SatFACTS Monthly Magazine:
Date of this update: August 21, 2006
(Email skyking@clear.net.nz; Telephone New Zealand 64 9 406 0651; Fax 64 9 406 1083; Mailing address SatFACTS, PO Box 330, Mangonui, Far North, New Zealand)
SatFACTS is a monthly hard-copy magazine published by Bob Cooper in New Zealand. The August 2006 issue marks completion of the 12th year of continuous publication. SatFACTS follows in a long line of Cooper publications covering the world of TV reception. From 1960’s “TV Horizons” (the first monthly publication devoted to cable, translator TV) through the development of five similar publications headquartered in Oklahoma (USA), Cooper’s publications have always been “leading edge, newest technology” chronicles. Through the decades, his CATJ (Community Antenna Television Journal) was the first to introduce the concept of home satellite TV systems (1976!); Coop’s Satellite Digest (CSD) quite literally launched the “home TVRO industry” (1979).
“CATJ + CSD” is a two DVD set covering the period from May 1974 to June 1979 (CATJ) and September 1979 through April 1987 (CSD); thousands of priceless pages of satellite (and cable TV) technology - easily the most complete coverage of these two industries, all in one place, ever offered. The price is US$25/A$25/NZ$25 for “fast” (airmail outside of New Zealand) delivery. Materials can be read (displayed on your screen) by any PC equipped with Acrobat Reader version 5 or higher and individual pages can be printed should you wish ‘hard copies’. (Ordering instructions below)
SatFACTS Monthly “Anthology” is a DVD or CD set covering 144 issues from September 1994 (Volume 1, Number 1) through August 2006 (Volume 12, Number 12); more than 5,100 pages of material documenting all of the technology and the development of the satellite TV world in the South Pacific and Asia. DVD/CD (all twelve years-144 issues on one DVD + two CDs) – A$96/NZ$70/US$75 air parcel post (currency determined by your location); requires Acrobat Reader version 5 or higher. (Ordering instructions below)
“Bob Cooper’s TV Reception Addendum” is a collection of 25 “original” TVRO hobbyist / TV + TVRO installer manuals - when the first C-band TVRO systems were being developed by folks such as Robert Coleman, H. Taylor Howard, H. Paul Shuch, Steve Birkill and Oliver Swan - each of these inventors created “how to” manuals filled with diagrams, practical technical tips, and text describing their particular area of expertise. During the period 1979 to 1984, technical manuals were the foundation of the C-band TVRO world. This “collector’s set” has virtually every one of these manuals ever issued, on CD format; requires Acrobat version 5 or higher.
This is a single CD containing ALL of the following reference booklets and reports: (TECH Bulletins) 9301/ “Terrestrial Co-Channel Interference Solutions”; TB9302/ “Weak Signal Fringe Terrestrial Reception (200km-plus)”; TB9303/ “UHF Terrestrial - The Final Frontier”; TB9304/ “Combining Cross Pole Signals; Eliminating Man-Made Noise Interference Sources”; TB9305/ “Cable Television - The System”; TB9401/ “Cable Television - The Hardware”; TB9402/ “Master Antenna System Design Parameters”; TB9403/ “VHF-UHF Deep Fringe Reception Aerial Design”; TB9404/ “Direct To Home (DTH) Satellite System Design”; TB9405/ “SMATV - Satellite to multiple rooms (motel, hotel)”. PLUS - the following BONUS materials: “Home Satellite Television Reception Handbook”; “The Howard Terminal (receiver design)”; “The NEW Howard Terminal”; “The Swan Spherical Antenna”; “The Gustafson Spherical TVRO Antenna Manual”; “The Gibson Satellite Navigator Manual”; “The Nelson Parabolic Antenna Manual”; “Coop’s Basic Manual on Fine Tuning Private Satellite Terminals”; “Coop’s Satellite Business Opportunities Manual”; “STTI’s (Stephan Birkill) International Satellite Reception Guidebook”. AND - three more surprise editions! “TV ADDENDUM” is avilable on a single CD for A/NZ/US$25 air postage paid (the currency depends upon your location ie. mailing charges). (Ordering instructions below)
“VIDEO PIRATES: Hiding behind your picture tube” was released at ‘Satellite Expo 2006’ (Atlanta, Georgia) in April. This is a unique history of the development of television from the perspective of author Bob Cooper covering the development of TV from early terrestrial to the 2006 introduction of high quality TV via broadband Internet. The C-band era (1979-1986) is covered extensively, explaining how the first pirates broke early encryption systems and how this technology has shaped all that has followed (through current day ‘hacking’). No single book has ever covered this 50+ year period and there are 928 pages of amusing, intriguing, fast-paced reading for the fan of television technology. Reviews world-wide acclaim this book which is available for US$29.95 (shipping included within USA), NZ$47.00 (shipping included to NZ addresses) or Australian $40 plus postage. Outside these areas, US$29.95 plus postage. To order, go to www.bobcooper.tv which is a monthly-new web site that provides support materials (including archived video).
Ordering:
You may order via Email (skyking@clear.net.nz), fax (++64 9 406 1083) or by mail (SatFACTS, PO Box 330, Mangonui, Far North, New Zealand). Payment may be by VISA or MASTERCARD (include full card number, expiration date, name on card) or cheque (SatFACTS). When ordering via Email, we suggest two Emails breaking up the card number information into a pair of messages. ALSO - for SatFACTS Anthology ONLY - be sure to indicate (1) DVD (requires DVD reader in PC, Acrobat Reader - free download at www.adobe.com), or, (2) CD set (of twelve) - still requires Adobe but plays on virtually any PC without DVD capability. AND - provide your name and full mailing address for shipment.
More coming:
Several additional CD/DVD sets are in preparation including “The DX Years” covering the first decade of television transmission and reception featuring ‘how to do it’ articles published at the time explaining fringe and deep fringe television reception (included: “DXing Horizons”, “TV Horizons” and “Video Communications Journal,” each pioneering early publications by Coop in this field) - release date late 2006; and, “Television: The Technology that changed our lives”, another Coop original (release date on DVD April 2007 and hard copy print release June 2007). Stay tuned!
