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11 THE WAY I SEE IT 11 By NEVILLE WILLIAMS HDTV: don't hold your breath but DAT could be a goer! The passing of time has served only to confirm my earlier opinion that the market is not ready for HDTV - high definition television. But a new development on the copyright front may signal the release of DAT (digital audio tape) recorders to consumers worldwide. In the April issue, I reprinted a letter from W .G. of Wentworthville, NSW, lamenting the fact that despite all the talk about high definition television, wider screens, 3D images and so on, modern-day TV systems are still shackled to the CCIR standards adopted in the 1950s and subsequently "set in concrete" by the PAL colour system in the 1970s. Said W.G: " Unless we break out somewhere along the line, we'll carry the whole antiquated box and dice into the next century!" And again: "If we continue to perpetuate the present standards by locking more and more services into them, they'll still be entrenched long after many or us have ceased to care". In responding to W.G's letter, I admitted to sharing his interest in emerging technology but not his impatience to see it adopted in the near future. 3D TV, in particular, was "a big yawn" , still bogged down in the developmental stage after decades of research. New technology would undoubtedly be adopted, I said, when it is " right for the situation" when the providers are convinced that there is something in it for them and when consumers either 90 SILICON CHIP need or want it, or are open to persuasion. Right now, we have difficulty enough putting our existing technology to best use, as illustrated by the problems of local redeployment into the UHF band and hassles about the MAC format, both here and overseas. A 6000-word letter This exchange prompted one of the longest and best written letters I have ever received from a reader. The writer, Keith Walters of Lane Cove, NSW, says that he's had multi-level experience in the television industry. Starting out in domestic TV servicing, he later specialised in repairing home VCRs. From there he moved into the "professional" video field, " sitting more or less between broadcast and home video". He subsequently became a technician in a broadcast video production facility, gravitating from that into his present position looking after the electronics of high tech film camera equipment. With that background, he feels that he can reasonably claim to know what he is talking about. Why should I question that claim? The initial 5 pages of his 13-page letter effectively support what I had to say in the April issue! The remainder focusses on an apparent presumption by the original correspondent, W.G., that the television industry could readily cope with the adoption of new standards, if only they/we had the mind to do so. Keith Walters - K.W. for short - insists that there is more to it than a few interim converters; that there are major technological barriers between present practices and the requirements of true high definition, wide-screen TV. That division helped resolve my dilemma as to how best to cope with a 6000-word letter. The answer: split it in two, and use the respective sections in successive issues, thereby leaving room for other current topics. Are we ready for HDTV? With W.G. firmly in his sights, Keith Walters says: "I am sick of hearing about the imminent arrival of HDTV and/or conspiracy theories as to why we haven't got it already. Personally, I don't believe that present day technology is up to the task of implementing HDTV in mass produced form. Even if it was, there are serious doubts about whether the public would show enough interest to cope with the chicken-and-egg stage. "The assumption is often made that, because wide-screen formats have been successful in cinemas, it must automatically follow that the same will apply to TV. There are serious flaws in this argument. "Most of the progress evident in movie-making techniques has been in response to threats posed by other entertainment media. "Silent films gave way to talkies, partly to win back audiences stolen by radio broadcasting. Similarly, the threat of competition from TV broadcasts in the '30s and '40s (in the USA) spurred the perfection of colour cinematography. Again, the threat of colour TV in the '50s promoted the introduction of wide screen formats. "What is often overlooked in a discussion of this type is the exC.fllent level of compatibility between all these developments. For the movie theatres, introducing the innovations wasn't too painful an exercise. "I don't know whether it was practical to convert earlier silent projectors to handle sound but even if the theatre owner had to buy or lease a new projector and sound system, the cost wasn't all that crippling. After all, they still used the same building, screen, seats, popcorn machines etc as before. And they no longer had to pay someone to play the piano! Alas, I can remember · Perhaps I can butt in here, as one who has the dubious advantage of being old enough to have seen the silent/talkie transition in close-up. Without labouring the point, I doubt that struggling picture show ownen, in rural areas would have been impressed at the time by talk of