ATSC 3.0: The Next Generation of TV Has Arrived

The premise of the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard is that it brings viewers the interactive features streaming has always offered, plus a number of new and improved features, via a one-tomany over-the-air (OTA) delivery. Because this is Streaming Media magazine, Ill focus on the features that are of particular interest to streaming professionals. [...]theres so much cool stuff that you can do if your TV is connected to the internet. Because ATSC 3.0 offers IP delivery over the air, it brings a slew of features that are already available in smart TVs and some that arent: * Support for off-the-shelf web browser technology * Full HD * Voice boost to increase the volume of the dialogue relative to the music and effects * Support for HEVC and Dolby audio * Emergency notifications * Closed-captioning * The ability to change audio and captions to alternative supplied languages * OTT and OTT hybrid content broadcasting * Additional interactive functionality * DVR * Datacasting * Ad-targeting * Dynamic content substitution * Ecommerce support In demos I've seen, channel surfing between OTA and OTT is seamless, and there's no obvious indication to the viewer of how the content is being delivered. The transport layer has been switched to be an IP-based system and is a complete greenfield approach for radio frequency (RF) delivery, with no backward compatibility to ATSC 1.0. Can the cloud help? Because the original signal is so heavy, sending it to the cloud is possible, but almost nobody does because its very, very expensive, Bambha says.