ATSC’s Newly Elected Board Members
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 Mark Eyer is the Director of Systems for the Technology Standards Office of Sony Electronics. He represents Sony in standards committees including ATSC, CEA, and SCTE. Eyer has participated in ATSC since 1994; as chair of S8 Transport Specialists group since 2002. His most recent work in ATSC includes contributions to ATSC 2.0 NWIP, as co-chair of PC-4, and the Non-Real-Time services standard.
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 John Taylor, VP, LG Electronics, is a long-time participant in the ATSC and industry digital TV efforts, including former head of ATSC PR Committee and former director of ATSC Forum. He has been active in digital TV since 1988 and a charter member of the Academy of Digital Television Pioneers (and recipient of its highest honor, the Industry Leadership Award).
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 Brett Jenkins is the Vice President of Technology at ION Media Networks. Brett has been active in broadcast industry groups involving DTV, and is currently the chair of S4-3. Over the past three years, he has been very active in the OMVC’s Technical Advisory Group focusing on issues involving Mobile DTV.
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Elections for a new Board chair will be held in January. Returning board members for 2011 are Glenn Reitmeier, NBC Universal; Lynn Claudy, NAB; Brian Markwalter, CEA; Andy Scott, NCTA; Jay Adrick, Harris; Victor Tawil, MSTV; John Godfrey, Samsung; Craig Todd, Dolby; and Yiyan Wu, CRC (representing IEEE).
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ATSC Board of Directors Changes
The ATSC would like to thank those members of the Board of Directors who complete their terms in 2010. Chairman Wayne Luplow, Zenith; Wendy Aylsworth, SMPTE; Sterling Davis, Cox; and Joseph Flaherty, CBS; will all be leaving the Board at the end of the year. Our thanks and gratitude goes out to these four individuals, and their commitment to the organization.
Additionally, the Board of Directors honored Mr. Flaherty by naming him Member Emeritus, Board of Directors, for his 27 years of service on the ATSC Board of Directors and its predecessor, the ATSC Executive Committee.
ATSC Patent Disclosures
A reminder that the ATSC Patent Disclosure Statement & Licensing Declaration can be found on the ATSC website under "ATSC Policies."
Upcoming Seminars, Events, and Meetings
The ATSC is planning its second in a series of Symposiums on the Next Generation of Broadcast Television. Scheduled for February 15th, 2011 at the Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage, CA in association with the Hollywood Post Alliance’s annual Technology Retreat, this one-day event will feature additional papers on leading-edge topics.
Written abstracts of less than 500 words should be submitted to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
, Vice President for Standards Development at the ATSC. Topics may include Transmission, Reception, Modulation, Software Defined Radio Technologies, Video codecs, Audio codecs, Transport methods, and/or other potential new services and applications.
The tentative closing date is December 24th, 2010. The ATSC Planning Team will review the abstracts and will notify submitters of their acceptance for presentation at the second symposium by January 7th, 2011. Written papers are optional but strongly encouraged. Final presentations will be due on February 11th, 2011.
The ATSC will have an exhibiting area at the April 2011 NAB Show in Las Vegas, NV. More information on NAB participation will be sent to our members in the next few weeks – please watch your inboxes!
Mark your calendars! The 2011 ATSC Annual Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 10th, 2011 at the Reagan International Trade Center in Washington, DC. Additional information will follow in upcoming weeks; including recommended hotels for this event. We look forward to seeing you in the spring!
More exciting educational opportunities are planned for 2011 – keep checking the ATSC website for calendar updates!
ATSC Leadership in South Korea
 ATSC Board Member Craig Todd, Dolby; KCC Chairman See Joong Choi; and Mark Richer, ATSC President met in November at KCC Headquarters in South Korea to discuss 3D television and other ATSC work.
ATSC Activities Report
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TSG/S4
Specialist Group on ATSC Mobile DTV
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The A/153 Scalable Full Channel Mobile Mode Candidate Standard has been published on the ATSC Web site. The SFCMM system is described as amendments to A/153 Parts 1, 2, and 3. The CS period runs until 9 February 2011. Proposed updates to the CS documents have been approved by TSG/S4; publication is pending.
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A Working Draft Recommended Practice on ATSC Mobile DTV focusing on the management layer has been approved by TSG ballot as a Proposed Recommended Practice. Comments were received during the ballot and resolved. A reballot of TSG is pending. Work meanwhile continues in the presentation layer AHG to develop draft text, which may be rolled into the RP as an amendment.
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A Working Draft Amendment to A/153 Part 2, "RF/Transmission System Characteristics," has been approved by TSG as a Proposed Standard. Comments were received; resolution is pending. This document clarifies the specification of ATSC Time and addresses other collected issues.
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TSG/S5
Specialist Group on Transmission Infrastructure
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A Working Draft has been completed on a standard for studio-to-transmitter link (STL) systems used to support ATSC Mobile DTV. The system has been documented as a revision of A/110, "Synchronization Standard for Distributed Transmission." The Working Draft is currently under final review. A TSG ballot to elevate the document to Proposed Standard is expected soon.
