THE WORD ON HD
by Dale Cripps
It
has been my pleasure for the last 21 years to have been a
part of the HDTV movement. For eleven of those years I wrote
and published the HDTV Newsletter, an independent print
publication with a clear bias towards the success of the H/DTV
movement. During that same time I sponsored and programmed
four international conferences and programmed several
others. From the November 16th 1998 official
launch date for the H/DTV era I began with Howard Barton the
HDTV Magazine, publishing it on a daily basis. I am also the
president of the High-Definition Television Association of
America.
I would like to share some
thoughts with you which were written and published
throughout these eleven years in the HDTV Newsletter.
The Newsletter began its life
in 1985 at the NAB Convention. Shortly thereafter it became
known as the "Bible" of the HDTV movement. Everyone who
became critically involved in the work for the development
of HDTV, or the rationalizing thereof, subscribed to the
Newsletter--major manufacturers, key broadcast, cable, and
satellite services, the television and motion picture
studios, policy makers and institutions both public and
private in 24 countries were the readers. In it's pages were
revealed the thoughts, hopes, aspirations, and the deeds of
the leadership from 1985 until the standard for DTV was
approved by the FCC late in December of 1996. No other
standard in the history of communications took longer to
forge and gain approvals than did the H/DTV standard.
Besides pure science the development was also a
geo-political contest of enormous wills that fiercely fought
their battles on the world stage as dramatically as found in
a well-crafted movie. Changing all of the television schemes
around the world is a Herculean task more resembling a plot
from a James Bond thriller than the act of a benevolent
hand. We will never see such a major battle waged again with
technical standards being the weapons. This change, which is
now spreading to wherever you look, has undone all of the
rules that were once believed sacred. There will never be a
battle for a single world wide production or transmission
standard again since digital technology reduces that quest
to irrelevancy, Digital allows easy scaling and transcoding
from any standard to any other standard with no great cost
in quality nor significant money. There will be standards of
convenience for manufacturing's sake, but little else will
be critically important except for the display.
In a very real way I had
prepared a front row seat to this drama for you with the
HDTV Newsletter. I offer you now a bird's eye view of the
seeding of this dramatic and historic transformation of
television. You can see things in it just as I saw them from
the beginning of the movement twenty years ago and up to the
capstone event years later. I believe a trip through time
with the Newsletters will be a meaningful experience for any
adventurer who takes the trip. I find that the more meaning
HDTV has for one the more one will appreciate all that it
can be for themselves and then their society. For HDTV to be
a complete success we have no choice but to envisage what
its greatest potential is and then integrate that potential
into our most ambitious social visions. This is a time for
our artists to be unashamedly idealistic and use this
extraordinary gift of HDTV to graciously communicate to the
world the revisited goals of humanity. With new tools of
such magnitude there is new hope that we can successfully
rise above the conflicting conditions which appear so wicked
and primitive in contrast to life's potential. Beauty is
finally transmissible to everyone and can be included in any
influence we want to leave with our future generations. To
understand the brilliance that went into this achievement
and then realizing the international cooperation that went
into pulling it together is itself a revelation. It is
because of these things I am opening up our archives to
examination by the public and professionals alike--all who
are impacted by the HDTV phenomenon, and who isn't?
HDTV Newsletter, like HDTV
Magazine, wound up being a one-of-a-kind publication. No
competitor stood against it. The quality of the publication
had to be equal to the that which HDTV promised or it would
have failed in significance. But rather than fail it quickly
became the insider's view of the movement. Some claim HDTV
would not have materialized as soon as it did without it.
The ideas leading to what we have today were revealed in our
32 to 48 page issues during it's eleven year run.
In a complete set of the
Newsletters you will find interviews with all of the giants
in the industry--pioneers of HDTV from Dr. Joe Flaherty
(CBS), former FCC Chairman Dick Wiley (ACATS), Peter Boogels
(Eureka 95), Dr. Kerns Powers (Sarnoff), Dr. John Abel
(NAB), Mike Sherlock (NBC), Dr. Bill Glenn (Edison of our
times), Dr. Masao Sugimoto (Headed NHK Labs), Dr. Joe
Donahue (CEO RCA), Dr. James Carnes (Pres of Sarnoff), Gary
Shapiro (Pres of CEA), Robert Graves (Chairman of ATSC), Dr.
Robert Hopkins, (Executive Director ATSC), Larry Thorpe
(Sony), all of the FCC chairmen over the last 14 years), and
many, many more. I traveled nearly a million miles in
pursuit of the news and better understanding of the HDTV
phenomena and all of the businesses and institutions that
touches. An assistant calculated that I had also made more
than 55,000 phone calls in it's behalf. We were the most
vocal private and independent advocates in the world, and
still hold that distinction.
I want to make all of this
historical information that is contained in the pages of
HDTV Newsletter available to you. This exclusive coverage
will not be found ANYWHERE else.
Upon ordering the complete
collection a downloadable PDF file of one 32 to 48 page
newsletter will be made available to you each week for 100+
weeks This PDF file is a fully searchable document with its
appearance equal to the original production. They print
perfectly for binding as well. It is a collector's item
which no one should be without, especially if you have any
connection to the field of communications or are a user of
HDTV services.
