From Video Demystified: A Handbook for the Digital Engineer, Fourth Edition
Overview
OpenCable is a digital cable standard for the United States, designed to offer interoperability between different hardware and software suppliers. A subset of the standard is being incorporated inside digital televisions.
The three other primary DTV standards are ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee), DVB (Digital Video Broadcast) and ISDB (Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting). A comparison between the standards is shown in Table 16.1. The basic audio and video capabilities are very similar. The major differences are the RF modulation schemes and the level of definition for non-audio/video services.
| Parameter | US (ATSC) | Europe, Asia (DVB) | Japan (ISDB) | OpenCable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| video compression | MPEG-2 | |||
| audio compression | Dolby Digital | MPEG-2, Dolby Digital, DTS | MPEG-2 AAC-LC | Dolby Digital |
| multiplexing | MPEG-2 transport stream | |||
| terrestrial modulation | 8-VSB | COFDM | BST-OFDM [2] | - |
| 6 MHz | 6, 7, or 8 MHz | 6, 7, or 8 MHz | 6 MHz |
| cable modulation | 16-VSB [3] | QAM | QAM | QAM |
| 6 MHz | 6, 7, or 8 MHz | 6, 7, or 8 MHz | 6 MHz |
| satellite modulation | QPSK, 8PSK | QPSK | PSK | - |
| 1. ISDB = Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting. | ||||
| [2]BST-OFDM = Bandwidth Segmented Transmission of OFDM. [3]Most digital cable systems use QAM instead of 16-VSB. |
OpenCable is based on the following ATSC and SCTE standards:
| A/52 | Digital Audio Compression (AC-3) Standard |
| A/53 | ATSC Digital Television Standard |
| A/65 | Program and System Information Protocol for Terrestrial Broadcast and Cable |
| A/90 | ATSC Data Broadcast Standard |
| SCTE 07 | Digital Video Transmission... |
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