A “Real” Cooper/Coop web site!
In support of “Television’s Pirates” (see above), www.bobcooper.tv is the gathering spot for old timers in the home satellite dish industry world. In particular, the recently announced “20 Year C-Band Reunion” is detailed here; a gathering April 19-21 (2007) in Atlanta, Georgia where upwards of 300 from the ranks of TVRO in the 1980s will gather to renew acquaintances and attend technical C-band seminars delivered by the “masters” – the REAL originators of home TVRO. Even (Sir) Arthur C. Clarke will be attending. There are many sections to www.bobcooper.tv and the content changes monthly bringing to your PC stories and articles long ago about these pioneers. If you only attend one “TVRO Gathering” in your lifetime, this is the one! (http://www.satelliteexpo2007.com)
And the current stuff:
SatFACTS Monthly is a “work in progress” attempting to keep the home dish and cable worlds in the Pacific and Asia informed of the latest technology affecting satellite services in this geographic region (ITU “Region 3”). It is a controversial publication because within its pages readers know they have the latest information relating to every aspect of satellite TV transmission and reception, plus the transition to terrestrial digital in the Pacific - including piracy decoding. Having said that, it is NOT a piracy publication, it does NOT sanction piracy but Cooper’s approach is to spell out the weaknesses in existing encryption and pay-TV systems and this has made him a very unpopular fellow in some quarters. He believes that piracy is inevitable when programmers use second rate encryption systems (such as Nagra 2) which more often than not actually encourages piracy under the guise of demanding legal protection from national governments for their shoddy encryption performance.
SatFACTS is read monthly in more than 60 countries spanning the globe by as many as 10,000 satellite dealers, enthusiasts and of course programmers. There is a rich legacy here of “Cooper fans” dating back to June 1956 when his leading edge writings began to appear in “Popular Electronics” and “Radio Electronics” magazines.
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SatFACTS Subscriptions: All copies of SatFACTS sent via “fast post” / “Airmail” worldwide. Subscription rates range from NZ$70 (within New Zealand) to A$96 (Australia and the Pacific less PNG) to US$75 (worldwide beyond the Pacific including PNG). A typical issue is 36 pages of densely packed material, illustrations, explanatory equipment diagrams and photos of the latest release equipment and newest satellite services. Visa/Mastercard payments, direct TT, cheques drawn in appropriate currency are accepted. Orders may be placed via fax (++64 9 406 1083), Email (skyking@clear.net.nz) or mail (SatFACTS, PO Box 330, Mangonui, Far North, New Zealand).
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NO CHARGE sample copy: You may request a sample copy (a recent issue, not necessarily a current issue will be provided without charge). Send your request to include your full name, mailing address, to fax ++64 9 406 1083, Email skyking@clear.net.nz. No, you may not expect to request sample copies month-after-month believing you can avoid paying for a subscription in this way (many have tried - hey; we do keep track of who requests samples, and when!).
SAMPLE copies are also provided by leading satellite TV equipment distributors, including: SCITEQ (WA; www,sciteq.com.au), Phoenix Technologies (Victoria; www.phoenixsatellite.com.au), Strong Technologies (Victoria; www.strong-technologies.com), Laceys.tv (Victoria; www.laceys.tv), SatWorld (Victoria; www.satworld.com.au),Wavelength Communications (Singapore; www.satellite.com.sg), DMS International (Georgia, USA as http://www.dmsiusa.com) and through Australian agent Av-Comm Pty Ltd (NSW; telephone 02 9939 4377; www.avcomm.com.au).
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SatFACTS SHORTS (release date: August, 2006):
Using material which has previously been published in SatFACTS, we provide the following for your enlightenment and entertainment. Month/year preceding each report is a credit to a specific issue of SatFACTS.
(From SatFACTS July 15, 2005; #143)
Note: Photos, artwork and support material appearing in original SatFACTS does not appear here.
Getting there has been difficult, shaped by internal government politics, commercial considerations, and a fear of future voter revolt. In the end it came down to that which New Zealand seems to do with extraordinary skill - finding compromises which different factions could accept. Most everyone won something, but had to give up a few demands in the process. New Zealand now has a government mandated plan to discontinue existing analogue TV transmission in favour of a gradual transition to all-digital.
It will be a hybrid service - major population centres will have DVB-T (digital video broadcasting/terrestrial) while the entire nation will have DVB-S (digital video satellite). The services will not be totally parallel as we will investigate - the terrestrial viewers are likely to end up with greater programme selection/diversity than the satellite folks. At the end of the transition, a date not yet cast in concrete, all existing analogue transmitters will be shut down, dismantled, and onsold to places like Samoa and The Cooks. And at that point, the VHF channels which provide the majority of the coverage for FTA analogue will be taken back by government and auctioned off to whomever is willing to pay the biggest price for megahertz.
There are significant unknowns in all of this making it impossible for iron clad policies to be issued or even hypothecated. And the largest of these is the response of the public, those people who own and operate more than 2 million TV reception devices in the country. The model for all of this, called 'FREEVIEW'(r) after a similar successful transition program in the UK, is operating under significantly
different ground rules. The "translation" of the UK-successful Freeview(r) to a consumer acceptable NZ Freeview(r) remains and will remain an unknown for perhaps 18 months.
World-wide, the public has shown an ingrained reluctance to invest in and adopt a digital upgrade simply on the promise of "better quality reception." Australia has struggled, continues to fight, a public unmoved by 'crystal clear images'. The UK recognised this public indifference early on, and adopted a 'more is better' approach - a (much) larger number of channels to select from as encouragement to spend money for a digital STB. The UK has nearly 75% of all homes now connected to one form or another of DVB whereas Australia in approximately the same time frame is barely hovering around 25% (both launching in 2001). And that includes the homes who subscribe to pay-satellite digital services. Digital may be the 'wave of the future' but presently, it has barely created a ripple for most adoptees.