If you think this is just old
meaningless history, look again. Many of the ideas now
shaping the world of advanced communications were first
revealed in these pages. Many ideas which should see the
light of day remain waiting there for your recognition. I
wrote the HDTV Newsletter with all future generations in
mind. I knew that every age ahead should have access to a
first-hand accounting of how things were, and, most
importantly, where the spirit for its success was found.
Without that spirit and it's will-to-succeed HDTV would have
fallen from an endless parade of dreary economic
prognostications that constantly beclouded its forty year
gestation period. The important story yet to be told about
HDTV is that it was born and carried to a commercial triumph
based on the love of quality rather than the pursuit of
money. While money factors in to it today, it could not, at
least positively, for forty years. For those years HDTV was
only a burdensome and painful R&D cost to all those
involved. It was the great Genie that could not be stuffed
back into the bottle. At the same time no one was certain
that it would succeed financially and huge personal career
risks were taken in pure faith. The challenge was so great
that new invention arose out of a desperate necessity from
within otherwise ossified laboratories and institutions.
Even at its nadir it is a fascinating story that skirts, if
not dives directly into the mystical.
I am making this offer for two
reasons. The first is likely a bit more noble than the
second.
The first reason is to provide
you with a clear historical perspective of HDTV and to rid
you of the worthless myths that have risen to becloud the
movement. The real promise for HDTV is being endangered by
the present commercial hubbub and the highest promise needs
to be expressed again and again if we are to have the
potential of it brighten our respective cultures. The
foundation of the movement, both domestically and
internationally, both materially and spiritually, is
revealed in these pages as are the terrible dangers which
constantly threaten the movement. It is essential that there
be more and more people in our current times who comprehend
the fine richness of this foundation. Everything that last
and serves humanity will depend upon such a solid and
enduring foundation. HDTV has always meant more to its
founders than pretty pictures and international business
triumphs. It is a triumph of the spirit and the realization
against all odds the good of it.
The second motive is for fund
raising. I think this is just as noble a reason as the first
since all funds raised go towards the furthering of HDTV's
potential. We can be nothing to this movement until we have
a stronger muscle to do our share of the heavy lifting. HDTV
Magazine needs to take major steps forward this year as we
enter the new television season. That means more authors,
more content, more insights, better use of technology, and
that means more money is required.
While not all of you will so
asses them I place a high value on these newsletters. Your
personal need to be a working part of the HDTV era will
determine the value you place upon them. Are you an
interested citizen? A retailer? A manufacturer? a program
producer? A signal provider? For those of you who must be a
pillar in any of those categories the value of strengthening
your knowledge base is immeasurable. You will know where all
of the now-established things came from, and why. You will
detect the unfinished work of those who led it for decades
and instinctively take up their batons. Examine the sample
issue. See for yourself if there isn't something special in
it for you.
I recognize, of course, that
these historical documents are worth more to some than to
others. So how do I establish the right price for them? The
short answer is, I can't. I must be more like the church
with its collection plate. If the sermon inspired you to new
life and hope you will likely put more in the plate than
will those who think the message is mere rubbish. Take a
look at the sample. See if it is rubbish, inspiration, or
in-between. Let your assessment be your guide when
establishing your honorarium to us.
Let me point you to our donor's
page. I will use this as the "honorarium " page since it has
many different prices from which to select. You can choose
from within the range of $10 to $5000 for this collection. I
won't quarrel about the value you place upon them. But,
please remember that this is money collected to further the
potential of HDTV. Why? Because I have an unshakable belief
that the complete success of HDTV is a profit to
civilization even though it is a cost to all of its
citizens. All pay a price for the raising of the whole and
in doing so are raised themselves to the mean of a new
standard. Tell me if that is not a story to be told?
So, put something in the
"collection plate". You will receive in PDF format one issue
per week until you have a complete collector's set of the
HDTV Newsletter. Deal?
Let me say this again: Please be
fair to the HDTV movement when you choose your support
level. The economy is up --more than a few of you have
multiplied your estate by many millions of dollars
from recent asset growth. By now it should be evident that
my unyielding intent is to produce the best on the Internet
for HDTV that I can in order to remind the visitors that
HDTV is acquired for only one reason, that being the raising
of the standard of living for all people (even those in the
most depressed locales). You can get the news and all other
information from old standard television, even radio, but
the success of HDTV proves that we, as a civilization,
eagerly embrace what is beautiful and is good and in doing
so we willingly sacrifice whatever we must to gain them. In
this case the courage to consciously discard the old and
take up the new in support of the greater good is what must
be strengthened. When we do that with our communications
systems we will be limbered up to do the same for all other
things that threaten civilization, even when the rewards are
not so near in coming as with HDTV.
I could put a price of $1000 on
this collection. But that would leave many of you out. But I
will leave $1000 as the recommended price for those who
place a high value upon knowledge of the history of HDTV for
their professions. If you need to become an unchallengeable
expert in this field these 100+ issues could be worth much
more to you than that honorarium.
For all those acting on this
offer an email will be sent to you weekly with a new URL
address for each of the more than 100 issues.
If your support level is $250 or
more I will include all of the magazine articles I have
written on the subject since 1987. Again, they were written
like chapters of a book to be published again when HDTV
become topical. They contain valuable information about the
direction and leadership of the movement. Order you
collector's edition today.
Dale Cripps, Publisher
HDTV Magazine
