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Ed Milbourn Ed's View - Local HDTV in Indy
By Ed Milbourn
Correspondent
Posted on November 29, 2006
Category: Programming
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M=MEDIUMEDMILBOURN.jpgIf one could pick an actual date for the arrival of winter in Indianapolis, it is November 15. It is then when the cold, constant rains begin, followed by three months of intermittent clouds. However, this year, November 15 was greatly brightened by the first regularly scheduled live, locally produced HDTV broadcast. WTHR (DT), the Indianapolis market's NBC affiliate, started broadcasting local news programming in HDTV. And did they do it right!

Several segments of the inaugural evening news production originated from a large regional "plate-grass" retailer - H H Gregg, Inc. WTHR used this origination not only to highlight their remote HDTV capability, but also to convey basic knowledge relative to making an intelligent HDTV purchasing decision. This information is supplemented on their web site (WTHR.com). Over all, they did a super job.

Last month I was invited to the WTHR studios by their Director of Engineering and Operations, Al Grossniklaus, for a "sneak peak" at their extensive production and technical renovations necessary to accomplish local HDTV origination. This digital infrastructure renovation continues to be a work-in-progress with additional HDTV audio and video capability being continually added.

The WTHR inaugural HDTV broadcast contained an impressive amount of remote HD originations, including the H H Gregg segments. Clearly not all spots were in HD; however, the expectation is that more and more will come as they gain equipment and infrastructure. Although there were a few expected production glitches and picture resolution variances, the overall result was a very bright, sunny November 15 - and it will only get better. Congratulations WTHR!

Ed

Posted by Ed Milbourn, November 29, 2006 08:31 PM

Reader Commentary

See Forum Topic: Ed's View - Local HDTV in Indy (2 replies)
Nov 30, 8:18am
Indianapolis is far from the first to have local news in HD. KUSA-DT in Denver has had HD local news for more than a year. They informed me that they were number 2 in the country to have it. (I don't remember who the first station was.) Jack in Denv
Nov 30, 11:57am
Yeah, I think it was either WRAL (Raleigh-Durham, NC) or KING in Seattle. But for Indy, the thought of having the possibility of telephone service is a big deal. Ed
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About Ed Milbourn

After graduating from Purdue University with degrees in Electrical Engineering and Industrial Education in 1961 and 1963 respectively, Ed Milbourn joined the RCA Home Entertainment Division in 1963. During his thirty-eight year career with RCA (later GE and Thomson multimedia), Mr. Milbourn held the positions of Field Service Engineer, Manager of Technical Training and Manager of Sales Training. In 1987, he joined Thomson's Product Management group as Manager of Advanced Television Systems Planning, with responsibilities including Digital Television and High Definition Television Product Management. Mr. Milbourn retired from Thomson multimedia in December 2001, and is now a Consumer Electronics Industry consultant.

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