 AES, 64 line, and 112MADI outputs totaling 432 outputs.

frames, there were very few changesmade, as this was primarily an issueof expanding DSP capacity.

Using the systemin a 5.1 studio

The changeover took three weeks:one for the physical installation, an-other for commissioning of the con -

on TBS"

sole and a third for staff training.The system was first used Sept. 2,

2007, for an Atlanta Braves baseballgame on TBS.

ACR22 handles live studio showsfor "Major League Baseball on TBS"and "Inside the NBA on TNT," bothin 5.1, as well as TBS franchise shows,including "Movie and a Makeover."

A 5.1 studio show typically requiresmore than 200 channels -to -mix.Many elements arrive as pre -mixed5.1 sources, including content fromremote venues, 5.1 music beds, andfour upmixing engines for making5.1 from any stereo source. Becausemost sources are already surround,joystick surround panners typicallyare not used in this application.

With our previous console, a con-trol group with six mono channelswas employed for each 5.1 source.However, with no metering availableon that group, it was impossible to


FIELD REPORTNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

visually monitor activity.For this application, a 5.1 channel

entity that controls those six chan-nels as a single unit is essential, andthe VCA metering feature of the pro-duction console handles this verywell. Most of the time, the 5.1 sourcesare managed as if they were a singlechannel. Nevertheless, there are timeswhen it is desirable to reveal the sixindividual channels and, perhaps,tweak one or more of them indepen-dently. This crucial function is alsoincluded in console.

Multiple operator controlAnother important feature for our

large 5.1 shows is multiple operatorcontrol made possible by the IsoBayfeature that essentially makes eachsection of eight faders into its ownautonomous center section. This en-ables additional operators to workindependently with full control over

banks, layers and parameters withoutaffecting the primary mixer's controlat the console's main center section.

Color codingThe console's visual color coding

capabilities are also a big improve-ment over our previous system. Each

Visual feedback isimportant, as speedand ease of use are

critical with ourlive -to -air or live -to -tape productions.

type of element - such as VCAs,auxes, groups, sums and input, EQ ordynamics parameters - has its owncolor identification. This type of vi-

sual feedback is important, as speedand ease of use are critical consider-ations with our live -to -air or live -to -tape productions.

RedundancyA large number of sections in this

console have redundancy that simplywas not available with other produc-tion consoles we evaluated. We haveredundant DSP and core router cards,along with redundant MADI ports toall of the I/O frames (mic preamps,line returns and control room moni-tor I/O) The reliability of the systemis improved substantially such thatjust about anything -a kinked fiberline, a bad card or a failed power sup-ply - has a backup, and that's a bigplus for our operation. IEnnn Thorp is senior production engineerfor Turner Studios Engineering, andRick Perry is studio audio manager forTurner Studios.

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TECHNOLOGY IN TRANSITIONNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

MPEG splicingAdjusting the bit rate can resolve splicing issues.

0 ften, articles like this startby heralding new erasof technology in whichparadigms shift and de-

liver a sea of change destined to alterthe workflow and deliver - well, youget the point. There are products thatchange the game and deliver function-ality that was at one time unforeseen.

Video compression was first toutedin technical literature as bit rate re-duction and was often discussed interms of lossless and lossy algorithms.Those early discussions, as long ago asthe 1970s, were way in advance of thepractical introduction of compressionin the early 1990s. As often happens,the new technology was based on adesire to reduce transmission band-width, which equates to an economicbenefit. It also comes with limitationsthat, once conquered, permanentlychange how we approach our craft.

Splicing streams, at a costMPEG changes deterministic pic-

tures with fixed pixel locations and afixed number of pixels per second (orframe) into a statistical representationof the picture with sufficient qualityto fool the viewer. It reconstructs theimage into believing the original pic-ture has been faithfully transmitted.

Of course, nothing could be fur-ther from the truth. In the ATSCstandard, barely more than 1.5 per-cent of the original bit rate is usedin the bit stream that represents1080i30 content. MPEG frames arealways variable in length. Althoughwith constant bit rate, content nullpackets are inserted when the encod-er calculates no meaningful picturedata to transmit, stuffing the bit rateup to a fixed value.

