Edition No.19 September 2006 DVB-SCENE Tune in to Digital Convergence Tune 19 The Standard for the Digital World This issue’s highlights Small Screen > Frequency plans > Commercialising DVB-H > Mobile TV in Finland > The technology of HDTV displays Big Business > The BBC’s HD Trials > Mobile DTV Alliance in the US > Market Watch The Best of Both Worlds aacPlus DVB-SCENE : 02 DTS and Coding Technologies introduce the surround sound audio coding solution for all broadcast and broadband networks. Propel your new services off the beaten track with the Get your personal demonstration at IBC 2006 in combined MPEG-4 aacPlus DTS audio coding solution to Amsterdam, September 8 – 12, in demo room H nearby the Europa Restaurant/hall 2, or at the DVB Pavillion in • Maximise the number of programmes in your multiplex, hall 1, stand # 1.481. • Provide premium quality surround sound to your customers, • Instantly reach the installed base of 60 + million surround sound AV receivers and any stereo recipient. www.both-worlds.biz 1 1 3.0 .01010101111 . 00000000000000000 1 3.0 .010101011111B3.0. 3.0 .01010101111 00000000000000000 . 1011111DVB3.0. 3.0 .01010 FINDING ANSWERS . A word from the DVB Project Office Executive Director Peter MacAvock, 00000000000000000 Welcome to yet another packed issue - a topic which will occupy the pages of DVB-SCENE. As digital television of DVB- SCENE for some time to 3.0 .010101011111DVB3.0. continues its march - and issues such come: what should we standardise 1 as analogue switch-off, handheld if anything? when does it need to 3.0 .01010101111 . 00000000000000000 broadcasting, IPTV and IPR start to be available? are we too late? too 1 dominate - it is here that you’ll find restrictive? Ask 10 industry experts 00000000000000000 3.0 .010101011111DVB3.0. 3.0 .01010101111 answers to most of your questions on . and you’ll likely get 20 different views! DVB standards and digital television in Then there’s the thorny issue of IPR - 3.0 .01010101111 00000000000000000 . 000000 DVB3.0. general. The World Cup is just behind where organisations such as DVB must DVB3.0. us and as we all return to our normal seek a balance between the rights DVDVB3.0 patterns of life, many of us continue of IPR holders and those who must to marvel at the HD pictures available implement standards containing these 1 1 010101010 to some, and the atmosphere which IPRs. DVB’s responsibility in this area 100000.111111111111.000.1.1.1.1.0101010 3.0 .01010101111 . 00000000000000000 3.0 .01010101111 gripped the world as they watched the is considerable, especially given the . games - all brought by DVB standards. recent announcements from the ITU on DVB-T and thus some 100 European, DVB3.0. 00000000000000000 00000000000000000 The World Cup also saw the coming the successful completion of the RRC- African and Middle Eastern countries .01.111.0000010101010 of age of many innovative services 06 frequency planning conference in will be launching DVB-T in the coming DVB3.0. 00000000000000000 3.0 .010101011111B3.0. based on the IP delivery of television Geneva. This entire plan is based on years if they haven’t already. 00000000000000000 011111DVB3.0. DVB3.0. 3.0 .010101 . 00000000000000000 . DVB-SCENE : 03 3.0 .010101011111DVB3.0 . 00000000000000000 3.0 .010101011111DVB3.0. 00000000000000000 VDVB3.0. D DVB’s Technical and Commercial Modules 7-8 June 2006 saw the first joint meeting of the DVB’s Technical and Commercial Modules. Part of a drive to improve efficiencies in DVB’s work plan, the meeting dealt with new topics such as advanced modulation techniques NEW for terrestrial broadcasting and their future applications, satellite services to portable handheld devices and a range of other topics. Chaired by both Graham Mills (BT) and Ulrich Reimers (TUBS), the joint meeting also oversaw progress MEMBERS in the key DVB work areas of IPTV, CPCM, DVB-H IP Datacast and MHP. The joint meeting’s aim is to ensure that there is close coordination of the various Enensys Technologies - Manufacturer TM and CM groups working on a given topic, and that other relevant groups of DVB transmission equipment. (e.g. those dealing with file formats) can follow and comment on developments. www.enensys.com With the normal cycle of DVB module meetings, it can be difficult to exploit Fastcom - Active in the markets of synergies between work items in different groups in a timely manner. The DVB physical access control and data Steering Board will assess the success of this first joint module meeting with a security & access control. view to planning similar meetings in the coming year. www.fastcom-technology.com Mavrix Technology Inc - Fabless semiconductor company providing solutions for the mobile digital TV and NEW STANDARDS portable media player markets. TR 102 469 V1.1.1 ‘IP Datacast over DVB-H: Architecture’ (23/05/06) www.mavrixtech.com Mobile VCE - Conducts research in TS 102 472 V1.1.1 ‘IP Datacast over DVB-H: Content Delivery Protocols’ (06/06/06) wireless