HDTV and the Transition to Digital Broadcasting: Understanding New Television Technologies » (New Edition)

Philip Cianci’s involvement in the HDTV effort began at Philips Research in the 1980s, where, as a designer, he was involved the development of Advanced Television Systems, culminating in the Grand Alliance HDTV prototype. Mr. Cianci was at ESPN during the construction and commissioning of the Digital Center and the debut of SportsCenter in HDTV. He is the Editor of the “Transition to Digital” Broadcast Engineering Magazine e-Newsletter and is collaborating in the development of an HDTV archive with the Smithsonian Institution.

HDTV and the Transition to Digital Broadcasting bridges the gap between non-technical personnel (management and creative) and technical by giving you a working knowledge of digital television technology, a clear understanding of the challenges of HDTV and digital broadcasting, and a scope of the ramifications of HDTV in the consumer space. Topics include methodologies and issues in HD production and distribution, as well as HDTV's impact on the future of the media business. This book contains sidebars and system diagrams that illustrate examples of broadcaster implementation of HD and HD equipment. Additionally, future trends including the integration of broadcast engineering and IT, control and descriptive metadata, DTV interactivity and personalization are explored.

This Book Gives You:

* Clear explanations of the technologies you need to understand to talk with engineers and other broadcast technology professionals
* A great starting place for those desiring a career in broadcasting in any discipline management, creative or technical
* A historical and technical overview of DTV, HDTV, standards, and organizations

Dedication     ix
Acknowledgements     xi
Author Biography     xv
Introduction     xvii
Who Should Read this Book     xvii
Executive Summary     xix
Transition to Digital     xxi
The Dawn of HDTV and Digital Television     1
Analog and Digital TV Compared     2
Going HiDef     7
Broadcast Engineering and Information Technology     9
Summary     16
A Compressed History of HDTV     17
The Road to HDTV     17
The Grand Alliance     21
A DTV Standard at Last     24
Producing HDTV     26
HD Goes Coast-to-Coast     28
DTV Conversion     30
Summary     32
DTV Fundamentals     35
Engineering Basics     36
Presentation     42
Compression     58
MPEG-2 Video Compression     60
Audio Compression     67
Compressed Data Streams     70
Packelized Transport     71
Transmission     78
Summary     84
The DTV Receiver     85
Reception andDemodulation     86
Transport Stream Demultiplexing     87
Decoding and Decompression     88
Program Assembly and Presentation     88
Receiver Issues     89
Presentation Concerns     91
Summary     97
HDTV and DTV Standards     99
Standards Bodies     100
The ATSC Standards     105
SMPTE Standards     120
The Audio Engineering Society     127
Cable DTV Standards     129
Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers     130
The Consumer Electronics Association     131
Other Societies and Organizations     133
Summary     136
The Transition to Metadata     137
The Origins of Metadata in Broadcasting     138
Content-Related Metadata     140
Control Metadata     157
Summary     165
Emerging Technologies and Standards     167
Technology and Standards Development     168
Presentation     169
Compression     172
Delivery and Distribution     175
MPEG and Metadata     177
Enhanced, Interactive and Personalized      179
Virtual Product Placement     191
Multiplatform Emergency Alert System     191
Summary     194
The Future and Digital Broadcasting     195
Government Involvement in the Transition     195
Technology     204
Consumers and DTV Availability     206
Global Transitions     207
What Will Tomorrow Bring?     208
Summary     208
Index     209