This statistical nature of the bitstream means that deterministicswitching of streams on frame bound-aries is not possible in the same way

BY JOHN LUFF

that baseband signals allow.This is for two main reasons. First,

it is not possible to know preciselywhen the next frame will begin unlessa sequence is inserted, giving a warn-ing when the switch might happen.Second, the use of B-, I- and P -framesand the rules for their construction

nounced, and SCTE 35 allows messag-es to be sent in the stream, notifyingthe splicer when to cut.

However, this allows streams to bespliced without regard to other pa-rameters. For example, it is entirelypossible, though perhaps not useful,to splice a piece of 720p content into

MPEG changes deterministic pictureswith fixed pixel locations and a fixednumber of pixels per second into a

statistical representation of the picturewith sufficient quality to fool the viewer.

mean that a switch on an arbitrarilyselected frame boundary to a similararbitrarily selected incoming framecould mean that a B -frame might befollowed by a P -frame from a differ-ent bit stream. (See Figure 1.) This

a 1080i stream. The resulting streamwould be legal, but unlikely to be de-coded without errors in display.

A more likely issue is splicingstreams of two different bit rates to-gether. This can easily be handled by

A

B B P

GOP

B B

(Group of pictures)

Figure 1. An example of a GOP structure

makes decoding impossible becauseof the forward and backward refer-ence each contain.

The workaround, developed bySMPTE and others several years ago,is a sequence that is inserted into thetransport stream, giving a warningwhen the switch can happen. This is aninelegant solution, but one that worksso well that it was adopted by SCTEfor the standard that facilitates the in-sertion of commercials in almost allcontent on cable systems today (SCTE35). Multiple splice points can be an -

adjusting the bit rate on the new con-tent to match the old content moreclosely. For example, if a bit stream isrunning at 14Mb and a commercialis spliced in running at only 4Mb, adecoder would be quite happy. If, onthe other hand, the master stream was4Mb and the commercial was 12Mb,it is quite possible the buffer in thedecoder could overflow before thespot is over. It is also likely that the al-lowed bandwidth in the transmissionchannel could be exceeded, resultingin a truncated stream or worse.


Ensure Service

The solution is transratingThis is easily fixed today. The solu-

tion is transrating, or adjusting the bitrate on the fly to a value that fits inthe channel and does not exceed thecapacity of the channel. (See Figure2.) In the simplest terms, the quanti-zation tables are changed to make thecompression more aggressive, thuslowering the bit rate.

In Figure 2, several feeds are sentto a mux, exceeding the capacity ofthe channel. After transrating, how-ever, the aggregate bandwidth fits in

1Feeds to bemultiplexed

the individual feeds to minimize theimpact on the quality level of the fi-nal multiplexed stream.

ConclusionAt one time it was assumed that

MPEG streams couldn't be edited.However, various techniques havebeen developed that make what wasintended as a consumer distributionchain technology work in many ap-plications, including editing. Today,complete workflow solutions can becreated in the compressed domain.

llTransratedChannelcapacity

Multiplex exceeds Multiplex fits withinchannel capacity channel capacity

Figure 2.Transrating content can help it to fit a transmission channel.

the available channel. Not all of thefeeds would necessarily be scaled,and perhaps one of the feeds con-tains considerable null packets thatcan simply be dropped to reduce thecapacity needed.

Reducing the bandwidth in thisway affects quality. Some consumerdelivery services heavily modify in-coming streams to minimize band-width and maximize channel count.This technique facilitates consumerdemand, though at the expense ofpreserving maximum quality. Forclarity, you could reverse the process,increasing the bit rate, but becausethe original content has alreadybeen lost, it would only producenull packets and wouldn't improvethe pictures. Also, you can create a

stat mux from a group of unrelatedfeeds by calculating the bandwidthrequired at all times and adjusting

The slow march of technology willcertainly make many new techniquespossible in the future.

