Re: [RE] Grand master identifier
Arthur Marris wrote..
>There is an interesting difference between what is happening with
>digital TV in the UK and the USA. The UK broadcasters are using
>digital TV to bombard consumers with more and more channels at medium
>definition while US broadcasters are using it to roll out HDTV.
>Personally I am surprised at how tolerant UK consumers are of the poor
>picture and sound quality of some of these channels. I would rather
>have HDTV.
Me too.
But I have to make the point.. There is a massive difference between a)
channels that are indeed medium definition but are always there, always
at the same quality levels, in-a-word reliable, and b) best effort.
Richard Brand wrote..
>You bring up a very good point about TV in No. America vs the UK and
>Europe. In my many ITU stds meetings, I have had discussion re: HDTV
>with delegates of PTT's in the EU and UK. Most have not even seen
>the stunning (in my opinion) quality capabilities of HDTV content when
>it is correctly captured and then displayed in 1080i format on a good
>40"+ full 1080i (1920 X 1080) capable display. Indeed, most of them
>have traveled to No. America and remember how dismal our existing NTSC
>picture quality is and therefore correctly assume that HDTV will not
>be that much better that the PAL version. Like most people here in
>No. America however they have not seen a good demo of 1080i. Bottom
>line, I have had none of them tell me they have interest in providing
>"triple Play" services with the possible exception of FT. Reps from
>BT have told me that they have no interest at this time.
I think you are too hopeful. Many of them (and their bosses before
them) *have* seen the picture quality of HDTV. It is just that they
are skeptical about the customers' willingness to pay.
In the UK and Europe we have had the infrastructure to send HDTV for
quite some time now (which is a great position to be in). A concerted
switch to HDTV content will happen when the commercial time is right.
>A, probably the issue is competition. In No. America, the MSOs are a
>life threatening challenge to the RBOCs because they are starting to
>take voice line services via VoIP away from the RBOCs. While MSO
>penetration on the European continent is spotty, I have seen a lot of
>satellite dishes now sitting on the walls of building in
>Europe. While being pretty ugly and only offering more albeit digital
>channels this represents a growing consumer demand for digital video
>and new content. You can expect the satellite guys to start offering
>a few channels of HD content and that could set off the escalation of
>quality over quantity in TV services. It may sound a wake up call for
>BT and maybe some of the other PTTs but I don't see the market
>dynamics in the UK/EU region akin to those which exist in No. America.
Probably the issue in North America is the stick-and-carrot legislation
relating to obligations to put out a certain amount of HD material by a
certain year. (Am I wrong?) This is Governmental intervention pure
and simple. I admire it, but it could backfire badly. I really hope
that it doesn't, and I really wish we had something similar in the
UK. But hey, we have the infrastructure, and the burned-fingers
history, and we can watch and wait.
>Where HDTV is really happening is Japan and Korea and in those
>countries, KT and NTT are the HD drivers. As Samsung described last
>July in the Res Enet Call for Interest, HDTV is a major driver in
>Korea where I had the opportunity as a guest of KT to witness trial
>HDTV trials via WD-PON.
Sounds great.
Chris Travis