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Tune in to Digital C

onvergence

Edi t ion No.12 December 2004

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DVB - S

CENE

The Standard for the Digital World

This issue’s highlights

> DVB 3.0

> H.264/AVC

> DVB-S2 at IBC

> Audio for HDTV

> Update: DTT in Europe

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Digitenne BVElectronic Frontier FoundationNeotionSanio Mobile Silicon Ltd.Zoran Corp

Year’s End

Welcome to this final issue of DVB-SCENE for 2004 - the end of the yearsees the DVB General Assembly andthe Project planning its forthcomingyear, putting its finishing touches onthe next phase of the Project - DVB3.0. As always, DVB needs to ensurethat it retains its relevance in theworld of digital television – thisbecomes more and more challengingas the body of DVB standards andtheir users increases.

We have also seen significantfeedback from the DVBdemonstrations at IBC ’04. These sawthe first live transmissions of DVB-S2,the first live decoding of H.264 at720P50, the first live decoding ofSMPTE VC-1 coming from an MPEGtransport stream and finally, the firstdemonstrations of technologies likelyto be included in the HDTV launchesplanned for 2006 in Europe. Since IBC,we have heard reports of the firstH.264 chips starting to becomeavailable. Naturally, an essentialelement of HDTV launches will be the

Season’s Greetingsfrom the Project Office.

Wishing you the verybest for 2005.

timely availability of affordable set-topboxes incorporating both DVB-S2 andH.264. With this in mind, the DVBProject has just finalised its latestedition of the MPEG implementationguidelines incorporating H.264 andHigh Efficiency AAC.

2004 will be seen as the year of theItalian DTT launch and the significantdeployment of MHP set-top boxesthere. Seen as an improbable recipefor success at the outset, the firstyear has seen quite a successfulmarket - and one in which there willbe a limited legacy of non-interactiveset-top boxes unlike, say, Germany.Time will tell how the specifics of theItalian model could be appliedelsewhere. France is finalising itslaunch and we could see movement inSpain shortly, too.

Finally, it remains for me to wish allDVB participants and DVB-SCENEreaders the compliments of theseason and good luck for 2005 fromall of us on the DVB-SCENE editorialteam.

Published by the DVB Project Office,c/o European Broadcasting Union,17a Ancienne Route,CH-1218 Grand Saconnex, Switzerland.www.dvb.org & www.mhp.org

Editors: William Daly, Harold BerginEditorial and Advertising enquiries to: WHD PREmail: news@whdpr.comTelephone: +44 (0)20 7799 3100

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may bereproduced without prior consent of the publisher. Allcontent correct at time of printing. © DVB-SCENE2004. DVB an MHP are registered trademarks of theDVB Project. Certain other product names, brandnames and company names may be trademarks ordesignations of their respective owners.

Printed by Lithmark Limited.Design by GyroGroup.

Eoghan O’Sullivan, Désirée Noetzli, Santa Claus, Eva Melamed, Peter MacAvock

The views expressed in this newsletterare those of the individual DVB membersor guests and are not necessarily theviews of the DVB Project Office orSteering Board.

NEWMEMBERS

Peter MacAvock, Executive Director

A word from the DVB Project Office

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It is now eleven years since DVBwas founded and its impact on theworld of broadcasting and relatedmarkets and technologies hasprobably met or exceeded theexpectations of its early members.Earlier this year DVB’s Chairman,Theo Peek, asked whether DVB hadreached and end of its life as aspecifications setting body orwhether there was a new phase ofwork that needed to be done andwould be supported by its members.

On 28th October the GeneralAssembly decided more needed to bedone and unanimously approved astrategy for a new phase of work forDVB to be delivered over the next two

or three years. We have decided tobuild on the strengths and pastsuccess of DVB to deliver a furtherset of market led specifications andguidelines to support the newopportunities and requirements thatare now emerging in the early part ofthe 21st century.

The world around us is becoming a‘connected planet’. Networking andaccess to content are becomingubiquitous. In most developed nations,the impact of the Internet, mobilecommunications and digitalbroadcasting are having a powerfuland direct impact on our lives – bothat work and at home. Some of thethinking that will underpin our futurework includes: current ways ofbinding content rights to devices(smart cards, storage devices) willneed to be replaced by mechanismsthat bind those rights to the individual,regardless of which device they want

to use; peer to peer technology willenable personal content to be createdand distributed in new ways that mayneed to use DVB technology; formedia content storage, contentmanagement tools and techniques willbe needed that label items as westore them and help us search formultimedia data; and portable videoplayers are now emerging wherecontent is delivered or updated viafixed or mobile IP networks. More andmore examples will emerge of thesekinds of requirements

The vision for DVB, over the next phaseof its development, is to be an enablingforum for pre-competitive standardssetting in the ‘connected world’ of

networked digital media and applications.

The new phase of work, known asDVB 3.0, will incorporate the followingwork items:1. Convergence of broadcast andmobile services (including systemslike WiFi, WiMax, 2G, 3G).2. Convergence of broadcast andfixed IP network services (includingtopics like DSL, QoS management,local storage).3. Solutions to support serviceinteroperability across multiplenetworks and platforms (includingwork on content coding, middleware,portable content format, in-homedistribution).4. Completeness study on HDTV andpossible amendments to our HDTVtoolbox.5. Continuation of existing importantwork items:a. Broadcast technologyb. Content Protection and Copy

Graham Mills is a senior manager inBT Retail. He and his team have ledthe development and launch of anumber of new products, services,acquisitions and joint ventures. Chairman of the DVB CommercialModule, he has made a substantialcontribution to the DVB industry groupsince its formation in 1993, setting theinternational specifications for digitalTV and interactive services.