I once told a futurist in our industryhe was nuts when he said you couldput MPEG encoders in cameras andmake transmission over long distancescheaper. Although not practical today,I would no longer question the sanityof such an approach. RE

John Luff is a broadcast technologyconsultant.


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Dual-polarimetric radar Baron ServicesRadars transmit in horizontal and vertical orientations simultaneously enabling meteo-rologists to see twice as much data; offer increased weather detail, higher resolution imag-ing and enhanced accuracy; provides hydrometeor classification to identify the locationand type of precipitation that is falling, providing more accurate information about thesize, shape, orientation and state of hydrological data.

256-881-8811; www.baronservices.com

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CLASSIFIEDS

BAYSAVER HD 4xHD/SD ROUTING MAT

TTR4xIHiA

The TTR BAYSAVER HD is a fourinput stand alone HD SD routingmatrix housed in a self containedsmall 180 x 190 x 40mm box. Thestandard unit comes with fourLooping inputs. dual outputs anda local control panel. There is anoptional RS232C control moduleavailable it required. The BAYSAVERHD has been designed to full SMPTE292M, SMPTE 344M and SMPTE259M specifications. and switches inthe vertical interval but will switchimmediately if no reference signal ispresent. This unit employs automaticsample rate detection on the inputequalizers allowing a mixture of

TT

HD SD signals in the same unitFront panel LED's indicate signapresence and control activity.

Broadcast specification

Full 1.5Gb s bandwidthto handle uncompressedHD signals

Looping equalized inputsas standard

Vertical interval switching

Dual outputs as standard

Automatic sample ratedetection on the inputs

Re -clocked output

Rwww.ttr.co.uk or email: [email protected] Bridge Road Chertsey . Surrey KT16 8LATel: +44 (0)1932 564063 . Fax: +44 (0)1932 772824

TALLYMAPPERTM

Tally Routing & Mapping One Button Operation Store Maps Internally Edit From a PC/Laptop

A Compact Solution,Ideal for Mobile Units and

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20 SD and HD Standards 40 Test Signals including

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Lip Sync Test Keyboard Entered (dents VITC Generator* Tri Level Sync Outputs Audio Tones*Specific m Engineer Version

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20 SD and HD Standards 8 Simultaneous Signals' Lip Sync TestP Keyboard Entered (dents

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moopEwShootview Limited, 87 Cadbury Road, Sunbury Middlesex TV/I 6 7LS

Tel: +44 pi 1932 782823 Fax: +44 (0) 1932 772824Email: [email protected] Neb. www.shootviewcom

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Converts HDMI to HD -SDIin real time

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Redundant power Lets you use small HDMI

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OEM versions availableFor more information on HD SpigotOut, please call 858-613-1818, orvisit www.dveo.com.

Systems PCI Cards Software

For Sale

AcousticsFirstTm

7r.i.,:ir-nFae: 888.765-2900Full product line for sound controland noise elimination.Web: http://www.acousticsfirst.com

COMPANY FOR SALEWell-known manufacturer of MasterClocks and Timers is for sale. Ownerwishes to retire. Will consider out-right purchase, or exclusive license tomanufacture.

See torpeytime.com.Call Bob at 1-800-387-6141

Business Services

IN LAWSONa-chitea:s for the broadcast industry

301 654 1600 www.lawsonarch.com

January 2008 l broadcastengineering.com 85

CLASSIFIEDS

Help Wanted

COMMUNICATIONSENGINEERING, INC.

Communications Engineering, Inc. (CEO,a leading, award -winning broadcast andmulti -media systems integrator locatedin Newington, VA, is currently seekingqualified candidates for the following careeropportunities, which include competitivecompensation and benefits:

Senior Systems Design Engineer andSystems Design Engineer

These require a background in the analysis,design and management of broadcast andmulti -media systems as well as knowledgeof equipment, current trends and technicaldevelopments in the industry.