compatibility between the respective technologies. Many of them were glad enough to have two (not one) reasonably reliable silent projectors with which to put on a weekly or biweekly show without breaks between the 1000-foot reels. For them, acquiring and installing two sound projectors would certainly have been a painful, if not a crippling, exercise. Some had to settle for discarded projectors traded in by city theatres. And yes, others acquired sound head assemblies which had to be installed, somehow, between the bottom film gate and the take-up spool. These measures worked, mainly because a lot of the old-time Digital Stereo Colour TV Set from Akai Released late last year, this new colour TV receiver from Akai features digital signal processing, Teletext, an FST (flatter, squarer tube) stereo sound and 20 watts per channel audio power output. Two models are available: the 63cm CT2570 and the 70cm CT2870. proprietors and operators were bush mechanics on the side. And don't forget that projectors, adapted for sound, had also to be provided with constant speed drive to combat wow and flutter. And, down in the "auditorium", many of the old halls had to be provided with a proper ceiling or otherwise treated to suppress the worst of the echoes and prevent the sound from being drowned out by rain on the iron roof! I concede the point you're trying to make, K.W. but your observations a bout silent/talkie compatability sound a lot more convincing in 1989 than they would have done in 1929. But back to your letter: "With the introduction of colour features in the mid '30s there was no problem at all. They were released on the same 35mm format as black and white movies. Perfect compatibility. Wide-screen movies "Finally, with the wide-screen formats in the '50s, the camera manufacturers had come up with the anamorphic principle. In this, the 7:3 aspect ratio wide-screen image is deliberately distorted by the camera lens so that it fits on to a standard 4:3 film frame. A corresponding lens on the projector restores it to the correct aspect ratio. "Everything else remains the same, so the theatre owner only needs a new lens for the existing projector and a wider screen to enjoy the benefits of the new format. If the owner was unwilling to provide a wider screen, a different lens again allowed the wider format pictures to fit a standard screen, with reduced picture height but greater picture sharpness. '' Anamorphic 7: 3 movies had become pretty well standard by the early '60s and little has changed since then. Multi-channel Dolby sound is about the only worthwhile improvement in all that time and l doubt that many people even notice the difference". AUGUST 1989 91 THEWAYI SEE IT - CTD Here again, I feel that K.W. is short-changing reality by equating compatibility to an appropriate choice of lenses. In the auditorium, new large screens represented a considerable outlay and the cost was multiplied if the proprieter felt obliged to provide remote controlled masking for wide and conventional prints and for on-screen adverts. As a further complication, the existing projection light source could well prove inadequate for the larger screen, necessitating changes in the lamphouse. Frequently, large theatres with ornate prosceniums could not install wider screens without major reconstruction and expense. Some, like Sydney's now defunct "Regent", had to dismantle their "Mighty Wurlitzer" to gain extra width. Certainly, as K.W. suggests, theatres had the option of retaining the original picture width and reducing the height but it was very much a short-term expedient. Now back to Keith Walters: I-Max and Omnimax "What about I-Max and Omnimax and the other spectacular formats? My opinion is much like yours: interesting but not of any real entertainment value once the novelty wears off. It's fun going for a simulated roller coaster or helicopter ride but have you ever seen how ridiculous a close-up ,of a human face looks on one of those giant screens? "The principal reason for their lack of mainstream success is incompatibility - there's just no economical way your average cinema could adapt to one of these outlandish formats. "As for the movie studios, the cost of these developments over the years hasn't been prohibitive, either. Re-equipping for sound was probably the biggest step but not all that costly when you consider all the other equipment and personnel needed to produce even a low budget picture. "Equipment has never been a major cost component in making a film. Nowadays, camera equipment is nearly always hired; in fact, Panavision equipment is only available on that basis. The cost difference between shooting anamorphic for cinema release and 4:3 for television is generally quite small. The shots may have to be framed more carefully and wider sets built but these are not major problems". I grant that K.W. is much closer than I am to film production, but I nevertheless wonder whether film producers would see equipment needs in quite the same light. Overstated or not, his key theme is that technological evolution in the cinema industry, from B&W silents to wide-screen colour talkies, has been facilitated by a high level of compatibility and manageable costs. Lack of that vital ingredient stands in the way of IMax and Omnimax. In the case of television, standards have evolved to what we cur- .,.