At IBC, policymakers, vendors debate progressive vs. interlace
AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
Policy overshadowed technology at IBC2004 as European decision makers and manufacturers debated the future of HDTV on the continent.
HDTV took center stage at the Amsterdam show; until recently, Europe appeared to be ambivalent about hi-def but advances in compression standards, flat panel displays and the anticipated popularity of high-profile sporting events have fueled the push for HD. The BBC, satellite operator BSkyB, France's TF-1 and German pay-TV provider Premiere have announced their intention to roll out hi-def services. Premiere is using hi-def coverage of the 2006 World Cup Soccer Championships to promote HDTV.
Disagreements over HDTV's path to deployment broke out at the annual broadcasters conference, however, when the EBU's BTQE Group, which is responsible for setting HDTV standards in Europe, announced at the show that it was recommending 720p as the HDTV standard for Europe. The reasons behind the recommendation focused on flat panel displays as well as the need for a standard that would make the most efficient use of spectrum and take advantage of emerging compression standards including MPEG-4, part 10 (aka "AVC"), and Windows Media 9 (recently dubbed "VC-1").
Sony was not pleased. The world's largest supplier of 1080i production and broadcast gear balked at the announcement.
"We don't need this debate," said Sony Europe President John St. Ives, according to "The IBC Daily." "Movies, entertainment, kids, current affairs, docs and even sport all work wonderfully well in interlaced form. 720p will be a detour, not a migration."
This prompted Phil Laven, director of the EBU's technical department to backtrack his earlier statements. Calling the organization's recommendations for 720p "a work in progress," Laven stressed that the EBU has not made a final decision; however, Laven predicted that the EBU would announce more details on its recommendation in early 2005.
PROGRESSIVE POPULARITY
Panasonic, on the other hand was more than happy to push for more progressive 720p production. The company announced the "Progressive Center," a partnership with European production personnel and camera rental companies to promote progressive production in both HD and SD on the continent.
"Progressive production in SD and HD is gaining in popularity," said Robert Pascher, manager of European broadcast marketing for Panasonic Broadcast Europe. "The longer term trend is towards progressive production and distribution. We believe it creates the best pictures for the consumer."
Panasonic also announced a 1.01 billion euro investment in an LSI plant in Japan. Touted as the "largest investment in Matsushita history," the plant is expected to crank out more than 250,000 plasma units per month and will represent "the world's largest manufacturing output in PDPs," according to Panasonic officials.
On the exhibit floor, Panasonic and Sony continued to battle it out on the tapeless front. Panasonic announced P2 deals with broadcasters in Italy, Spain, Germany and France and expanded its partnership with Avid Technology to integrate P2 capability with Avid's NewsCutter Adrenaline FC, NewsCutter XP and Media Composer Adrenaline editing systems, as well as Avid Unity shared storage systems--all available by NAB2005. Panasonic officials also said they plan to develop an HDD5 P2 camcorder that supports both 1080i and 720p by 2006 with a P2-MPEG-based HD resolution palm-style mini-camcorder by next year.
Sony announced its largest XDCAM deal to date, an order from German state broadcaster WDR for 127 XDCAM camcorders, 193 recorders and 167 viewers. Sony also announced Version 1.1 of XDCAM, featuring improved "thumbnail" operation, i.Link File Access Mode and full networking capability.
FORMAT AGNOSTIC
Thomson, for its part is not worried about Europe's HD standards debate. "We've never taken an exclusive approach on standards," said Jeff Rosica, vice president, strategic marketing and policy for Thomson. Rosica touted Thomson's LDK 6000 mk II Worldcam, which supports interlaced and progressive, as an example of the company's philosophy towards production standards. Whichever way the EBU goes, "we're going to support their decision."
After several years' absence, Avid Technology returned to the show floor, albeit through its DigiDesign audio division. Nevertheless, the Tewksbury, Mass.-based company, which had promoted its technology in Europe in recent years via a bus roadshow, was enthusiastic about the prospects for HD on the continent.
"There's been much more interest in HD in Europe then I've ever seen before," said David Schleifer, Director, Avid Broadcast. "There's a change in the wind, particularly on the broadcast side."
The other dominant technology focus at the show surrounded the newly adopted DVB-H standard, which DVB officials and broadcasters hope will spur the development of applications that broadcast audio and video to handheld devices. Nozema, Nokia, O2, NTL and Philips announced support for the standard and Thales launched its new DVB-H head-end system that encompasses the entire broadcasting chain from encoded content encapsulation to transmission for reception on mobile receivers. Rohde & Schwarz demonstrated a broadcast test system for DVB-H as well.
With attendance pegged at 40,776, 12 percent more than in 2003, exhibitors were optimistic about business prospects.
"We're writing business here on the show floor," said Encoda President Steve L'Heureux. "This is not a show where we regularly do that."