Broadcast Field Service EngineerThis position requires the ability to providetechnical repair and maintenance servicesto broadcasters, post -production facilitiesand other A/V clients. Applicants musthave extensive experience in the trouble-shooting, repair and routine maintenanceof broadcast systems, cameras, videotape recorders, Avid systems, servers,production switchers, routers and otherproduction equipment.

Installation ManagerThis person will be working in a multi -project, multi -team environment and willbe responsible for labor and installationmaterial budgets, time line developmentand project installation management.

Senior Systems Installation Technicians,Installation Supervisors and Installation

TechniciansDuties include pre -wiring and preparingracked systems and furniture consolesfor broadcast technical facilities. Musthave experience in cable fabrication andtermination, mechanical assembly, and rack& cabinet wiring and harnessing.

For more information, see our Web site,www.commeng.com. Please email resumesto [email protected] or fax703-550-5180.

CHIEF ENGINEER

Truman State University seeks applicationsfor the position of Chief Engineer. The posi-tion includes full-time engineering respon-sibilities for two digital IBOC transmitters,television production/control/master con-trol facility, video and radio remote func-tions, production and studio equipment,and a satellite receive/cable distributioncenter. Qualifications include a bachelor'sdegree or equivalent combination of educa-tion and experience and 3 years of experi-ence in broadcast engineering. For a com-plete job description, including applicationinstructions, visit http://hr.truman.edu/jobs. Phone: 660-785-4031 Fax: 660-785-7520AA/EEO/ADA

Help Wanted

BROADCAST ENGINEER

ROSCOR Corporation, a leading Chicagoarea based video systems integration com-pany, has openings for experienced, highlymotivated, and goal -oriented communica-tions systems engineers. The position in-cludes system design, checkout and commis-sioning of media based integrated solutions,including broadcast and corporate com-munication customers. Solid background intelevision systems, transmissions systemsand satellite communications system design.Excellent compensation and benefitspackage. Apply immediately for this chal-lenging and exciting career opportunitywithin a growing company.

Send resume to:Email: [email protected]

Fax: 847-803-8089Mail: 1061 Feehanville Drive

Mt. Prospect, IL 60056

MAINTENANCE ENGINEER

KSBI-TV, OKC, is seeking a MaintenanceEngineer. Responsibilities include maintain-ing A/V broadcasting, computer, EAS re-ceive and transmit equipment. Experiencein installation of analog/digital televisionmaster control, production facilities, andnewsroom computer systems; live broad-cast productions required. Familiarity withcomputer and networking technologies,UHF transmitter experience is preferred.Ability to work under deadlines & completeprojects without supervision in a multi-tasking environment are a must. Success-ful candidate will have electronics and ITeducation or equivalent broadcastingexperience. SBE certification a plus. Sendresumes to KSBI-TV to [email protected] orfax: 405 631-7367

CHIEF ENGINEER

Hearst -Argyle Television, licensee of StationWLKY-TV, Louisville, KY, has an opening fora Chief Engineer. This person is directlyresponsible for the supervision of the dailyoperation of all broadcast studio and fieldequipment and the supervision and motiva-tion of the technical staff. Position requiresworking with the news department on lo-gistics, scheduling and planning of specialevents coverage. Must possess a formalengineering degree, five years or more ofdemonstrated experience in studio, SNGand ENG broadcast operations, FCC Gener-al Class License and experience with repre-sented employees. Candidate should alsodemonstrate success in budgeting, capitalplanning, and personnel management. Lo-cated in the heart of thoroughbred racingand college basketball, WLKY is a marketnews leader, consistently ranking #1 in thelate news. Send resume to General Manag-er, WLKY-TV, 1918 Mellwood Avenue, Louis-ville, KY 40206. EOE

Help Wanted

TURNERSTUDIOSPRODUCTION ENGINEER

Turner Studios seeks a talented, service -oriented individual to join our Engineeringteam, supporting high -end CGI, Design,Composite and on -air Graphics systems.Multi -OS, IT and related application expe-rience highly desired. View the completejob description and apply online at www.turneijobs.com, Requisition # 78382BR.For more information, please contactBrad Ramer at [email protected] Broadcasting is an Equal Oppor-tunity Employer.