The battle ground is at the consumer level
New Zealand's plan is to grant the two primary telecasters (TVNZ and CanWest) access to both satellite and terrestrial 'bandwidth' leaving to the programmers how they utilise this space. There is, as to be expected, infighting at this level - both sides claiming "commercial considerations" for keeping their ultimate programming plans undisclosed. In fact, neither wants to be first to commit because that will leave the other with the power to "snipe" at whatever decisions are announced. In the end, it is and will remain all about 'counting eyeballs' - how many people will select their programming, without respect to how it is delivered into their home. Both broadcasters are spending more and more time looking over their shoulders, not at one another but rather at that growing monster, Internet-delivered-video programming.
The hype and the facts
Television, print and web media coverage largely exaggerate the government decision, citing a $25 million subsidy "spread over five years" as their major contribution. Nobody has calculated what the transition to digital will cost 2,000,000 TV reception device owners: $200,000,000 at $100 per reception device, $400,000,000 at $200 per device up to $1,000,000,000 at $500 per device. A device? Parlour TV, kitchen/bedroom TV(s), and of course all of those wonderful recording gadgets that are only analogue compatible. Add to these costs the expenditures to convert an estimated 70,000 office/motel/hotel room receivers with either satellite or DVB-T "headends" and the numbers drive the government's $25,000,000 contribution down into the noise floor. If we take the $1,000,000,000 number and apply the 12.5% GST factor, government's "investment" of $25,000,000 creates revenue of $125,000,000 to tax receipts; not a bad return. And after all is done, government then comes back and sells the abandoned analogue VHF (and UHF) channels to who knows whom - some estimate another $130,000,000 income for the state. So government is looking at a total return in excess of $250,000,000 for its $25,000,000 'subsidy' investment; a very tidy 'bonus' indeed. Of course this is without the income earned over the years by the government transmission holdings company BCL/THL which will profit by selling/leasing new digital equipment on mountain top sites, maintaining those sites, and leasing the space therein to digital broadcasters.
The most errorneus 'hype' involves what viewers can expect. Technically, we have with a single transponder up to 18 TV programming channels to play with. Parallels drawn with the UK FREEVIEW are suggesting that means 18 FTA channels. Don't count on that, certainly do not expect that initially, if ever. First we have the problem of TVNZ duplication.
When TVNZ was first established, regional TV broadcast centres were the vogue with fully equipped studios in such places as Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. TVNZ, as it grew into an advertising entity, began selling commercials to local sponsors - 'local' is the key word. It made no sense for a Christchurch auto dealer to have his commercials seen in Auckland so these regional broadcast centres, during commercial breaks, dropped their local commercials into the transmission in lieu of what would have otherwise come from Auckland (or Wellington). In this way, TVNZ has created a sizeable, even large, following for its local/regional advertising spots.
With a terrestrial DVB-T system, the same policy can be followed - local commercials by regions, dropped in where appropriate and seen only in the designated geographic area. But with satellite we have one beam that reaches the entire country and no logical technical method of dropping out a Christchurch advertiser except in the South Island market. To answer this, TVNZ has been placing three separate programming streams on satellite for some years - one embedded in the SKY service (that is one for TVOne, another for TV2) which carries Auckland/north North Island advertising, and two more carried on B1 transponder 4. Using Sky's software tailored for TVNZ, if you are a SKY subscriber in northland you actually watch TVOne (and TV2) through the B1 SKY transponder 7U. This ensures you receive the appropriate advertising for your region. And if you are in the south of North Island (Wellington region) your Sky decoder is latched onto TVNZ's B1 transponder 4 and a version of the service featuring commercials for that region. And South Island - a third TVOne and TV2 pair of programming channels carrying commercials only for that region.
So today, as it has been for several years, TVOne and TV2 have been FTA through SKY and through TVNZ's B1 transponder 7U. The programming is identical, many of the (national advertising) commercials are identical but each carries local commercials only for a portion of the country.
So add it up - TVOne times 3, TV2 times 3 and you have six programme channels. Out of how many? The maximum number is 18 so now we have 12 left to use. Nobody has bothered to explain that to the press folks writing about the glamour of the new digital revolution. No matter how you use your fingers and toes to count, six of the 18 possible are essentially duplicates of two services which means four of 18 will be consumed, wasted as it were, and not available for "new, additional, different programming."
It is a major deception. Eighteen was not all that many to begin with and 14 is even less attractive. But it is a fact. You can anticipate the response when consumers learn this.
So how might 14 be divided? TVNZ and CanWest are not saying - "a matter of commercial sensitivity" - you understand. So anyone who knows is either silent or in fact they don't know - yet.
Some are obvious:
We'll start by marking #13-#18 reserved for TVNZ.
#12 - Maori TV
#11 - TV3 (which does not do regional breakout advertising)
#10 - CanWest's C4 (not actually confirmed but logical)
# 9- There is speculation that TAB with its horse racing might be available on satellite here
The division of the remaining 8 becomes the battleground. And if "more TV," free to air, is what it will take to entice Kiwis into spending money for DVB-S - well, content is critical.
Note here that by eliminating (as unnecessary) the extra-two TVOne and TV2 channels that appear on satellite, the terrestrial service adds four possible channels for additional programming; food for future consideration.
Which brings us back to "commercial sensitivity" and the reality that New Zealand is a small country and the dollar resources for programming, subject to advertising support, are minimal. So the pundits are loose, hypothecating, guessing, attempting to plant their own whims into the mindset at both TVNZ and CanWest.
CanWest may have much more to say about the way the "last 8 unspecified (satellite) channels" are used than is generally recognised. If we were to believe that TVNZ insisted on getting 6 satellite programme channels to support their (unique) approach to regional advertisers only after agreeing at the boardroom level to granting CanWest an equivalent number of 'primary channels' (6), then we have a new equation. Out of 18, TVNZ takes 6 and CanWest takes 6. Now add in Maori TV and TAB and set aside the possibility of one for Prime and we have only 3 unspoken for. With 6 to play with, TV3 and C4 shoe-ins, that grants CanWest 4 additional out of the 6 primary to innovate. If CanWest was really clever, and TVNZ lumbered with 4 duplicates out of 6, satellite could become a 'CanWest preserve' for new programming.
