[lomax]

WRAL-DT is to start useing some of its OTA bandwith to DATACAST, it is with a partnership with AccessDTV and a company called totalcast datacasting service. Is this the end for HDTV!

this is were I found this realy bad news www.widescreenreview.com

 

[Erik Garci]

WRAL-DT is still broadcasting HDTV, and I have not heard that they have any plans to stop.


I can check their bandwidth usage with my WinTV-D. Here is a sample.


71% for 1080i

20% for 480i

3.5% for datacasting

5.5% unused

 

[MKANET]

Cool. *MKANET points his antenna towards the Triveni's SkyScraper*. What's the OTA range again for ADTV?

 

[Kei Clark]

WRAL is a pioneer and the only station (last I checked) to offer HDTV for even their local broadcasts. They sank a ton of money to convert and upgrade their studio for HD starting from their newsrooms all the way up to cameras and editing equipment. To proclaim that this is the end of HDTV is preposterous. I imagine their R&D with Datacasting maybe the incentive to the lagging stations to move to HDTV.


Kei Clark

Digital Connection

 

[Scott Gammans]

As long as HDTV rollout and picture/audio quality doesn't suffer, I couldn't care less about datacasting. Personally I think one-way datacasting is a technological dead-end; I have read several different proposals for the kinds of services that could be offered and none of them have any appeal to me. If I'm right (and I think I am), datacasting will go the way of DiVx, CueCats and other dubious technologies that sound great to gullible investors but have no real customer base in the marketplace.

 

[MKANET]

Perhaps now that datacasting works for WRAL, itech can concentrate more on the features/stability end users like us would like to see.

 

[dschmelzer]

If they do it right, datacasting could offer some quite excellent possibilities without degrading video PQ--for instance, if during the night they were to deliver a first-run movie to your hard disk for later viewing, this could be very good. HD PPV could be quite possible.


Not that I wouldn't be watching Erik's datacasting %-ages like a hawk, though.

 

[lomax]

As much as I respect WRAL-DT for there commitment to HDTV I still feel that opening the door to the DataCasters is bad news.

What do you think FOX would do with DataCasting? How many other stations would drop there HD plans, to DataCast if WRAL proves it can make money this way! I have broadband for Data, I just want the OTA stations to broadcast the best HD possible.

 

[Joe Q]

Quote:

Originally posted by Kei Clark They sank a ton of money to convert and upgrade their studio for HD starting from their newsrooms all the way up to cameras and editing equipment. To proclaim that this is the end of HDTV is preposterous. Kei Clark Digital Connection

This Datacasting venture with iTech has been known about for quite some time.


I would think you ADTV owner's would be happy since Itech has built a solid business model for this niche product.


It is what made me think twice about ditching the ADTV card and going back to the Hipix since I don't see the business model for Telemann.


Joe

 

[lomax]

I look at this a little differently, wireless companies and phone companies are all working on some form of DataCasting, stock quotes, sports scores or E-mail are to be a big thing for the third gen. cellphones. The BIG difference is they paid for the spectrum!

If WRAL want to send me free Data like weather or sports scores fine, but if anyone in the supply chain charges then they should pay us tax payers for the use of the OTA Spectrum!

 

[JKohn]

Quote:

I would think you ADTV owner's would be happy since Itech has built a solid business model for this niche product.

I beg to differ. I see no value at all in this datacasting BS, it's a lame idea and will never work as a viable business model. This has about as much chance of succeeding as all those dot-com companies who thought they could offer free content and make millions from web advertising.


Furthermore, the fact that iTech has been trying to get this datacasting support off the ground is probably the main reason we've seen so little improvement in the ADTV software; their resources are spread too thin and the PVR portion of the software has suffered.

 

[MKANET]

Joe Q, why did you switch from your accessDTV to Hipix again?

 

[Kei Clark]

Okay, just so that I'm not misunderstood, I'll state here that I don't really care whether or not there is datacasting. If it provides something useful, then I may use it as dschmelzer pointed out. My understanding from the few comments I have heard regarding WRAL's plans are that most of the information transmitted will be done without any disruptions to the regularly scheduled High-Def broadcasts. I do know firsthand that HD is top priority at WRAL, and I doubt this is going to change anytime soon.

Quote:

What do you think FOX would do with DataCasting? How many other stations would drop there HD plans, to DataCast if WRAL proves it can make money this way!

