This is a proposal I am working on with some people, I have put it here because it might protect me a little to have it published online:

 

Continue reading “Virtualised broadcast infrastructure”

We haven’t been out to the theatre for a while and we really wanted to get something in before year end. The cinema was really the easiest choice so we decided to catch a film which has been making a fair bit of noise lately: “Avatar” by James Cameron staring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver.

Continue reading “Avatar 3D: My Opinion and Review”

A little while ago I purchased a second hand Fujitsu-Siemens Scaleo EVi 2535 Home Theatre PC which ran Vista and now runs Windows 7. I recently upgraded it from the original 1.86GHz Core2Duo processor and 2GB of RAM to have now a Q6600 quad core 2.4GHz processor and 4GB of RAM (using a Zalman fan to keep it at a good temperature. I also supplemented the on-board Intel graphics with an nVidia GeForce 210 graphics card with 512MB of GDDR2 RAM (capable of also sharing 1.1GB of system RAM). Overall the only thing left to upgrade is the noisy DVD drive tobe a quiet BluRay.

I wondered if I could do better than Windows 7 and so I looked towards Linux. I installed Kubuntu 8.10 easily enough, but getting the nVidia drivers working was a pain, then when I installed LinuxMCE it took me hours to try and resolve the dependencies. After this it finally launched, but got stuck in a loop because it didn’t install correctly and you can’t un-install it.

I then re-installed 8.10, in order to use MythTV and updated the OS to 9.04 as it suggested. Then I also had to have the nVidia packages installed and that was grief because the wifi refused to authenticate for most of the time I had allocated. Then when I got the nVidia drivers installed it started freezing at random. So, I removed the hard disk and returned to Windows 7. Windows MCE isn’t perfect and I like Linux as a server but overall I can’t live with dependencies like that.

I will continue to look at Linux and welcome any suggestions but overall I can’t spend days of my life just to get something not working.

Continued…

My Brother recently wrote a post in his blog about Context Browsing and it is an interesting concept, but the biggest bane of my life is email sorting at the moment.

I use a combination of Thunderbird for personal email and Outlook for work email (because of Exchange, Journal and OWA proxy). In Thunderbird I love using the Bayes classifier to guess where emails should be placed (one click to put it where it has suggested) and this would be a useful addition to Outlook.

However, beyond this I would like to take advantage of taxonomies and hierarchies because when moving an email it can often be difficult to decide which folder is appropriate. If it is an email from the PR agency about a client of ours, or if it is an event involving a customer I would like to tag them in both categories. Then I would like to be able to drill down through a tree of those hierarchies to find emails. Even if this left all the emails in the in-box I would then be able to search the entire in-box by hierarchical taxonomy.

What do you think?

 

Email Hierarchy Tag Taxonomy

Introduction:

The coming launch of ‘Freeview HD‘ will doubtless have implications for retailers as well as consumers and in this note I hope to help address some of the questions. There are several new features which are implemented in ‘Freeview HD‘ which might impact consumer and some less obvious features you might not know about.

New features:

  • DVB-T2

This is a new type of transmission technology which has evolved from the existing DTT standards and next generation communications theory.

  • H.264 HD video

Using the more recent developments from MPEG using the H.264 compression method the video can be transmitted in as little as 25% of the bandwidth that would be required for the same type of transmission in MPEG2. This allows HD which would consumer substantially more bandwidth to be transmitted efficiently.

  • MHEG HD

MHEG is the standard for interactive services in the UK and is a very light weight system. It failed to impress some people in it’s original form but substantial progress has been made in the last few years to delivery a much more powerful user experience. The speed and graphics quality has been enhanced and the implementation on Freesat has already proven popular with consumers. As time passes the developers are able to demonstrate further enhancements in graphics performance and quality. The most significant step is in being able to render graphics to the screen with HD resolutions.

  • MHEG Interaction Channel

This allows MHEG applications to communicate back to the broadcasters over the consumers broadband package. This potentially gives consumers access to interactive voting, a wider range of content than can be broadcast and even streaming catch-up television. Broadcasters will decide what services they will implement but the connection is available to consumers on their product for those future services.

  • Audio Description

All products are now expected to be capable of audio description, this system allows people with visual impairments to have a description of the programme they are watching. TV is popular with a wide range of people and we are looking to include as many groups as possible. It will even work on HD channels, so the whole family can enjoy the latest releases. Some products may not support mixing multi-channel surround sound with AD tracks to produce surround out, but AD will still work with surround but produce a stereo output.

  • HD Subtitles

In addition to supporting existing Teletext format subtitles and standard DVB format subtitles the new boxes should now support HD format DVB subtitles which provides decent subtitles for HD video broadcasts.

Less obvious features:

  • HD Simulcast

The broadcaster can signal that a programme is also available in HD so that a viewer can get the best quality version even when watching the SD channel.