There is one (other) possibility nobody openly discusses; yet. The 'sale' (rental, actually) of some of these 8 remaining to non-Kiwi broadcasters. Such as CCTV or DW. This would create a minor amount of income for the transponder rental and allow the initial offering to be 'fat' if not luxuriate in content.
But if the Kiwi public is to respond enthusiastically, standing in line at Bond and Bond to purchase, Chinese and German programming is a pretty dangerous filler - likely to create a barrier which could haunt the project for months or years. You can almost forecast the 'letters to the editor' if Kiwis spent money for a STB system and then discovered Chinese and German TV as 'filler material'!
No doubt there will be additional Kiwi-created programming in the 'remaining 8' and your guess is as good as any one else's.
Rumours suggest a number of possibilities but don't expect miracles. (1) An all-news channel created by TVNZ, (2) a children's channel (might come from TV2 or TV3 or both actually working together), (3) a time shifted version of any or all three of the major players - TVOne, TV2 or TV3. Time shifting? Say running 7PM at 9PM, or running all of the Monday midnight to midnight on Tuesday midnight to midnight (24 hours delayed from original broadcast). (4) A TVNZ archival channel from the tens of thousands of hours locked away in the TVNZ vaults. (5) A 'yesteryear sports' channel, again from the vaults of TVNZ. (6) A CanWest corporate channel - they operate a host of stations around the world (Australia, Canada, Ireland, Africa) and have world programming archives comparable if not greater than TVNZ locally. And if you are not pleased with these options, make up your own. Oh yes - sum the above and it comes to 8.
The hardware world
At the risk of sounding very disagreeable, less than positive, we'll now descend to the hardware challenges. There are some.
TVNZ's engineering department has been keen to elevate New Zealand's run at digital from the standard MPEG-2 technical format to MPEG-4 plus MHEG-5. We discussed this at length in SatFACTS #142 (p. 18) coming to the reasoned conclusion that a relatively small country waiting to absorb at most a couple of million DVB-S and DVB-T devices cannot put much pressure on point-of-origin suppliers to satisfy our demands. In other words, we are forced to utilise the formats currently available in quantity and to that point, TVNZ has now done the intelligent thing: Initially everything will be MPEG-2. That is official. And that means virtually any STB suppliers who can meet the standard MPEG-2 criteria can compete for the business here. The criteria? See full disclosure on pages 9 and 10.
Alas, there are some interesting 'demands' in that list of criteria. First, the purpose of criteria (a 'standard' for receivers to be sold in NZ). TVNZ in particular fears a flood of cheap, stripped down STBs - the kind that retail for $100 or even less, primarily because there remains at Television New Zealand a cadre of folks who are firmly committed to MHEG-5 Teletext and "interactivity" - whatever that may ultimately mean. Turn back to page 9 and note the "2" and "3" series of requirements, in particular 3.3, 3.4 plus 5.3. Simultaneous display of subtitles and access to interactive graphics is leading edge stuff as is "automatic identification / storage of service changes." When you or I learn (from apsattv, Lyngsat or wherever) of a new channel within a previously loaded transponder/bouquet, we typically must erase the old data, rescanning for the replacement updated data containing the new service(s). TVNZ wants the STB to somehow identify any such additions or changes "without viewer intervention;" not impossible but not exactly mainstream either.
The (TVNZ) goal is to make digital reception as user-easy as possible, eliminating the need for complete reprogramming or calls to technicians to do it. A nice, logical desire, but perhaps not practical initially.
TVNZ plans, with CanWest, to 'certify' receivers offered for sale and undoubtedly the massive advertising and printed literature will 'warn' buyers to not accept a non-certified STB product. They do not intend to be in the import/distribution business; they do plan to control ("80%") of the market by discouraging cheap receivers that don't comply with their (pages 9 and 10) 'shopping list.' And their reasons are self-serving if sound: the 'future' of digital, as they plan it in text and interactive areas, will demand receivers with base-line MHEG-5 skills. Anything less will leave them unable to explore new (interactive) services in the future.
So can you import receivers and sell them without their certification? Yes. Can you flog off these receivers to customers at lower-than pricing? Probably. Could you be held responsible when at some future date the users discover their receivers do not meet the TVNZ base-line recommendations? Only if you misrepresent the capabilities of your imported box - be careful of what you promise and remember all imported products must be electrically certified to be sold - a matter of safety, not a TVNZ criteria issue.
The matter of a "name"
"Freeview" began as a British name, duly registered, wholly owned and controlled by the BBC. The use of the same name in New Zealand was a matter of registration as well - on behalf of TVNZ. There have been problems, already. One enterprising supplier of receivers advertised "Freeview Receivers" and promptly heard from TVNZ; the message was "cease and desist."
You are not allowed to use the registered name of anyone unless you indicate its ownership status. Coke without Coke(r) or some similar "trademarked" or "copyrighted" indication is technically a violation of the registration.
There might be variations; take "Free2view" for example - kind of says the same thing, right? Someone beat you to that one (Altsix Technology Ltd in registration of a domain name using that phrase; June 17). Could you vary one of these names (such as "Free-2-View") and get your own registration rights? Try it and see. Oh yes, a domain name registration is not the same as a a registered trademark. The world can be a complex place.
The name, of course, will say it all - and have a significant impact on the consumer acceptance of any product brought to market. Oh yes - TVNZ appears to have allowed their early registration of 'Freeview' as a trademark to lapse back in 2005!
The status of regional TV services
On the outskirts of TVNZ and CanWest, we have Prime (now owned by SKY Network), TAB (likely to be a part of the DVB-T and DVB-S scenario), Auckland/Wellington's Triangle Television and a handful of others scattered throughout the country.
Officially, any of these (or others not in operation) can join the FREEVIEW(r) service package. All it takes is money - a willingness (and ability) to meet the monthly costs of a shared transponder or shared UHF channel bouquet. If you have or could raise a few million, you too could be on satellite and/or optionally available through selected terrestrial digital transmitters.
The logical direction for any of these is to "buy space" on one or more regional broadcast packages such as - Waitarua + North Shore transmitters, an example for Triangle Auckland. In the future, subject to channel space availability and investment capital, Triangle could expand to the Hamilton or other North Island (terrestrial) sites. Prime, a division of SKY, is not expected to initially be available on satellite FREEVIEW(r) although it will adopt the terrestrial format.