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AD INDEXBroadcast Engineering is not responsible

for errors in the Advertisers Index.

Page Advertiser WebsiteHotline Address SALES OFFICES

ADC Telecommunications Inc 19 800-366-3891 adc.com/dontcompromise US/CANADAAJA Video 27 800-251-4224 aja.com

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45

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avocent.com/broadcast

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Bird Technologies Group 32 866-695-4569 bird-technologies.com EASTBlackmagic Design 17 blackmagic-desigmcom Josh Gordon

Dolby Laboratories Inc. 15 dolby.com(718) 802-0488; Fax: (718) [email protected]

Edirol by Roland 76 800-380-2580 edirol.com/bevc

Elma Electronic Inc 26 510-656-3400 elma.com MIDWESTEmily Kalmus

ESE 61 310-322-2136 ese-web.com (312) 843-8473; Fax: (913) 514-6301

Evertz Microsystems Ltd. IBC 877-995-3700 evertz.com [email protected]

Fischer Connectors 77 800-551-0121 fischerconnectors.com

Florical Systems Inc. 59 352-372-8326 florical.com INTERNATIONALEUROPE

For. A Corporation of America 65 714-894-3311 for-a.corn Richard Woolley

Harris 3 800-231-9673 broadcast.harris.com/

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Iconix Video Inc. 43 800-783-1080 iconixvideo.com Talbar Media

IDX Systems Technology 71 310-891-2800 idx.tv+972-3-5629565; Fax: [email protected]

Ikegami Electronics 13 201-368-9171 ikegami.com

Lawo North America Corp. 54 416-292-0078 lawo.ca JAPANMashy Yoshikawa

Marshall Electronics Inc. 67 800-800-6608 lcdracks.com Orient Echo, Inc.Maxell Corp. of America 7 maxell.com +81-3-3235-5961; Fax: +81-3-3235-5852

[email protected] Technologies Inc 11 514-333-1772 miranda.com/xvp

NAB 2008 41 nabshow.com CLASSIFIED ADVERTISINGNetwork Electronics 51 800-420-5909 network-electronics.com Susan Schaefer

(484) 478-0154NVision Inc

Omneon

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REPRINTSOpticomm 47 858-450-0143 emcore.com Penton Reprints

Otari Inc 24 818-734-1785 otari.com888-858-8851www.pentonreprints.com

Panasonic Broadcast 4, 5 800-528-8601 panasonic.com/broadcast

Pro -Bel 69 pro-bel.com UST RENTAL SERVICESRiedel Communications 75 914-592-0220 riedel.net Marie Briganti, Walter Karl

(845) 620-0700Rohde & Schwarz 53 888-837-8772 test-rsa.com/tvtrans/

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Sencore 49, 73, 81 800-SENCORE sencore.com

Snell & Wilcox 35-40 snellwilcox.com/icr Customer Service:Sony Electronics Inc. ' 21 sony.com/devicemonitor 913-967-1707 or 800-441-0294Sony Electronics Inc. 28, 29 sony.com/xdcam Broadcast Engineering, January 2008, Vol. 50, No. 1 (ISSN

Streambox 60 206-956-0544 streambox.com 0007-1994) is published monthly and mailed free to qualifiedpersons by Penton Media, Inc. 9800 Metcalf Ave., Overland

Sundance Digital 55 972-444-8442 sundancedigital.com Pak, KS 66212-2216. Periodicals postage paid at Shawnee

Utah Scientific 9 800-453-8782 utahscientific.com M ssion, KS. and additional mailing offices. Canadian PostPLblications Mail Agreement No. 40597023. Canada return

ViewCast 18 800-540-4119 viewcast.com/be108 address: Bleuchip International, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON

Ward -Beck Systems Ltd 50 800-771-2556 ward-beck.comN6C 682. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Broadcast

Engineering, P.O. Box 2100, Skokie, IL 60076-7800 USA.

