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History

Choosing A New DVD for HDTV

Drawing a direct parallel to the 1989 MIT survey that nearly derailed the transition from NTSC to HDTV, this editorial argues that Blu-ray represents a necessary platform leap over HD-DVD, much as digital broadcast superseded analog. Just as NTSC improvement proposals offered ghost canceling and 16:9 compatibility but no true resolution headroom, HD-DVD's backward compatibility is framed as a constraint rather than an asset. For consumers, the practical implication is clear: backing a format with room to grow outweighs the short-term convenience of legacy support.

Dale Cripps •
Archive & History
Standards DTV Transition

2005 - And What About This Subsidy and a Date Certain?

The U.S. HDTV transition, rooted in a 1987 FCC mandate to protect free over-the-air broadcasting, required each station to receive a new digital spectrum allocation before vacating its analog NTSC channel for auction. With roughly 400 million legacy NTSC sets still in circulation and a 2006 analog shutoff deadline tied to 85% digital penetration, the final phase of the transition risked leaving low-income and elderly viewers without reception. Subsidized ATSC decoder boxes, estimated at under $50 with a $6-$9 power supply, could be funded through spectrum auction proceeds rather than general tax revenue, making the program fiscally self-contained.

Dale Cripps •
Archive & History
DTV Transition Market Trends & Analysis OTA HD & Antennas

2001 - Thoughts on HDTV

Written in 2001, this editorial examines the early commercialization of HDTV, noting that DTV product sales rose 110% year-over-year in May while decoder unit sales represented only about 15% of high-scan monitor sales, with over three million monitors sold but most driven by DVD rather than broadcast signals. Copy protection disputes, poor retail demonstrations, and cable-readiness gaps were actively suppressing set-top box adoption and slowing the transition from NTSC. The author argues that resolving these market impediments is critical before consumer demand can reach the velocity needed to compel broadcasters, cable operators, and financial institutions to fully commit to HDTV.

Dale Cripps •
Archive & History
Standards

1999 -- Chips Ahoy (VSB vs. COFDM)

Motorola's MCT2100 single-chip 8-VSB demodulator, priced under $20 in quantity and operating at 1.8V with a 19.39 Mb/s data throughput, claimed in 1999 to fully eliminate multipath interference for home and pedestrian-portable reception by deploying blind equalization techniques capable of handling dynamic echoes up to 20 Hz. Nxtwave Communications, a David Sarnoff Research Center spin-off, simultaneously announced a competing equalizer chip at $22 per unit in quantities of ten thousand. These announcements directly challenged Sinclair Broadcast Group's pending FCC petition to add COFDM as an alternative to 8-VSB, with field validation in real-world multipath environments still required before broadcasters could confidently abandon the COFDM debate.

Dale Cripps •
Archive & History
OTA HD & Antennas Satellite HD Cable HD

2004 - September -- Is There a Super Service Coming?

Excessive compression is degrading HDTV signal quality, with satellite and cable bit rates in many cases reduced to DVD-level bandwidth, undermining the capability of improving display hardware. Telecine transfers compound the problem through low bit rates and inadequate operator practices, while ATSC over-the-air broadcasters have begun subdividing digital channels into culturally targeted sub-channels at the cost of resolution. For quality-focused viewers, the practical implication is that a market-driven super-premium tier may be the only viable path to receiving genuinely high-fidelity HD content.

Dale Cripps •
Archive & History

2002 - HDTV, A Love Story?

Writing in 2002 for the Hollywood-facing Highdef.Org Magazine, Dale Cripps frames HDTV as more than a technical upgrade, positioning it as a cultural force capable of reshaping 21st-century storytelling and artistic communication. Cripps notes that cost barriers were already falling rapidly at the time, making adoption increasingly practical for both creators and consumers. For readers tracking the early adoption curve of high-definition television, this piece captures the optimistic industry sentiment that preceded HDTV's mainstream breakthrough.

Dale Cripps •
Archive & History
Standards

CONSULTING - Dale Cripps

Dale E. Cripps is a long-standing HDTV industry consultant and publisher who founded HDTV Magazine in 1998 as the first daily consumer online publication covering high definition television. Over 25 years he has advised industry leaders across the USA, Japan, Taiwan, and Europe, authored more than 80 published articles, and served as technical editor for Widescreen Review and HDTV for Dummies. Professionals and consumers seeking guidance on advanced television technologies and the digital transition can engage Cripps directly for consulting services.

Dale Cripps •
Archive & History
Standards

1995 -- Being Wright For HDTV

NBC president Robert Wright's 1995 announcement to launch HDTV broadcasting by 1997 marked a pivotal moment in the transition from NTSC to the Grand Alliance digital standard, which supported up to 18 Mbit/s peak throughput within a 6 MHz channel and could multiplex at least four standard-definition programs in that same bandwidth. The article examines competing industry pressures, including a potential $40 billion spectrum auction threat, manufacturer frustration over broadcast delays, and critics like Nicholas Negroponte who favored open, scalable digital architectures over a fixed HDTV standard. For consumers, the outcome hinged on whether broadcasters would commit to delivering compelling HDTV programming or exploit the new spectrum allocation for other purposes.