Graham graduated from King’s CollegeCambridge with an honours degree inengineering. He holds an MBA fromCranfield School of Management.

Management, including complianceissuesc. Audio-visual coding guidelinesd. MHP support and possibleextensions of GEM into newbusinessese. IPR issuesf. Security.6. IP for contribution of DVB services.This is a challenging and exciting newremit for DVB and we look forward tocontinuing the DVB traditions, winningbroad industry support for innovativenew specifications that meet aspecific market need.

DVB 3.0Graham Mills, Chairman,DVB Commercial Module

The Next Phase

“...the impact of the Internet, mobile communications and digitalbroadcasting are having a powerful and direct impact on our lives...”

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One of the earliest DVB specifications,the Implementation Guidelines for Videoand Audio Coding in BroadcastingApplications based on the MPEG-2Transport Stream, has recently beenrevised to add new options. Originallypublished in 1995 as DVB Blue Book001, the latest revision of TS 101 154adds the option of H.264/AVC video asan alternative to the original MPEG-2video. The range of codecs for audiohas also been extended to give a totalof four options: MPEG-1 Layer II, AC-3,DTS and HE AAC.

This revision marks a move towards a‘toolbox’ approach to audio and videocoding. It recognises that we are nowin a multi-codec world and that DVBapplications require the flexibility tochoose the most appropriate tool forthe job. The disadvantage of thistoolbox approach is thatinteroperability becomes a morecomplex issue. If IPR costs could beignored then there would be anargument for requiring all decoders tosupport the original MPEG-2 video andMPEG-1 Layer II audio as aguaranteed baseline interoperabilitypoint. However, the commercial realityis that the cumulative cost of all of thelicence fees (e.g. $2.50 for the MPEG-2 video decoder) would not beeconomically viable.

To prevent the DVB toolbox frombecoming too cluttered, any newaudio or video codec must offer somecommercial or technical benefit. Fourcriteria have been adopted thatcodecs must meet before they areconsidered: Significant marketdemand attested by at least five DVBmembers from at least twoconstituencies; Technicalperformance verified by independenttesting; Documented in the publicdomain by a recognised standardsbody; and IPR available on fair,reasonable and non-discriminatoryterms.

The new H.264/AVC video codingalgorithm offers comparable quality ataround half the bit-rate needed forMPEG-2 video. This improved codingefficiency is particularly importantwhen considering bit-rate hungry

NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW TTTTTOOLBOOOLBOOOLBOOOLBOOOLBOXXXXXKen McCann, ZetaCastChairman of TM AHG on Audio Visual Content (TM-AVC)

applications such as HDTV. Thespecification was published in May2003 by ITU-T as RecommendationH.264 and by ISO/IEC as 14496-10.Three Profiles define subsets of thesyntax and semantics: Baseline Profile,Extended Profile and Main Profile.

The Fidelity Range ExtensionsAmendment of H.264/AVC, agreed inJuly 2004, added some additional toolsand defined four new Profiles (ofwhich only the first is relevant forbroadcasting applications): HighProfile, High 10 Profile, High 4:2:2Profile and High 4:4:4 Profile.

The relationship between High Profileand the original three Profiles, in termsof the major tools from the toolbox thatmay be used, is illustrated by Figure 1.

For SDTV and HDTV, the mostrelevant profiles are Main Profile andHigh Profile. Both of these allow theuse of the most powerful variablelength coding scheme: ContextAdaptive Binary Arithmetic Coding(CABAC). It has been estimated thatthis gives about 10 to 15 percentsaving in bit-rate compared to thesimpler alternative of Context AdaptiveVariable Length Coding (CAVLC). Inaddition, the High Profile allows the useof an 8x8 transform and encoder-specified quantisation weightingmatrices. It has been estimated thatthis gives about 10 percentimprovement in coding efficiencycompared to Main Profile when usingprogressive HDTV source material.

As a result of these considerations,TS 101 154 requires High Profile

support for HDTV decoders whichimplement H.264/AVC. Only Main Profilesupport is required for H.264/AVCSDTV decoders, although High Profilecan be used as an option.

So have we now finished withrevising the Implementation Guidelines?Far from it! It is a living document thatwill continue to evolve as the needsof DVB members develop. A furtherrevision with improved PVR supportis in the pipeline and two additionalcodecs have already been identifiedas having significant market demand:Enhanced AC-3 audio and VC-1 video.

Ken McCann is a director & co-founderof ZetaCast, an independenttechnology consultancy companyspecialising in digital TV. Prior tofounding ZetaCast, Ken worked forNTL, Symbionics and Philips.

Figure 1

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LANDMARKLANDMARKLANDMARKLANDMARKLANDMARKEVENTEVENTEVENTEVENTEVENT Simon Gauntlett, BBC R & D Engineer

In a demonstration at IBC forAdvanced Video Coding, LG.Philipsshowed how it is keeping up withthe demands of HDTV with its 55inch LCD display. The picture qualityis enabled by Super In-PlaneSwitching (IPS) technology that,among others, enables uniformcontrast and minimum colour shiftat the widest viewing angle.

KEEPING UPKEEPING UPKEEPING UPKEEPING UPKEEPING UP WITH HD DEMANDS

Over the past year or so, there has beenincreased interest within Europe in thepossibility of broadcasting High DefinitionTelevision (HDTV) programmes. Duringthis period, the DVB project hasdeveloped two major specificationswhich will make such a transitiontowards HDTV more achievable - theDVB-S2 satellite transport specificationand the latest draft of the MPEGimplementation guidelines.

