Plea to TV, computer folks: Let’s get along

For more than five years, a Federal Communications Committee group chaired by Richard Wiley has attempted to hammer out a broadcast standard for high-definition television (HDTV). When the group first was set up, the general impression was that the new standard would be analog and probably there would be only one real contender — the Japanese NHK/Sony MUSE system. Two years ago, General Instruments shocked everyone by proposing a fully digital system at the very last moment. Joined by several other contenders including Zenith, AT&T, MIT and Thomson, extensive tests were undertaken to choose a standard.

At the eagerly anticipated Feb. 24 meeting of the Wiley committee, no one group had been able to prove its standard was best. NHK/Sony had thrown in the towel because it was at least clear that any standard chosen was going to be fully digital. The committee asked for a new round of tests and suggested that perhaps the warring parties could get together and decide on one standard.

BENEATH THE CALM, BATTLES ROYAL RAGE

Underneath this relatively calm-looking process, all sorts of rumors and battles were taking place. The hottest unconfirmed and subsequently denied rumor had AT&T making a deal with Sony on an interleaving standard desired by most television manufacturers. It would certainly be desired by Sony, since today that company makes the only production and editing gear for a digital interleaving standard. AT&T probably could put such a deal together since it was one of the main contenders. Zenith has been effectively out of the technical aspects of the competition for more than a year and General Instruments was happy to share in the licensing agreements.

Such a deal would have been adamantly opposed by U.S. computer companies that feel that a true digital standard should have progressive scan, square pixels and use the SMPTE header/descriptor system. These features would allow products to be made for both the television and computer industries. No television manufacturer would have an advantage and the products would be technically more sophisticated throughout from production through transmission to the end-user set.

Liebhold as overseer. At the meeting, with Sony representatives inexplicably absent, the committee chose Mike Liebhold of Apple to chair a subcommittee to oversee the interoperability parameters of any proposed standard. This should ensure that testing of progressive scan material is given equal status to the up to now only interleaved material used in the tests.

The subcommittee will be obtaining the non-interleaved, progressive scan material from two new machines: one developed at the cost of multiple millions of dollars for intelligence community use, and the other a prototype system being developed with DARPA funds at a start-up in San Diego.

Even if the material is not used by the committee testing for the broadcast standard, it will be used by the computer industry, which is developing its own digital standard. It is expected that the computer industry standard will be ready before testing is done on any broadcast standard.

Tom Hargadon