From the Trenches

Too Much Too Soon
by  Mark Schubin  10.13.2006
Digital video bit-rate reduction is impressive. It can squeeze an HDTV signal of about a billion bits per second down to a few million. But it’s not magic. Consider a sleeping bag stuff sack. Down-filled bags can be greatly  More...

Advanced Compression
by  Mark Schubin  9.14.2006
From the very beginning, the U.S. broadcast digital-television system offered some amazing capabilities. HDTV could be broadcast in six-channel (5.1) surround sound in viewer-selectable languages and with picture description for  More...

Is HDTV Visible? The Eyes Have It
by  Mark Schubin  8.24.2006
The following may seem obvious: not everyone can see HDTV. The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) said that, as of January of this year, only 20% of U.S. households had “DTV,” and only 85% of “DTVs” sold were HDTV. So that  More...

The Impossible Dream
by  Mark Schubin  7.20.2006
Sanyo’s HDTV camcorder, using advanced video compression and SD Memory Card storage, has a suggested retail price under $800. Congress is considering authorizing the FCC to create a content-protecting “broadcast flag.” Is there a  More...

That Which Must Not Be Said
by  Mark Schubin  6.29.2006
Broadcasters all over the world have either ceased or are preparing to cease analog TV transmissions. In the U.S., 105 million mobile phones were sold to dealers in 2005 alone. Is there a connection? Off-air TV audiences have  More...

The Long-Awaited, Highly Valuable Label
by  Mark Schubin  6.8.2006
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) made an interesting announcement on March 15 of this year. It was about a label to be placed on TV sets that are able to receive only NTSC RF transmissions. "Notice: this TV has  More...

Faroudja’s Sawtooth
by  Mark Schubin  4.19.2006
At NAB’s convention 50 years ago, Ampex introduced the first commercially successful videotape recorder. At SMPTE’s winter television conference 25 years ago, NHK introduced Americans to widescreen HDTV. Is HDTV 25 years old and  More...

DTV Needs An Analog Hole
by  Mark Schubin  3.30.2006
Sometimes what seems normal just isn’t right. Consider digital-TV set-top box (STB) adapters. They accept digital broadcast television signals, and they deliver analog outputs. That’s all that some STBs being sold today do, but  More...

Three Long Years: Laws Can Be Changed
by  Mark Schubin  2.23.2006
Both houses of Congress have approved an analog-TV broadcast-cutoff date of February 18, 2009. As this is being written, TV-unrelated provisions of the legislation have kept it from leaving Capitol Hill, but the date isn’t  More...

Public Law 107-195: “The Law” Isn’t Always “The Law”
by  Mark Schubin  1.25.2006
Last year, before leaving on their Thanksgiving breaks, both houses of Congress passed bills calling for the cessation of analog television broadcasting in the United States. The House version allowed NTSC transmissions to  More...

The New Continuum: Why HDTV Is Not A Great Adjective
by  Mark Schubin  12.21.2005
‘Tis the season to get presents. Why not an HDTV set from Sony, America’s number-one-selling TV brand, according to the NPD Group? What does the adjective HDTV suggest? Might it indicate an ability to receive HDTV signals  More...

The 3-D IPTV Digital Mobile Future...or Not
by  Mark Schubin  11.28.2005
Personal video recorders (PVRs, like TiVo units) will destroy advertiser-supported television. Internet-delivered programs will wipe out cable and satellite. Viewers will watch TV on cell phones. Or maybe none of the above will  More...

Size Matters | When It Comes to Sensor Pitch
by  Mark Schubin  11.9.2005
There has been much written in this publication (and others) about the wonders of the new tiny HDTV camcorders, both HDV and P2. Unfortunately, there has been practically nothing written about the pitch of their sensors. The  More...

Bugs in the System - TELEVISION: Bigger Isn’t Better For Broadcasters
by  Mark Schubin  9.9.2005
While SMPTE Recommended Practice 218 defines safe title area, display manufacturers tend to overscan the image making it appear larger on the screen. While this might look good to the viewer, adding a bug becomes problematic,  More...