ENGINEERING CONSULTANT ON ATSC MEMBERSHIP

Posted on May 1, 2012 in ATSC News

–as answered by Dennis Wallace, Managing Partner of Meintel, Sgrignoli, & Wallace, LLC

As an engineering consulting firm, how is your company involved with ATSC?

MSW is a long-time ATSC member.  Our firm is often involved with the development and testing of new technologies and standards that are being developed in ATSC activities.  We serve as the “test kitchens” of these development efforts.

Over the years, we’ve been involved in testing several prototype products as well as various field testing projects. These efforts would be very difficult if not for the documents, standards, and guidelines development by ATSC groups.  In particular, our involvement with the NTIA requirements as well as lab testing of DTV converter boxes several years ago was certainly aided by being able to reference the ATSC A-74 (Receiver Performance Guidelines) documents with our clients.

What is the most valuable element of ATSC membership?

The ability to participate in the development of technologies and standards that shape our industry is certainly a valuable part of our membership.  In broadcasting there’s an un-written partnership between receiver manufacturers and broadcasters. Both sides of the equation are necessary to provide a universal broadcasting service. ATSC is at the center of that partnership and provides the conduit for agreement in the development and enhancements to the broadcast television service.

Membership in ATSC provides many benefits. But, certainly the ability to participate in the work of the ATSC and help shape the future of the industry should be a big motivator to join the ATSC if you are not already a member.

How are you involved with ongoing efforts to create ATSC 2.0 and ATSC 3.0?

Bill Meintel from our firm is very involved in the efforts around ATSC 3.0. Bill has attended many of the initial organizational meetings (as well as traveling to Shanghai for the initial Future of Broadcast TV meetings).  It’s our intention to remain involved in these efforts and to fully participate in the development of the next generation of Digital Television.

Where do you think ATSC will be in 10 years?

That’s a tough prediction to make, but I think we’ll have sped along the ATSC 3.0 path.  The  FoBTV initiative and ATSC will be right there working on the needed standards, guidelines and reference documents to enable engineers such as ourselves to implement these technologies for our clients and member companies.

Posted in ATSC News