The regionals are not shut out, nor are they going to get a 'free ride' on FREEVIEW(r). If they wish to compete, it will cost money and there are unlikely to be government subsidies.
The quick turn about
For several years, SKY Network has offered a "free to air" package plan consisting of TVOne, TV2, TV3, C4, TAB, Prime and some radio for a (current) monthly charge just over $18. They call this the "broadcast package" and promote it as an "account activation saver" when subscribers are out of town/the country for months (in other words, a better choice in their mind than you asking for a disconnect when the service is not in use). Some sources claim there are 18,000 such accounts at Sky - that could be an average with people going on and off, it could be a total guess.
Some percentage of these have the "broadcast package" because that is all they want (or can afford). This group, whether 1,800 or 18,000, are likely to be early adopters of the FREEVIEW(r) satellite service - saving nearly $220 in one year. They already have (if not own) a dish + LNB + coaxial line, and with the launch of FREEVIEW(r) a replacement STB capable of the service will get them out of the SKY billing routine. Almost.
SKY, being the new owner of Prime, can remind people that (until perhaps 2010) "there is no Prime" on Freeview (satellite). A not so gentle reminder that Freeview(r) is not "complete" without their channel; abandoning SKY's "broadcast package" is to take a viewing step in reverse. Sky's influence is there, even when they are not.
Timing
The clock to activate digital television in New Zealand has been wound. Alas, like setting the timer on your oven stove, someone must push "start" before the clock initiates the "count down." The major item here is the launch and successful positioning and checkout of D1, for which there is only vague hopes for September-October. TVNZ has a push cart, along with CanWest, but neither have any produce to sell. If D1 delays far enough, the boys and girls at BCL might even get a number of the DVB-T transmitters functioning before the "S" element is operating.
In that interim, possibly as long as six months, the players will continue their games to negotiate programming rights, hardware rights, and advertising promotion programs. We are not there - yet - but at least we have a "there" for the first time.
(From SatFACTS July 15, 2005; #143)
Note: Photos, artwork and support materials appearing with the original SatFACTS report does not appear here.
Coship. Remember them? They brought out a blind scan receiver (SF#107) which quickly became controversial, especially in the USA where some sort of disagreement erupted between the original importer (DMS International) and the Chinese company. Nothing good came out of that save the passage of time.
Coship has endured, worked diligently on improving their product, and once again is back - this time with what must be considered the near-ultimate solution to most every enthusiast's dream machine. The electrical specifications appear here (page 18).
Coship is a Chinese firm with a strong urgency to "catch-up" and then "surpass" the best designs of the competition. For however long it takes the "other guys" to catch up, they have accomplished this with the current series of receivers; 3 in all. There is a low-cost FTA only version, a middle-cost FTA + CI version (which we have not seen and to the best of our knowledge is not currently distributed in the Pacific), and, their top-dog unit - which we review here.
FTA + CI (conditional access with appropriate card, CAM) using one or two (your choice) external CAMs is inbuilt. The CI formats possible include Conax, Cryptoworks, Irdeto, Nagravision, Seca and Viaccess. We tested Irdeto. No, NDS is not an option - the Murdoch folks do not authorise their CA format to be in-built into receivers save when those receivers are intended for an NDS programmer to use.
There are two tuners in-built, allowing you to do a FTA and CA simultaneously, or FTA x 2 or CA x 2 (with appropriate card/CAMs). You can, with the PVR, simply record the program (the usual menu functions allow selection of which channel and when), or tell the PVR you wish to "time shift" say 7PM on WIN to 9 PM playback (you can select any auto-playback point up to 12 hours in advance). In the
loading menus, you have the usual options of FTA only, FTA + CA, with and without radio. The blindscan feature is quite flawless and amazingly rapid. In this way you can be day-current with the latest transponder content listings as often as you wish to perform that function - which beats the days delayed Lyngsat listings. The speed of the blind scan is measured in minutes per satellite now - a vast improvement from the very first blind-scanners we tested (SF#78, #79) with up to ten hours to complete a satellite and in the process producing plenty of repeat listings. The Coship is not totally free of repeats but it comes close. And if you are a purist and want every satellite listing to be pristine, the edit-out function allows you to toss any you don't want (or believe).
What makes this receiver pretty much in a class by itself is that it works as you would hope a do-it-all product would and should work. We found, with the CAM supplied by the distributor, it does some "all pass" things with a number of Australian based channels which nominally require a smart card - for what that may be worth to you.
The receiver will support a single dish + LNB, single dish + dual LNB, 2 separate dishes, or two dishes with dual LNBs (DiSEqC or 22 kHz tone burst switching external). LNB support includes Universal 1 (9750, 10600), Universal 2 (9750, 10750), Single C-band (5150) or dual (5150, 5750 - the latter for India's unique C-band use). Additionally, software allows creation of your own unique LNB LO (local oscillator) setting (such as 11300, which of interest, is not automatically included).
DiSEqC functions based upon the LNB type(s) in use; 1.3 motor drive functions (and USALS) is also in-built. Using 1.3, the motor limits are set and a series of straight forward steps follow including a "nudge east/west" function which allows the dish to be rotated mechanically after finding one or more satellites, and the system recalculates where all satellites are now located ("moved" as a function of the nudging). A further menu calculation allows inputting of your longitude and latitude which creates a dish position memory for future reference.
Scanning is chosen based upon what you want placed in memory: All services (radio and TV, including CA), FTA only, radio only or TV only. Individual transponder search can be done, along with the full satellite. PID numbers can also be entered when the data stream fails to provide that information. All software is upgradeable from another STB (RS232 connection), or directly from a service. If the signal level and quality meters register properly, pushing 'PID Upgrade' rescans that service and locating new PID numbers replaces the old ones. Oh yes, like most products these days, the default password (resettable) for the various protected functions is "0000."
The video quality is especially sharp - evidence that as the demodulator and processing worlds have matured, software implementation has gradually improved a step at a time. If you compare the image quality against an earlier model Coship, or virtually anything else in the 2003 era, the improvement is quite dramatic - of importance in a world where larger and larger plasma and LCD screens have now become commonplace.