A landmark demonstration was givenof the performance available fromthese two specifications on the DVBstand at IBC in September. Two HDTVprogramme channels, one provided bythe EBU and the other by BSkyB,were multiplexed into a single MPEG

content with VC-1 (Windows Media 9Advanced Profile). The programmecontent for the EBU part of thedemonstration was produced incollaboration between BBC R&D, SVTand NDS, and BBC R&D also encodedthe material, and provided the meansfor decoding and displaying it.

transport stream, using the advancedcoding options available in the latestdraft of the MPEG guidelinesdocument. Both channels used ascanning format of 1280x720 pixels,progressively scanned, with theBSkyB content being encoded usingthe H.264/AVC system and the EBU

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The Conexant CX24116 DVB-S2 demodulator was a critical component in demodulating the live over-the-satellite DVB-S2signal in the DVB stand at IBC. The CX24116 is fully compliant to the DVB-S2 broadcast specification and supportsbackwards compatibility to the DSS and DVB-S modes. It has a highly efficient and robust automatic acquisition algorithmthat searches and acquires the carrier within ±10MHz range during initial acquisition and performs a smart search toreacquire during fade conditions. CX24116 has an on-chip micro-controller for fast signal acquisition, Es/No estimation andsystem monitoring. Furthermore, the on-chip micro-controller saves software integration time by minimising the externaldriver code.

The CX24116 DVB-S2 demodulator IC used in conjunction with Conexant’s CX24118 RF Tuner IC provides a completesatellite front-end system solution that enables satellite STB providers to deliver cost effective, digital STBs that support arange of consumer video services, such as transmitting HDTV channels.

The key benefit of CX24116 is that it is based on an open DVB-S2 standard and offers an alternate path for serviceproviders to use advanced modulation (8PSK) with BCH/LDPC FEC to realise a 35 percent increase in satellite throughput.

In the absence of any real-timehardware encoders, non-real-timesoftware encoding was used, basedon software tools from Moonlight(H.264/AVC) and Microsoft (VC-1).Each channel was encoded ataround 8Mb/s, stored on a server andplayed out in real-time into the satellitemodulators. The DVB-S2 modulationwas carried out by RadyneComStream, and the bitstreamuplinked to a 54Mb/s transpondermade available by SES Astra at 19.2degrees East. Real-time demodulationwas carried out using equipment byConexant. Decoding of the videobitstreams was carried out insoftware running on two 3.2 GHzPentium 4 PCs running Directshowfilters. An additional Linux PC wasused to distribute the transportstream from the satellite demodulatorto the two decoding PCs.

The timescale for integrating anddebugging the demonstration wasextremely ambitious, and it was notuntil the day before the exhibitionopened that successful decoding ofboth channels was achieved. Someoptimisation of the software waseven being carried out during the firstday of the exhibition itself! However,the outcome was an extremely

Simon Gauntlett holds a Mastersdegree in Electronic Engineering fromExeter University. He joined BBCResearch and Developmentdepartment at Kingswood Warren in1999. Recently, working on thedelivery of High Definition television,he demonstrated delivery of MPEG-2HD over DVB-T at Mediacast 2004before turning attention to advancedvideo codecs.

successful and populardemonstration, which provokedsignificant interest in the corridors ofIBC and which, once completed, rannon-stop for the final two days of theexhibition without any operatorintervention. It was the world’s firstlive demonstration of a high definitionbroadcast using the latest generationof advanced video codecs anddelivered via DVB-S2.

REAL-TIMEDEMODULATION FOR S2

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Harald Popp joined the FraunhoferInstitute for Integrated Circuits (IIS) in1984. He developed the DSPhardware for various audio codecs(e.g. ASPEC, MP3). Since 1993, Haraldplayed a major role in the developmentof Fraunhofer’s licensing business,first for MP3 and later for AAC andother technologies in the field of audioand multimedia. Today, Harald is headof the IIS department for MultimediaRealtime Systems, focussing onefficient implementations of audiovisual coding formats and relatedtechnologies.

The introduction of new HDTVservices called for a video format thatis more efficient than MPEG-2 Video.The new ITU/ISO standard H.264/AVCallows a decrease in bitrate demandby a factor of 2 to 3.

As the new video format is notbackwards compatible, newreceivers are required (e.g. for MPEG-2 Transport Stream based DVBservices) which allow the introductionof new audio formats at the sametime. Of course, a reduction of 64kbps per audio channel (comparingMPEG AAC with MPEG-1 Layer II) isequivalent to only a few percent ofthe total bit budget within an HDTVservice. For SDTV services, thesaving of audio data becomes alreadymore significant – even more so, ifmultilingual programmes come intoconsideration. Finally, in the case ofnetworks with limited transport

capacity (e.g. IP-based DSL-TV, orwithin DVB-H applications), it is ofvital importance to give the videosignal as much of the available dataas possible to achieve a reasonableimage quality.

Today’s most efficient audio formatwas standardised in 2003 as HighEfficiency AAC Profile (HE AAC)within the MPEG-4 Audio Standard.HE AAC is a combination of theperceptual audio codec AAC LC(Advanced Audio Coding LowComplexity) and the bandwidthexpansion tool SBR (Spectral BandReplication). AAC LC itself achieves‘perceptually transparent’ soundquality at 64 kbps per channel; usingthe SBR tool, a pretty good soundquality can be maintained for bitratesas low as 32 kbps mono or 48 kbpsstereo or 128 kbps 5.1 surround.

