Podcast #760: ATSC 3.0

In the United States and a few other parts of the globe, the standard that defines how digital television transmissions work over terrestrial, cable and satellite broadcasts is called ATSC, named after the Advanced Television Systems Committee. ATSC 1.0 is in use now as the current standard, adopted by the FCC in 1996. But the committee is actively working on the next generation of broadcast standards and has released both 2.0 and 3.0 versions - neither of which are actually in use yet. Some feel that ATSC 3.0 may leapfrog 2.0 and make it obsolete before it even gets any serious mileage on it.

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Podcast #737: Highlights from NAB 2016

Faithful listener and long time contributor to the show Ed Stouffer graciously agreed to be our “man on the street” - or “man on the convention show floor” if you prefer, at this year’s NAB Show in Las Vegas. The show just wrapped up, running from April 16-21. For those who aren’t familiar, NAB is the National Association of Broadcasters and the NAB Show is their annual gathering to see, learn about and talk about all the latest innovations in audio and video production, broadcasting and distribution.

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Podcast #700: Mobile HDTV

Motorola Mobility, one time subsidiary of Google, now a part of Lenovo, just released a new app in the Google Play Store called, yep, you guessed it, Mobile HDTV. The app enables select phones and portable devices, with the proper hardware, to watch live, over-the-air HDTV right on your Android device. The concept is pretty simple, and you’d think very compelling, but it turns out most people can’t use it. The question is, why not?

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Podcast #682: Next Generation Broadcast TV

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) have their year meeting in Las Vegas in the Spring every year. When we worked for Sony Pictures we would get excited about going and demonstrating the gear we were developing as well as seeing what other companies were showing off. It was not quite as hectic as CES but it was still a great time. Nowadays we are a little more focused on what we take away from the NAB show. In particular of interest this year is the ATSC 3.0 specification. This year there will be some demos of the technology.

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Podcast #640: ATSC 2.0: Over the Air gets Better... But is it too late?

Before there was HDTV there was NTSC (National Television System Committee) or, as it was known by most people today, standard definition. That was the standard developed in 1941 and was in effect until it was superseded by ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) which brought us high definition television - which in turn gave rise to this podcast!

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Podcast #634: Interview with a Broadcaster about Aereo

This week Ara spoke with a broadcaster from the Birmingham, AL area about Internet streaming upstart Aereo and his opinion how their model is essentially to steal content from broadcasters and sell it for profit. For those who are not familiar Aereo is a company that lets you record and stream local television in the cloud. More info about Aereo available on their website.

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