  • Content Management

Broadcasters have difficulties obtaining rights for some programmes to be broadcast in HD on free television. So in order to be licensed by ‘freeview’ the manufacturer must agree to record the broadcasts subject to rules that are transmitted by the broadcaster for each programme. It is possible for the broadcaster to signal that they will not permit the programme to be copied or that it may only be copied once. They may also indicate that the programme can be streamed or copied to DVD. The ability to archive and copy programme content is not a requirement but where it is implemented it must follow the broadcast rules.

  • Network Change Notification

The transmitter network can signal when changes are going to happen, this way when a re-tune is needed the receiving device can react more intelligently than they currently do.

  • Guidance Descriptor

A broadcaster can use new signaling on both programs and channels to indicate that their broadcasts contain content which may might not be appropriate for certain viewers. It is not intended just as an “Adult” genre but it is designed to show a wide range of sensitive issues, possibly including photosensitive epilepsy and violence.

Questions:

  • What type of antenna does Freeview HD device need?

Freeview HD uses a traditional UHF antenna as used by existing terrestrial television.

  • Will I need a new antenna for DVB-T2?

No, not unless you don’t get a good signal level currently. The T2 transmissions are being designed to perform under equal conditions as the existing digital transmissions but with more bandwidth to put more information in.

  • What does DVB-T2 provide to broadcasters/consumers?

The development of DVB-T2 was not just about the steady march of time but has been done to provide more data in the available bandwidth. This means that the broadcasters can send more information per transmitter. DVB-T already allows many channels to exist in the same equivalent

  • I have a High Definition ready TV, will it support Freeview HD?

Freeview HD requires the product to support the DVB-T2 transmission standard, only products made on/after winter 2009 and which say they support “Freeview HD” will work with the new service. All current IDTVs will need an external set-top box device to be able to receive Freeview HD. The current definition of “HD TV Ready” does not cover the new UK standard for HDTV.

  • Can I upgrade my receiver to support T2?

It is not possible to software upgrade any existing products to support DVB-T2 due to the significant differences between the platforms. In theory certain IDTV displays from certain manufacturers may be upgraded by replacing certain parts of the hardware, but no manufacturer has yet stated their intention to do this.

  • When will broadcasts of HD services start?

No dates have yet been confirmed, but it is expected that in preparation for product being available broadcasts are expected to begin during Winter of 2009. This schedule may change in response to changes in conditions and consumers should not expect to have reception before 2010. The service will have limited coverage to begin with and only certain areas will have availability to begin with. Consumers should check their coverage to determine what services are available in their area. It may be that a product like the Foxsat-HD or Foxsat-HDR (using the Freesat service) is the best way to get access to free HD channels.

  • When will product be available for Freeview HD?

While the technology of HD has been available for some time the variations required for the Freeview HD, particularly DVB-T2, will require significant work. Because new silicon chips must be designed for this service there needs to be careful work on this investment.

  • How many HD channels will be available?

There will be an HD service from the BBC and other services are expected from ITV-HD and Channel4 HD. Eventually a fourth and perhaps fifth HD provider are expected to join the platform. The platform operators are aiming to upgrade the video encoders to improve their efficiency in order to maximise the volume of content available on the platform for the available capacity.

Further definition:

  • DVB-T2:

A working group of the European DVB organisation has evolved this new standard for transmission. This has allowed more data to be broadcast in the same terrestrial spectrum. This is achieved by using powerful error correction technology as well as learning quite a number of lessons from the work on DVB-T. It has been many years since Digital Terrestrial Television was first launched in the UK and in this time the engineers/scientists have studied the different parameters available to engineers then this time has highlighted areas for improvement. The change in error correction is based on some mathematics which was first used in DVB-S2 and has now been refined further for DVB-T2. Overall the system is exploiting the next generation of technology and the latest innovations in transmission/communications theory.

  • Multiplex:

A multiplex is the container which is used to broadcast digital services. The UHF radio frequency ‘channel’ in which a single analogue service was broadcast in can now be occupied by a multiplex which can contain many digital television services. There are currently six multiplexes in the UK which carry all of our digital television viewing. Each multiplex can carry services of differing quality averaging between eight and fourteen video services.

  • Bandwidth:

Bandwidth is the measure of size of the information carried, the term can be used in analogue or digital environments. In analogue it is the number of Hz and in digital it is the number of bits per second (the rate at which data is carried through a system).

  • High Definition (HD) video:

Currently used to define any superior resolution of video over 720×576 in pixels.