Harald Popp, Head of IIS Department for Multimedia Realtime Systems, Fraunhofer IIS Erlangen

The development of AAC began in1994 by AT&T, Dolby, Fraunhofer andSony and by 1997 the new formathad entered the MPEG standard asMPEG-2 AAC. Later on with thedevelopment of the MPEG-4 Audiostandard, AAC was further enhancedand amended, e.g. for delay-critical

applications or for scalable use ofmultimedia content.

Due to this time line, and due to itsoutstanding performance, the AACformat is already in use in numerousimportant applications. In digitalbroadcasting, all of Japan’s ISDBservices are based on AAC as theonly sound format; the US based XMsatellite radio service is usingHE AAC, as well as the internationalstandard for terrestrial long/medium/shortwave radio, Digital RadioMondiale. HE AAC has become themandatory format for the 2nd SessionDVD-Audio and is part of the DVD-AR(Recordable DVD-Audio)specification. AAC is the soundformat for Apple’s most successfulmusic download service iTunes andis supported by all iPODs. NumerousMP3 players also playback AAC files,

and an increasing number of softwarevendors (like Real or Nero) aresupporting HE AAC; HE AAC is alsopart of the ISMA (Internet StreamingMedia Alliance) specification.Furthermore, HE AAC (amended by afurther ‘parametric stereo’ tool) hasbecome one of two recommendedaudio formats for music delivery toand between mobile devices (3GPPrel. 6.x), and first services (e.g. byO2) based on HE AAC have alreadystarted in 2004.

There is more to come. Time for DVBto catch up!

MPEG’S ADVANCEDAUDIO CODING (AAC)FOR HDTV AND OTHER TV SERVICES

“... achieves ‘perceptually transparent’ sound quality ...”

If HDTV is to fully realise itscommercial potential for broadcastersto provide additional and improvedrevenue streams from premium andspecialist programming, then it mustsurely meet the expectations of thewide and disparate range of theEuropean viewing public for improvedsound quality. HDTV, a standarddesigned to see us well into thefuture, should cater for the completespectrum of consumer preferences.

The advent of HDTV broadcasting willengender heightened expectations onthe part of consumers – and,importantly, paying consumers –concerning quality and the viewingexperience. Expectations will bedriven by all of the above and by theforces of marketing ranged by the CEmanufacturers, broadcasters andprogramme makers selling content.The arrival of modern multichannelcinema sound and its subsequentmigration into the consumerelectronics markets was the result ofyears of development to matchwidescreen pictures with realisticsound presentation. In both cases,development has reached to achievebest possible quality parameters. Inthe case of DVD, the success ofoptional high bit-rate audio withconsumers has been a majorbusiness driver for DTS. Theimportance of high quality audio forvideo content is recognised by themandated inclusion of DTS in bothhigh definition optical diskformats, HD-DVD and Blu-ray.

With HDTV, digital broadcasters havethe opportunity to compete indelivering premium sound and picturequality across a diversity of content.The ability to specify highest qualitytransmission standards for premiumquality programming becomes all themore critical when success is nolonger measured in mass marketviewing figures but in incrementalprogramming revenue streams.

Early adopters of HDTV will almostcertainly be those who plug their set-top boxes into home theatre systems.These are precisely the people whoexert the greatest demand for quality.They are also the audience who willlook to HDTV for premium

programming – movies, concerts,opera, drama, premier sporting events– and be willing to pay for it. Thebenefits of especially bit-rate-efficientcodecs are apparent in reducing thedemands on bandwidth; DTS’scalable, single bit stream solutionallows for multichannel audio over arange of broadcast rates. However,one size does not fit all. Developmentsin low bit-rate coding effectivelyenable a host of mobile, handheld, IPand interactive audio applications and,in their more advanced variants, willprovide acceptable audio quality for a

good deal of content. They are notgoing to satisfy quality expectationsfor premium content, however. Forthat we must look to the higheststandards set by entertainmentsoftware and the commercial successof the content that embraces them.

Broadcast sound productionstandards are traditionally very highand on a par with the film and musicproduction industries. Witness theBBC production resources massed forthe annual Proms concerts, or themeticulous microphone engineeringand resultant sporting sound effectscourtesy of Athens OlympicBroadcasting’s production for theOlympic Games. These offer furtheropportunity to be exploited in providingpremium entertainment experiences.Will discerning viewers reallyappreciate an HDTV broadcast of theVienna Philharmonic New Year’sConcert at low audio bit-rates, whentheir expectations are informed byDTS 96/24 music video or Super AudioCD music releases?

In Issue 11 of DVB-SCENE, AdamWatson Brown, Head of Sector forMedia in the European Commission’sInformation Society department,describes HD as ‘the ultimate in videoand audio quality’. DTS has built its

consumer business by offering thepremium quality audio option for DVD-Video. Broadcasters now have thissame technology available to them toprovide something which canrealistically be described as ultimateaudio quality. Beyond which, as ascalable, single bit stream solution,already capable of losslesscompression, it also future proofssuch a claim.

“Mozart sounds good over thetelephone” is not a good enoughargument.

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MOZART OVER THE PHONE …Ted Laverty, Director Business Development, DTS Europe

Ted Laverty is Director of BusinessDevelopment, DTS Europe,responsible for Broadcast andInteractive Technologies. Based in thecompany’s Research & Developmentoffice, Northern Ireland, he joined DTSin August 2001. Ted has an extensivecareer history in the audio industryspanning over 15 years. Prior tojoining DTS he worked for high qualityaudio codec developer, AudioProcessing Technology Ltd, acting astheir LA based US General Manager.Ted is a Chartered Engineer andmember of the IEE and AES.

