•This was presented at TAB 2019...Why ATSC 3.0? •ATSC 1.0 has been around for a long time now, well over 20 years. •ATSC 3.0 is a completely new standard that capitalizes on

©2016 Harmonic Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

The transition to ATSC 3.0

Michael GuthrieTechnology Specialist

August 2019

• This was presented at TAB 2019

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• For the consumer:

– Better Picture and sound: UHD, HDR, Progressive HD, Immersive audio….

– Mobile/Portable/Indoor

– OTT as well as OTA

– DVR/Trick play…..Start over, Pause Live, Rewind…

• For the broadcaster:

– Targeted Advertising

– Mobile/Portable demographics

– New Relevance

– Protect and grow future revenue (or fundraising / mission)

Why ATSC 3.0?

• ATSC 1.0 has been around for a long time now, well over 20 years.

• ATSC 3.0 is a completely new standard that capitalizes on many modern technologies, DASH, HEVC, Internet Streaming, advanced modulation etc.

• If broadcast is to remain relevant, or become relevant to the younger generation it needs to be reinvented.

• For the customer it offers new features and an improved experience.

• For broadcasters it offers the possibility of new business models and a path to growing revenue

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• The FCC requires stations to simulcast their primary channel on ATSC 1.0

• The simulcast must be at the same time, and in the same DMA with loss of no more than 5% of the population, but not necessarily the same format i.e. HD/SD

• Most stations will share 2 channels: ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0

• The encoder and transmission chain are similar to ATSC 1.0, but with very different functionality

• Implementing a chain is becoming more routine

What will be needed?

Multicast

Unicast

HEVC/AC4ENCODER ROUTE SERVER STL

SIG NRT

PACKAGER

ESG

A/V Segments

MPD

SLS

GTW A3P TXMulticast Streams

Encoder

TransmitterStation

• The initial deployment of ATSC 3.0 is inevitably going to require extensive channel sharing.

• The FCC requirements will force all broadcasters who don’t own two licenses in the market to share with other broadcasters.

• The actual implementation is on the surface not greatly different than ATSC 1.0, although the functionality of the individual pieces is very different internally

• The encoder and packager may be one physical box, or two, or in some cases virtual machines. The primary output from the encoder/packager is a sequence of files, segments of audio and video, each a few seconds. The receiver plays these files in a sequence that is transmitted in the form of a Media Presentation Description (MPD) which points to the files and the order in which they must be played

• Following the encoder is the Route server and Gateway/Scheduler. Harmonic supplies encoding, packaging and cloud services for OTT. Triveni, Enensys, Gates Air, Comark, Rhode & Schwarz and others supply the downstream chain components.

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Hybrid Broadcast / Broadband


SIG NRTESG

A/V Segments

MPD


PACKAGER

CDN

OTT

OTA

INTERNET / CLOUD

BROADCAST

CLIENT

• A single Media Presentation Description is used to signal A/V on broadcast and broadband

• The receiver can seamlessly switch between OTA and OTT

• OTT reception is only possible if OTA is present

• Examples of hybrid delivery of A/V streams:– Same service over broadcast and broadband but with different qualities (HD OTA, UHD OTT)

– Enhanced tuning time

– OTT error correction / recovery for OTA

– Main service over broadcast: DVR, Pause, Start Over, Rewind OTT

Cloud Processing

Encoder Uplink

• ATSC 3.0 TV’s receive signaling from the over the air signal, but can receive audio, video and other services either over the air or over the top (Internet).

• This capability is built into the receiver, broadcasters do not have to implement applications for the consumer devices to take advantage of these advanced features

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• There is no transport stream

• ATSC 3.0 delivers files, its like Netflix or other streaming services

• The TV doesn’t care if the files are OTA or OTT

• A TV can recover files over the internet that were corrupted over the air

• A TV can receive programming OTA that’s not OTT and vice versa


SIG NRTESG

A/V Segments

MPD


PACKAGER

CDN

OTT

OTA

INTERNET / CLOUD

BROADCAST

CLIENT

Cloud Processing

Encoder Uplink

• To sum up:

– There is no transport stream present in most of the system, its really just files

– It works much the same way as Netflix

– DASH players usually pull content from a server, they get a manifest file, in this case the MPD, which points to the URL’s containing the content segments.

– The play then pulls the segments and plays them sequentially.

