Zenith Details Proposed DTV Enhancements

April 20 -- Building on the U.S. digital television (DTV) standard, Zenith Electronics Corporation today announced "E-VSB" technology, a series of compatible enhancements aimed at strengthening the overall performance of digital TV broadcasting.
In addition to enhancing terrestrial reception to fixed antennas and receivers, the E-VSB system will be applicable to portable and pedestrian DTV service, and in the more robust modes, even mobile service. Use of E-VSB would not require modifications to the FCC's emission standard.

Zenith, a leading innovator in digital television and the developer of vestigial sideband (VSB) modulation, unveiled the details of this new approach at NAB 2001, the annual convention of the National Association of Broadcasters. On April 2, the company formally submitted its E-VSB plan to the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), which established a subgroup to explore possible VSB Enhancements.

E-VSB is a set of enhancements to ATSC 8-VSB that trades payload bit rate for robustness. Zenith's multi-rate modulation method is fully compatible with the current ATSC standard and transparent to standard ATSC receivers already deployed.

Properly equipped E-VSB receivers will be able to decode both standard 8-VSB and enhanced E-VSB programs and data with substantially improved multipath performance for both, as well as significantly improved "white noise" performance for the enhanced programs and data.

To the extent there was an intra-industry debate over the DTV transmission standard, that discussion ended in January when the NAB and Association for Maximum Service Television (MSTV) boards of directors voted overwhelmingly to endorse the incumbent standard and reject a European alternative. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reiterated its strong support for the ATSC DTV standard, adding that it has no intention of revisiting the matter.

Today some 186 television stations spanning 64 media markets are offering digital programming to an estimated two-thirds of all U.S. TV households. Under the FCC's timetable, all commercial TV stations must be broadcasting digitally by May 1, 2002.

Zenith Electronics Corporation, based in Lincolnshire, Ill., is a long-time leader in consumer electronics and a primary developer of digital high-definition television (HDTV) technology. Zenith developed the VSB digital transmission system adopted by the FCC as part of the ATSC DTV standard. To assist broadcasters in the rollout of digital television service, Zenith offers a full line of digital broadcast products, including ATSC modulators, demodulators, translators and receivers. Zenith is a wholly owned subsidiary of LG Electronics Inc. Visit Zenith on the World Wide Web at www.zenith.com .

MAKE YOUR OPINION COUNT - Click Here

SOURCE Zenith Electronics Corporation