Al Tobia
09-07-2009, 02:34 PM
I don't know how many of you are aware of the controversy right after the 8-VSB standard was picked here in the U.S.
Many when they saw how poorly the 8-VSB standard handled multipath were thinking that maybe we should have chosen the COFDM European standard.
This standard handled multipath better,but had some pitfalls in other areas.
The stories I heard go like this . . . hearings were held in Washington,DC in front of senators. The COFDM people setup their equipment and threw the antenna on the floor . . . and got pictures.
The 8-VSB people carefully pointed their antenna out the window,a senator asked why are you being so careful with your setup ,they said they wanted everything to be perfect.
Zenith was the developer of the 8-VSB standard.
Zenith promised that they would make inprovements to the 8-VSB standard and they did. The 1st and 2nd generation set top tuners did not handle multipath very well ,we are now up to the 5th and 6th generation chip sets and these new 8-VSB chip sets do handle multipath much better.
I asked afew people I know ,one who was part of the 8-VSB development team what chip set we are at now,he said 6th. There might be some TV's using 5th gen chips but most are 6th.
I asked them if there is room to improve the 8-VSB standard more and they said there is ,as well as improving tuners / front ends in general.
This would be done in 7th and 8th generation chip sets.
The problem is it is hard to tell what chip set is in a TV or tuner,the only thing I can suggest is be aware of MANUFACTURER BUILD DATES ,usually put on a label on the TV.
Al ( northern California )
Many when they saw how poorly the 8-VSB standard handled multipath were thinking that maybe we should have chosen the COFDM European standard.
This standard handled multipath better,but had some pitfalls in other areas.
The stories I heard go like this . . . hearings were held in Washington,DC in front of senators. The COFDM people setup their equipment and threw the antenna on the floor . . . and got pictures.
The 8-VSB people carefully pointed their antenna out the window,a senator asked why are you being so careful with your setup ,they said they wanted everything to be perfect.
Zenith was the developer of the 8-VSB standard.
Zenith promised that they would make inprovements to the 8-VSB standard and they did. The 1st and 2nd generation set top tuners did not handle multipath very well ,we are now up to the 5th and 6th generation chip sets and these new 8-VSB chip sets do handle multipath much better.
I asked afew people I know ,one who was part of the 8-VSB development team what chip set we are at now,he said 6th. There might be some TV's using 5th gen chips but most are 6th.
I asked them if there is room to improve the 8-VSB standard more and they said there is ,as well as improving tuners / front ends in general.
This would be done in 7th and 8th generation chip sets.
The problem is it is hard to tell what chip set is in a TV or tuner,the only thing I can suggest is be aware of MANUFACTURER BUILD DATES ,usually put on a label on the TV.
Al ( northern California )