HDTV with high resolution images andsurround sound, already on air in theUS, Japan, and Australia, is beginningto make its mark in Europe. Europeanprogramme makers are already usingHD tools for production, with highprofile events such as the AthensOlympics plus numerous dramas,documentaries, and concerts beingproduced in HD. Until recently,however, European viewers had nomeans of enjoying this content inglorious HD in their own homes.

Things are now starting to change.Following on from the launch ofEurope’s first HD channel by Euro1080and the HD broadcast of theSuperbowl by Premiere earlier thisyear, German broadcaster, ProSieben,took another major step on 14 Octoberwith their transmission of Pride – TheLaw of the Savannah. This madeProSieben one of the first existingmajor European broadcasters to makea public HD broadcast and to simulcastfor both HD and SD viewers. Theprogramme, co-produced by the BBC,was delivered in Dolby Digital 5.1-channel surround sound, helpingtransport viewers into the stunning HDlandscapes of the savannah.

With prices of flat panel screensfalling, European consumers have theopportunity to take the step to HD farmore affordably than their earlyadopter counterparts in the US andAustralia did just a few years ago.The increasing availability andaffordability of these flat displaysmeans the European consumer isnow far more willing to have biggerscreens in his home. The widespreadadoption of DVD has set anexpectation for high quality,widescreen picture with excellentsurround sound audio – sobroadcasters now need to deliversomething extra to challenge DVD’ssupremacy.

HDTV HDTV HDTV HDTV HDTV – IS THE TIMERIGHT FOR EUROPE?Jason Power, Market Development Manager, Dolby Laboratories

In the US, the shift to HDTV introducedmany new benefits for home viewers,as analogue TV was just 4:3 and notwidescreen, and audio did not includeDolby Digital. In Europe, however, anumber of territories already havewidescreen, and some premiumchannels are already delivering DolbyDigital, meaning that consumers havebecome accustomed to theseelements, and that HD offers fewernew attractions. But with large screenavailability increasing, HDTV still has arole for those broadcasters who wantto capture the imagination of a highvalue market and to show technicalleadership. Forthcoming events likethe 2006 Football World Cup willprovide fantastic opportunities todemonstrate HD and to persuadeviewers to invest.

MPEG-2 is a technology which isunderstood and available for thosewho want to deliver HDTV now. Thiscodec is featured in all three HDTVbroadcast systems used worldwideand is already in use for Europe’s firstregular HDTV service, Euro 1080.

Looking forward, any next generationvideo codec will need codingefficiency, an open standard sourcecode, and backwards compatibility toallow for lower definition levels withexisting displays and home theatres.Establishing both the intellectualproperty situation and royalty situationsis also an important factor. Goodprogress is being made in all theseareas and codecs such as H.264/AVCwill make HDTV delivery even easier.

However, it is important thatbroadcasters remember that the HDTVexperience is not just about a highquality picture. Don’t forget the audio/sound is critical to the experience, aswithout surround sound audiencesfeel less immersed and involved in theprogramming and lose the cinematicfeel. The value of sound was

confirmed recently in a survey byGerman satellite channel, Premiere,which confirmed that Dolby Digitalsound and 16:9 pictures were the topreasons why subscribers boughtPay-Per-View content.

In terms of audio, Dolby Digital is theonly audio stream that broadcastersneed to transmit with an HD service,as ProSieben did in October. There isno need to simulcast stereo, as all HDset-top boxes have a Dolby Digitalstereo decoder, meaning theavailable bandwidth can be used to itsfull advantage to transmit the HDpicture. Full guidelines for the use ofDolby Digital audio, also known as AC-3, in a DVB compliant stream areincluded in the relevant DVBdocuments (see ETSI TR101154).Dolby Digital Plus, an enhancedversion of the technology forpartnering with next generation videocodecs, is currently being consideredfor future inclusion.

Broadcasters are often surprisedhow much HD content is alreadyavailable with 5.1 surroundsoundtracks. 5.1 sound isincreasingly created for Europeanprogramming, either for transmissionon digital SD services, for release onDVD, or for delivery to co-productionpartners in the US and elsewhere.Those importing HD programming fromthe US will find a wide choice ofcontent with full 5.1 sound, as morethan two dozen US channels aredelivering selected programming withDolby Digital sound – sports, awardceremonies, and various TV seriesare all available in HD.

For broadcasters looking to deliverthat something extra to retainaudience share, HD can deliver avisual feast, but to keep it competitivewith today’s DVD experience, 5.1surround sound audio must beprovided too.

Pride - The Law of the Savannah

Jason Power is MarketDevelopment Manager at DolbyLaboratories, and plays a key rolein marketing Dolby technologies forDigital Cinema and Digital TV. Inaddition to his work with cinemasand film studios, Jason worksclosely with broadcasters toencourage the use of high qualitysurround audio within the industry.

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In My Opinion - Alain Chaptal

Alain Chaptal holds an advanced degree in Telecommunications Engineeringfrom Telecom Paris and a Ph.D. in Information and Communication Sciencesfrom Université Paris X. He covers technology issues for Sonovision(www.sonovision.com), the leading French monthly magazine (circulation15,000) dedicated to providing French speaking professionals with the latestinformation on audio, video, TV, graphics and mutltimedia.

1Although the current quality of a number of LCD or plasma screens is subject to much discussion, cf. EBU Technical Review No. 298 April 2004.

