European DVB "full of risks" : Chilean TV honcho

IN AN INTERVIEW published Friday in a Chilean paper, two influential players voiced their support for the Japanese ISDB-T HDTV standard for the country. It described "growing support" for ISDB due to its technical edge.

While the Chilean government has delayed its decision on the digital TV standard to be used for over the air broadcasts, this has increased the chances of the Japanese standard, according to the report which quotes engineer Patricio del Sol, head of the council at Chile's Channel 13. It says that "support has been growing in the last few months for the Japanese ISDB standard in Chile", adding that it "has won many supporters even within the management and technical circles that early this year supported the (North) American ATSC standard".

It adds that "Del Sol's position reflects what had been happening inside the TV stations and which was recognized two weeks ago by Alfredo Escobar from Anatel: the Japanese technology is no longer perceived as being out of reach due to its costs by the Chilean TV execs".

Del Sol told La Jornada that "the European standard is full of technical risks", and asked about the perceived high cost of the Japanese solution, he said that " cost should not be an issue as the Japanese market is big enough to take advantage of its economies of scale. Its design is considered technically untarnished, and is working in Japan at high-definition (1920x1080) to both fixed and mobile receivers".

He added that "Channel 13 and other channels here are doing trial broadcasts in HD using the European standard but there's great doubts about its robustness and stability of the reception. Another complexity is that this standard is using 8Mhz of bandwidth in Europe while down here TV uses 6 Mhz". He said that the (North) American ATSC standard is not ruled out and that its greatest strength is that "it's installed and working" in its market.

He concluded that it's essential for free over-the-air TV stations to be able to broadcast in High Definition to compete with paid TV, cable and satellite " it'd be a demolishing disadvantage for air TV not to have the same quality as paid TV".

While Brazil selected the Japanese ISDB-T standard and begins its HD broadcasts today, Chile's social democrats at the PPD and the PDC have voiced their support for the European DVB, a decision about which Del Sol said he " doesn't know the reasons", concluding that "the three standards allow a greater number of channels to become available.

Promoting a diversity of channels is not a valid argument to select a single one". Other countries in the region are yet to choose among the three competing standards. µ