TVTom51

Trip

It's not cheap. Aside from additional encoding gear, it requires a new exciter.

- Trip

John Willkie

Yes, that's something that I know about. Jay Adrick of Harris Broadcast last year put the cost at close to $165,000 for two services. The actual cost has been less than that.

It's true that some stations will need to buy a new exciter; but probably not many. Most stations will find that, if their transmitter manufacturer is still in business, they can purchase a modification to the DSP (or other) chips that make the digital bits and can then furnish an ATSC M/H service or services.

The equipment list is a bit more extensive than that; you will also need an IP encapsulator/multiplexer, and depending on how your plant is architected, you might be bound to your exciter manufactuer. This device makes the M/H bits and integrates the resulting packets into your main (MPEG-2) service. I don't have price lists for these, but you can buy them from Harris, Rohde & Schwarz and Axcera, Grass Vallue; perhaps Tandberg & Harmonic as well.

You will also need one or more encoders for MPEG-4 (AVC/H.264) video and HE-AACV2 Audio, with an IP output. These can be had for about $20k.

In addition, you will need a M/H signaling generator. This is something that my company, EtherGuide Systems, is providing. Mine is $12,000; others are more expensive.

Those are the mandatory elements. I know several stations that have everything but signalling working for less than $70,000.

Optional elements include the Service Guide, Service Protection (conditional access), Rich Media Environment (RME) and interactivity; these can be expensive, as there are fewer vendors in those spaces at this point.

The costs are miniscule compared to the amount of money Qualcomm and others have spent for their so far unsuccessful mobile tv offerings.

Hope this helps;

John Willkie
EtherGuide Systems +1 619 770-5760

HTNut

O-O

How do stations profit off of broadcasting ATSC-m/h? Are they able to show different ads than what's broadcasted on the ATSC channel?

Jim1348

I think it is just a way to get additional viewers. I rather doubt that programming will be any different in most markets. I suspect in my market, when or if we ever get it, will simply be a simulcast of the -1 sub-channel.

John Willkie

Jim, etc.

You can doubt all you want, but if the m/h programming is merely duplicated, we're in trouble. ATSC S4 (the ATSC specialist group that developed the M/H standard, and which I have been a member of for going on 2 years) actually provided much technology in there, including RME (interactivity) and SVG (vector graphics) and ultimately, NRT (non-real time content) that cannot be rendered on existing television sets and which will require new tv station infrastructure to exploit.

If one does the calculations, one will discern that it's unlikely that M/H will enable TV stations to increase audience levels by more than 4%. But, television station audiences have been going down in recent years, and younger people spend more time with their mobile phones than watch television. M/H will enable all sorts of television content to appear on these devices.

In addition, there is nothing that forbids m/h content from appearing on suitably-equipped television sets of the future. One important consideration is that M/H content will NOT be availble on calbe, unless the cable operator pays market rates for it.

M/H enables television stations to reach people in new places, not unlike mobile phones have enabled you to reach people when they are away from home.

TV stations -- with the appropriate infrastructure -- will be able to target different commercials to mobile phones, and enable them to present new content, including being paid to pass on adhoc or traditonal television networks. Stations, or people using their transmitters, will be able to charge for access, pay-per-view, and even interact with television stations and even have "buy now" buttons on ads that lead directly to web sites and secure transactions.

At least one company -- I can't provide details due to NDAs -- is contemplating a national m/h service using spectrum previously occupied by TV stations.

Think of M/H as being a new "application" enabled by dtv technology. Everything up to this point has merely been providing a digital equivalent of the old analog services. M/H is something that can go well beyond that, and it's just the start -- there is something just starting up which for the moment is called ATSC 2.0. It will take a few years to amount to a standard or standards. Some of this has leaked out to the public, but I can't go beyond that.

Sadly, M/H cannot coexist well (if at all) with 1080i (at least 1080i delivered using existing MPEG-2 video/audio. Some will tell you that it can, but these are the same folk that think two HDTV services can occupy a 8-VSB channel. Sure, it's done; but never well. But, the people most interested in M/H aren't really committed to the business model of HDTV, and they are looking at other tools to monetize their 8-VSB transmitters.

I know I'm long-winded, but so be it.

Best;

John Willkie
EtherGuide Systems (I am my employer, and I can speak for my employer)

TVTom51

TonyT

Mobile DTV should crush Flo TV if they can put out a quality signal. I'm still doubtful of the tiny antennas on mobile dtv's and whether they'll be able to pick up any signal.

TVTom51

I'd like to see some preliminary reports on the testing going on right now. Anybody seen any news?