~~.;r..i;it:.1;: RCS Radio Pty Ltd is the only company which manufactures and sells every PCB & front panel published in SILICON CHIP, ETI and EA. 651 Forest Road, Bexley, NSW 2207 Phone (02) 587 3491 for instant prices rently have: PAL/SECAM/NTSC colour, complete with stereo sound, domestic VCRs and video cameras. But a huge and little appreciated compatibility gap stands between this and high definition, wide screen and 3D on both the receiving and transmitting side. Says K.W: Writing off TV sets "One thing that particularly annoys me about these self-appointed champions of new TV standards is the way they conveniently underestimate the working life of the average TV set - like so many accountants, depreciating its value down to zero over a few years for tax purposes. "For most viewers, the purchase of a new TV set is a significant investment and its working life is whatever length of time it continues to display a watchable picture, without involving unacceptable maintenance costs. "And what do I mean by a watchable picture? Anyone who has had practical experience in TV servicing will know the kind of pictures people are prepared to tolerate. In fact, absolutely optimum pictures are a rarity. Are all these people demanding higher TV standards? I think not. "And don't let's forget VCRs. Normal PAL broadcast video has a theoretical luminance bandwidth of over 5MHz. A good camera in a well lit studio will achieve this easily; many will better 8MHz. On a good receiver, 5MHz will give a very pleasing picture indeed. "On the other hand, standard VHS and Beta VCRs, of which over 300 million have been sold, have a usable luminance bandwidth of just over 2.5MHz - with a new tape in a near-new machine. Rental movies fall short of this. "If the viewing public were really dissatisfied with the results obtainable from our present system at its 5MHz best, it's hard to imagine how they could put up with the markedly inferior pictures delivered by the average 2.5MHz (or less) VCR. They do watch them, of course, and so do I. Larger TV pictures ••As for the demand for larger 92 SILICON CHIP screen sizes, surely if people were that desperate for larger pictures, they'd all buy 63cm or larger screen sizes. But that isn't what happens; 48cm and 51cm types seem to be more popular at present". Yes, K.W., many viewers do currently prefer smaller receivers but whether that can be interpreted as a long-term rejection of anything more pretentious is another matter. Such an assumption would ignore the "Jones factor" - the urge to keep up with the neighbours when they install a wall-mounted HDTV screen with accompanying surround sound. We mustn't overlook the power of marketing when theorising about what we are likely to "want" next year or the one after. How else do you think 300-million viewers decided, during the past decade, that they simply had to have a VCR? And how was it that compact discs swept LPs aside while audiophiles were still debating their merits? At this point, Keith Walters turns his attention to HDTV production technology which, he claims, is simply not understood by most people who write to and for technical magazines. If they did, they'd have taken more account of the fundamental disparity between composite colour on which our present system relies and component colour, which is the true basis of HDTV. They'd certainly have been less outspoken about the imminent adoption of HDTV. "As far as I am aware", he says, "no Australian TV network is even remotely interested in HDTV, apart from reading about it in professional trade journals". While K.W. would probably have picked up these vibes from his technical connections, two startling but hitherto confidential reports have just surfaced concerning the financial status of the three major Australian commercial networks. ("Our TV networks face big cash crisis" - the Sydney Sun-Herald, June 4, 1989). Accompanying graphs show an approximate 3:1 decline in share values for all three over the past two years, raising a large question mark over the billion-dollar "goodwill" ingredient in their respective balance sheets. · Faced with huge capital debts, ever-rising programming costs and involvement in the Federal Government's UHF/aggregation plans, TV broadcasters need a technological revolution like we need a hole in the ozone layer! But enough about television for this issue. Get up and got for DAT? Unlike HDTV, the DAT system is technically ready for the world hifi market but to date, has been released only in Japan because of conflict over software copyright. As a piece of gee-whiz technology DAT appears to work well - too well, in fact, for the compact disc manufacturers. They worry about DAT's capacity to make illicit multigeneration digital copies of their best releases, sonically indistinguishable from the original. Faced with the imminent release of DAT recorders a few years back, CD and software suppliers manag- IREECON '89 is The Convention ■ ■ MELBOURNE where the present - the future - and beyond come together. IREECON is for EVERYONE within the profession of electronics. SEPTEMBER 11 ·15, 1989 An electronics exhibition SHOWCASE not to be surpassed anywhere ■ ■ see the very latest equipment from electronic companies in the know, showing a VARIETY of technologies not available at one time under one roof at any other exhibition in Australia. You've seen the rest NOW see the BEST IREEC®n • CONVERGENCE HIGHLIGHTED • IREECON '89 incorporates a WEALTH OF FIRSTS for both exhibition .trade visitors and lecture program delegates. Those FIRSTS listed below are just the beginning - just take into account the countless FIRSTS on the exhibition floor. A significant AW ARD will be given for the best paper presented by a young engineer ■ ■ exhibitor product promotion presentations are open to everyone FREE of charge ■ ■ a technical lecture program which will open a window on the world of the 1990's and beyond. '~--.,_•i·•t B .