– The OTT portion works this way, the MPD points to segments that are stored on the internet and the TV retrieves them as needed

– The OTA is similar, except that the segments are deposited locally in a proxy from which the player can retrieve them as needed

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SIG NRTESG

A/V Segments

MPD


PACKAGER

CDN

OTT

OTA

INTERNET / CLOUD

BROADCAST

CLIENT

Cloud Processing

Encoder Uplink

• Think of OTT as another transmitter

• You pay CDN charges for OTT

• Costs will be minimal for few viewers and scale upward for many

• Little or no CAPX is required

• Single frequency network, OTT, or both? Its demographics that determine the best solution….

• OTT eliminates some of the compromises needed for OTA when sharing…..

• Like other OTT services a Content Distribution Network is required to host the content segments

• CDN and cloud services will charge for egress (total bits delivered to consumers), storage and processing

• Much of the cost will scale by the number of viewers

• Other charges are fixed, related to the specifics of the processing, uplink and minimums

• Think of the OTT cost as being like another transmitter, all be it one which is less expensive when there are fewer viewers

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– Client Reference Model (CRM) in DASH-IF IOP for ATSC 3.0.

– The HTTP Proxy unifies the two sources for the DASH client.

– The HTTP Proxy also is the local HTTP server which feeds the A/V segments to the DASH client.

– A/V DASH segments can be • sent over the air (via ROUTE) • retrieved over the top (via HTTP), • or a combination of the two (hybrid services).

– Service signaling always starts on the broadcast channel

Receiver Operation for Hybrid OTA/OTT reception

OTT

OTA ROUTE Receiver

HTTP/TCP/IP Stack

DASH ClientHTTP Cache/Proxy

Broadcast

BroadbandCDNMPD

A/V Segments

& Advanced APIs

TV

• Within the TV, OTA is delivered to a proxy from which the client pulls segments

• OTT segments can be pulled from a URL on the internet

• The broadcaster does not have to create any sort of app for this, it’s built into the TV

• Other architectures are possible, but the end result the same.

• The switch between OTA and OTT will be largely transparent to the viewer

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HEVC/AC4ENCODER

ROUTE SERVER STL

SIG NRTESG

A/V Segments

MPD


PACKAGER

CDN

OTT

OTA

INTERNET / CLOUD

BROADCASTER

CLIENT

Automation Adapter

Uplink

DVR, Pause, Start Over

Multiscreen Delivery

Live to VOD/C3 Assets

Channel Variants

Channel Origination

Distribution to MVPDs and VSPs

Encoder

Cloud Processing

Targeted Ads and Programming

• The features and services that OTT can provide include STB type functionality such as Pause, Rewind, Start over, and on demand playback after the program airs

• The cloud service can provide direct feeds to MVPD’s over the internet

• OTT can duplicate OTA programs

– TV’s with marginal reception can correct OTA errors by using OTT segments

– TV’s outside the coverage area of the program PLP can receive programming OTT as long as the MPD is carried on a more robust PLP

– OTT segments can be used during tuning to reduce channel change time. Demonstrations show reductions from about 3 seconds to about 1 second

• OTT can provide channel variations

– Pay for no commercials, or donate to see alternatives to pledge breaks

– HD OTA with UHD OTT. This may be the only way to provide UHD during the lighthouse phase in some cases. I expect TV manufacturers to sponsor UHD programming to support

– SD or 720p OTA with RF designed for mobile/portable/indoor, HD or UHD OTT for fixed viewers

• OTT can transmit channels that are not carried OTA at all.

• OTT can deliver access to VOD or even a VOD catalog of programming

• OTT can deliver alternative ads for targeted advertising

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• Physical Layer Pipes– Use up to 4 PLP’s

– Each PLP can have different modulation and bandwidth

– The parameters for each PLP are chosen for specific services

– Indoor, mobile, portable services require robust modulation

– UHD or high channel count HD may require less robust modulation in order to carry enough bits

– Single Frequency Networks may support different choices than a single transmitter

– A robust PLP for service announcement can extend OTT availability

PLP’s

Replicate current coverage

• In ATSC 1.0 we don’t have any choices for the total transport rate, its always 19.392658 Mb/s

• ATSC 3.0 on the other hand has dozens of available combinations of modulation and forward error correction

• In the middle of the graph, you can see that A/53 (ATSC 1.0) requires about 15 dB SNR for reception

