DIGITAL MIGRATION SWITCH ON BEGINS TOMORROW Tomorrow (Monday 29/7/13) night Vice President Kedikilwe will formally launch the Digital Migration process with the switch on of a DTT signal using the new ISDB-T International standard for 8 MHz that was adopted for our country earlier this year. The event will be graced by the Japanese Vice Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Honourable Keiichiro Tachibana, who arrived yesterday accompanied by a large delegation consisting of private as well as public sector participants. Representatives from elsewhere in the region and beyond are also expected to be on hand to witness the milestone event. Monday’s big switch on will have no immediate effect on local consumers, who shall continue to receive BTV via the analogue or satellite transmission they have heretofore been using. For some time our nation will take advantage of the capacity of its transmitters to simultaneously broadcast both traditional analogue and digital signals. In the longer term, however, we shall be working towards the ultimate switch off of the analogue signal, which will first require that Batswana who rely on receiving terrestrial or free to air (i.e. not satellite) signals for their TV are provided with appropriate decoders, which have already been developed and are expected to soon become available. As we move forward it will, therefore, be important for free to air consumers to ensure that their decoders, whether in the form of “set top boxes” or built in TV receivers, are ISDB-T compatible. The modalities of ensuring that Batswana in general are digitally enabled, through public awareness as well as access to appropriate technology, will be high on the agenda of this week’s inaugural meeting of the joint Botswana-Japanese Task Force, whose establishment was fast tracked in the context of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for enhanced bilateral partnership in the field of digital broadcasting, which was signed following talks in Tokyo last week. The MOU provides a comprehensive framework for the provision of Japanese assistance in the development of the next generation of digital high definition interactive broadcasting, which will be rolled out in the coming months and years as a platform for e-Government, including e-Education, Health and Disaster Management outreach, as well as enhanced entertainment. Discussions within Government are also ongoing for the accelerated establishment of a dedicated Project Management Office to locally drive the Digital Migration Process. Why, one might ask are we doing all of this, is it really worth the effort and expense? To begin with while we do have options in terms of the technologies we choose to adopt, such as MPEG4 for superior video compression or ISDB-T for its superior mobile transmission, like all other countries in the world we are practically required to make the ultimate transition from analogue to digital broadcasting. The basic terms of Digital Migration throughout the world has been agreed upon by the member states of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), including our country. Member States in ITU Region 1, which includes Africa, Europe and much of Asia, have further set the goal of June 2015 for completion of the switchover; although some states have indicated their intention to continue with analogue as well as digital transmission after the said date. While the ITU has thus provided a common roadmap, it is important to note that the eagerness of the world community to go fully digital is based on compelling advantages. Digital television through its superior compression requires much less use of the radio spectrum than traditional analogue transmission. It can therefore provide for more channels as well as better picture quality and perhaps most significantly interactivity, including interface and convergence with other digital devices. It is in recognition of said potential that Government was attracted to the ISDB-T standard’s inbuilt capacity to provide for fixed, mobile and portable transmission from a single transmitter, which sets it apart from rival standards such as DVB-T2, which has been adopted by a number of other countries in the region, including South Africa. In other words like consumers in such places as Brazil and Japan, Batswana in the near future can look forward to watching enhanced high definition TV on their mobile phones and other relatively low cost portable devices, as well as home TV sets. Digital television also opens the door to HD picture quality. Here too a revolution is unfolding with parts of the world already moving from 2K (2000 pixels) to 4K Ultra HD (8.3 megapixels) with 8K Super HD (33.1 megapixels) on the horizon. Beyond its entertainment value, 8K should thus transform telemedicine and other industrial applications.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 09:46:33 +0000
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