Serge Rutman

1
Beyond the Couch Potato
Serge Rutman Director Display DTV RD Home
Products Group, Intel
2
The DTV opportunity (ARTICULATED 3.5 YEARS AGO)
Ultimate digital information presentation device
smart TV
FEATURES
A discontinuity created by the imminent analogue
to digital transition in the TV market offers a
chance to open a vast new market to Intel
microprocessors.
- interactive content - 500x data delivery -
broadcast SW dist.
reprogrammable general purpose intelligence in
(PC) receivers digital transmission, imbedded
MIPS analogue colour transmission s
scheme stereo audio video over the air
ATSC standard
High Def. (READABLE!)

?
Colour
Ongoing efforts - Intercast (data over NTSC
VBI) - DVB broadcast - hybrid app technology - SW
MPEG
Black White
1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

• Introduce new (PC) differentiators to the TV
  market
• - intelligence level (MIPS) - local filtering
  (only present what the user wants)
• - personalization (learn the users habits) -
  quantity of digital storage
• - I/O devices (physical virtual) - object
  detail capability (3D etc.)

3
DTV research Program mission(2 year old foil)
Substantiate the notion that
As DIGITAL TV market develops the DTV paradigm
is redefined from a passive audiovideo delivery
mechanism to a new medium for non-linear,
interactive programming experienced BEST on
Intel inside(TM), DTV receiver-equipped PC
4
DTV Technical Background(US, ATSC, terrestrial)

• Geographic coverage same as NTSC
• Video/audio quality substantially improved via
  use of DIGITAL Codecs MPEG2 video, AC3 audio
• Digital, packetized broadcast transmission allows
  delivery of ANY kind of bits _at_ 19Mb/sec
• Several image formats aspect ratios refresh
  rates
• Initially broadcasters get an additional 6Mhz
  channel for simulcast (concurrent analogue and
  digital service
• later the analogue service ends, freeing up RF
  spectrum

5
Whats changing

• Analogue -gt Digital
• fidelity improved
• efficiency improved (more channels in same
  spectrum)
• bits are bits - more choices in content
• Receiver Capabilities RAPIDLY increasing
• intelligence - once you have enough computer to
  decoded MPEG2 AC3 you have a decent computer.
  Not much more cost to make it reprogrammable
• rendering (eg. 3D)
• storage (use disk as a content cache).
• interesting I/O (eg. joystick, camera, stereo
  displays...)
• multiple concurrent sources of content (eg. TV
  Net DVD)
• New media (Internet) encroaching on broadcasting

6
Whats staying the same

• Fundamental strength of the broadcast medium
  remains efficient concurrent delivery from 1 to
  millions
• Mostly a Couch Potato Medium - passive, viewed
  by several people in living room, has to be easy
  to use bulletproof.
• Not much NEW money in the broadcast industry to
  pay for aggressive deployment new equipment (head
  end and receiver)
• Todays business models are advertising based
• Many competing service providers NOT interested
  in making access to competitors service easy

7
More choices at the SMART receiver then size of
display volume.Multiple, mixed sources of for
data HYBRID applications.
today
A
EDIT select 1of N
A
NTSC decode
B
A
B R O A D C A S T
C
A
tomorrow
A
A
CPU (reprog)
EDIT combine N
CX1X2
B
C
B
X1
Y2
X2
Y 1Y2
Y1
WEB
hybrid apps
local storage
?
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Some metrics

• degree of Video On Demand-ness
• receiver autonomously caches most likely to be
  requested content
• carouselling
• ability to channel surf fast a.k.a. stream
  acquisition latency
• cool picture/bit
• level of Viewer choice
• ease of navigation - next generation EPGs
• degree of choice at head-end vs. receiver
  (provider vs. user interests)