The history of technical innovation intelevision broadcast is highlighted byonly a limited number of majorbreakthroughs. The lastest revolutiondates back to 1990 with the firstAmerican digital HDTV proposal, theDigicipher, which surprised Europe,then engaged in an overcautiousapproach, opting for a transitionalstandard, the D2 Mac and its HDversion.

However, Europe was able to reactquickly through the DVB by offeringan MPEG-2 –based satellite standardin 1994. More frequently however,significant technologicalreassessments allow us to reorientour perspective and provideourselves with a renewed dynamicthat can be the catalyst for majorevolutions. This is currently the casewith advanced video compressionsolutions and the prospects they offerfor broadcasting digital television onan extensive range of media.

There has been a recentconvergence between, on the onehand, consumers’ increasinginfatuation with widescreen in the16/91 format and the image quality

offered by DVD (pending its next HDversions) and, on the other hand,industrial product/system rangesoffering HD equipment enabling ahighly flexible migration at a costincreasingly on a level with SDproducts. The last IBC clearlyreflected the industry’s mobilisationwith announcements of HD Europeansatellite services (BskyB, Premiere,TPS STAR), the major presence ofH.264/AVC solutions and the interestin the ultimate satellite standard DVB-S2. There is certainly a feeling thatthe various players concerned are ontheir starting blocks, regardless ofthe fact that Europe is currentlysuffering from not having outlined thepath as clearly as the USA.

Strangely, as a result of thesetechnical reorientations, France hasfound itself in a unique position onthis world market, of which it couldtake advantage. With a late launch ofDTT, it is not encumbered by amountain of current MPEG-2 standard

decoders and is in a position to leap atechnological generation, entailing astrategic advantage clearly identifiedin the September 2004 report of theGeneral Information TechnologyCouncil submitted to the Minister ofState for Industry.

When the DTT launch schedule isconfirmed, the Government will then befaced with a strategic choice whichaffects the technological future of the

sector for the next ten years or so.Either it grabs this opportunity toenable the emergence of HD in DTTwith the aid of the H.264/AVC at therisk of slightly altering its launch date: achoice which comprises the risks oftechnological innovation but whichopens up promising prospects not onlyfor the technical operators and the restof industry, but also, first andforemost, for the content producersand thus the expression of Frenchspeaking culture. Or it consolidates theinitial project and the cautious recourseto the transitional standard which hasbecome an MPEG-2, of which thetechnological lifespan on a world scalewill then depend primarily on the baseinstalled, and as a result, place France,on a long-term basis, in atechnologically backward situationfrom which it will be difficult to escape.We already know the consequences,in terms of DTT, of such a head-in-the-sand policy towards this technologicalleap forward.

When these lines are drawn, thechoice will not be definitively made. Itappears quite recently that there wasa consensus around a qualifiedscenario in an official report (prudentand pragmatic) which, whilstobserving the initial schedule, wouldfavour the H.264/AVC, HDTV and, interms of the future, mobility. Clearlythe launch would take place in March2005, although it would be in two

phases: an initial pre-deploymentphase geared towards technicalconfirmation, followed in September2005 by the operational phase with‘multilingual’ decoders (MPEG-2 SD,H.264/AVC SD and HD). The channelsadopted would be free to choose theirencoding mode in the initial stage. Thisscenario would allow a gentletransition towards HDTV but would besignificantly decisive from theviewpoint of equality of access to itbecause, in France, approximatelythree quarters of television viewersreceive television solely via terrestrialbroadcasting.

Note: A late announcement on 8November by the Prime Minister didconfirm the launch in March of freeSD channels in MPEG-2 whilstannouncing the study of an HDintroduction strategy with a ‘final’decision before the end of the year.Does this leave the door open? Onlyfor pay TV channels? The futureremains uncertain.

ACHOICEOFFUTURES

“This scenario would allow a gentle transition towards HDTV...”

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vie, © Twentieth Century Fox

Two years ago all was doom andgloom about the prospects for DTT asthe pay platforms went belly up, buttoday DTT is the fastest growingdigital platform in Europe as salesboom in the UK and Italy and steadyprogress continues elsewhere.

Why the turnaround? Let’s look at thefacts first. Seven countries now havefully launched (see chart) DTTplatforms with widespread coverage,strong channel offers, andcompetitive set-topbox markets. Aboutfive and a half million TV householdshave DTT. Italy has come out of thestarting block this year with the bestperforming DTT launch in Europe todate. Good news continues to comeout of the UK with 3.9 million DTThousehold as of the second quarterof this year. In Germany, building onthe Berlin success, the regional rolloutcontinues in North Rhine Westphaliaand other Northern areas, adding200,000 households to the GermanDTT tally. Finland has made steadyprogress and now has the highestDTT penetration of TV households

DTT Is the fastest growing digital platform in Europe, but...

IS IT FAST ENOUGH?

Alexander S

hulzycki,Senior M

edia Analyst, EB

U

(about 17 percent). Spain is poised fortremendous growth next year asfrequencies are reallocated there.Also next year, perhaps in March,France will launch its platform andthus trigger an important milestone:the majority of Western European (EU-15) countries will have up and runningDTT platforms. Very few would havepredicted this two years ago.

There are three factors that havedriven this change of fortune. First, aclear and viable framework set up byregulators; second, a strong and wellfunded Public Service Broadcaster;and lastly a platform based on apredominantly free offer. The mostsuccessful DTT markets have beenthose which have put these elementsin place. This is a proven model and

consumers have responded.

