There’s a discussion going on over in the Broadcast Engineering and Technical Professionals section of LinkedIn where someone is looking for a solution to adding a single cable channel play out system with an ASI output. Their hoping for a single box answer but none seem to fit the bill. It’s interesting to hear what other broadcast engineers have to say about different play out systems.
Take a look here at “ASI Out of Master Control “Channel-In-A-Box?”
In the past the only way for people to watch a television show was with a pair of Rabbit Ears on top of their set, since then there have been many changes and additions to that path. The first one was CATV or Community Antenna Television, where communities that could not receive over-the-air broadcasts put up a common antenna that able to receive the broadcast signals. And then and using amplifiers and coax cable feeds to the community homes it provided over-the-air TV via cable.
Then in the early mid 60′s the idea of cable only channels sprang up and in 1974 HBO was born, and since then more and more cable only channels have filled your local cable feed as well as your cable bill. With these cable only channels the cable company was making money selling them to their customers, and started dropping the unprofitable local over-the-air broadcast channels. The FCC imposed “Must Carry” rules to protect local television stations, insisting that if a station could put a strong enough signal over a city the local cable company must carry it on their system. This rule was struck down several times by the courts until 1997 when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Must Carry.
Cable started with just 12 to 24 channels but has grown to several hundred channels on some systems. Currently almost all cable systems are phasing out analog channel in favor of all digital. They can fit 3 or more digital channels in the space of one analog. But this also means compression, coax cable has a finite bandwidth and if they want two or three hundred channels on one coax something has to get compressed. They are doing better with F/O feeds to neighborhood nodes where its converted to RF and then sent into the home but they keep adding things and services onto their feed like high speed internet and such.
Of course DBS or Direct Broadcast Satellite came a few years later. With cable all the cost was in putting in coax cable all over a city or region, the DBS guys spent all their money on satellites. Satellite works well but to compete with cable they had to offer much the same programing and that means compression. They have a limited bandwidth and can only get so many program streams into it.
The real irony is that most cable companies charge for HD programing, even if it’s local television stations. And most viewers still watch prime time network shows that they can watch for free off the air. If only they would put up an antenna. My Tivo has both cable and Antenna inputs which I use.
Now with the proliferation of broadband to the home people are streaming video to watch. The first iteration of this was IPTV, where dedicated data lines to the home allowed families to watch streaming video. This never became very popular as those dedicated lines cost a lot to put in back then.
Now people use Netflix, Hulu and others to get the shows they want to watch over the internet and they are not stuck sitting around the computer monitor anymore. My sister set up a Netflix account and was watching movies on her Mac Book, she told me of going to a store and getting a cable to connect her Mac Book to her TV. It was awkward but it worked for her. When she told me about this arrangement I told her to get an Apple TV. It’s the size of a hockey puck and only has four connections; AC in, HDMI out, Optical audio out and a network connector. It streams from Netflix and others but best of all it will play music and movies from you iTunes library ( I have over 900 movies in mine).
But there are others out there like Roku and Boxee, both are considered OTT or Over the Top boxes (as is Apple TV) that allow for wide bandwidth video streaming over the top of your normal internet data. AT&T’s U-verse is not quite the same as they are more like the old IPTV. It’s IP video but it all comes from AT&T equipment at the other end of the wires going to your house, not from the wider internet. But that IP video is what allows them to record your shows on their servers for you to play back later, something normal cable does not offer.
It’s rumored that Boxee is going to add an Over-The-Air tuner to a future unit to allow watching local broadcasts.
As I see it one day OTT will replace Over-The-Air broadcasts, but not today. Once Broadband to the home is considered the same as electricity and water then it could happen. But right now it fill a huge need for the public to receive free information, news and entertainment. It also keeps the other pay for programing companies in check as they know the public can get free TV.
And thats what the Cord Cutters are doing, either cutting off cable completely or reducing the amount of paid programing (HBO, Showtime, …) and putting up an antenna and streaming OTT programing. With my TIVO and Apple TV I am a happy camper, I get my extend basic cable, free over the air local broadcasts and get the rest from my Apple TV.
I should also mention that by putting up an antenna you also receive all the channels the your local television stations broadcast, cable only gives you what they want. In many places around the country an antenna gets you 50 or more channels to watch.
Apparently cable companies are asking the FCC to require that they “must” encode their basic tier cable offerings in the name of cost cutting and control of their cable signal. If the FCC did then all cable subscribers would be required to rent a cable box from their cable company, and pay them a monthly fee.