9
How to validate the vision - Santa Clara DTV
Capability (circa 97-98)
FCC DTV license
antenna
DTV add-in
RNB
various display
upconvert
8VSB mod.
PC
Video Audio Data
PC server
MUX
Win95 drivers AFD MPEG SW AC3 audio various data
viewers
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Center for Datacasting Innovation configuration
on 10/25/99
3rd Party Content
Equipment can be located here, as appropriate
Real Time Satellite Link
Non-Real Time FTP, Tape, HD,CD-ROM...
KICU Transmission Facility
KICU DTV Transmitter
Auditorium where you are now
Intel SW Tools MUX
Data file Server
Micro Wave link
Video audio
Sencore Data file Server
T1
Intel SW Tools
1st floor demo area
Server
KICU Ch 36 - Analog Ch 52- DTV
Tiernan HD video Encoder
DVS HD Storage
Philips Token MUX
8 VSB RF link
SkyStream DBN-25
MUX
Dolby AC3 Encoder
C.D.I. SC12 lab
Panasonic D5 Tape Deck
Fiber link
Video
C.D.I. KICU lab
Philips SD video Encoder
Audio
Intel Experimental DTV Transmitter
Philips HD Camera
KICU Studio Facility
Intel SC12 Facility
Intel RNB Facility
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KICU DTV coverage
12
A hard constraint - Author Once for Multiple
Transports and Platforms
Many of These
Goal Do This Once
Transport
Client Hardware/ Software
Client Framework
Transmission Facility
ContentCreation
13
Some details on Data Broadcasting

• The DTV pipe was designed for the old TV app,
  so
• The DTV standard contained sufficient detail for
  delivering digital, compressed Video Audio
• and a note was made that other ancillary data
  was feasible
• Not a great state of affairs for a computer guy
  with all sorts of ideas for alternative uses for
  the medium
• For that reason the S13 ATSC technology group was
  formed
• And the standard will have a robust way to
  deliver ALL kinds of data to ALL kinds of
  receivers

14
what does DTV data pipe look like?

• 19Mb/sec raw, per channel. MANY channels.
• multiple image encoding formats
• 3 profiles of usage
• guaranteed auxiliary broadcast (dedicate some BW
  to a stream of digital data), analogous to
  current VBI use 1k-5Mbit
• opportunistic (use the spare bits during low
  motion periods, stills, subtitles etc. to deliver
  data at variable bit rate). Could carry both
  program-related and unrelated data
• full BW (utilize a whole channel for very
  high-speed, bulk data delivery)

19Mb/s

BW
viewers awake
600am 1200pm
600pm 1200am
15
What changes when TV broadcast goes digital?Bits
are Bits, not video bits.

• Meaning and encoding of information are decoupled
  
• The new medium enables broadcast delivery of ALL
  TYPES of digital information, beyond pictures and
  sound
• EVERY receiver contains a computer
• RAM and MIPS at least for decoding of MPEG2 AC3
• opinions on what kind of computer vary widely -)
• users get more choices
• comparable to transition of audio distribution
  from LP to CD, which created a new, interactive
  medium - the CD ROM

16
data broadcast applications taxonomy

• The range spans orders of magnitude along the
  axes of Bandwidth number of users.
• Other significant characteristics include
• reliability of delivery (executable file with 1
  bit missing is worthless (or worse!) while a
  missing pixel does not substantially impact image
  quality
• size and duration of the atomic object (pager
  message vs. encyclopedia)
• latency (emergency message vs. scheduled morning
  news)
• real-time vs. time-shifted use (page vs. science
  lesson)

17
some application examples

• watch-pagers (connected anywhere for critical
  messages)
• stock tickers (personalized, valuable real-time
  data)
• your world news (personalized news)
• virtual school house (personalized, interactive
  education information access)
• SW distribution (fresh bits with out disks,
  shrink-wrap, trucks, or shelf-space)
• I want to see this ad (greatly improve
  targeting adds to willing potential consumers)

this is a personal favourite of mine -
objectively good for ALL, and a great fit for the
PC/ATV combination. Anyone that wants to help
build it please see me!
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BW vs. number of users (approx. log/log)
19 MB/s
virtual school house
your world news
BW
SW download
stock tickers
ad
watch-pagers
10 Kb/s
10M
10
USERS
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size of object vs. latency (approx. log/log)
10GB
virtual school house
SW download
your world news
size
stock tickers
ad
watch-pagers
100 bytes
week
minute
required max latency
20
What changed since last cs448 (Fall 98)

• Close to 100 station on air with digital services
• 100-200k DTV receivers deployed
• PC DTV receiver add-ins available from multiple
  vendors offered at 200-300 from multiple vendors
• ATVEF developed as a voluntary authoring spec for
  web-enhanced DTV content
• ATSCs data broadcasting standard in ratification
• Industry acknowledges that NEW likely to come
  from data broadcasting enhanced content
• combination of new old biz models - AOL merges
  with Time Warner
• data broadcasting and interactive TV startups
  sprouting like mushrooms