But it is the menu and operating system where this receiver excels. No doubt there are others yet to be tested which are comparable but as the photos attempt to show here, the options available allow a variety of picture in picture and picture in graphic combinations as you wander through the orbit belt or the transponders on a particular bird.
The PIP allows you to watch two channels simultaneously, watch a previously recorded and live simultaneously, watch live while checking on the status of a recording underway. The PVR contents can be programmed for "cascade playing" (a sequence you establish with the menu and remote, skipping around on the PVR as you direct), while forward and reverse playbacks can be varied between 12 times full speed down to 1/12th slow in 9 steps. If you wish for some reason, tell the machine to "repeat PVR playback" on whatever you have selected for display. The size (recording time capacity) of the HDD is chosen at the time of purchase - from 20GB up to 160 GB (there is an elusive reference to 250GB in the written manual, as well).
The EPG is pretty state-of-the-art. There is a "current" listing, next-day (green key) and previous day (blue key) choice. Programme descriptions also appear, not merely the title. By working ahead of current-time listings, the user can select a programme to automatically be selected for viewing (or recorded using the PVR). The menu includes a 'EPG View' listing - a way to check on those scheduled, make changes (such as modify the PVR recording list). Yes, there is teletext as well.
As you might expect, with so many functions, the remote control could be intimidating to technophobes; there are 36 buttons with submenus hidden behind some of these. The manual, adequate, is not brilliant and would be a challenge for a proper English language "proof reader" attempting to sort out the original intent of the words from the stated print. There is one feature we found very useful - "Help" gets you to a detailed set of steps describing any function you wish, on the screen - in effect you can ignore the printed manual if you wish. And you won't need a language translator with this one.
Summary
This is not the ultimate receiver for every user but with limited exceptions it will do most everything the enthusiast and serious videophile will wish. HD and 4:2:2 is not included and it lacks the MHEG-5 middleware which the folks at Television New Zealand are requesting for their new FTA service. The complexity is significant and while you can remove it from the box, plug it in, turn it on and see pictures, that would be a mistake if you stop there. It does much more if you will take an hour or two to acquaint yourself with the skills that went into its design.
(From SatFACTS #142, June 15, 2006)
NOTE: Original photos appearing in SatFACTS #142 do not appear here
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It has been said, "The best way to create a run on the bank is to start a rumour that the facility is closing." Our telecommunications system is akin to a bank - totally dependent upon the support of the public, subject to regulatory constraints and without warning new technology developments which threaten to bury even the most established of services. It is the speed of technological advances which most threatens to create a run on our telecommunications bank.
Prior to satellites, only very limited program exchanges could take place between geographically defined points (Los Angeles > Sydney), always with a time delay (measured in days, weeks) and often with a sacrifice in broadcast quality. Early satellites, including Sputnik, carried the message on board, into space - from which they were broadcast. The satellite was taking advantage of a natural law of physics - all radio (television) waves radiate from the transmitter (source) in straight lines - to have quality (or any) reception requires that, in the physical sense, the transmitter can 'see' the receiver. Progressively past the point of 'optical connection' there will be less and less signal available until a distant point is reached where the signal remaining is too weak to allow a receiver to operate. At some point between the 'optical limit' and the last 'fringe area reception' zone the majority of the signal wanders off into space. Between those two points, any reception of the no-longer optical-connected transmitter requires larger, higher gain, more expensive reception antennas, masthead amplifiers, and both good system design plus a fair amount of luck. VHF (bands I, II and II) and UHF (bands IV, V) waves are especially prone to this effect which is moderated by the minute/hour/day with the atmospheric weather conditions that exist (creating unstable, often fading up and down in signal level reception) within the critical optic to non-optic reception point.
Sputnik and other early US satellites carried pre-recorded messages to an altitude where 'line-of-sight' (the optical horizon) was significantly further than anyone could attain with an earth bound transmission tower. A transmission tower, were there such a thing, 16km in height would provide an optical point near 300km distant. A transmitter orbiting the earth, as Sputnik did, at a height of 160km extends the optical range to nearly 800km. A geostationary satellite, hovering above the equator at 35,600km provides an optical coverage over a distance of nearly 16,000km from the earth point above which the satellite rests.
The goal, from the 1945 era onward, was to create a system to make this happen - to place a 'radio relay' station 35,600km above the equator and then to lock its forward motion speed (nothing can stand still in space for long - gravity and solar effects will move it) to the earth's rotational speed (24 hours for a complete revolution). Arthur C. Clarke's space-breaking analysis of this in November 1946 suggested all of the currently used factors with one oversight; Clarke saw the 'radio relays' as manned contrivances with programming content sent to, manipulated by, the on board crew before being retransmitted to earth. In fact, the first and later geostationary satellites would be unmanned and function as automatic, unattended relay stations.
Geostationary satellites, then, changed all of the rules. No longer were television (radio, telephone, data link) circuits limited by a relatively short 'optical link horizon' measured in tens or a few hundred kilometres. In theory, the polar regions above and below 75N and 75S aside, three properly placed geostationary satellites could provide full-earth coverage with a modest amount of overlap between the three.
Further, if the 'thru-put' (bandwidth or traffic capacity) of any of the three was consumed, the system could be expanded by simply sending another parallel operating satellite to approximately the same geostationary location; a nearly endless growth opportunity.
A run on telco's bank
By the 1980s, the demonstrated capabilities of satellite were so promising that analysts were openly predicting the end of earth-bound communication circuits. Most directly affected by this fear, local-regional-national and international wire dependent telephone firms. It could be shown, on paper, that it cost less - far less - to launch a new satellite over the Pacific to connect say the USA and Australia then to consider spooling out 14,000 miles of new under sea cable. Furthermore, the bandwidth of traffic capacity of the satellite was superior (in the mid 80s) to the best then-available undersea cables. And this created a "run on the net worth" (stock) for the telephone giants. Yet here, twenty years post this era, the telephone firms continue robust, healthy, and by-in-large still dominant. What happened to deflect this satellite threat?
