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Phoenix to be ATSC 3.0 test bed

What channels are they going to broadcast on, and will the gummint subsidize my new converter so I can watch them -- just like last time? :D
 
I take it that the diginets (minus those carried by the stations not participating, such as MeTV) will be on the 3.0 streams, in order to fit every primary station on one ATSC 1.0 stream? Best Buy better have those 3.0 tuners in stock by April!
 
Raymie said:
Almost all major stations in Phoenix will participate, though only one LPTV, KFPH-CD, will. Notable absences include KAZT, KAET and KPAZ.

Things could get very interesting indeed...
Click to expand...

I'm pleased that the lineup of participants is so extensive. Every major commercial broadcaster in Phoenix is in, including both of the major Spanish-language station groups. The only full-power stations absent are KAET, KPAZ and KPPX.

I'm not surprised by the absences. KAET is obviously non-commercial, and although channel 21 is a commercial allocation, KPAZ is a decidedly non-commercial operation. KPPX's parent, Ion Media, while owning a large group of stations, is a minor player and is also tied up in the spectrum repack. The only low power station in the list is owned by one of the participating station groups, and the rest of the low-power stations, including class A stations KAZT and KPDF, are either minor operations or programmed remotely.
 
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I continue to hear that only something around 15% of all TV viewers are OTA. If that is accurate then why spend another ton of money to convert to yet another digital technology? Will it actually help create more cable or sat channels too?
 
landtuna said:
I continue to hear that only something around 15% of all TV viewers are OTA. If that is accurate then why spend another ton of money to convert to yet another digital technology? Will it actually help create more cable or sat channels too?
Click to expand...

I thought one of the reasons for developing 3.0 was to end the need for stations with duopolies to have 2 full-powered transmitters. For example, Meredith could operate one transmitter and run KTVK 3.1, KPHO 5.1, and most if not all of their associated diginets off of it, saving spectrum.
 
Raymie said:
Almost all of Phoenix's major commercial television stations will be participating in an ATSC 3.0 pilot program announced today.

The Pearl Group will be running ATSC 3.0 testing, as well as the deployment of an ATSC 1.0 "lighthouse" station, next year.

Almost all major stations in Phoenix will participate, though only one LPTV, KFPH-CD, will. Notable absences include KAZT, KAET and KPAZ.

Things could get very interesting indeed...
Click to expand...

For those who don't follow TV technology, can you write a paragraph or two of "ATSC 3.0 for Dummies"?
 
landtuna said:
I continue to hear that only something around 15% of all TV viewers are OTA. If that is accurate then why spend another ton of money to convert to yet another digital technology? Will it actually help create more cable or sat channels too?
Click to expand...

The latest figure I saw is 17%. As cord-cutting continues, we may soon see one out of every five households dependent on streaming and/or OTA for video.
 
DavidEduardo said:
For those who don't follow TV technology, can you write a paragraph or two of "ATSC 3.0 for Dummies"?
Click to expand...
Here's a writeup from the NAB.

The downside is that the Next-gen TV (ATSC 3.0) standard uses OFDM for broadcasting, while the current ATSC 1.0 standard uses 8VSB modulation for broadcasting. Current tuners in the US only recognize 8VSB, meaning obsolescence to varying degrees. Another perceived downside to the public is the ability for greater targeting on advertising - great for businesses, somewhat creepy for consumers.
 
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dhett said:
Here's a writeup from the NAB.

The downside is that the Next-gen TV (ATSC 3.0) standard uses OFDM for broadcasting, while the current ATSC 1.0 standard uses 8VSB modulation for broadcasting. Current tuners in the US only recognize 8VSB, meaning obsolescence to varying degrees. Another perceived downside to the public is the ability for greater targeting on advertising - great for businesses, somewhat creepy for consumers.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I had not seen that write-up, and it is most informative for TV-illiterates like me.
 