Dale Cripps •
Archive & History
Cable HD DTV Transition Politics & Policy

2002 - The Transition To Digital Television (a cable view)

The 2002 NCTA white paper examines the broadcast industry's federally mandated transition to digital television, noting that Congress allocated an additional 6 MHz of spectrum per local broadcaster in 1996 to facilitate the analog-to-digital shift. DTV technology supports CD-quality audio, cinema-grade video, and signal compression enabling multiple programming streams within a single 6 MHz channel. Readers with interests in cable carriage rules, consumer electronics compatibility, or digital content protection will find this a useful policy-era snapshot of how competing industries navigated the early DTV transition.

Dale Cripps •
Archive & History
Standards OTA HD & Antennas

1995 - HDTV - The Big Wave Breaking (2002)

Written in early 2002, this editorial examines the HDTV transition in the United States, noting that over 300 H/DTV products had reached showrooms while NTSC still held 97 million households yet to convert. ABC had added new HDTV series, Major League Baseball committed to 29 games in high definition, and Mark Cuban's HDNet was delivering notable coverage including Winter Olympics footage. For consumers and industry stakeholders alike, the piece underscores that the transition's success hinges on coordinated investment in programming, retail, and public engagement rather than hardware alone.

Dale Cripps •
Archive & History
OTA HD & Antennas Standards

1994 - Technology and the Future of Broadcasting by Dr. Joseph Flaherty, CBS, Inc.

CBS Senior Vice President Joseph Flaherty traces the arc of television technology from 30-line mechanical scanning systems to the 1993 Grand Alliance HDTV standard, which specifies dual scanning formats of 1080i and 720p at up to 60 fields/second, MPEG-2 video compression, Dolby AC-3 audio at 384 Kb/s, and 8-VSB transmission in a 6 MHz channel. With one billion TV sets in use worldwide and a $8.5 billion annual US market, the stakes of the analog-to-digital transition are enormous, and terrestrial broadcasters require a second 6 MHz simulcast channel to maintain competitive parity with already-digital cable, DBS, and fiber distribution systems.

Dale Cripps •
Archive & History
Standards DTV Transition Politics & Policy

1996 - The Digital HDTV Grand Alliance--Robert Graves Commerce Committee Testamony

Robert Graves, representing the digital HDTV Grand Alliance and the Advanced Television Systems Committee, testified before Congress in 1996 urging support for the FCC's simulcast transition plan, under which broadcasters would receive a temporary second 6 MHz channel to transmit digital ATV signals while maintaining analog service. The Grand Alliance system, backed by roughly $500 million in private investment, demonstrated five times the picture resolution of analog TV and a 19 Mbps data throughput per channel, roughly 1,000 times faster than contemporary modems. Auctioning the transition spectrum prematurely, Graves argued, would undermine free over-the-air broadcasting and forfeit far greater auction revenues achievable after analog spectrum reclamation and repackaging.

Dale Cripps •
Archive & History
Standards Codecs & Compression

1998 - CBS DTV/HDTV Rollout--How, Why, & When by Joseph Flaherty, Senior vp, CBS. Inc.

CBS Senior VP Joseph Flaherty outlines the network's 1998 commitment to launching primetime HDTV broadcasts in the 1080I format, which delivers 1,421,000 displayable pixels per frame versus 720P's 829,000, making it the superior choice by a significant margin. CBS chose 1080I at 60 pictures per second to avoid motion artifacts inherent in lower frame rates, and to ensure 1080I decoders would be integrated into all ATSC-compliant DTV receivers rather than requiring separate set-top boxes. With at least 33 DTV stations projected on-air by November 1999 reaching 53% of U.S. households, the format decision carried direct implications for how broadcasters would compete against DBS and cable providers.

Dale Cripps •
Archive & History
Standards

1991 - A World Of Change By Joseph A. Flaherty

Joseph Flaherty, CBS SVP of Technology, examines the state of HDTV in 1991, noting that while up to 90 percent of U.S. prime time programming was already shot on high-definition 35mm film, no HDTV signal had yet reached home viewers. He outlines competing transmission proposals including General Instrument's all-digital system targeting a 6 MHz terrestrial channel, contrasting the U.S. simulcast approach with Europe's multi-step D2MAC-to-HD-MAC migration path. The absence of a single worldwide production standard or transparent standards converter poses a critical barrier to global HDTV program exchange.

Dale Cripps •
Archive & History
HD DVR

1991 -Technical Trends by Mori Morizono, Sony (Retired)

In a 1987 keynote at the Montreux International Television Symposium, Sony R&D chief Masahiko Morizono outlined a sweeping technical roadmap covering sub-micron IC design rules down to 0.1-0.2 micrometers, perpendicular magnetic recording at 1 bit per 1 micrometer squared, photo-chemical hole-burning memory capable of storing up to 1 terabit per square centimeter, and 10-to-12-bit video quantization at sampling frequencies up to 1 GHz. His predictions for bit rate reduction algorithms, solid-state audio recorders, and optical disc post-production workflows have since become standard practice, making this address a remarkably accurate forecast of modern broadcast and consumer electronics infrastructure.

Dale Cripps •
Archive & History