NAB SHOW REWIND: ATSC 3.0 Takes Center Stage

Posted on May 3, 2016 in ATSC News

With more than 30 companies and organizations exhibiting various capabilities of the ATSC 3.0 broadcast TV standard, thousands of 2016 NAB Show visitors got a taste for the capabilities available to broadcasters and the new services coming for viewers during the Las Vegas event in mid-April.

The 2016 NAB Show featured the first live camera production of ATSC 3.0 to be broadcast over-the-air, with signals originating from the ATSC 3.0 Studio in FUTURES PARK in South Hall.  The TV feed was transmitted from a local station’s Black Mountain transmitter and received back in South Hall.

“From the Broadcast Engineering conference, to both the Consumer Experience and Broadcast Pavilion exhibits, it was truly gratifying to see the enthusiasm for ATSC 3.0 and its myriad capabilities.  We saw several exhibitors extolling the flexibility and adaptability of the standard throughout the show floor,” said ATSC President Mark Richer.

As CEDaily reported, “nearly every FCC commissioner mentioned visiting the show’s demonstrations of the new standard in action. Perception of the standard was largely seen as positive, and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler got loud applause when he announced that the petition for approval would go out for comment shortly.”  The FCC put the petition for ATSC 3.0 approval out for public comment shortly after the NAB Show ended.

NAB President Hails ATSC 3.0 Capabilities, Chernock Recognized

At the Technology Luncheon during the NAB Show, NAB President Gordon Smith thanked the technical community for their work to develop ATSC 3.0.

Triveni Digitals Rich Chernock, who chairs ATSC’s TG3 Technology Group, took home honors for the 2016 NAB Television Engineering Achievement Award.

ATSC and TTA Sign Agreement

During the NAB Show, ATSC and Korea’s Telecommunications Technology Association (the country’s main IT standards-setting body) signed a historic agreement to cooperate in the development of Standards and Recommended Practices for terrestrial UHDTV, with the goal of encouraging worldwide interoperability of UHDTV broadcasting services and products.

In TVNewsCheck’s NAB Show wrap-up, Phil Kurz noted, “ATSC 3.0, the next-generation TV standard that’s been in development for several years, is on quite a roll, racking up a string of wins that would make even Vegas’ luckiest gambler a bit jealous… As the push to move TV broadcasting to the more powerful and versatile ATSC 3.0 transmission standard picks up steam almost daily, [the 2016] NAB Show let attendees get up close and personal with the new tech. The show featured two 3.0 pavilions (one with broadcast gear, the other with consumer tech); more than 15 vendors, universities, researchers and the NAB’s own initiative demoing different pieces of the 3.0 ecosystem.”

HDTVExpert.com analyst Pete Putman reported in his post-show wrap up that “ATSC 3.0 is ready for its day in the sun.”

ATSC 3.0 Consumer Experience

On the upper level and at the entrance to the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, the ATSC 3.0 Consumer Experience was co-sponsored by Advanced Television Systems Committee, the Consumer Technology Association, and the National Association of Broadcasters. More than a dozen contributing organizations showcased products and services:

• Dolby highlighted the captivating audio advantages of ATSC 3.0 broadcasts as well as Dolby Vision high-dynamic range; 


• Fraunhofer showcased interactive audio on a big screen, with immersive audio on a tablet viewing experience; 


• LG Electronics demonstrated the new Network Antenna, which receiver over-the-air ATSC 3.0 and redistributes it throughout the home via Wi-Fi signals. The Netwrok Antenna included a built-in ATSC 3.0 decoding chip, and industry first.

• Linear Acoustic showed smart content engagement strategies, leveraging new standards in audio and demonstrating that audio isn’t only something you can hear, but can also see;

• Pearl TV and Samsung showed 4K Ultra HDTV and how broadcasters can deliver video-on-demand 
to future viewers, along with the targeted advertising capabilities of the new standard; 


• Sinclair Broadcast Group and LG Electronics, representing the AWARN Alliance, conducted the first live broadcast of the Advanced Warning and Response Network – an ATSC 3.0 enhancement to today’s Emergency Alert System. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler got the full demo on the AWARN system’s capabilities.

• A variety of today’s antenna products were also on display, designs that will also easily pick up ATSC 3.0 signals. 


ATSC 3.0 Broadcast Pavilion

The companion exhibit to the ATSC Consumer Experience, the ATSC 3.0 Broadcast Pavilion, was a centerpiece of the NAB FUTURES PARK exhibit at the east end of the South Hall, upper level. More than 15 organizations exhibited various broadcast equipment components designed for ATSC 3.0 in the Broadcast Pavilion: 


• Avateq showed an RF Layer Monitoring Receiver and Signal Analyzer, which allows an operator to monitor remote transmitting sites through a web interface; 


• CRC, ETRI, NERC-DTV, and University of Basque Country collaborated to demonstrate a Layered Division Multiplex system that can be used to achieve seamless local coverage/service, such as location targeted advertisement or local content insertion; 


• Enensys featured its ATSC 3.0 Scheduler and ROUTE (Real-Time Object Delivery over Unidirectional Transport protocol) Server, designed to be the last point of the TV station before the transmitter; 


• Fraunhofer presented a workflow system to show how broadcast stations can produce immersive and interactive sound with the new audio system currently proposed for ATSC 3.0. and developed for 
over-the-top streaming services; 


• Junger Audio showed a Multichannel Monitoring and Authoring Unit; 

• LG Electronics, Harmonic, Triveni Digital and GatesAir joined forces to produce the content that 
will be streamed from servers and transmitted via the Candidate Standard version of the ATSC 
0 Physical Layer; 


• Linear Acoustic demonstrated how the Dolby AC-4 system can enable direct and/or hybrid 
delivery of additional essence or content related (meta) data from a variety of sources upstream; 


• Verance showed the first end-to-end implementation of the newly published ATSC 3.0 Candidate 
Standards for Audio Watermark Emissions (A/334) and Content Recovery over Redistribution 
Networks (A/336);

• Unisoft demonstrated ATSC 3.0 delivery for interactive TV applications.

Posted in ATSC News