The risk now is to become overlyoptimistic. There are many challengesahead, not least of which is to get allcountries fully launched. It is clearthat the market itself will notspontaneously create a DTT platformand move it steadily towardsanalogue shut off. Guidance,coordination and support isnecessary and governments acrossEurope have found ways to providethat support through indirect financialmechanisms without violating theprinciple of platform neutrality. Thereare complaints now before theEuropean Commission challengingsome of those supports and this could

dampen DTT progress.

There are specific challenges as wellfor Eastern European countries, smallcountries without a lot of indigenouschannels, heavily cabled markets, andgeographically challenged countries,where mountainous regions makeuniversal coverage financiallyprohibitive.

Meanwhile, analogue shut off is beingseriously discussed. Right now themore or less official analogue shut offdates range from 2006 to 2012 inWestern Europe, but few countriesare in a position to make realisticplanning. After all, if you haven’t evenlaunched, how can you reasonablyjudge the rate of penetration, itschange over time, and when it will getyou to 80 or 90 percent of TV

households? An overly aggressiveshut off date is dangerous for manyreasons. For those countries that aremost advanced in householdpenetration, planning is underway andit will be very illustrative to follow theirdevelopments.

In the end, the unique benefits of DTTfor policy makers, regulators,competition authorities are too strongto hold the technology back: efficientuse of spectrum and release ofanalogue frequencies; strongercompetition in the electroniccommunications; contribution toInformation Society objectives;diversity and digital access for awider range of the population, etc.These benefits translate directly intomore and better television forconsumers.

Alexander Shulzycki is a Senior MediaAnalyst at the European BroadcastingUnion specialising in the areas ofdigital and pay television, audienceresearch methods and analysis ofregulation impact on broadcasters.Prior to this he was at Canal+ wherehe worked on the launch andoperation of DTH platforms in Polandand other non French territories. Heholds a BA in History and Economicsfrom Cornell University and an MBAFinance from University of Wisconsin.

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“Guidance, coordination and support is necessary and governmentsacross Europe have found ways to provide that support ...”

The small island of Mauritius(population 1.2 m) is focusing ontechnology to help create anenvironment of excellence. The targetis to make ICT (Information &Communication Technology) the fifthpillar of the economy next to sugar,textiles, tourism and financialservices. The country has a strongtelecommunication infrastructure andhas created a ‘Cyber City’ that is astate-of-the-art facility providingcomputing on demand, an Internetdata centre to back up data andservers for web hosting, e-commerceand financial transactions. It will alsoprovide a world classtelecommunications network, throughboth satellite and the fibre optic cablethat links Portugal and Malaysia viaSouth Africa and Mauritius.

Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT),together with the MHP, has thepotential to provide interactive servicessuch as T-government, T-educationand T-commerce and digitalconvergence can go a long waytowards stimulating the nationaleconomy, informing and educatingwhile providing greater transparencyand civic participation.

Industry pundits have been predictingthe convergence of IT,telecommunications and broadcasttechnologies and this is becoming areality in Mauritius. The governmenthas adopted a rational and structuredapproach to implement digitalterrestrial television to provide multi-layer services that will help to createa wireless broadband society.

In 1998 a feasibility study andfrequency planning for two initialdigital multiplexes to cover the entireisland was carried out with theassistance of Télédiffusion de France(TDF). This led to the pilot testing of

Amoordalingum PatherCEO of Multi Carrier (Mauritius) Limited (MCML)

the DVB-T platform being carried outin 2001-02 and resulted in a report tothe National Digital BroadcastingCommittee (NDBC) in September 2002.The report recommended the adoptionof DVB for the Republic of Mauritiusand that the national broadcasttransmission company Multi Carrier(Mauritius) Limited (MCML) carry outthe installation of a permanent digitalhead-end and a DVB-T platform toprovide 70 percent coverage of the

However, there are still somestrategic issues that need to be dealtwith in order to guarantee asuccessful take off and continuationof DTT and to enable consumers tobenefit from the new technology at anaffordable price. Some of theseissues are: licences to prospectiveoperators by the IBA (IndependentBroadcasting Authority), operators toagree on a common CA; sharing offrequencies with a neighbouringisland; availability of a scalable STB ata reasonable price; sourcing/procurement of quality content; localcontent creation for multimediaservices; and design of specificwalled gardens to cater for theMauritian needs.

On 12 March 2003, MCML begantransmissions of five digital TVchannels, two CD quality radiochannels and a few services ondemand co-existing with the currentfive analogue TV channels. STBsfrom Europe, South Korea, India andChina were tested and evaluated.

The success of digital terrestrialtelevision demands commitment by allstakeholders concerned. Mauritius, acyber island to be, is prepared to takefull advantage of digitalisation. TheMCML DVB-T platform will reinforcethe role of television as an importanttool of interaction in the daily life ofthe people to bridge the digital divide.

Amoordalingum Pather is the CEO ofMulti Carrier (Mauritius) Limited (MCML)and a certified BBC Engineer. Anengineer graduate scholar of theConfederation of British Industries, heis a veteran in the field of broadcastingsince 1964 and holds an MBA from theUniversity of Surrey, UK.

DIGITALPARADISE

Inside Cyber City

islands with an analogue switch offdate tentatively scheduled for tenyears from the launch of DTT. A softlaunch of DTT with interactiveservices is scheduled before the endof 2004 and an extension of thecoverage to 90 percent is to follow.There are also plans for additionalmultiplexes (MFN / SFN) fordatacasting, Pay-TV, T-services,mobile reception, etc., underway.

