Most Stations Ready for DTV Transition.

With just a little less than six months to go, a report by the FCC’s Media Bureau shows that over 96 percent of active full power television stations are either fully operational with digital service or are on track to have their full digital service operational by February 17, 2009. According to the report, 1,002 stations (56 percent of a current total of 1,798 active television stations) reported that they have fully constructed their post-transition DTV facilities and are ready for the DTV transition, while 41 percent of stations (736) have not completed construction yet but report making appropriate progress and expect to be operating their full digital service before February 18. There are however, 56 stations (roughly three percent) which will take advantage of the flexibility offered by the Commission in the Third DTV Periodic Review Report and Order and will be serving at least 85 percent of their service population on February 17, 2009, with final digital operations beginning sometime thereafter. Just one station forecasts that it will not be able to complete construction of its full digital facility until a few days after the transition date and will be dark for this brief time. Full power stations must terminate analog broadcasting no later than 11:59:59 pm on February 17, 2009, and broadcast only digital signals as of February 18, 2009.

Phillips Brings 3D to Blu-ray.

Phillips Electronics has announced that it will demonstrate 3D content on Blu-ray at IFA 2008. According to the company, the demonstration is geared to show off the company's new 2D-plus-Depth format which can be added to Blu-ray to immerse the viewer in a 3D experience. The 3D data format, developed by Philips 3D Solutions, is in the form of 'image+depth' (2D-plus-Depth). The depth information indicates the position of each 2D image pixel on the depth axis in or out of the screen plane. Rendering of 9 different views out of the 2D-plus-Depth data is done within the display by means of integrated hardware. These 9 views are spatially dispersed in front of the display by a micro lens layer. Using the 2D-plus-Depth format will allow viewers to watch the films either on stereoscopic displays, with the traditional red/blue glasses, or on auto-stereoscopic 3D displays which do not require the use of special glasses. Although Phillips currently manufactures a line of auto-stereoscopic 3D displays used mainly for digital signage, gaming applications in casinos, and 3D visualization, the company aims to bring this technology to the home. Jos Swillens, CEO of Philips 3D Solutions said "This demonstration of 3D on Blu-ray is a clear proof point of the flexibility and sustainability of our 2D-plus-Depth content format. It can bring high quality 3D content to the home on a variety of displays and offers a solution to the need for interoperability in 3D." IFA 2008 runs from August 29 - September 3 in Berlin, Germany.

Minissan - Markertek Clowns Around with Award-Winning Super Car !

Living up to the title of 'Home of the Unique and Hard to Find', Markertek recently supplied the final touches for Mike Guido's red-hot Minissan. Mike, who is also known as 'The World's Fastest Clown', built this totally custom, 375bhp asphalt-eating, Nissan powered, 1962 Austin Mini by dedicating his very own blood, sweat and tears to the project. "It's kind of funny that after over four years and 4,000+ hours of build time, that cable was the last piece of the puzzle," said Guido. The Minissan just won Best of Show and Wild and Hottest Engineered awards at a recent Hot Import Nights in Orlando. According to Mike, "the judges went nuts over the sound system, it helped put Minissan over the top overall." As The World's Fastest Clown, Mike educates kids about the dangers of tobacco and smoking, reaching thousands of children nationwide through his auto racing, magic shows, and media coverage. Markertek would like to congratulate Mike on the Minissan's recent success and wishes this clown many victory laps in the future.

Google Throws $10 Million Into the Ground.

In the continuing effort to develop electricity from renewable energy cheaper than from coal, Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, has announced $10.25 million in investments in a breakthrough energy technology called Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). While the traditional geothermal approach relies on finding naturally occurring pockets of steam and hot water in the earth's crust, the EGS process, by comparison, replicates these conditions by fracturing hot rock, circulating water through the system, and using the resulting steam to produce electricity in a conventional turbine. This means EGS power generation is applicable world-wide, not just in areas located on continental plate boundaries such as California, New Zealand and Indonesia. A recent MIT report on EGS estimates that just 2% of the heat below the continental United States between 3 and 10 kilometers, depths within the range of current drilling technology, is more than 2,500 times the country's total annual energy use. "EGS is critical to the clean electricity revolution we need to solve the climate crisis, but EGS hasn't received the attention it merits. That's why we're pressing for expanded support from government and increased investment from the private sector. We're big believers in EGS and we're looking for more opportunities," said Dan Reicher, Director of Climate and Energy Initiatives for Google.org.