Boxee (a maker of OTT boxes themselves) is asking the FCC to reject this request on the grounds that it is just a ploy to keep companies like themselves from attaching to and recording cable shows, as well as increase profits with cable box fees. Even the CEA is on Boxee side in this.
Now Boxee has been at the forefront of the Cable Cutter movement by introducing a new Boxee with a built-in Over-the-Air tuner as well as it’s internet offerings. So this makes sense for Boxee to push this to the point where they visited the FCC and it’s Chairman to make their case.
What Boxee and the CEA want is a road map to IP deliver of video to the consumer, a system that will allow any IP video entering the home to be able to connect easily to the home network. Remember the promise of the universal cable box, you could buy it in New York and when you moved to San Francisco you would be able to just move your box along with your other stuff and plug it in. Never happened due to the cable companies efforts, as I recall that was an FCC mandate that they found a way around.
With the next generation of video to the home Boxee and CEA want a common system that all can share in, without Cable holding all the strings.
More comments to the FCC by the ALlVID Tech Company Alliance
![[cablefree0107j]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-RG847_cablef_G_20120106102139.jpg)
There’s a very funny and interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal about cutting the cord with cable TV. It’s in the form of a “Dear John” letter.
At the bottom is a list of equipment you can use to cut your own cord, I think you’ll like it. Read on.
The big wiring project keeps moving forward after a week off between Christmas and New Years. Marty and Bill have installed the Cat5 and the A/V panel in my transmitter room, and as usual it looks very neat and clean. They are moving on to my next door neighbor Paul’s room next. The goal is to do all the Cat5 and A/V panels in all the locations and then move on to the Fiber Optic cable and Patch Bay Trays.
The equipment from Toner showed up for our in-house RF system. We are installing two RF CATV amplifiers which
Workbench
will feed two 12 output splitter for a total of 24 outputs. One is for an as yet to be installed antenna on the roof to pickup all the tower stations for off-air monitoring. Much to our neighbor’s misunderstanding, not much of the RF from our broadcast antenna makes it’s way down to the base of the tower. One idea was to install a Yagi inside a metal garbage can to shield it from stray pickup or multi-path.
Anyway, the other RF system is meant to distribute the local Comcast feed to all the stations, Each station now has a cable feed but it’s not new and subject to ingress. Whenever certain stations on on the aux antenna my channel is wiped out on cable, within my transmitter room. The first time this happened I thought they had dumped me, but we were fine down in cable’s room. Now I know, and don’t get so excited. But it also proves that we need a new distribution system for the cable company within the building, and thats what I am working on now.
Parts for the wiring project
Don't let this happen to you
I heard a story the other day (thanks Eric) about a badly installed cable and the disaster that ensued from it. The cable in question was a cable TV line entering a home, now this was several years ago but it still applies today to any cable that enters a building from the outside.
In this case it seems that the cable installer (not Marty or Bill) failed to ground the in coming Cable TV coax, it was then split several ways to feed several TV sets in the home, this worked fine for several years. Then one day, one of the high voltage lines carried at the top of the telephone poles broke free a few blocks down the road. The 6KV line fell across the cable TV line. This stuff had been up there for many years and the insulation had decayed so the 6KV made contact with the cable TV shield.
At all the houses the 6KV ran up to the home on the cable TV coax and hit the ground connection
Cable box, where the ground is attached
and promptly burned up the coax and it dropped to the ground. But not at the house we are talking about. Without the ground attached to the Cable TV coax shield where it entered the home, that 6KV went looking for a ground.
The 6KV was fed directly to every TV set in the home where they promptly caught fire, remember TV sets are not required to be grounded, as the cases are all plastic and there is no metal to get shocked from. In one room there was a coil of Coax on the floor and it quickly burned a hole right through the floor. Now there were several fires going in this one house all from the missing ground on the Cable TV coax entering the house. One set was older and used twin lead for the antenna input so it had a balm that burned up and saved the TV set.
I run a AWG 1 wire to the house ground for all incoming wires
The fire department had been called out because of the brush fires that had started do to the falling charged wires. Someone ran up to tell the firefighters that there was a house on fire down the street. The home was not a total loss but it was extensively damaged, all from a missing ground wire.
A related story comes from my old TV station where we had our transmitter and studio together on a mountain top. The mountain was San Bruno mountain and it is composed mostly of rock. We had a large satellite dish installed down in a ravine and in those days we used LNAs. Those are Low Noise Amplifiers that took the received satellite signal, amplified them and then sent them to the receiver, on frequency, with no down conversion. We used some large helix to bring the signal from the dish to our building, also there was a thick, multi pair control cable that ran from the dish to our building.