That writeup didn't tell me a whole lot other than the marketing folks at the NAB are probably wetting their pants to find new ways to bore TV viewers. I still have yet to find one single person who appreciates commercials (Budweiser excepted) - targeted or not. It has always been much easier for me to just ignore everything rather than first determine whether or not I am a target.

The biggest "improvement" I saw in that writeup was the mobile support outside cell services but I am not sure we have a great need for that outside of several thousand nighttime watchmen trying to stay awake.
 
For me, the more robust signal is the most important part. We could see TV broadcasting and reception move to a model more similar to that of cell phones, thanks to support for what is being called a "single-frequency network". Technically, that is supposed to be available now, and some stations have set up what is known as a "distributed transmission system", or DTS, but it has been problematic when a TV receives the same signal from multiple sources. ATSC 3.0 is supposed to be much better dealing with multipath issues. That will also help in areas that are hilly or have many tall buildings.

Of course, this is all if ATSC 3.0 lives up to its billing. I'm optimistically anxious to see if it does.

Here's another good article written about 6 months ago, from Consumer Reports, so I expect a little objectivity.
 
dhett said:
For me, the more robust signal is the most important part. We could see TV broadcasting and reception move to a model more similar to that of cell phones, thanks to support for what is being called a "single-frequency network". Technically, that is supposed to be available now, and some stations have set up what is known as a "distributed transmission system", or DTS, but it has been problematic when a TV receives the same signal from multiple sources. ATSC 3.0 is supposed to be much better dealing with multipath issues. That will also help in areas that are hilly or have many tall buildings.

Of course, this is all if ATSC 3.0 lives up to its billing. I'm optimistically anxious to see if it does.

Here's another good article written about 6 months ago, from Consumer Reports, so I expect a little objectivity.
Click to expand...

The modulation has indeed been the primary issue with SFN deployment.

There are several successful SFN services in the other digital television systems, all of them with OFDM. Colombia's national digital television service is actually set up as a series of national SFNs with the same channel allotment, for instance.

Better error correction can do wonders for this sort of setup.
 
As part of the ATSC 3.0 Phoenix test market roll-out next year, will this include the participating broadcasters testing out 4K signal broadcasts? That, along with HDR, are some of the major improvements ATSC 3.0 can provide to viewers with the right equipment.
 
KFPH Flagstaff/KFPH CD Phoenix have been running spots indicating they will
start transmitting on the new ATSC 3.0 on April 6th. Have not seen any other
Phoenix stations, so far, indicating when they will begin testing.
 
Prescott Joe said:
KFPH Flagstaff/KFPH CD Phoenix have been running spots indicating they will
start transmitting on the new ATSC 3.0 on April 6th. Have not seen any other
Phoenix stations, so far, indicating when they will begin testing.
Click to expand...

Apparently KFPB-CA will be the first to do end-to-end testing of ATSC 3.0 in Phoenix. KPNX will be picking up GetTV subchannel and KNXV will be picking up Escape subchannel to continue broadcasting them in ATSC 1.0 during the testing. This will be a proof of concept of how they will manage spectrum in the market.

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/112543/30s-potential-to-be-tested-in-phoenix-dallas
 
Not sure if this has anything to do with the ATSC 3.0 testing but KNXV is now
showing Escape on a .4 subchannel. Escape is shown on 13.4, 61.4 and
15.4 on my sets.
 
Prescott Joe said:
Not sure if this has anything to do with the ATSC 3.0 testing but KNXV is now
showing Escape on a .4 subchannel. Escape is shown on 13.4, 61.4 and
15.4 on my sets.
Click to expand...

Yes it is. KFPH-CD is now running an ATSC 3.0 signal. From what I read in that LG article, I don't think the stations have the tuners to test the reception yet. getTV is on the KPNX multicast stream (PSIP 35.3) and Escape is on KNXV (PSIP 35.4, at least in the Phoenix area).
 
I and several others have been experiencing about a dozen new "channels" the past
few days. On some sets we get the message, "Unable to decode" and on others there
is a signal present but no audio or video. One of the channels indicates it is a radio
channel. The others have various meaningless information attached.
 
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