communications. www.mobilevce.com The views expressed in this newsletter are those All rights reserved. No part of this publication MStar Semiconductors Inc - Fabless of the individual DVB members or guests and may be reproduced without prior consent of the semiconductor company specialising publisher. All content correct at time of printing. are not necessarily the views of the DVB Project in integrated circuits for the flat panel Office or Steering Board. © DVB-SCENE 2006. display market. www.mstarsemi.com Published by the DVB Project Office, DVB and MHP are registered trademarks of the NVIDIA Corp - A leader in c/o European Broadcasting Union, DVB Project. Certain other product names, brand programmable graphics, multimedia 17a Ancienne Route, names and company names may be trademarks or and platform processor technologies for CH-1218 Grand Saconnex, Switzerland. designations of their respective owners. personal computers, gaming consoles www.dvb.org, www.mhp.org & www.dvb-h.org To obtain extra copies of DVB Scene please contact and handheld devices. www.nvidia.com Editors: William Daly, Harold Bergin Eoghan O’Sullivan at [email protected]. WRG Inc - Provider of hardware and Editorial and Advertising enquiries to: WHD PR Delivery charges will apply. software solutions for mobile devices. Email: [email protected] Printed by Lithmark Limited. www.wrg.co.kr Telephone: +44 (0)20 7799 3100 1 1 3.0 .01010101111 . 00000000000000000 RRC-06 Success Story 1 3.0 .010101011111B3.0. 101 3.0 .01010101111 00000000000000000 . SOLUTIONS 1011111DVB3.0. Daniel Sauvet-Goichon, President of DigiTAG & DVB-TM Special Rapporteur on Frequency Planning 3.0 .01010 . On June 16th 2006, a treaty agreement represented at the conference. allocated frequencies to be used for was concluded at the end of the In most European countries, 7 to applications other than DVB-T and DAB ITU’s Regional Radiocommunication 8 nationwide DVB-T frequency so long as they do not require more 00000000000000000 Conference (RRC-06) in Geneva, ‘coverages’ have been allocated in the protection than is allowed in the plan heralding the development of ‘all-digital’ UHF band and various combinations nor cause more interference than the terrestrial broadcast services for sound from 1 to 2 DVB-T and 3 to 5 T-DAB entry in the plan. and television over Europe, Africa and were obtained in the VHF band. In RRC-06 was a technically complex Middle East. addition, a number of countries added process comprising voluminous stations with limited coverage in more computational calculations and data 3.0 .010101011111DVB3.0. 101 countries signed the Final Acts of . 1 the Geneva ‘06 Plan which establishes or less great numbers. processing tasks, electronic document the frequency plan for Bands III, IV The Conference agreed that the handling and the use of five working 3.0 .01010101111 and V in an all-digital environment transition period from analogue to languages. The ITU, although facing digital broadcasting, which begins at . and allows for a total of 70,527 these challenges for the first time, could 00000000000000000 1 assignments/allotments. 0001 UTC 17 June 2006, should end provide the Conference with adequate While broadcasting requirements on 17 June 2015, but some countries, technical and regulatory expertise and DVB-SCENE : 04 in previous plans have traditionally among African and Arab countries, support for the full satisfaction of the 00000000000000000 been submitted as assignments (site preferred an additional five year participating delegations. and technical characteristics of a extension for the VHF band (174-230 MHz). A key ingredient for the success of the 3.0 .010101011111DVB3.0. 3.0 .01010101111 transmitter are precisely defined), . administrations could also submit their frequency requirements as allotments in order to enhance the flexibility of 3.0 .01010101111 00000000000000000 . the plan. In submitting an allotment, . 000000 DVB3.0. DVB3.0. administrations do not need to detail DVDVB3.0 the number of transmitters in a given area but rather provide information on the type of network for a given area and its boundary. How coverage is provided within the area is then left for the country planners to determine at a 1 1 010101010 later stage. 100000.111111111111.000.1.1.1.1.0101010 In comparison, the Stockholm plan of 1961 involved 38 countries and fitted in 3.0 .01010101111 5,300 assignments. Like the Stockholm . 00000000000000000 3.0 .01010101111 . ‘61 Plan which in practice over the years provided the necessary flexibility to allow ultimately for 80,000 analogue transmitters, the Geneva ‘06 Plan will DVB3.0. 00000000000000000 00000000000000000 .01.111.0000010101010 serve as a starting point for further DVB3.0. additions such as low-power stations or new types of services. RRC-06 Planning Area Even if some difficulties were caused by 00000000000000000 external political issues (Israel/Palestine After the transition period, countries will Conference was the unprecedented 3.0 .010101011111B3.0.