– ATSC 3.0 has many choices of modulation and FEC that are close to 15 dB SNR

– These will yield a total payload around 24 to 26 Mb/s

• Stations do not have to choose one modulation, in fact there are good reasons to run multiple Physical Layer Pipes, each with a different modulation/FEC combination

• At the lower left end of the range you get very few bits for the bandwidth you spend, but the signal is very robust

– This is a great place to use a small PLP to deliver the data necessary to tune the station as it will enable OTT even for sites that can’t receive audio and video. This will result in a larger coverage area

– A bit further up a PLP can be designed for deliver to mobile/portable/indoor devices. This will occupy a lot of bandwidth for a relatively small bitrate, so chances are you will use 720p, 540p or 480p for video.

– I especially like 720p if there is enough bandwidth since it is small enough for phones to decode, but enough resolution to look quite good on full size TV’s

• As you move to the right you can get much higher bitrates for the expended bandwidth. This can be suitable for UHD deliver to homes with an antenna

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• ATSC 3.0 will require extensive channel sharing

• Most stations will need at least two shares: ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0

• The interconnection between stations is often overlooked until its too late…..

• The interconnection often drives the final cost and the final Video Quality

• Reusing an ATSC 1.0 signal for ATSC 3.0 defeats the whole purpose of ATSC 3.0

• Bit rate agreements are difficult and often reflect a lack of knowledge of how statistical multiplexing works

• Fair agreements need to address time as well as rate

Channel Sharing

• The channel sharing that most stations need will likely be more complex than the ATSC 3.0 conversion its self

• Most stations will be both a guest and a host

• Don’t forget that a single station can have sub channels on multiple transmitters in both 1.0 and 3.0

• Channel sharing for ATSC 3.0 roll out offer some unique challenges

– One to one shares for ATSC 3.0 will likely not offer enough ATSC 1.0 while leaving the 3.0 transmitter possibly under utilized

– Channel sharing grows increasingly complex as the number of partners grows

– The best combination for ATSC 1.0 will be to combine the HD channels so that stations carrying sports, especially in 1080i are paired up with stations not carrying sports, 720p stations etc. Sub channels can be efficiently grouped to backfill the remaining bandwidth.

– The initial ATSC 3.0 lineup should probably focus on primary channels in HD

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Encoder (local host channels)

Master Station Encoding

ROUTE / MMT STLGTW A3P TX

HOST TV STATION

Packager

Management

Encoder Station B channels

Encoder Station C channels

Encoder Station A channels CBR

• The initial thinking for most people is to put an encoder at each station and a multiplexer or packager/route/gateway at the master. But this is limited to CBR which probably doesn’t offer enough encoding efficiency in most markets

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MultichannelStatmux Encoder

A, B, C


HOST TV STATION

Packager

Management


Encoder Station C channels

Encoder Station A channels

• Two encoders for every channel

• Every channel encoded twice

• Reduced Video Quality

• Double the cost

• Difficult to dynamically add channels

Master Station Encodingwith Statmux

Decoder

Decoder

Decoder

• So the most obvious solution is to re-encode at the master station using a Statmux capable encoder

• But this means that each station is paying to encode their channels twice

• And each channel has two passes of encoding which reduces quality

• Less obvious is what happens if there are to be dynamic changes

– Its difficult to coordinate all of the contribution encoding, especially to add UHD for special events

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Encoder (local host channels)

Wide Area Encoding ATSC 1.0 OR 3.0


HOST TV STATION

Packager

Management

Statmux control

Encoder Station A channels


Encoder Station C channels WAN

Encoder Station C From Hub

Unified control and automation

Each station can have control and monitoring

Sharing agreements can include configuration changes by day or day parts or program

• Technology has existed for a very long time (15 years or more) to statistically multiplex between encoders that are not co-located

• This involves interconnecting the guest stations to the host using IP

• The encoders are jointly controlled by a single system, probably located at the host. Each guest can have a remote connection to share control if desired

• The Statmux controller, multiplexer for ATSC 1.0 or packager for ATSC 3.0 can live at the host

• This is more complex than just Statmux control on Ethernet. To be efficient the system must measure and compensate for the delays between the host and the guest

• Stations located at a distant hub can work if the delay compensation has enough range to allow for the additional delay