~ l The Commercial Institution Unit o f 3, Radi 2 New o a ndMcLean Electroni St cs ( PO Engineers Box 79) Australia Edgecliff NSW 2027 (02)327.4822 - Fax (02)327.6770 - Publ x AA21822 (Quote User No. SYl35) t MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 - FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1989 t A UG UST 1989 93 Multi-standard TV from Sony Sony offers a range of large-screen TVs that can handle multiple TV standards. The KV-2100WX is a 53cm model that is compatible with no less that 15 colour TV standards around the world. ed to win an undertaking from DAT manufacturers not to provide the facility to make a digital copy of any signal with a sampling rate of 44. lkHz. This would at least prevent consumers from making a direct digital/digital dubbing from compact disc to DAT cassette. DAT decks released to the Japanese domestic market conform to this agreement. It is still possible to make a DAT copy of a compact disc using the normal analog output from CD player and few would be able to pick the difference between it and a digital/digital dub. But theory insists that double DIA-AID processing must cause some degradation, even if negligibly small. Disc manufacturers could only hope that this niggling reservation, coupled with the high cost of DAT equipment, would encourage the public to buy original discs rather than rely on taped copies. It certainly seems to have had that effect in Japan, with Japanese DAT sales well down on what equipment manufacturers believe they would otherwise have been. With a question mark hanging over a 94 SILICON CHIP the future of DAT software, they see little point in releasing the equipment on the world market. The industry as a whole must undoubtedly accept some of the blame for the chronic disregard of copyright which is at the root of the present impasse. Illicit copying emerged as a major problem with the appearance of the compact cassette but after years of lipservice to copyright, manufacturers are currently offering dual decks and other facilities to make dubbing easier than ever! They can hardly complain if the public fails to see a moral difference between copying LPs and precorded cassettes onto compact cassette, and copying CDs on to DAT. Perhaps one should add: or on to recordable blank CDs, if and when these become a commercial proposition. A possible compromise Seeking a way around the problem, Philips have come up with with what they call "Solocopy". It involves restoring the 44. lkHz record/sampling rate to DAT decks but with a special provision: when recording at this frequency, a Solocopy deck would automatically insert into the data stream an extra bit of code - or a "flag". It would appear on the tape copy but would not compromise the sound in any way. Any attempt to duplicate the 44. lkHz DAT tape would be frustrated, however, because the flag would automatically abort the tape/tape re-copying process. Solocopy would permit the owner of a compact disc to make a digital copy of his own discs for his own use - which Philips, as a software/equipment supplier, regards as a reasonable expectation. But if a copy is made for a friend, that friend will not be able to provide a further copy for a further friend, thereby overcoming the problem of multi-generation digital dubbing. The scheme requires the fuli cooperation of disc suppliers, however, because if all DAT decks on the market were equipped with Solocopy, CD manufacturers would only have to insert the abort flag into the original data stream and DAT owners would be right back to where they currently don't want to be in Japan - an analog sourced copy or nothing. On the other hand, if disc suppliers do accept Solocopy, it might just get things moving for DAT on the international market. Equipment manufacturers would hopefully release the decks and well-heeled enthusiasts might buy them knowing that, one way or another, they could assemble a collection of high quality digital tapes. With decks on the market able to play 44.lkHz digital tapes, software suppliers may then be willing to implement what has always been their ultimate intention to release DAT recordings made from the same basic masters from which compact discs are currently sourced. Solocopy would then provide the same restraint on illicit copying as it would for compact discs: owners could copy an original DAT tape but copies of copies would not be possible. It's a compromise, but maybe, just maybe, one that could resolve the present impasse. ~