Additional tests for Pay-TV and valueadded services are already plannedfor the months to come and are asfollows: CAS enabled STBs; MHP;DVB-RCT using either the 2.4 MHz orthe UHF TV broadcast frequencies fora wireless return path; an all-in-oneprototype STB with PVR to receivemultichannel TV, Internet and onlineservices using a wireless return path;display of electronic billboards, LCDsand plasmas with adverts and socialmessages and mobile reception, etc.

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In 2005, take the opportunity to exhibit in the DVB Pavilion at any or all threemajor trade shows to demonstrate DVB technologies and services. Joiningforces with DVB will significantly reduce the cost of participating in theseleading industry events whilst increasing exposure. In 2004 the DVB Pavilionswere visited by a constant stream of member and non-member trade showvisitors.Anyone interested in participating on the DVB Pavilion at IBC, NAB, and/orBroadcast Asia should contact Eoghan O’Sullivan in the DVB Project Office:osullivan@dvb.org.

A SMARTSHOSHOSHOSHOSHOW OFFERW OFFERW OFFERW OFFERW OFFER

DVB member ADB (Advanced DigitalBroadcast), a leading supplier ofdigital set-top boxes and softwaresolutions for interactive television,has introduced the i-CAN170T, its firstIntegrated TV (IDTV) with MHP.Production of the i-CAN 170T startedin October this year and is now onsale in Italy. It is set to becomeavailable in other European countriesthat have adopted MHP.

With the growing trend for flat panelscreens and sole devices providingmultiple services, ADB has respondedby designing an LCD TV integratedwith all the capabilities of a completedigital terrestrial MHP receiver, andwhich can be connected to a PC todisplay images in a 1280 X 1024resolution through one of its digitalvideo inputs. TV and PC signals can bedisplayed simultaneously in onscreenwindows through its advanced PIP(picture in picture) feature.

Multifunctional with minimal spacerequirement, the i-CAN 170T isequipped with built in loudspeakersand a complete range of interfaces,including outputs for Home Cinema,

V.92 modem, Ethernet to ADSL port,and security facilities for providingaccess to personalised services.It integrates MHP 1.0.x implementationfrom Osmosys and its digital core ispowered by the STMicroelectronicsSTi5517 single chip processor. TheTV also includes a software loaderfor remote upgrades ensuring thatit remains compatible with futurebroadcast demands.

ADB has also announced theshipment of its 500,000th interactiveSTB into the Italian market. Thereceivers are compliant with therequirements of the DGTVi theAssociation for the development ofthe digital terrestrial TV. The STBsare marketed through retail distributionchannels under several national andinternational consumer brands.

ADB began supporting majorbroadcasters such as RAI, Mediasetand Telecom Italy in the Spring of 2002with interactive home entertainmenttechnologies for consumers. Sincethen, ADB’s commitment to the Italianmarket has persevered with agrowing number of partnerships

including operators, infrastructureequipment suppliers, applicationdevelopers, and distribution partners.

Since the launch of the digitalderrestrial service in Italy lastDecember, ADB has introduced to theretail market its i-CAN 3000T modeland, most recently, the i-CAN 2000T.Both STBs have been engineered inEurope, at ADB’s R & D center inPoland, and are powered bySTMicroelectronics’ processors withinteractivity provided by Osmosys.

“We began manufacturing in massvolume last November, ahead of theeffective launch of the broadcastingservices”, says Philippe Lambinet,Chief Operating Officer at ADB.“In less that one year, ADB and itsdistribution partners have achieved amajor market share thanks to an earlyand firm commitment for a successfullaunch of digital terrestrial TV in Italy.We are very proud of thisachievement and we will continue todeliver our best efforts to advancinginteractive digital terrestrial consumertechnology and home entertainmentservices in the country.”

ANYTHINGYOU CANDO...

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DVB WORLD‘FROM HDTO HANDHELD’

Furthering its commitment to theBrazilian and Latin Americanbroadcasting and telecommunicationindustries, DVB participated at therecent Futurecom in Florianopolis,Brazil with a number of activitiesdesigned to demonstrate thetechnological and economicadvantages of its globally successfulopen standards for digital broadcastservices including DVB-H, the excitingnew specification that combines theexcellent mobile performance ofDVB-T with IP datacasting technologyextending the range of DVB-Tservices into the mobile handsetmarket.

In an opener to the main conferenceand exhibition, DVB took part in a wellattended pre-conference workshopon the DVB-RCS (Return ChannelSatellite) interactive satellite standardsponsored by ETSI under the @LISprogramme.

FUTURECOM

Preparations are well under wayfor the next DVB World conferencebeing held once again in Dublin atJurys Ballsbridge and Towers Hotelfrom 2 – 4 March, 2005. Presented bythe International Academy ofBroadcasting, DVB World is one ofthe best opportunities to get the latestupdates on technical, legal,commercial and implementationaspects of DVB.

The organisers have recentlyannounced the conferenceprogramme and the theme of thisyear’s event is ‘From HD to Handheld’.Other topics high on the agendainclude: PVRs, broadband, digital

rights management, new AVCguidlines, home networking, portablecontent formats, DVB businessmodels and UMTS. Details onregistration, hotels and theconference programme can be foundon the IAB website: www.iab.ch.

DVB World 2005 provides the onlyopportunity to receive a direct briefingfrom DVB Chairs and the world’sleading experts.

The organiser’s office are reportingthat delegates have already begun toregister and as anyone who attendedthe conference last year will know itwas a sell out event, so don’t delayas participation is limited.

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‘From HD to Handheld’

Mark a date in your diary now...2 – 4 March, 2005 – Dublin, Ireland

For further information visit the DVB & IABwebsites: www.dvb.org – www.iab.ch

DVB WORLD 2005