• The result is a more efficient encode with higher video quality combined with reduced overall cost

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ATSC 1.0 Channel Sharing

• The ATSC conversion is driven by channel sharing

• During each phase ATSC 1.0 will usually be the limiting factor

• The FCC requires that ATSC 1.0 coverage must retain 95% of the audience – Applies to the primary channel– This may eliminate some hosts if their coverage is less

• Most stations want to retain all of their existing channels

• ATSC 3.0 can (usually) carry more channels than ATSC 1.0

• Spreading shared ATSC 1.0 channels across several stations can optimize VQ

• A market wide approach is best– station pairing offers too little ATSC 1.0 capacity

• The ATSC 1.0 Nightlight will evolve as the 3.0 audience grows

• I believe that that the ATSC 1.0 channel sharing needed for the ATSC 3.0 transition is likely more difficult than the ATSC 3.0 implementation its self.

• On average stations are now carrying more channels than in the past. The new “Diginets” are providing profitable secondary channels, and stations are benefiting. Most stations do not want to sacrifice this revenue.

• One to one sharing is not optimal. The ATSC 3.0 transmitter will usuallyhave much greater channel capacity than is possible on an ATSC 1.0 transmitter, so it is advantageous to share across several stations.

• When many stations cooperate it also provides the opportunity to design ATSC 1.0 transports with an optimal combination of programming in order to maximize the statistical multiplex gain.

• The ATSC 1.0 share will likely become more complex over time.

• As 3.0 grows it will be necessary to begin trimming back the number of 1.0 transmitters. As 3.0 revenue grows it may be possible to begin to trim secondary channels from 1.0 to open up bandwidth.

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MPEG 2 Efficiency Improvements

• MPEG codecs, MPEG2, AVC, HEVC all specify the decoder– An encoder that meets the spec is one that creates a stream for a standardized decoder– Encoders can be improved in many ways as long as they still encode a legal stream

• MPEG 2 encoders are still improving

• HD has improved more than SD – Within MPEG2– AVC and HEVC also favor higher resolutions

• MPEG 2 HD encoding efficiency is about double what it was in 1999

• Improvements generally fall into categories: – Codec, Statmux, Filtering

• Major leaps are rare, but there have been several:– Optimized Variable GOP (Codec) – Lookahead and multiple lookahead (Statmux & Filters)– MCTF (motion compensated temporal) (filter)– Single slice (codec)

• Improvements are usually small but cumulative: 1% or 2% at a time

• MPEG 2 is still improving, as are AVC and HEVC

• In general HD has improved more than SD. This is true when comparing AVC with MPEG2 and HEVC with AVC etc.

• It is also true that HD MPEG 2 has improved more than SD MPEG 2 over time.

• HD and UHD have many more pixels per frame, hence much more opportunity to find redundancies that can be exploited to improve efficiency.

• MPEG 2 HD is about twice as efficient now as it was when we introduced the MV400. The MV400 was the most efficient encoder of its time so the improvement relative to the general first generation encoders is even greater.

• Improvements fall into three general areas.

– Codec improvements involve the underlying codec implementation. These involve things like motion search and rate control.

– Statmux improvements include things like look ahead and quality estimates.

– Filtering is about removing noise, but also can include removing detail that isn’t visible. At low bitrates it may include selectively removing visible detail to preserve overall quality in the picture areas that are most noticeable

• Most of the gains in efficiency come in small increments, 1% or 2% at a time. But there have been several more significant improvements.

– Early encoders usually operated with fixed GOP. Optimizing the GOP is critical to efficiency. Selective I frame insertion on scene change, and later optimized placement of B and P frames for example.

– Early statistical multiplexing was not very good because it reacted after the fact. Lookahead, where the picture is evaluated ahead of the encode, and multiple look ahead where it is evaluated both before and after filtering improved the multi channel efficiency.

– One of the greatest jumps in efficiency occurred when we gained enough processing power to encode an entire frame rather than needing to divide it into panes or slices. Single slice allowed much improved motion search, and much better rate control between portions of the picture.

