Xref: utzoo sci.electronics:10469 comp.graphics:10256 comp.std.internat:593 rec.video:10934 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!usc!wuarchive!texbell!texsun!newstop!sun!vector!poynton From: poynton@vector.Sun.COM (Charles A. Poynton) Newsgroups: sci.electronics,comp.graphics,comp.std.internat,rec.video Subject: Re: U.S. HDTV STANDARDS DELEGATION SCUTTLES 1920x1080 COMMON IMAGE FOR Summary: FCC (ATTC) testing of _domestic_transmission_ systems has little to do with CCIR _international_program_exchange_ standards. Message-ID: <132618@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> Date: 7 Mar 90 11:02:48 GMT References: <8Zx8Ip200ioEMMrHEF@andrew.cmu.edu> Sender: news@sun.Eng.Sun.COM Lines: 75 I'm encouraged to see Marvin Sirbu's note and what might be the beginning of a discussion here. I'll follow this posting with my HDTV/ATV Glossary. > ... Within the next year, ... It's been pushed back. Testing won't begin until September 1990. Faroudja's SuperNTSC is up first. The complete suite of tests will take about a year, 'til about Sept. 1991, then the process of deciding commences. > ... half a dozen proposed systems will undergo extensive comparative testing The ATSC has a dual role. The ATSC advises the FCC on standards for _domestic_ Advanced Television transmission, *ATV*. Consumer entertainment. The ATSC advises the US CCIR National Comittee on standards for *HDTV* studio production and _international_ program exchange. It's HDTV production equipment that's applicable to the computer industry. This has little or nothing to do with entertainment. The CCIR delegation is addressing only HDTV production and exchange. The testing of domestic terrestrial transmission systems is irrelevant to international exchange. > ... the ATSC position has been dominated by the television networks ... The ATSC has been dominated by broadcasters. Remarkably the interests of the computer industry are beginning to be acknowledged by them. Also, there is an increasing awareness among broadcasters that they can make use of computer technology, so much so that the ATSC agreed six months ago to officially endorse square pixels! However the representative from the Media Lab encouraged the State Department to nix that position at the last CCIR meeting: despite ATSC's endorsement, the U.S. offered no position on that issue. Now the ATSC is in a position to promote a two megapixel HDTV production standard internationally. Frame rate and interlace are not on the agenda: the sole issue is picture format. The three choices on the table are: (a) 1920x1080 [2 Mpx], (b) 2048x1152 [2 1/4 Mpx] or (c) do nothing for four more years. > ... They don't care very much how a standard affects the US computer ... HDTV equipment will not be embraced by the computer community until it is standardized. The BROADCASTERS on the ATSC reached agreement on 1920x1080 -- two megapixels -- and square ones at that! What's ironic is that the US CCIR delegation perceives that the COMPUTER INDUSTRY is against this proposal! Wild. > ... It makes perfect sense for the US to delay ... Although the interests of some U.S. organizations are best served by delaying the adoption of the technology, the computer industry needs to exploit it. We can contribute to acceptance of a standard that will give U.S. computer manufacturers access to the display technology of the [near] future, or we can sit around for four more years and watch certain other nations continue to work feverishly to build computers with great big high-quality displays. These nations progressed from building the majority of our television sets to providing virtually ALL computer displays. They progressed from providing the vast majority of DRAMs to supplying a huge fraction of our PC-class computers. Now they want to computers. BIG computers. Workstations. Mainframes. The meaning of HDTV in the United States is not the "rejeuvenation of the domestic consumer electronics manufacturing industry." It's the continued health of the COMPUTER industry. Let's not botch this one. Sayonara [sp?], C.