FCC Says No to Wireless 700MHz Devices.

Following a recent proposal from FCC chairman Kevin Martin, the Commission has unanimously voted to ban the use of wireless devices operating in the 700MHz range after the transition to digital next year. The Notice also proposes that the FCC prohibit the manufacture, import, sale, or shipment of devices that operate as low power auxiliary stations in the 700 MHz Band after the end of the DTV transition. These actions would ensure that low power auxiliary operations do not cause harmful interference to new public safety and commercial wireless services in the band. Low power auxiliary stations are authorized for such uses as wireless microphones, cue and control communications, and synchronization of TV camera signals. Of the 943 active low power auxiliary station licenses, 156 are currently authorized to operate in the 700 MHz Band.  Of those 156 licenses, most are authorized to operate in other spectrum bands as well, and only 30 are authorized to operate only in the 614-806 MHz band, of which the 700 MHz Band is a part. After the end of the DTV transition, low power auxiliary stations would be able to continue operating in additional spectrum bands that allow such operations on a secondary basis, including certain broadcast television channels below 700 MHz. The draft Notice also seeks comment on various requests recently made by Public Interest Spectrum Coalition (PISC) in its Informal Complaint and Petition regarding the use of wireless microphones. The DTV transition date is February, 17, 2009.

High-Purity Recycling from Mitsubishi.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation of Japan has announced it has developed a technology to sort three kinds of plastics - polypropylene, polystyrene and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene - from mixed plastics with purity levels of more than 99%. The new process, named "Large-Scale High-Purity Plastic Recycling", will allow the company to recover and reuse plastics from waste household appliances to make new products. Mitsubishi set up a household appliances recycling plant in 1999 and since then has recycled 600 tons of plastics per year into new products. However, due to the inability to separate different types of plastics, the actual amount of recycled materials is only 6% of the total weight of scrapped plastics. The company will now separate PP from PS and ABS based on the difference in specific gravity, and then separates PS and ABS from each other based on the difference in charging characteristics. This will allow the total amount of plastics recovered to increase to 7,000 tons per year. According to Mitsubishi, the new process will also cut annual greenhouse gas emissions by 6,700 tons by curbing production of new plastics. The company said it expects the new recycling process to be launched fall 2009.

Olympic Gold for NBCU.

Shattering previous 'Olympic' records, NBC Universal has logged 200 million viewers during the first 11 days of the Beijing Olympics. Topping the 2004 Athens Games viewer number of 188 million and the 1996 Atlanta Games impressive 196 million, 83% of all households in the U.S. have tuned into NBC's coverage of the current Games. According to Nielson's People Meter, ABC, CBS and FOX all recorded record lows in total viewer averages last week. NBC said that page views on NBCOlympics.com has totaled 18.7 million since the games opened. This number is up 63 percent from the Athens Summer Games in 2004 and up 400 percent from the Salt Lake City games in 2002. "We found that the more content we make available, the more buzz we create," said Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics. "There's an audience for the consumption of media that's super-strong in front of the TV and also strong when people are not. We have to make sure our content is made available to people wherever they are." The Games end Sunday, August 24.

Markertek Welcomes to the Family this Week:

Cirque Du Soleil - Zumanity
Chris Lord-Alge
Navteq
Duke University
Appalachian ISP Sports Network
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Salem Media of New York
Creative Audio Post
Dowling College
Youngstown State University
KSBI-TV
Optical Filters USA
Indiestar Films LLC
BNSF Railway
Georgetown ISD

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