So useful, yet so dangerous
The building was old, it had been built decades before and was properly grounded on this rock of a mountain. One day a High Voltage line on one of the poles arced across to the the low voltage line that fed our satellite dish. As you may know, rock is not a good conductor and the high voltage could not find it’s way to ground. So it saw our nice fat control cable and decided to run up to our building. We had grounding on the Helix where it entered the building so it was protected but not on the control. And so the high voltage found it’s way to the satellite dish controller and popped the tops off several chips and burned up the PC board. I was told there was a loud bang and smoke poured out of the racks.
Now theses two tales are about power lines failing but as I am sure you are aware lightning is a much more common problem and can strike anywhere. SO, be safe and check your grounds on everything that enters your station and especially your home.
Blonder Tongue is holding a two day Technical Training Seminar for Cable guys in Los Angeles, CA on Tuesday Feb. 7 and Wednesday Feb. 8. For more info click here
February 07, 2012
08:30 AM – 04:30 PM
Los Angeles, CA
Theory and Application – Learn It, Then Use It
Multiple Training Stations- We Bring It to You!
Hands-On Measurements with Spectrum Analyzers & Signal Level Meters
Its a little pricey for me but you will learn a lot in a short time.
30 Day Early Registration: $625.00
2 Day Hands On Seminar: $650.00
Checking our Signal
I got a reply to my email I sent to AT&T U-verse about our improved signal, David there said thanks but when he looked again he told me my signal was bad again. He asked me to check it. So I did.
Well it looks pretty good to me with an EVM of 2.3% and a nice and clear Constellation display so I’m not sure what their problem is this time but it’s not me.
Here’s a letter I got from one reader about his experience with AT&T U-verse:
Hi Russ,
I’m not sure if are having the same issue with AT&T that we did, but they called us numerous times and basically said the same thing about our signal.
They specifically said our PCR jitter was out of spec as measured on their TEK unit. I researched this a bit and found they were using the DVB standard as a reference.
It turns out that the DVB spec is tighter than the ATSC spec. We were within the ATSC spec.
Maybe they have some other issue with their decoder. If they are using a Sencore MRD, they tend to lock up at times. We have many and they need rebooting frequently if the transport stream is disrupted.
Hope this might be of help.
Regards
Dave B
Thanks Dave I appreciate the support.
The new rules require TV stations, cable operators, satellite TV providers to follow the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s Recommended Practice (ATSC A/85 RP) in controlling the audio level of commercials and promos.
There is no requirement for stations to constantly monitor their audio levels but if the FCC gets enough complaints I am sure a fine will be in the mail.
Viewer will be required to send in the following information for their complaint to be accepted by the FCC -
To ensure that the Commission is able to take appropriate action on a complaint, the complaint should clearly indicate that it is a “loud commercial” complaint and include the following information:
(1) the complainant’s contact information, including name, mailing address, daytime phone number, and e-mail address if available;
(2) the name and call sign of the broadcast station or the name and type of the MVPD against whom the complaint is directed;
(3) the date and time the loud commercial problem occurred;
(4) the channel and/or network involved;
(5) the name of the television program during which the commercial was viewed;
(6) the name of the commercial’s advertiser/sponsor or product involved; and
(7) a description of the loudness problem.
We will evaluate the individual complaints we receive and track them to determine if there are patterns or trends that suggest a need for enforcement action. If we receive complaints that indicate a pattern or trend affecting multiple MVPDs or stations, we will be conscious of the greater resources available to large entities when determining where to address our initial inquiries.
Here are the complete rules for CALM
I am finally upgrading my home/office internet connection, I have been using AT&T DSL since we moved in here and last I checked we were getting about 2.3MB/s download and around 400KB/s upload. The upload makes a big difference when I have to upload an new video to the web site. So now we are moving to Uverse and getting 12MB/s down and 1.5MB/s up along with two phone lines for $90/month.I know that AT&T has installed fiber in my neighborhood and they are offering to bring it into my home. I am not sure that this upgrade will involve fiber to my home or not, I will keep you informed.
They tried real hard to get me to also take their Uverse cable or video or whatever you call it, maybe OTT (over the top). But I told them no, that as much as I may dislike Comcast as a customer they server a purpose, their headend is at the tower and I feed them a direct line from the transmitter. If we go off the air I can tune us in on Comcast cable and if we are still there then I know the problem is with the transmitter, but if Comcast is dark then it’s coming from the studio that way. It’s an invaluable tool seeing how I am the entire engineering department. So no Uverse cable or whatever for me.
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