DIPOL Weekly Review - TV and SAT TV, CCTV, WLAN

3D HDTV - a great boom or a mild disappointment?

From September 3 to 18 the satellite operator SES ASTRA will be transmitting HDTV programs in 3D HDTV technology. The occasion for this experiment with high-resolution three-dimensional television is a jubilee - the 50th edition of Berlin's IFA consumer electronics fair, to be held between September 3 and 8, 2010.
The live broadcasts during the fair will cover new developments in consumer electronics. After the end of the fair, the operator will broadcast the recorded footage of the events that will have taken place there. The transmissions in three-dimensional version will be available only for owners of specially designed TV receivers and their household members using dedicated glasses. The undertaking will be implemented in collaboration with Panasonic.

Technical parameters of the channel: ASTRA 3B at 23.5 E, transponder 3204, frequency 11.778 GHz, vertical polarization (V), SR 27.5 MS/s, DVB-S2 with QPSK modulation, FEC 9/10, pilot on.

Will this transmission represent a breakthrough in the European television market and mark the beginning of an era of three-dimensional television? After the success of "Avatar," the three-dimensional TV market is very lively. New solutions of the leading manufacturers were presented at the largest trade fairs. It is not so complicated to prepare modern displays for 3D television and does not significantly increase the cost of the TV sets. The manufacturers can begin mass production at once. However, they are hampered by the small number of programs broadcast in 3D and the reserve of broadcasters to start new ones. Watching stereoscopic television in its current formula, the viewer requires special glasses dedicated to a particular TV model (universal glasses should be available only from September). This solution is seen by most potential users as uncomfortable. In addition, no-one has completed detailed research on the influence of quickly alternating images on the human nervous system. During screenings of 3D movies in cinemas there were cases of headache and nausea, especially among people with impaired sight.

The 3D transmission performed by SES ASTRA will certainly be an interesting experiment, but the real popularity of three-dimensional television is a matter of a longer time - 3D HDTV is not booming yet.

3D HDTV - still in its starting phase

By the end of this year, more than 50 broadcasters will offer 3D television channels. According to IMS Research, about 9% of TV sets used worldwide will have the possibility to display 3D images by the end of 2014. A more optimistic forecast relates to the American market, where in four years the percentage of 3D TVs holders should reach 40%.
Manufactures of televisions are actively developing this market segment. Samsung announced the introduction later this year of a portable Blu-ray player with 10.1-inch screen, capable of 1080p 3D video playback, equipped with a wireless network card (WiFi) and HDMI interface. Samsung has also launched a 50-inch 3D TV which costs only about $ 1100.
Any time soon Panasonic will offer two new full HD plasmas - VIERA 3D - from its latest GT25 series. Their new screens (42-inch and 50-inch) will refresh the image at the rate of 600 Hz (sub-field drive) and will ensure 1080p video resolution, 24p cinematic playback.
TV manufactures also use another way to popularize 3D technology, implementing 2D-to-3D conversion. This feature allows to watch regular 2D films in three dimensions. Panasonic is inroducing its first models of such televisions for around $1500 - $2000.

Photo competition - "Engagingly about Antennas".

DVB-T antenna amplifier.

We offer first DVB-T antenna amplifier TERRA AB001 R82001, designated for outdoor applications (typically it is mounted on the antenna mast) and powered via the RF cable from a 5 VDC source. Normally the power source is the DVB-T receiver, which - in compliance with EN 300 744 - provides at its input 5 VDC voltage to power antenna equipment.

Application of the AB001 R82001 amplifier

Other masthead amplifiers require 12 VDC. Application of the AB001 amplifier instead of a standard amplifier powered with 12 VDC allows to avoid an additional power supply. Terra AB001 R82001 amplifier is dedicated for outdoor applications in individual antenna installations and small MATV systems (with up to a dozen sockets). It has been specially designed for DVB-T system. Its moderate 12 dB gain throughout the whole UHF band (470-862 MHz) practically eliminates the risk of overdriving. The maximum output level of 106 dBuV (IMD3=60 dB, DIN45004B) enables distribution of the amplified signal to over ten antenna sockets. The amplifier features very low noise level, below 3 dB.
An important feature of the R82001 amplifier is very low power consumption (0.15 W), which translates into 1.3 kWh per year (24/7).

Main features of the amplifier:

Aspherical lenses.