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CPU (Server based) Encoding

• Encoding Hardware

– Most early encoders were built upon ASIC and FPGA silicon• Many were “Software” based, but much of the processing power was hardwired• Many were codec specific (MPEG 2 only, or AVC only)

– Long improvement cycle• The Silicon cycle was several years • A new generation required rewriting of most of the embedded code• Software improvements were complex

• CPU encoding can utilize new algorithms anytime

– Short innovation cycle• Innovation is driven by using more CPU cycles to improve quality• Improvements in coding efficiency can free CPU cycles to be used elsewhere for greater quality

– The primary trade off is between complexity and density• Modern encoders can vary this trade off automatically• New CPU’s can use the same code but with improved density, quality or both

– A new codec doesn’t necessarily need new hardware

– R&D costs can be diverted from hardware to algorithm development

• More recently there has been a transition from dedicated silicon to CPU based encoders. Our early encoders were software driven in that the ASIC’s were programmable, and FPGA could be programmed on startup. But many functions like motion search were effectively hard wired either in the chip, or static once started.

• CPU encoding makes everything programmable. Until a few years agoCPU’s were not powerful enough to do high quality encoding. Current CPU’s are powerful enough to do high quality encoding with enough density to be cost effective.

• With CPU based encoding all parts of the process are under control ofthe designer, and can vary according to content.

• In addition the development cycle is dramatically shorter with CPUbased encoding. We are no longer tied to a silicon cycle, new CPU’s often increase processing power which can yield greater density, or the extra cycles can be used for more processing.

• With dedicated silicon we pretty much had to start over with each generation of ASIC’s. With CPU’s we mostly get more horsepower with each generation. We can then look for ways to use the horsepower to improve the result, or we can keep the same quality and increase the number of channels.

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Maximizing MPEG 2

• Bitrate is driven by:– Pixels per second (vertical x horizontal x frame rate)– Complexity (high motion, high detail, Noise

• Why has HD improved more than SD? – More pixels means more redundancy– TV’s “enhance” when upscaling and de-interlacing– Large screens magnify the SD block size, hence the artifacts– Sometimes a not so good HD looks better than a good SD at the same bitrate

• How to optimize encoding– Improve the source

• Previous encode cycles degrade later cycles even when you can’t see artifacts in the source• SD from an HD source is better• MPEG 2 from an AVC or HEVC source is better than MPEG 2 from an MPEG 2 source

– Let the encoder decide: • Instantaneous bitrate (low minimum, high maximum)• GOP (Variable, Open, Long)• Filters (adaptive)• Look ahead (Statmux, filter adaptation, buffer management) • Rate control (no more Nulls)

• To maximize the video quality at low bitrates we need to recognize some basics. The most fundamental driver is how many pixels per second we have to encode.

• Once the number of pixels is established, the bitrate is driven mostly by complexity, i.e. motion, detail and noise.

• To improve quality the most important single factor is the quality of the source. Concatenated encode passes is a major source of noise and degradation. HD sources are generally preferred for SD content. If you must encode multiple passes it is preferable to use AVC or HEVC ahead of the final MPEG 2 encode. Of course for a given bitrate these willhave fewer artifacts, but there is another advantage as well. MPEG 2 divides the picture into fixed blocks. Artifacts are block based so concatenating passes create artifacts on the same block structure. AVC and HEVC have variable block size so their artifacts don’t necessarily align with the MPEG 2 blocks. The resulting noise is less visible.

• With modern encoders the main thing to keep in mind is to let the encoder make as many decisions as possible. Encoders do this in realtime with efficiency. Give the statmux a wide bitrate range for each channel, keep the GOP long. Adaptive filters are preferred to fixed.

• I’ve also observed that many stations fail to tweak the video to occupy the whole channel. Its not uncommon to find 1 or 2 Mb/s of nulls. Technically very few null packets are required. There are encodingtechniques available to harvest the null packets, placing them back into the video. This improves overall quality.

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ATSC 1.0 Commonly used formats

Vertical Horizontal Aspect Frame Rate

1080 1920 16x9 (square)24, 30 Progressive

30 Interlaced

720 1280 16x9 (square) 24, 30, 60 Progressive

480 704 4x3, 16x924, 30, 60 Progressive

30 Interlaced

480 604 4x3 (square)24, 30, 60 Progressive

30 Interlaced

Note: Frame rates include both integral (shown) and NTSC derived (23.976, 29.97, 59.94)

Note that we really only use 3 or 4 formats

• Looking back at the original table of formats in A53 we find that only 3are often used today.