This question was posed on LinkedIn recently and I responded in my usual disruptive style. Arguments were made against film because 4k sensors potentially don’t have enough dynamic range because of the photon capture well sizes. I think I covered that in my response reproduced below:

While I agree that the dynamic range issue could be a problem, I think that the argument can get a little confused because you can also shutter more quickly and thus you don’t have to fill the electron well. You can shoot at 50Hz progressive frames instead of the archaic 24Hz progressive frames. You then achieve much better motion rendering and make it much easier to shoot motion than with film.

With film the intermediate process immediately reduces quality, even with the finest sensor you can never do a 1:1 transfer of analogue media without loss of ‘signal’ or introduction of noise. Celluloid noise is a nature of the structure of the molecules deposited on the base, as well as the base itself, so while this noise is ‘analogue’ and thus more acceptable to us than digital noise, it is still present. CCDs are not without noise, but it can be more predictable and controllable as many TK’s demonstrate. I think digital origination has more advantages than resolution in presenting an image that is potentially clearer and more reliable than film.

Furthermore I have walked out of films because of the poor state of the print and so I welcome digital cinema for reliable theatrical presentation as well.

If you want to see a picture that can meet of exceed that of a 1950s cinema epic then take a look at SHV from NHK in Japan (demonstrated at IBC in Amsterdam last year with a real live link from London). Their prototype camera uses four 2.5 inch (64 mm) CCDs each with a resolution of only 3840 × 2048. Using two CCDs for green and one each for red and blue, they then used a spatial pixel offset method to bring it to 7680 × 4320. Aptina/Micron are now making a CMOS sensor for NHK’s next camera which is 4112 (H) x 2168 (V) and that can capture at up to 60fps. I dare say four of those will do the job!

OK, SHV will be another 5 years away before it is practical, but it is leading the charge towards very high resolution capture at decent frame rates and someone has to do the bleeding edge development to set the bar.

D-Cinema is here, it has many advantages which balance out and for me the most important issue is doing away with people saying they need to shoot a “filmic look”, Cinema is my favourite medium but film is a legacy and we need to move on. I have no doubt offended someone with this post, but I think it needs to be said 24p should be put behind us as soon as possible.

We have a new Canon Multi Function Device (printer, copier, scanner) in the office and it is network ready. So I have configured it to upload scans to the office server for easy access. The problem is that I want to purge these files after some time so as not to clog anything up. The solution was to archive them all off periodically using a CRON job and to use a shell script to manage that process. Here is the file I created:


#!/bin/sh

tar –no-recursion -cjf ~/canon/.archive/scan_archive_`date ‘+%Y-%m-%d.%s’`.tar.bz2 ~/canon/*
if [ $? -eq 0 ]
        then
                find ~/canon/ -name ‘*.jpg’ -mtime +6 -delete
                find ~/canon/ -name ‘*.tif’ -mtime +6 -delete
                find ~/canon/ -name ‘*.pdf’ -mtime +6 -delete
                find ~/canon/ -name ‘*.tar.bz2’ -mtime +180 -delete
        fi

This creates an archive which has a unique time-stamp in its name and then if that goes ahead successfully then it deletes any images older than 6 days from the directory. It also removes any archives older than 180 days just to stop this going on forever and I am contemplating getting it to delete any very small archives because when there is nothing to archive it still creates a fragment of an archive. I must thank this site for inspiring these commands and give them full credit.

Now this is cool, I was just browsing looking for silicon for our products and I found quite a funky little chip from Broadcom. It is the new BCM70020 which describes itself as “a single-chip, full featured, multi-standard audio/video decoder/encoder/transcoder solution targeting volume PC and PC-based consumer electronic applications.”

Not only can it encode HD from either analogue or digital sources, but it can transcode between different MPEG formats and also act as a scaler/down-converter! I think someone in the broadcast industry needs to get their hands on these quickly and create a multi-format scaler/encoder/transcoder matrix device! A few of these, a PCI-E bus and voila there you have a cool transmission ops device.

Very cool.

A question was posted on DigitalSpy which asked:

“Have there ever been or are there any “Pirate” satellite TV transmissions?”

So I answered and I thought I would share my response here:

It is not always required to have a license to broadcast in your target country, usually only the country broadcast from (this can be used to avoid local broadcast laws for advertising). In my past I have seen rouge transmissions, but they have usually not been pirate TV but illicit communications. More common is illegal jamming of transmissions as a result of political differences between nations, but again this more affects telecommunications than broadcast TV.

While it is possible to broadcast without permission, a satellite operator would rather jam an illicit signal rather than permit it to profit from transmission time which is not paid for. The simplest way to jam a signal is to put up a carrier spike through the offending transmission to prevent reception. It is possible to geographically locate a rogue transmission, but the resources required to do so are great and the timescales required are unpleasant. Satellite owners do not allocate such resources lightly because it would cause a great deal of disruption to their infrastructure. Usually jamming a rogue signal is enough to discourage illicit transmissions, this can be done cheaply and effectively.