Fibre optic is the answer. Fibre optic is to standard cabling what satellite originally was to optical-horizon limited transmission systems. It goes further, with a far greater capacity, than copper/lead/silver/platinum based cables; whether above ground, in the ground or under the sea. Further, fibre optic cables can be designed with virtually any number of separate, individual, transmission paths. If the bandwidth capacity requirement of one fibre bundle will be exceeded by the traffic between Los Angeles and Sydney, simply bundle additional cables into a common outer sheath. The real investment dollars in fibre systems is not the fibre itself but the labour and support equipment required to put the fibre in place. For 3-4% additional total cost, the bandwidth capacity on a link from Los Angeles to Sydney can be doubled; doubled again for another 10-12%. Suddenly the terrestrial-bound telephone companies had a cost effective answer to the threat of satellites. And that, by the mid 90s, created a reverse run on the bank; this one on satellite company stock values.
Satellite and major fibre optic projects run from the mid-hundreds-of-million-dollar to the multi-billion dollar range. Finance comes from the largest of banking groups, and there is (and has always been) a 'herd mentality' within such groups. Even the first (1860s) trans-Atlantic lead sheathed single circuit (one message at a time) undersea cable links were vulnerable to the quirks and moods of the banking community.
In the ten year span from the mid-90s to today, there has been a slow realisation in banking circles that while satellites may have at one time been a threat to ground/undersea based networking, in fact there is a marketplace need for both, simultaneously. Most now accept that satellites do one thing very well (provide in or out links from a geographic point without advance warning or time to create a connection to fibre optics) while the ever growing reach of fibre does something else very well; large (to very large) 'broadband' connections between any two (or more) points - provided only that each of the points is within plug-in range of a fibre optic network.
A stable platform
A combination of these two once-competitive systems is now reaching a mature stage of technological perfection beyond which major advances will be in an unrelated field; software. Either can connect you to anyone anywhere but the capacity of each continues to be paced less by their individual infrastructures than the support systems that 'plug in' to either one.
This is the "compression' challenge. Both satellite and fibre are pretty much 'transparent' to the user and the material being transmitted but each has an individual 'maximum capacity' available. You cannot force 5 litres of liquid into a 4 litre container and both satellite and fibre have capacity carriage limits set by the design of their systems. When a satellite runs out of capacity, the obvious solution is to create a second one and stick it next to the first; 5 litres into two side-by-side 4 litre containers. When a fibre network runs out of 'bandwidth', place a new one parallel to it.
There is a better solution; that 'compression' term again.
Until the mid 80s, the only way mankind could manipulate voice, vision, data was to use an electronic format known as analogue, dating back to the first faltering steps with the telephone in the late 19th century. But something knew, called digital, was developing, primarily as a result of the creation of computer systems. Digital was to analogue what the first petrol operated vehicles was to the horse and buggy limitations of transport, an entirely new level of freedom and from that development a multitude of new commercial opportunities (and decades of coping with the change - from roadways to motels to shopping centres, all dependent upon the petrol machines).
Early digital (through the mid-90s) produced higher transmission quality, not to be confused with lower costs. Initially, the 'bandwidth' of a digital-format television program approached the 'bandwidth' of analogue. But analogue had a compression barrier - how small the bandwidth could become before the quality deteriorated below an acceptable level - and digital held the promise it did not.
Early digital (MPEG-1 format) was better but not appreciably more efficient than analogue. Fortunately, before there was much adoption of digital, MPEG-2 was perfected (today most of what we see on satellite remains MPEG-2) and now for the first time it was possible to chain together two-up to eight separate TV channels into the bandwidth 'space' required for a single analogue channel. It was at this point that the real creative juices began to flow in software shops world wide.
The challenge
Bandwidth, such as through a satellite transponder, is finite; there are edges to it, there are maximums. But bandwidth is like seats in a modern 747; in a given amount of floor space (floor space equals bandwidth) you can place 40 First Class seats, or, 85 economy seats. The difference between 40 and 85 is dollars - always dollars.
A 27 MHz bandwidth transponder (or an equivalent amount of space in a fibre line) works best for the investors when it is 'full'. Remember - investors are folks who go to hard-nosed bankers seeking hundreds of millions of dollars to build a satellite (or fibre network).
A 747 with 40 first class seats sells each seat for an established price. If the same floor space will accommodate 85 economy customers, there is a constant juggling of how to use that space (notice how easily the partitions separating first and economy can be moved and the seats repositioned the next time you are on a major size plane).
Here the analogy ends. A 27 MHz bandwidth transponder can be configured to accommodate a single MCPC (such as the once-Euro bouquet on As2) or it can be divided into smaller ('economy seat') slices for as many as ten-twelve separate users. Now, suppose that one of those 'slice users' found a way to reduce his bandwidth from say 2.5 MHz to 1.5 MHz and lose nothing in the process - except a monthly payment for an additional 1 MHz of transponder space (which he no longer required)? Remember - all users of satellite, fibre networks, pay first and foremost for the bandwidth they consume.
Compression: The art of making large amounts of data fit into smaller bandwidths. Of all transmission formats, video (moving images) is the most difficult to compress. A television image at 25/30 'frames' per second transmits and retransmits the same time-evolving image over and over again. The frames-per-second creates the illusion (it is an illusion, totally dependent upon the ability of your brain through your eye-vision to assimilate rapidly changing content) of motion. Television is not, never has been, 'motion' in the sense that your eye normally sees motion live and direct (you at the scene of motion). It is, always has been, a series of 'rapidly changing single shot slides' changing from one to another so fast that each one stays in your mind just long enough for the next one in the series to imprint.
Compression is the art of looking at each 1/25th (1/30th) 'slide' and electronically picking up only the changes between content from slide 1 to slide 2 (etc.). So rather than transmitting all of slide 1 all over again, with the usually small change found in slide 2, compression sees where the scene from 1 to 2 has in fact really changed and then as 'slide 2', it transmits only that change. At the receiver, slide 1 is retained while slide 2 changes only modify the content of 1 and that is what the viewer sees; slide 1 modified by the changes in slide 2. This sequence repeats itself for slides 3 and so on.