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Food for thought

• Re-examine other A53 formats (especially for sub channels)– 480p29.9: Less edge noise (de-interlace before encode)– 720p29.9: Lower bitrate

• A53 should have included more 1080i options: – 1080i x 1440 or 1280: Lower bitrate, legal, but not in the standard

• Consider AVC– Legal??– 80% of sets work fine– 90% or more new sets work fine– Nearly doubles channel capacity– May be workable for secondary channels

• Looking at the original table there are two formats that deserve more attention. All TV’s in production today are inherently progressively scanned. Interlaced transmissions are de-interlaced by the TV, then up converted to the LCD native resolution, usually either 1080p or 2160p.

• The up converters in TV’s often have processing which attempts to enhance detail during conversion. This is one reason why SD artifacts are more of a problem than an equivalent level of HD artifacts. Additionally SD blocks are much larger than HD blocks since the whole picture is expanded.

• The de-interlace and up conversion in TV’s, combined with relatively lower efficiency makes high quality SD difficult. In addition when artifacts are present in an interlaced picture the de-interlace interpolation can switch between field and frame. The result is the artifacts are more “ragged”, and more visible.

• 480p29.9 is worth a look as it allows de-interlace of the clean signal andall frame based encoding. My observation is that at the same bitrate the video has a better overall look with lower noise.

• 720p29.9 is also worth consideration. Basically it falls between the HD and SD formats in terms of pixels per second. 720p59.9 has 88% as many pixels as 1080i. The bitrate savings are a bit more because its progressive though. 720p29.9 has only 44% of the pixels of 1080i29.9, so right from the start it requires much lower bitrate, half or so.

• The trade off with 720p29.9 is increased judder. But we are all getting used to it because low frame rates are often used in OTT formats. I don’t like the look for sports, but for lower motion entertainment programming it seems to have a lot of promise.

• I think this is a great format for mid tier HD channels. Many markets have HD secondary channels which could be transmitted in a share in HD rather than SD using this format, opening up bits for other programming.

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ATSC 1.0 Format review, uncommon formats

Vertical Horizontal Aspect Frame Rate Interlace

1080 1920 16x9 (square)24, 30 Progressive

30 Interlaced

1080 1280, 1440 16x9 30 Interlaced

720 1280 16x9 (square) 24, 30, 60 Progressive

480 704 4x3, 16x924, 30, 60 Progressive

30 Interlaced

480 604 4x3 (square)24, 30, 60 Progressive

30 Interlaced

Note: Frame rates include both integral (shown) and

NTSC derived (23.976, 29.97, 59.94)

1080x1280/1440 are not in A53 but used by cable and satellite systems

• I’ve also experimented with reduced resolution 1080i. Specifically bothcable and satellite use 1280 x 1080, and or 1440 x 1080.

• These resolutions are not in the original A53 so not all old decoderswork well with them. But most TV’s will, especially those with QAM cable ready tuners. The legacy converter boxes seem to have the most issues. But both formats look better than cross converting to 720p59.9. They have the same or slightly more horizontal resolution, but with more vertical resolution. Most importantly there isn’t any temporal conversion. At usual viewing distance in fact you usually can’t see the difference between 1920 and either 1440 or 1280 horizontal.

• But you may have scattered viewer complaints, especially associated with old decoders or TV’s.

• There have also been speculation regarding the use of MPEG 4 AVC on ATSC 1.0. I’ve had some experience with this on ATSC based cable.Over the years I’ve worked on several in house cable systems in largebroadcast facilities and stadiums. They are efficient because no STB isrequired, just QAM capable TV’s. I’ve used AVC in several. If you purchase a smart TV today the chances are over 90% it will work just fine. Older smart TV’s it’s a bit lower. Overall I think that about 80% of TV’s in most markets would work.

• But I’m not an attorney, I don’t know how the FCC would feel. It would also be difficult if 20% of the viewers couldn't decode a channel…. On the other hand the time will come, probably in 7 or 8 years where we may need extreme density to keep any of the 1.0 TV’s working.

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Final Thoughts

• OTT streaming is reducing MVPD subscriptions

• OTA has a growing audience

• The number of OTA channels is growing

• Ultimately ATSC 3.0 has great potential

– More channels

– Unwired audience

– High quality

– A new avenue to monetize OTT

• 5G will challenge both MVPD’s and broadcast

• Much of the “cord cutting” is related to end user prices

• The transition will not be easy but it is necessary if TV broadcast is to remain relevant

• Thinking back through the last 20 years, I believe that broadcast has had an unhealthy reliance on Cable and Satellite. Too many viewers don’t even know that they can receive 30 or 60 channels with just an antenna. There was a time that cable systems didn’t have many more channels.