An aspherical lens used with a camera is a lens assembly that includes aspherical elements (optical lenses with profiles that are not portions of a sphere, they usually have the shape of a hyperbola). Non-spherical shape of the optical lenses results in a larger effective diameter of the entrance, providing a larger aperture and greater light transmittance. These lenses with a different profile compensate aberrations at the edges. The light that is normally lost by a standard lens, is received by the aspherical lens and transmitted to the image sensor. This feature is particularly important in the case of color cameras, because they are less sensitive than black and white cameras. Using these lenses with B/W cameras we can achieve further increase in sensitivity of their optical system as well.

The main advantages of aspherical lenses:

The spherical lens (on the left) has focusing problems

Currently, manufacturers use three methods in the production of aspherical lenses: molding, grinding and polishing, and depositing optical resin onto a spherical lens to form a composite lens (the polymer overlay is formed by an aspherical model and cured with UV).

An aspherical 3-8 mm M2311 lens from reputable TOKINA company

CCTV - reviewing DVR recordings on a PC.

Many local video surveillance systems record video data that are not monitored on a regular basis. The examples are parking lots at housing developments, POS terminals, sports facilities etc.
If there is a need to analyze the recordings, it is important to have possibility of quick removing the HDD and reviewing its content on an external device, preferably a PC.

An ideal solution is to use modern Hikvision-Ultimax CCTV DVRs - DS-8108HDI-SE M76081 and DS-8116HDI-SE M76161. A special feature of the models is opening front panel, allowing easy exchange of hard drives. During normal operation the panel can be closed with the appropriate key, preventing unauthorized persons to access the HDDs. The DVRs are easy to operate - they use intuitive menus, identical in both models. They are capable of recording 4CIF images at frame rate of 12 fps.

Easy assembly, disassembly and reviewing of video data recorded on a HDD from the DVRs

Local Playback Software makes the reviewing of a HDD video data an easy job. This application for Windows OS reads the data from the HDD connected to a typical PC.

It eliminates the problems that often appear when using other equipment - lack of playback due to untypical formats, inconvenient searching of desired fragments etc. Through the Local Playback Software the HDD content recorded on a Hikvision-Ultimax DVR is seen as a set of video channels assigned to CCTV cameras. The recordings are shown on the timeline. It is also possible to export the recordings and make screenshots.

Megapixel Aviosys cameras - a milestone in the presentation of live video on the Web.

Many people want to create their own website which will be streaming live video from a camera, at the lowest possible cost. However, such a service typically involves a monthly subscription for video streaming, a cost of renting space on a server, and a quite extensive knowledge of programming.
AVIOSYS cameras of 90070 series solve all these problems. They have a built-in web server on which the user can put their own website written in HTML or modify the existing master page, provided by the manufacturer.
The built-in 2 GB memory in 9070 basic K1160 and 9070 IR K1162 cameras, and exchangeable SD/SDHC card (max. 8 GB; 2 GB included) in 9070 CS K1161 camera allows to save not only the website information, but also some archival data. The image is inserted on the page using a few lines of code that contains IP address of the camera and the size of the window to be displayed.

Example website with live video from Aviosys camera

Aviosys cameras are ideal for places where we do not want, or we cannot install web servers, but we need to share the live video from.

Typical applications:

Aviosys cameras combine the functions of:

The live video from the 9070 CS camera is available on its catalog page ( K1161 )

Wi-Fi network based on TP-LINK devices - part 2.

If the Internet connection is provided by an ISP (cable TV, DSL, or other operator) via Ethernet interface (it may be for example cable modem with RJ-45 socket or just such a wall socket connected to Ethernet cable), the user can share the broadband connection in their local network.

For this purpose the user will need:

There are also available 802.11n devices:

TP-Link TL-WR542G 54Mbps is a wireless router that comprises router, firewall, and access point. It provides a quick and convenient way of building wired and wireless network based on one external broadband service. The network, consisting of a number of computers, is additionally protected by firewall.

We have written about:

Antenna outlets for PVR Twin receivers in multiswitch systems. Twin receivers can receive two different satellite broadcasts, so they need two independent satellite signals connected via two cables (e.g. TRISET-113 E1015).
The R694140 outlet allows to feed two satellite signals...

Application of the R694140 subscriber terminal outlet

CCTV system in an elementary school. One of elementary schools in southern Poland decided to install a video monitoring system. The reason was numerous acts of vandalism and hooliganism - destruction of school property, robberies on students, thefts from the locker room. The teachers and other staff were not always able to personally oversee the conduct of over 500 students in the school...

WLAN in a single-family house - part 1. The user who has Internet connection in their single-family house, usually would like to have possibility of using the Internet in various parts of the home or even in its close surroundings like garage or garden. To reach that goal, the perfect solution is use of a wireless network (WLAN) operating in 802.11b/g or the latest n standard...

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