[opendtv] Re: ATSC and Lip Sync
- From: Cliff Benham <flyback1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 30 May 2009 11:35:46 -0400
Leonard Caillouet wrote:
Cliff, the refrain that problems are due to deregulation, and the
comments that you don't care about why they problems occur make it
hard to take you seriously. At what level and in what form should
regulation be applied?
Have you ever worked at a TV station that was fined $10,000 by the FCC
for not broadcasting video on line 21?
For someone who has worked as an engineer for as long as you say you
have, I find your perspective curious. Regulation needs to be
careful and smart, not applied in a shotgun approach. We should have
learned that lesson really well in the last few years from the
financial markets. It is very easy to assign blame to government for
letting the industry run carelessly. It is harder to do your job as
part of that industry to contribute to an understanding of the problem
and to its solution. Several posters here have taken the latter
approach, and have contributed to an understanding of the problem and
where solutions may be found, and I thank them. Your comments below
don't make much of a useful contribution at all, IMO.
I've never been one to sugar-coat my comments.
In those ten years that you mention, what have you done to contribute
to a solution?
I've attempted to bring the problem to the attention of those with
greater industry influence who might be able to change it.
Frankly, on the consumer end, I don't get as many complaints as we
did a couple of years ago about lip sync issues, and don't see as much
of it myself. It may be increasing as a problem as you suggest, but
my experience does not indicate that it is such a problem that we need
to approach regulation as a solution.
I only repeated Mark's comment about the problem getting worse.
The industry continues to work on solutions, and (some) engineers are
becoming more educated on the various contributing factors, so what
would you suggest be done, exactly?
John Shutt's post about the CEA and ATSC working on the lip sync problem
in receivers is what I suggested should be happening 10 years ago.
http://sportsvideo.org/blogs/hpa/2009/02/18/atsc-cea-working-to-make-tv-receivers-less-prone-to-lip-sync-woes/
The idea that the industry has continually degraded since before the
transition is also hard to understand. While I have a bit of an
outside view, it seems that we have a much larger choice of content
and improved quality for most consumers. While there are problems,
like there have always been, there is also some astounding quality out
there. Along the way, the level of understanding of the problems
seems to be increasing as the transition proceeds. I would not
suggest that there are not problems, but your pessimistic view reminds
me of many of the "old dogs" in my field (repair and calibration) who
simply lament the loss of things more familiar and simple.
Also, please be more careful to define where your quotes end and your
comments start.
Is this good enough?
The lack of punctuation and the content of the following sentence made
it seem obvious where Mark Schubin's remarks started and yours begin,
but those less familiar with both of your postings might not get the
break point. I am sure that he would not like to have your comments
confused as being his.
Leonard Caillouet
Gainesville, FL
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