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TSG/S6
Specialist Group on Video and Audio Coding
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A revision of A/52, "Digital Audio Compression (AC-3, E-AC-3) Standard," has been approved by the ATSC Membership. The amendment was developed to clarify certain documentation issues identified by a joint S6/S8 task force in response to CEA feedback. Publication of A/52:2010 is pending.
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Work is expected to begin soon on an update to A/52:2010 that will address certain issues identified by SCTE. Liaison is currently underway.
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Work is underway to consider the differences between A/72, "Video System Characteristics of AVC in the ATSC Digital Television System," and SCTE-128, and to develop a recommendation for changes to A/72.
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The Board has requested that standards be developed to permit the use of E-AC-3 as well as AAC/HE AAC/HE AAC v2 in the main broadcast services. Two documents are likely to result; work has yet to formally begin.
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Work is pending to merge A/63, "Standard for Coding 25/50 Hz Video," into A/53 Part 4.
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TSG/S7
Specialist Group on Service and Content Protection
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A Working Draft Amendment to A/153 Part 6, "Service Protection," has been developed and approved for ballot by TSG as a Proposed Standard. Issuance of the ballot is pending.
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TSG/S8
Specialist Group on Transport
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A sub-group within TSG/S8 is developing a Working Draft RP on the broadcast station workflow aspects of handling local live updates to PSIP-related metadata. A date for completion of the Working Draft has not yet been set.
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Document maintenance is underway on A/53 Part3, "Service Multiplex and Transport Subsystem Characteristics;" A/65, "Program And System Information Protocol For Terrestrial Broadcast And Cable;" and A/69, "Program and System Information Protocol Implementation Guidelines for Broadcasters."
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TSG/S9
Specialist Group on Transmission
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A sub-group of TSG/S9 has been collecting updates to A/53 Part 2:2007, "RF/Transmission Subsystem." This effort will restart when the next revision for Part 2 is developed.
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TSG/S10
Specialist Group on Receivers
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Work is underway to develop a Recommended Practice on ATSC Mobile DTV Receiver Performance Guidelines. This document will mirror the scope of A/74, "Receiver Performance Guidelines," but focus on mobile services.
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TSG/S13
Specialist Group on Data Broadcast
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TSG has elevated a Working Draft Standard on Non-Real-Time (NRT) services to Candidate Standard. Comments were received during the ballot and are being resolved. The CS period is set to run until 28 February 2011.
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A revision of A/70A, "Conditional Access System For Terrestrial Broadcast," incorporating changes resulting from a five-year review, has been approved by the ATSC Membership. Publication is pending, renamed as A/70-1:2010.
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TSG has elevated a Working Draft Standard on "Conditional Access System for Terrestrial Broadcast, Part 2 – IP" (A/70-2), to Candidate Standard. Comments were received during the ballot have been resolved. The CS period is set to run until 28 February 2011.
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Work has begun to develop elements of ATSC 2.0. Work relating to new NRT features will be done in the S13-1 AHG; other elements of the work will be done in the S13-2 AHG.
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TSG-5 AHG
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This TSG-level AHG has completed a first draft document set that removes E-VSB functionality from A/53, “The Digital Television Standard,” and other documents. E-VSB has been overtaken by events with the approval of the ATSC Mobile DTV Standard. The results of the AHG work will be reviewed by the specialist groups that are the caretakers of the affected documents, which will include TSG/S6, TSG/S8 and TSG/S9.
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TSG-6 AHG
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This TSG-level AHG is responsible for coordinating work on ATSC 2.0, which describes next-generation services to rfixed receivers. Having distributed the current work on ATSC 2.0, TSG-6 is inactive.
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Planning Teams
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PT-1 – 3D TV: This group continues to meet regularly by teleconference and collect information on the potential for 3D television services. These efforts have included recent visits to Sony Pictures and ESPN. Two AHGs have been formed to address specific areas of 3D.
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PT-2 – Next Generation Broadcast Television. The first Symposium on Next Generation Broadcast Television was held on 19 October 2010 in Alexandria, VA. Planning is underway for a second symposium to be held on 15 February 2011 in Rancho Mirage, CA. The event will be held in conjunction with annual Hollywood Post Alliance Technology Retreat.
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– Internet-Enhanced Television. This group continues to meet by teleconference and collect information that will assist in developing a recommendation for possible future activity in this area by ATSC. Liaison with a variety of organizations has been undertaken, including several presentations on current projects. PT-3 is considering holding a Symposium on Internet-Enhanced Television as a way of collecting additional input.
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Ballots
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No TSG or membership ballots are currently open.
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ATSC Membership – Recruiting Continues
In our continuing quest for new participants to join in on the important work of the ATSC, we’d like to ask current member organizations to encourage non-member companies they may be associated with to join. Our appreciation of the work done by our current members goes without saying, but we always welcome new faces!
For more information on how to join, please direct potential new members to the ATSC Website.
ATSC Standards... Available in Print!
Recommeded Paractice A/74 has been added to the ATSC online store. Just follow the links to purchase full color professionally bound copies of recommended practices A/74 and A/85 and the Mobile DTV standard A/153. We hope to add additional standards documents for purchase in the upcoming weeks.
Save your printer ink and instead, buy a copy for the low prices listed online.
All standards and recommended practices will remain available for download at the ATSC website.
Copyright The Advanced Television Systems Committee, 2010
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