LAS VEGAS—The Society of Broadcast Engineers and PBS TechCon this year are collaborating April 6 on a daylong tutorial on the technical implementation of ATSC 3.0.
“It’s a total crash course,” says Fred Baumgartner, director of Next Gen Implementation at Sinclair Broadcast Group and organizer of the event. “The focus of our class is everything engineers need to know to implement ATSC 3.0 in the next year with a little bit of what’s going to come right after the initial implementation.”
The first-ever collaboration between SBE and PBS TechCon, which will be held at the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and run from 8 a.m. till 5 p.m., will offer insight on 3.0 architecture, equipment and configurations, as well as examine the options offered by the Next Gen TV standard.
“This is a very pragmatic approach,” says Baumgartner. “The program will cover the entire gamut of 3.0—not just the RF and transmitter. It goes back deeply into the entire platform.”
Topics include:
- Regulations, such as MVPD notifications, carriage and 1.0 host requirements and agreements;
- Converting a transmitter to 3.0 service, including an examination of proof-of-performance and acceptance testing by the engineers who build the devices;
- 3.0 scheduler, including the most practical configuration options, performance monitoring and test equipment; and
- A look at issues related to adoption, timing, budgeting, project planning, enhanced content and services.
Several speakers, including those from the three major TV transmitter manufacturers and two from major scheduler makers, will offer their insights. Baumgartner emphasizes that these speakers will not use the forum for commercial purposes but rather to advance the knowledge of attendees on implementation of the Next Gen TV.
“Here is the issue. We are at that stage in the game where nobody knows it all, and nobody knows even large chunks of it,” says Baumgartner. During this period, the television industry needs a high degree of back-and-forth exchanges between engineers to come to a clearer picture on what really is needed to deploy 3.0. “This event is part of that process.”
Topics as rudimentary as setting up a 3.0 receiver will be covered. “If you are going to convert your station, your general manager is at least going to want a TV in the lobby that can pick it up,“ he says. “We’ll even get into that.”
The daylong seminar is priced at $95 for SBE and PBS members and $145 for nonmembers. Registration is available online.
Separately, IEEE BTS and Gary Sgrignoli are offering the ATSC 3.0 Roadshow on the same day.
For a comprehensive source of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see ourATSC3 silo.