• The MVPD’s have their own issues, and are going through a transition. Fairly large numbers of viewers are cutting the cable, while there existsan entire generation of cable never’s. The cable companies are now making as much or more profit on data as on video, and I think the trend in the future will be that they embrace OTT as a way to sell more data.

• Meanwhile OTA viewing is growing. As a practical matter OTT subscriptions combined with OTA viewing is economical and offers sports and news in realtime.

• ATSC 3.0 is a true hybrid. Its up to us to make sure that audienceslearn about its potential. I also hope that its incorporated into non-TVreceive devices so tablets and computers at home can serve as ATSC 3.0 displays. Cord never’s still watch sports, in my experience a lot of their viewing is on devices other than TV’s.

• 5G, especially fixed 5G will be interesting. I’m wondering what the oddsare that it will or will not have data caps or volume based pricing? Howwill that play with OTT viewing?

• In the end I think that ATSC 3.0 is necessary, broadcast TV will slowly become irrelevant without change. There are a lot of challenges, but there is also a lot of momentum for change.

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Thank You

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ATSC Encoding 2019

Harmonic Product Lineup

• Here is a quick overview of the current Harmonic ATSC product offerings

• This portion was not presented at TAB

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• 4 and 5 Channel Bundles – 2HD + 2SD – 1HD + 5SD

• 6 Channel Bundle: – 3 HD + 3 SD

• All may be expanded to 8 channels– Up to 24 channels with expansion chassis

• Wide area networking is included

Electra X2S ATSC 1.0

• All bundles include: • HD/SD MPEG-2 PURE compression

• 2 audio services per video (5.1 + 2.0 for HD, 2 x 2.0 for SD)

• 608 > 708 caption conversion

• DiviTrack Statistical Multiplexing– Priority control– Minimum/maximum bitrates– WAN capability is included

• HD to SD down conversion

• 8 SDI inputs

• 8 ASI outputs

• Timeline automation

• Multiple ASI and IP outputs

• The most popular ATSC 1.0 encoder is the Electra X2S

• It is available in specially priced bundles that meet the needs of most stations

• The X2S was designed for channel sharing. It has proven to be one of our most successful products. It is the go to solution for the spectrum auction channel sharing. Sales have continued, driven by the tremendous growth of secondary channels.

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– Package includes X2S licensing and Packager XOS

– Flexible License package for several possible channel combinations:

– 2 x 1080p60– 3 x 1080i30– 6 x 720p60– 1 x 1080p60 + 3 x 720p60

– HDR: pass-thru and up-conversion

– 608/708 to ATSC 3.0 captions (SMPTE-TT “IMSC1” profile) conversion

– DASH output, plus any other OTT package for web services

– TS output in parallel (monitoring, cable feed, CDN feed)

– Retains full ATSC 1.0 capabilities, easily and quickly switch between standards

– Capable of simultaneous MPEG-2 and HEVC encoding to feed channel share

Electra X2S

PCK X

Packager XOS

Electra X2S ATSC 3.0

• The X2S can be upgraded to ATSC 3.0

• There are two packages

– The encode bundle upgrades the encoding to HEVC with Dolby AC4 for 6 channels. • Each of the 6 channels can be configured as HD or SD, but the maximum

number of high quality HD channels is CPU limited• For the best quality the X2S should be limited to 2 x 1080p59.9• It will support up to 6 or 7 720p59.9 channels• 480p is relatively efficient, additional channels can be added if the CPU isn’t

otherwise occupied with HD

– The second bundle is for a packager. • It is a separate appliance to make the package more flexible• This reserves as much CPU capacity in the encoder as possible• The packager may not be needed in all installations since the host station in a

channel share will likely provide packaging• The bundle is licensed for 6 channels but may be expanded to very large

numbers• The packager can also be utilized for traditional internet formats, HLS etc.