If you only send the changes between 'slides' much less bandwidth is required (by not repeating the static portion of 1 again, the bandwidth required for the static portion is ignored).
Alas, what is change? How much deviation between slide 1 and 2 can be tolerated before the compression system decides it is change in content?
Moreover, what is the processing system doing with the original unchanged content of slide 1? In Kenny Schaffer's TV2Me broadcast quality Internet video transmission system all of slide 1 is reprocessed as slide 2 along with the modest changes between 1 and 2. In the low-cost Slingbox transmission system, the changes in 2 from 1 are merely 'pasted' on top of slide 1 and the result on any screen of decent size is a blurred image whereas with TV2Me the image is significantly higher quality.
This, then, is the challenge. How much 'motion' can you take out of the video content and not create an image which is something less than full-flow video? Is it possible to take out more than the original can stand, and then, somehow, smooth over the rough edges at the receiver?
MPEG2>MPEG4>MHEG5
There is money - big money - in compression. Firstly, any commercial viable compression technology (software) can be sold to and used by a programmer. And money changes hands. Next, when a programmer reduces the bandwidth he requires on satellite (or fibre) because of 'better' compression, he pays less for his (smaller) bandwidth. Indirectly you might expect that to be contrary to the best interests of the satellite (or fibre network) operator. It is not - this opens up new opportunities to sell new previously-in-use bandwidth to new users (think of 747 Economy versus first class seating). The market expands, everyone is happy.
Well, almost. Because for every change in compression technology there must be a companion change in the equipment used at the receiving end of the circuit - your home or shop - and that is where the problems arise.
A MPEG-2 receiver will not (there are exceptions but few) work with MPEG-4 and MPEG-4 is the now-being-rolled out latest compression algorithm. There is a danger here - a big one for satellite operators. An example. Britain's BSkyB wants to roll out HD (high definition) channels and beat the BBC (and others) in the UK to this next plateau of technology. Anticipating arrival of MPEG-4 level HD receivers, BSkyB promoted the service heavily and took orders for receivers. Now, unfortunately, they are being forced into the not-good-for-public-relations position of advising those who ordered the HD receivers yonks ago that because of a supplier crunch, there HD receivers will be late; very late.
Rushing in with a new compression technology is dangerous, for without support from the receiver suppliers, you could (as BSkyB seems to be) embarrassed by optimistic but unrealistic promises to deliver the receivers.
If MPEG-4 is the latest gee-whiz technology (and requiring its own hardware-software derived receivers), still further down the track is MHEG-5 which adds interactivity to MPEG-2 or MPEG-4. At any given moment in time (like, right now) there is: (1) The accepted, majority used MPEG software, (2) The next 'pretender' software, approved for mass use but still struggling to transition from embryonic to real world, and finally, (3) The next 'under development' system which in a few years becomes the 'next pretender' as something else comes along to replace it as the 'in development' version. For the immediate future, this sequence is likely to continue - software developers around the world are at this very instant working on MHEG-6 or whatever it may ultimately be called.
The pathway from "Eureka!" (look at this!) to general availability of a new technology is long and not as rapid as one might expect. Any advance requires, as a minimum, a brand new processor chip. Which is where BSkyB got into trouble - the chip makers were not able to deliver MPEG-4 specific chips to the chosen receiver supplier - as they had promised. There are other changes of course - at the transmission end of the circuit, the encoders have to be reconfigured from one format (MPEG-2) to the new one. All of this suggests, correctly, that the transitional period from one established software compression routine to the 'next' generation is not without its hiccups.
MPEG-4 is truly coming - it will infect hard drive recorders, DVD recorders, even DVD players. But in that roll-out process, many people will find something they thought was the latest is not in fact that. MPEG-4 is supposed to be backward compatible with MPEG 2 (and even 1) which means in the case of DVD players, all of those movie discs you have collected will (should!) play even on the new '4' player.
MHEG-5, on the other hand, while ten years in the making (SatFACTS #141, p. 4), remains a contender for the 'next level of interactivity' which will involve a long trail yet to be travelled for industry acceptance, custom chip creation and ultimately the manufacture of hardware to process it. What should be obvious here is that while new compression and signal processing may be desirable for users, the pathway from "Eureka!" to marketplace is as a frequently ten years - or longer.
And this note regarding MHEG-5: Although there are individuals at TVNZ who believe this is the future of their FTA service, perhaps primarily because MHEG-5 has teletext capabilities missing with MPEG-2 and MPEG-4, the reality is that 'tiny' New Zealand is not in a position to even 'trial' such a technology on a nation-wide basis lacking general industry approval of the technology. Even MPEG-4, right now - today - is a dangerous exercise as BSkyB has discovered.
Is there an end?
An obvious question is "where" and "when" will it all end? At what point have we compressed digital to the final Nth degree and any further compression only results in more artefacts which cannot be corrected by receiver processing?
If Kenny Schaffer (TV2Me) is accurate, "another ten years - possibly." Kenny believes there is a 'major breakthrough' still to be worked out - the ability to recreate full motion video on normal 30 Kbps dial-up telephone lines (or their equivalent; in ten years time there are not likely to be many 30 Kbps restricted phone lines still functional except in third world countries).
In the interim there will be bad decisions (BSkyB's to rush into MPEG-4 HD), slow starters and dreamers who mix fact with fiction. Digital, the technology, has turned out to be "the technology that will change the world overnight" into "the technology that will, perhaps by 2020, be as mature as analogue was in 1980 when all of this digital hype began."
As an installer or consumer of television products, it is important to maintain a perspective on how much slower this 'new' technology is taking over - contrary to the original predictions and expectations. In the consumer retail marketplace, the original analogue products will disappear almost overnight when in each country the transition to over the air digital television takes place. That is one of the mysteries remaining - how can a country such as the UK or the USA with very high penetrations of broadband Internet logically sustain the development of digital terrestrial when faced with the ultimate likely scenario - only a very small percentage of television users retain an off-the-air connection for their television reception. Only time will tell. In the end, it will all be digital in some form.
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(Update end August 21, 2006)