Digital Television Standardization
Since the FCC decided on the US standard for digital television at the end of 1996, it has been an uphill struggle in implementing the standard to replace the analog television system, which has been in existence since the early 1950s. Participation in the standardization process greatly benefits advanced product development.
Background & Objective: As equipment manufacturer of both professional (broadcast encoder) and consumer (receiver decoder) products, we need to be well informed of various standardization in progress; voice either support or dissent in certain technologies or practices according to business needs.
Technical Discussion: Ongoing work includes standards development, updates and implementation issues on DTV Closed Caption (DTVCC), Program System Information Protocol (PSIP), Directed Channel Change (DCC), DTV Application Software Environment (DASE), data broadcasting, and RF modulation enhancements. Enhanced DTVCC is a big improvement compared to the traditional captions for the analog TV. Some compares it to the surround sound for the eyes. Due to the difficulty in implementation for the receiver design, and the lack of broadcast equipment support, DTVCC progress has been slow. Test material has been developed to test receivers under development. PSIP has been a standard since 1998, and since then broadcast implementation has been lagging due to lack of education to broadcasters as well as equipment inter-operability. Work continues in the standard PSIP-encoder interface, and DCC implementation challenges. DASE has been under development within Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) for over 4 years. There are total of 8 parts of the standard, 5 of which has been approved by the technical committee. The entire DASE standard is to be an ATSC standard sometime middle of next year. 8-VSB (Vestigial Side Band), the ATSC modulation standard, has been under discussion whether it is an adequate method of transmission. Current work in progress is to enhance its performance without sacrificing compatibility with current receiver implementation.
Technology Area: Advanced Digital Television
Modification Date: September 12, 2007