Wheatstone Corporation

Yamaha Commercial Audio

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CORRESPONDENCE: Editorial and Advertising: 00 Metcalf,

Overland Park, KS 66212-2216 Phone: 913-341-1300; Edit. fax:

913-967-1905. Advert. fax: 913-967-1904. © 2008 by Penton

360 Systems 57 818-991-0360 360systems.com Media, Inc All rights resumed.


EOMDEPARTMENT

Advantageous resourcesThese tools can help you stay abreast

of technological change.

World technical andscientific knowledgedoubles every 14

months to every fiveyears. The broadcast industry is a

highly technologically driven profes-sion, which, owing to the rapid appli-cation of digital technology over thepast decade, finds itself at the shorterend of that change cycle.

Since receiving that technicalschool diploma hanging on the wall,

BY ANTHONY R GARGANO

pany Web sites or can be obtainedin physical form upon request.These materials enable users to reador study at their own convenience,which is a major benefit.

DTV guide for engineersRohde & Schwarz offers a 400 -page

textbook called "Digital Television: APractical Guide for Engineers," writ-ten by Walter Fischer. The book is ex-tremely well written and quite com-

Equipment manufacturers oftenprovide valuable resources to aidbroadcasters in their pursuit tomaintain technical proficiency.

how many of these doubling cycleshave you been through? Keeping upwith the rapid changes in digital tech-nology can be a full-time job in itself.Given the ever-changing technol-ogy landscape, staying at the top ofyour game requires dedicated effort.Equipment manufacturers often pro-vide valuable resources to aid broad-casters in their pursuit to maintaintechnical proficiency.

Self-serving materialsvs. educational ones

Virtually all manufacturers offersome type of formal or informaltraining materials that are specificto their own products. While therecan be some educational value inthese materials, let's face it: The un-derlying message is understandablyself-serving and promotional. How-ever, some manufacturers provideexcellent reference texts and tutori-als. These materials are made easilyavailable as downloads from corn-

prehensive, as it covers everythingfrom the basics of MPEG to ATSC,DVB-T and ISDB-T.

The chapter on OFDM is perhapsone of the clearest, easiest to under-stand explanations of that technologythat I have ever read. You can requesta copy of this book by calling a com-pany sales representative.

HD basics and beyondThere are downloadable references

available that you can easily organizeinto a technical reference folder onyour PC. Harris, through its Videoteksubsidiary, offers "HD Basics and Be-yond: A Primer for Video Profession-als." The 52 -page PDF file is basicallywhat its title says - an HD primer.

In addition, the company offersnumerous white paper downloadablePDF files and PowerPoint documentsthat cover a diverse range of DTVtopics. To find these resources, do asearch for "white papers" on the Har-ris Broadcast Web site.

A glossary worthbookmarking

A veritable trove of technicalinformation is available from theSnell & Wilcox Web site. Under the"Community" section of the site,go to the "Knowledge Center," andbrowse through the white papersand presentations. There, you'll findnumerous technical references wellworth downloading.

Another useful resource can befound in the "Engineering Guides"section of the Knowledge Center. "AnEngineer's Guide to Compression" byJohn Watkinson, for example, is a 93-

page PDF that represents an excellenttreatment of its subject matter.

Before you leave the site, check outthe glossary section. It's incrediblycomprehensive and well done. I rec-ommend bookmarking this page.

Digital factbookQuantel's Web site includes the

"Digital Factbook," a 154 -page refer-ence work edited by Bob Pank. It usesa glossary format but goes into muchlengthier detail than typical glossarydefinitions. To find the "Digital Fact-

book," go to the "Library" section ofthe Web site.

ConclusionWhether printed text or in the form

of downloadable files, there are free,high -quality tutorial and referencematerials available. Putting togetheryour own study and reference libraryis just a few phone calls and mouseclicks away. BE

Anthony R. Gargano is a consultant andformer industry executive.

laSend questions and comments to:[email protected]


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