Guest Commentary (56)
Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association President Gary Shapiro testified before Congress urging lawmakers to protect spectrum designated for HDTV rather…
Burnill F. Clark, president of Seattle public broadcaster KCTS, delivered closing remarks at the 1995 ATV Workshop warning that public television risks becomin…
NTIA Assistant Secretary Larry Irving testified before the Senate Budget Committee in March 1996, outlining the Administration's proposal to loan existing broa…
Former FCC Advisory Committee Chairman Richard Wiley traces the United States' transformation from a non-player in advanced television technology to a potentia…
In a June 1996 letter signed by Newt Gingrich, Trent Lott, and senior Commerce Committee leaders, Congress urged FCC Chairman Reed Hundt to finalize digital br…
Sinclair Broadcast Group's VP Mark Hyman issued an urgent call in December 2000 for broadcasters to attend the All Industry DTV Summit in Washington, DC on Jan…
CBS Senior VP of Technology Dr. Joseph Flaherty traces the history of high-definition television from RCA's 343-line experiments in 1935 through the FCC's Advi…
Dr. Joseph Flaherty, Senior VP of Technology at CBS, traces the nine-year development of the Grand Alliance HDTV system and its eventual compromise by FCC Chai…
ATSC Chairman Robert Graves wrote to House Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin in March 1998 to defend the FCC-adopted ATSC Digital Televisio…
ATSC Chairman Robert Graves refutes claims by Microsoft's Bill Gates that the 1080-line interlaced format is incompatible with computers, arguing the ATSC DTV …
CEMA President Gary Shapiro argues that HDTV's consumer rollout is virtually assured of success, predicting early sets will sell out immediately and prices wil…
Former FCC Advisory Committee Chairman Richard E. Wiley surveys the state of DTV deployment in early 1998, outlining FCC build-out deadlines, the analog spectr…
Former FCC Chairman Richard E. Wiley examines the interlaced vs. progressive scanning debate, arguing it is less about technology and more about control of the…
CEMA distributed this official consumer electronics dealer briefing explaining the difference between DTV and HDTV, FCC rollout timelines, and expected pricing…
TCI president Leo Hindery expressed preference for 720p HDTV over 1080i on bandwidth efficiency grounds, while cable industry leaders wrestled with a $300 set-…
Sony Corporation's Peter Dare outlines the technical challenges broadcasters face in transitioning to DTV, including Dolby AC3 multichannel audio handling, lip…
Sony's Peter Dare argues that DTV is a configurable digital pipeline capable of delivering HDTV, multiple SDTV channels, and data broadcasting simultaneously, …
MIT Professor Emeritus William F. Schreiber argues that 1080I does not achieve higher resolution than 720P in practice, citing ATTC and ATEL test data showing …
MIT Professor Emeritus William Schreiber systematically dismantles the technical arguments advanced by Sony, ATSC, and the Grand Alliance in favor of 1080i int…
Bruce Jacobs of KTCA attended the first public HDTV demonstration in Minneapolis at an Audio King store in Edina, where a Panasonic PT-56WXF90 rear-projection …
Bruce Jacobs reviews an early Panasonic consumer HDTV display at Audio King, finding it significantly over-enhanced and lacking true HD resolution compared to …
Bill Napier reports from Charlotte on the Discovery Channel HDTV launch feed, describing a flawless 45MB CBS satellite feed decoded to 1080i over-the-air broad…
Warren Cordell traces the 4:3 aspect ratio from early printing and engraving conventions through photography and television, arguing that economic forces — not…
Nat Ostroff, Vice President of Sinclair Broadcast Group, argues that 8VSB's poor multipath performance in urban and indoor environments poses an existential th…
CEMA President Gary Shapiro outlined a proposal for cable-ready DTV receivers that would tune, demodulate, and decode both cable and terrestrial signals while …
Canadian cable consultant I. Switzer argues that terrestrial digital TV broadcasting is wasteful and that broadcasters should instead pursue regional spot beam…
Engineer Jules Cohen defends 8VSB over COFDM, citing Charlotte indoor antenna tests where 8VSB outperformed NTSC reception in difficult locations. He warns tha…
The Department of Defense's Video Working Group formally requested the FCC open a public debate on 8-VSB versus COFDM modulation standards, citing concerns abo…