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UHD + HD+ Electra XOS ATSC 3.0

– 1 UHD + 1 HD+ (1080p59.9) • 1 UHD with HEVC encoding + AC4 pass-thru or AC-4 encoding• 1 HD+ with HEVC encoding + AC4 pass-thru or AC-4 encoding

– HDR: pass-thru and up-conversion– SDI + TS/IP (up to 35Mbps) – 608/708 to ATSC 3.0 captions (SMPTE-TT “IMSC1” profile) conversion– DASH output– 1 UHD with HEVC encoding + AC4 pass-thru or AC-4 encoding– Stand alone operation, or manage from X2S or NMX

• This is the go to for UHD

• The encoder is licensed for 1 UHD + 1 1080p

• This is the ideal combination for stations who want UHD for an OTT feed plus 1080p or other HD for OTA

• XOS is recommended for channel sharing to provide the encoding for either a host or guest

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Dual HD+ Electra XOS ATSC 3.0

– 2 HD+ (1080p59.9) • 2 HD+ with HEVC encoding + AC4 pass-thru or AC-4 encoding

– HDR: pass-thru and up-conversion– SDI + TS/IP (up to 35Mbps) – 608/708 to ATSC 3.0 captions (SMPTE-TT “IMSC1” profile) conversion– DASH output– 1 UHD with HEVC encoding + AC4 pass-thru or AC-4 encoding– Stand alone operation, or manage from X2S or NMX

• This is the go to for 2 x 1080p

• This is the ideal combination for stations who want 1080p for an OTT feed plus another 1080p or other HD for either OTA or OTT

• XOS is recommended for channel sharing to provide the encoding for either a host or guest

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• No contribution encoders/decoders are required!

• Encode once, no contantination• Lower cost • Central Management by Host Station

• Seamlessly add services without adding new communications paths

• DiviTrack WAN compensates for network delay

• Available for ATSC 1.0 and 3.0• Supports multiple PLP’s• FEC on WAN assures QOS• Automated configuration changes

across group

ATSC 3.0 Lighthouse

Station 1

Station 2

Station 3

Station N…

Wide Area (or local) Network

Packager XOS

ATSC 3.0

Host Station

Guest Stations

• Automation triggers from any station• Nearly unlimited channel capacity• Bundles for Host and Guest stations

• The Harmonic lighthouse solution consists of a packager, ProStream X as a stamux controller, and NMX control system.

• These elements are the shared essentials, usually located in the host station.

• Each station, including the host, then can purchase their own encoding.

• The Electra XOS bundles are especially suited in this application. Network stations who anticipate UHD programming can purchase theUHD bundle which includes an HD 1080p as well. The 1080p then serves as the OTA channel, while the other channel can provide encoding for either HD or UHD OTT services.

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• Host station core:– ProStream X

– Packager X

– NMX

• Host encoding: Use a bundle• Guest encoding: Use a bundle

• Preferred encoding bundles are XOS

• If X2S is popular we need to do some DiviTrack work

ATSC 3.0 Lighthouse

Station 1

Station 2

Station 3

Station N…

Wide Area (or local) Network

Packager XOS

ATSC 3.0

Host Station

Guest Stations

Station 0

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• Harmonic can provide full cloud services for ATSC 3.0

• We have all of the capabilities working now and can sell it now

• We haven’t productized it specifically for ATSC 3.0 yet but will

• Bring us the opportunity if it presents its self!

Cloud Services

HEVC/AC4ENCODER

ROUTESERVER STL

SIG NRTESG

A/V Segment

s

MPD GTW A3P TX

Multicast Streams

DASHPACKAGER

CDN

OTT

OTA

INTERNET / CLOUD

BROADCAST

CLIENT

Cloud Processing

Encoder

Uplink

• Harmonic can provide a full set of OTT services for broadcasters

• The Harmonic VOS 360 cloud has a full set of features to complement the onsite hardware with cloud based services and CDN

• All of the services discussed in the presentation are currently available

• The VOS 360 cloud service is used by programmers world wide for OTT Streaming, Content networks, stamux in the cloud, Channel playout and creation, Disaster recovery and many other applications

• VOS 360 is a world class service with over 3000 channels currently deployed.

• VOS 360 offers the scale for any size deployment with SLA guaranteed reliability

• Your Harmonic representative can create a plan for your needs

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Thank you again!

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Documents

•This was presented at TAB 2019...Why ATSC 3.0? •ATSC 1.0 has been around for a long time now, well over 20 years. •ATSC 3.0 is a completely new standard that capitalizes on