Re: veto power?

[dan.strassberg@att.net]

And DVB uses OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division 
multiplexing) as its modulation scheme vs 8-VSB (eight-
level vestigial sideband modulation), which is the ATSC 
standard. Allegedly, OFDM makes DVB far more immune than 
ATSC to the effects of multipath.

Sinclair Broadcasting had intended to petition the FCC 
to allow OFDM as an alternate modulation scheme to 8-VSB 
but withdrew or never filed its petition after two IC 
companies claimed to have developed decoder ICs that 
overcome 8-VSB's inherent limitations.

Nevertheless, nobody can say that the over-the-air 
testing of 8-VSB didn't make some truly optimistic 
assumptions. The truck that was used for reception 
testing placed the receiving antenna atop a 40' mast. 
How many homeowners (let alone apartment dwellers) will 
put their TV antennas on a 40' mast? So how can anyone 
say with a straight face that the over-the-air tests of 
ATSC represented real-world conditions?

As for the claims of the two IC companies, I've heard of 
no exhaustive testing that demonstrates the truth of 
their claims, and I can't help believing that the claims 
are tinged with the same sort of wishful thinking as 
those of IBOC DAB (in-band, on-channel digital-audio 
broadcasting) advocates.

> ObBroadcast: EchoStar uses the European DVB system for digital video.
> Like ATSC in the US, DVB is based on the MPEG-2 FlexMux facility.  DVB
> uses an older audio codec and provides a different set of standard
> resolutions and ``system service'' (metainformation) channels.
> 
> -GAWollman