Sinclair VP Mark Hyman reports that 49 broadcast groups representing over 761 stations have expressed concern with the 8-VSB DTV modulation standard, with more…
Sinclair Broadcasting's Mark Hyman issued a point-by-point rebuttal to CEA President Gary Shapiro's November 1999 letter opposing Sinclair's FCC petition to al…
Sinclair Broadcast Group VP Nat Ostroff rebukes Jules Cohen's defense of 8VSB, arguing that DTV must exceed NTSC performance rather than merely match it. Ostro…
Broadcast engineer Ken Davies argues that the fundamental flaw in the ATSC DTV rollout is an outdated transmission model inherited from the NTSC era, not the t…
Sinclair Broadcast Group VP Nat Ostroff argues that CEA and ATSC opposition to the broadcasters' FCC petition stems from protecting DVD and satellite sales rat…
Sinclair Broadcast Group's Baltimore comparative tests found that 8-VSB in consumer set-top boxes failed reception at most sites using simple antennas, while C…
FCC Chairman William Kennard argues that data, not high-definition pictures, is the true 'killer app' of digital television. Speaking at the Variety/Schroders …
Sinclair VP Mark Hyman reports that over 750 broadcast stations have expressed concern about the 8-VSB DTV modulation standard, with 49 groups formally support…
Mark Schubin's March 18, 1999 column compiles an extensive calendar of DTV, HDTV, and digital video industry events scheduled from mid-March through late May 1…
Sinclair Broadcast Group President David D. Smith calls for a side-by-side comparison test of 8VSB and COFDM transmission standards after Philadelphia tests re…
The ATSC issued a formal rebuttal to Sinclair Broadcasting's campaign urging U.S. broadcasters to abandon the 8-VSB transmission standard in favor of Europe's …
Sinclair Broadcast Group president David D. Smith urges broadcasters to attend the newly formed ATSC 8-VSB Task Force organizational meeting on March 31, 2000 …
Brazilian broadcast engineer Fernando Bittencourt argues that COFDM is the superior modulation standard for Brazil's DTV transition, citing extensive field tes…
The FCC formally rejected Sinclair Broadcast Group's petition to allow COFDM modulation as an alternative to the 8-VSB standard for digital television transmis…
FCC Chairman William E. Kennard addressed the Consumer Electronics Show on January 7, 2000, calling for industry cooperation to bring IPTV — Interactive Person…
Sinclair Broadcast Group's Mark Hyman argues that CEA's lobbying effort to remove the Pentagon from DTV standard debates backfired, as DOD officials reaffirmed…
Zenith Electronics submitted formal testimony to House Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin defending the ATSC 8-VSB transmission standard against Sinclair…
Bob Utne, an ATSC member, resigned from the organization after concluding that vested industry interests blocked meaningful examination of 8-VSB deficiencies a…
Pace Micro Technology, the world's largest dedicated set-top box manufacturer, wrote to FCC Chairman Kennard in January 2000 urging a switch from 8-VSB to COFD…
Time Warner Chairman Gerald Levin testified before the FCC in support of the proposed AOL-Time Warner merger, arguing it would expand consumer choice, accelera…
NAB President Edward Fritts rebukes FCC Chairman Kennard for failing to exercise congressional authority on DTV receiver mandates, cable interoperability rules…
CEA President Gary Shapiro addresses the International Electronic Cinema Festival, reporting that DTV sales are outpacing color TV, VCR, and DBS in their intro…
A 2001 Business Week editorial argues that the U.S. HDTV transition has failed, leaving broadcasters squatting on valuable spectrum originally granted free for…
The Television Syndication Company and its production arm White Mountain Entertainment are advancing production on multiple HDTV series, including a High Defin…
Silicon Image VP Parviz Khodi argues that DVI with high-bandwidth digital content protection (HDCP) is the ideal digital interface for HDTV, offering uncompres…
ATSC Chairman Robert K. Graves declares the ATSC/VSB transmission system debate settled following January 2001 actions by the NAB, MSTV, and FCC. He cites impr…
Dale Cripps defends polling readers on whether the Iraq War would help or hinder HDTV adoption, arguing that any major influence on the nation's primary consum…
Dallas Morning News theater critic Lawson Taitte recounts his family's transition from a 1978 color console to a 38-inch HDTV set, describing the dramatic visu…