User:Dinjiin/Sandbox/Digital Cable

Digital cable (D-CATV) is a family of systems for broadcasting digital television over cable. It is an evolution of analog cable television, bringing more efficient use of bandwidth, increased resistance to interference, multimedia user interactivity, secure content protection, and recently, high-definition television.

History
The development of digital cable paralleled the research of digital content delivery systems in general. A consortium of manufacturers, spearheaded by General Instrument (now Motorola Connected Home Solutions), Scientific Atlanta and CableLabs, worked in conjunction with international standards committees, such as the International Telecommunication Union, to develop efficient data compression methods for audio and video. The Moving Picture Experts Group was specifically created to develop and then license the fruits of data compression research. Additionally, these manufacturers developed methods to integrate these new digital technologies in a mutually compatible system with existing analog cable television customers.

Early digital cable systems deployed in North America came to prominently utilize General Instrument's DigiCipher MPEG-1 based system, as well as open MPEG-2 based systems from Scientific Atlanta. Cross-licensing deals between the two companies allowed for the production of cable converter boxes that were mutually compatible with both systems.

As DigiCipher and open MPEG based systems were being developed and deployed in North America for cable and satellite use, a consortium of European companies undertook a parallel venture for creating a similar system for Europe. The Digital Video Broadcasting Project was formed to create an open delivery system for cable, satellite and terrestrial broadcasting. Digital cable systems were developed under the DVB-C subgroup and ratified by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute in 1994.

Given the level of similarity between the various digital cable standards, the ITU wanted to incorporate all of the various systems under a single worldwide standard. The ITU-T J.83 recommendation, ratified in 1997, came to cover systems deployed in Europe (Annex A), North America (Annex B and D) and Japan (Annex C).

Meanwhile, a smaller consortium of manufacturers in North America lead by CableLabs attempted to develop a standard for digital converter hardware and software.

Standards organizations

 * Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB)
 * Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC)
 * Digital Video Broadcasting Project (DVB)
 * International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
 * Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE)

ATSC

 * See: "Chapter 7 - Transmission Characteristics for High Data Rate Mode"

SCTE

 * , formerly SCTE DVS 031

General links

 * ISDB-C - Cable Television Transmission for Digital Broadcasting in Japan NHK