Fox doesn't even offer true HD, and I doubt they will change their tune anytime soon, datacasting or not. However, if they figured out that there's no profit to be had, they will never convert to true HD broadcasts. I think this is a chicken or egg argument.


Kei Clark

Digital Connection

 

[lomax]

Will the Data that WRAL be sending to the ADTV card be free?


I have a problem with running a pay service on the air ways that we gave to them for free. If they want an adds based Data service, this I could be happy with, as this is the standard way most broadcasters make money. Going to a pay service is a wrong direction for OTA and opens up to many bad possibilities.


Also I feel that if FOX starts lousing viewers because of poor PQ, I would not like Them to have a way out of there problem that doesn`t produce a better PQ. If they can make money DataCasting, we many never be able to force them into HDTV.

 

[Kei Clark]

lomax,


As I understand it, datacasting is free to the user, like programming is, if you can put up with the commercial interruptions. It's hard to say what form this will take in the future, and I doubt that broadcasters really do either. Most of this is all based on trial basis. AccessDTV's pay subscription is strictly voluntary, and does not diminish any of the features other than the guide service, which is a fee based service for both the consumer and iTech Group. You do not have to use it, and many don't.


I can't argue on the FOX issue as I don't think you can force them into HDTV currently, and they don't seem really threatened by loss of viewers just because they don't offer full high-definition programming. Maybe we'll finally reach that level of sophisticated viewers in the future, but I doubt it's anywhere near the top of FOX's priorities. It's obvious that their marketers know something we don't. Personally, I never watch FOX.


Kei Clark

Digital Connection

 

[trbarry]

From the point of view of HDTV enthusiasts, it is very politically incorrect to say anything positive about datacasting. I think this is based upon the idea that if broadcasters didn't have to use the entire channel for HDTV then they (like Fox) wouldn't bother and they should not have been given all that free spectrum just to compete with other non-TV wireless applications that would have been willing to pay big bucks for it.


OTOH, as a computer nerd I just look at it as more bandwidth.


Frankly, it still has not been shown whether either OTA HDTV or datacasting has a valid business model. But, in moderation, I suspect they both do.


- Tom

 

[tonyb100]

While wral my not intend to stop hdtv, other stations mite if data catches on. And they may sell or use this spectrum used now for hdtv to make money, by converting it to data services.


This the threat I see with datacasting.


Fox obviously from there choice of dtv format, knows people will watch TV at current or slightly better pq and see no need to have hdtv to compete. And see a better business model in data. It has been reported fox has called hdtv a bad business model.


Ok so if Fox or other stations show they can make additional revenue with data. And not have ad revenue suffer. The other stations will soon follow.


So then the question becomes how much bandwidth will stations use for data and how much for video; will stations follow fox and save more bandwidth for there new data casting revenue streams and pass along 480p instead of hdtv? They mite at some point.


If I could make money doing so, I would If I were them.


There is a reason we ended up with 18 different dtv formats, people lobbied hard for those formats, some of those people probably had other things then hdtv on their agendas.


just my 2 cents


Hopefully both will happily co-exist, but I don't think we can count on it at this date, hdtv is just not popular enough yet to ensure it's survival.

-tony

 

[Scott Gammans]

Quote:

Personally, I never watch FOX.

D'oh! If you never watch FOX, you're missing out on the best comedy on television... The Simpsons!

 

[Kei Clark]

Scott,


My kids watch the Simpson, King of the Hill, Futurama, etc., but I'm an avid 60 Minuter and have been for something like 20 years (yeah, yeah, hold those comments in). I now have a big Sunday gap until the Practice comes on, unless of course there is a good movie on ABC to record. My theory here is that many of the FOX show are geared towards the young, and there-in lies one of the reasons that Rupert will not be knocking himself out on HDTV.


Interesting point about WRAL, they share facilities with WRAZ, a FOX affiliate also owned by CBC. I have heard that WRAZ is already datacasting, and why the heck not since they aren't getting full HD feed anyways. The market will always be the driving force in the decision to or not to HD.


Kei Clark

Digital Connection

 

[lomax]

I`m glad I`m not the only one worried about the DataCasters, as I was starting to feel a little lonely.


It is what I discovered in the report that pushed me into worrying, It was the talk of software downloads and other very high bandwidth hogs. With a push only way of delivery they are going to have to datacast a large assortment of data, to attract a large enough user base to make money. They can`t subdivide this type of delivery pipeline to cover smaller areas like cable can.