[opendtv] Re: Technology years
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2007 07:35:53 -0500
At 12:01 PM -0500 1/23/07, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
So let's compare the ATSC with the IETF. The IETF is run by vendors and
service providers, and also academia. If a vendor or a service provider
comes up with a new scheme they want or need to implement, the
interested party or parties write an Internet Draft. This document is
reviewed by the applicable IETF working group(s), and if interest
exists, after a lot of back and forth and wordsmithing, it is published
as an RFC. Some RFCs are standards track and eventually become
standards. Others are classified informational or experimental.
In what way is the ATSC different? If it takes more broadcaster support
to make the ATSC approve good ideas, then that's what it takes. Are
broadcasters who care about DTT expelled from the ATSC?
Let us count the ways...
First and foremost, the Internet is an open test bed where anyone can
innovate. All that is needed is to develop a new software tool that
leverages the existing infrastructure. There have been dozens of
cases where a company has developed a new tool, made it available for
download, and distributed millions of copies in a matter of weeks.
When a new tool becomes popular the common practice is to take it to
the IETF for "standardization." This is market driven, not
manufacturer driven.
The ATSC system is hard wired; many aspects of the standard were
locked down based on the philosophy that the end user products would
be implemented in chips, rather than an open extensible platform.
A perfect example is your post yesterday: Single-chip HDTV solution
powers new DTV products for U.S. ATSC market
There is little room for innovation with the ATSC standard, and overt
efforts to stifle it. A great example is the refusal to modify the
standard to include perfectly legal MPEG-2 modes. The correct
approach WOULD HAVE BEEN to include the MPEG--2 standard in the ATSC
standard by reference. But this is not what happened. instead the
ATSC standard places restrictions on the MPEG-2 standard (i.e. Table
3, which the FCC DID NOT ADOPT). Now, while some manufacturers may
use a fully MPEG-2 compliant decoder in their designs, broadcasters
cannot use the full flexibility of MPEG-2 because they cannot depend
on receivers being fully MPEG-2 compliant.
It is now commonplace for me to download H.264 files and to play them
on my vintage 2000 Mac Powerbook, along with MPEG-2 files, VC-1
files, Flash video files, etc. This is possible because of the
extensible nature of computing platforms and the open extensible
nature of the Internet.
And to answer your final question, anyone can participate in ATSC
activities. I have never heard of anyone being expelled. What
typically happens, is that participants who hope to do something
meaningful with the standard LEAVE IN DISGUST, after coming to the
realization that a small cadre of companies have total control over
the standard (and the royalty pool), and that the "open" process is
just a sham.
"Look behind the curtain Dorothy!"
What is really needed is for Toto to expose this scam...
Regards
Craig
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.
Other related posts: