Panasonic Philosophy on Migration

By Phil Livingston, Director and General Manager,

 		       Digital Systems Group,

                              Panasonic Broadcast and Digital Systems Company



With the recent FCC announcement, DTV suddenly becomes imminent and the broadcast industry 

thrown into a quandary over HD.  After 40 years of NTSC, the absence of a mandated and unified 

production and transmission signal standard leaves us uncomfortably free.  While the Grand 

Alliance stream (ATSC-DTV transmission standard) is specified, a solitary video standard is not.  

Nevertheless, several factors seem apparent:



* Broadcast plants will convert to a digital infrastructure based on 360 Mb/s SDI transport of 

audio, video and compressed video at real time and faster than real time;

* There will be an evolution to fibre channel, but IEEE 1394 will work for short hop desk-top and 

ATM for external inter-plant interconnection;

* To begin the transition, "up" conversion of existing material and signals will happen;

* After the transition is well under way, new material and signals will be converted "down";

* Even the largest of broadcasters will not place true HD camcorders on the street for news;

* Even the most modest of broadcasters will want HD studio cameras and equipment;

* A set-top box can decode the stream into the nominally low resolution of current TV sets;

* Future TV sets will decode internally and convert signals to a native display standard;

* DTV or HD will promote larger screens - not only CRT, but projection and plasma as well;

* LCD and plasma displays have fixed pixel arrangements that make multi-scan less practical;

* The decoding probably will not be able to compensate seamlessly for stream changes within 

programs and still remain viable economically.



There are four areas of the broadcast process: acquisition, production, transmission and display.  

Except for the issue of seamless decoding, let's defer transmission to others who are more expert 

in this area.  However, decoding is strategic because the picture may well mute or freeze 

momentarily when the signal changes.  This means commercials or news clips of one standard 

may not be integrated easily into a program stream or studio production of another standard in the 

continuous integrated fashion we do today. In addition, it will be some time before every house 

has a 16:9 display, let alone one that has high definition resolution.  Therefore, the "set top box” 

will convert the incoming DTV stream into a signal suitable for the "native" resolution of the 

display.  If that native resolution is limited, then the consumer will perceive little difference 

between 525p and 1080i.  One can expect this factor to weigh heavily in the decisions of smaller 

stations as they look at migration to HDTV/DTV.  



It's interesting to note that while almost half the TV sets sold in Japan are "wide" (16:9), the 

preponderance are conventional resolution and scanning, not HDTV.  The issue of aspect ratio is 

real.  Generally, any film-based programs shot in the last few years are wide aperture and ready 

for 16:9.  Material and equipment with an NTSC/525 heritage are generally 4:3, and it requires 

magic to create an image you don't have.  This will also be a great equalizer, since vast amounts of 

both equipment and material exist.  Nevertheless, ways will be found to “fill” the screen.

Much of the first programming will originate from 35 mm film, a medium well known to the 

networks and the prime time program producers.  It can be transformed into electronic form and 

recorded from HD telecine systems like the Philips Spirit Datacine.  For this application, we have 

seen incredible interest in the Panasonic HD D-5, which uses D-5 and an external signal processor 

to produce very high-quality 1125 HD recordings far more cost effectively than was ever before 

possible.  This two-piece Panasonic HD D-5 is being widely adopted because it also allows use of 

the D-5 as a 10 bit 525 uncompressed component VTR.  At NAB, Panasonic will also display D-5 

recording products that include 525p and 750p outboard processors, an HD portable, and single 

piece VTRs for customers requiring only advanced television HD recording.  The D-5 VTRs 

currently sold with the outboard processor retain all their 525i (NTSC) 10 bit component digital 

production capability including pre-read editing and excellent slow motion rendition.  The D-5 

HD recording system is about one-third the cost of a full bit rate one-inch high definition recorder 

with the maintenance and operating costs of a conventional component digital recorder.



We also see concern as to how news and other field material will be gathered, and so we will 

make not only DVCPRO, but also 16:9 DVCPRO, 4:2:2 DVCPRO 50, DVCPRO 525 Progressive 

and DVCPRO HD. Since DVCPRO was conceived as a family of products, not just disparate 

acquisition applications, each of these is a compatible extension of all that went before.  It's 

important to recall that DV, the compression system used in DVCPRO equipment, was created to 

record high definition television, and DVCPRO was created as a cost-effective 525 digital 

component field acquisition format with a clear eye toward tomorrow.  The high resolution, low 

artifact frame by frame signal is ideal for up conversion, and the format extensibility will allow 

the use of existing DVCPRO material for years to come.  Since DVCPRO will be a viable ENG 

format for the foreseeable future, we will have a 16:9/4:3 version shortly to address the aspect 

ratio issue.  I believe this means material will be brought to a "common denominator" appropriate 

to the program.  For example, news footage could be up converted from 525p to 1080i to match 

the studio cameras to produce an evening newscast.  This "integration" conversion is critical, as 

will be described below.



For true post-production work, DVCPRO 50 provides 4:2:2 signals with less compression for 

higher-end integration, and camcorders that are 16:9/4:3 switchable. 525p 16:9 DVCPRO will 

allow field gathering of images with many of the attributes of "HDTV," with the core DV 

technology addressing the field recording of HD images. While officially classed as "Standard 

Definition," 525 Progressive can produce spectacular extended definition images that are easy to 

up convert or that can be integrated with other 525p production equipment.  This yields future 

DVCPRO camcorders capable of high definition television quality at costs close to that of high 

quality analog recorders sold today.  Panasonic has a line of 525p cameras and VTRs, and 525p 

DVCPRO will augment them.  At NAB 1997, we will demonstrate DVCPRO's relationship to 

ATSC DTV in the form of 525p, available in late 1997.  We believe economics will prompt many 

smaller market stations to select 525p and up conversion rather than 720p or 1080i, the true HD 

signals.  Of course we also have 720p and 1080i cameras and will show them at NAB along with 

the aforementioned external adapters that allow D-5 to record these signals cost-effectively at the 

highest quality.  Advanced DTV production switchers, including 1125/60 interlace and 525p 

models, will also be shown.



For those of us who were in broadcasting during the transition to color, it seems this should be 

somewhat similar.  The local stations will start to build their second channel soon, adding a 

transmitter and antenna - no small job.  The networks have the economic base to create new 

facilities, and will send the new DTV program material to the affiliates, and it will be carried as a 

Prime Time pass-through by most.  Some local stations will undertake an aggressive conversion 

almost immediately and will begin to transmit their own locally generated material, and some will 

hold back as long as possible.  Some of the networks will send the signal via satellite, and some 

may elect to "bicycle" tapes for a while. While shipping tapes around the country may seem 

archaic, the Grand Alliance (GA) stream encoder or compressor presently costs over $100,000--

perhaps daunting to a station that just installed a second transmitter and hung a new antenna this 

year.  To assist in this, we have obtained the technology used by Zenith to record Grand Alliance 

streams on D-3 VTRs during the development of the ATSC standard.  We will perfect and 

produce these interface units to allow both D-3 and DVCPRO to store the GA Stream, providing a 

cost-effective way for program transfer among stations.  It may also provide a way for stations not 

yet ready to produce material to add interstitial elements to the programs provided by the network 

or others.  Current estimates say we will have coexistence of NTSC and DTV for 6 to 15 years, 

and as facilities become more completely rebuilt the production of standard definition "NTSC" 

will become more of a burden.  It is reasonable to assume that, in time, stations will down convert 

the DTV signal and supply it to the NTSC output.



If we follow the logic of down conversion, it seems reasonable that up conversion can be expected 

from existing signals and material.  Further, in order to integrate "lesser format" material into 

"higher format" streams, one or the other must change.  Recall the earlier example of a newscast.  

Certainly, having spent good money for a "wide" news set and HD studio cameras, it doesn't seem 

appropriate to down convert that signal to match the field material.  Far more likely that the field 

material will be up converted for integration.  It is in the area of field acquisition that the 

DVCPRO family of backwardly compatible, interchangeable formats shine.  In addition, work 

over the last 5 or 6 years in our U.S. labs has produced “anything to everything” signal converters 

using technology second to none, and Panasonic will have these too at NAB.



One may wonder how Panasonic, having been almost invisible in the U.S. HDTV market, could 

come forward with such a comprehensive plan and array of equipment.  We have supplied 1125 

equipment to NHK, and 525p equipment to NTV, and worked both in the laboratory and with U.S. 

broadcast organizations like the ATSC.  By understanding that it would never be a “one size fits 

all” world again, we tried to anticipate both the breadth of products required and the greater cost-

effectiveness needed to facilitate the creation of a new era of television service in the U.S. and the 

world.  It is, and will continue to be, an exciting time for us all!