Technology Corner
Randy Hoffner is manager of technology and strategic planning at ABC, New York, N.Y. The views expressed in his column are his own, and not necessarily those of ABC.
Are Viewers Rediscovering Over the Air TV?
by Randy Hoffner, 01.27.2010
These people obviously don’t read my column, do they? More...
The Changing Face of the Television Industry
by Randy Hoffner, 01.06.2010
More...
The New Recommended Practice on Loudness
by Randy Hoffner, 11.30.2009
Perceived loudness, particularly of commercials, has been a problem and a complaint as long as commercial television has been with us. More...
Loudness Redux, Again
by Randy Hoffner, 11.02.2009
New audio standards complicate issue More...
Going Back to the Beginning of HDTV
by Randy Hoffner, 09.08.2009
A German company developed a full television system that used over 1000 lines during World War II More...
The Analog Shutoff—One Viewer's Experience
by Randy Hoffner, 08.12.2009
I held hopes that once the analog signal was shut off and KABC-DT moved to RF channel 7, I would be able to receive it off-air. More...
The Future of 'Super HD' Scanning Formats
by Randy Hoffner, 07.07.2009
These won't be broadcast or put on cable any time soon, but those in front of SMPTE are intended to be used in digital cinema capture. More...
Whither Television Broadcasting?
by Randy Hoffner, 04.29.2009
We interrupt the series that has been running in this column on "ultra resolution," to bring you a message about what's going on in television today. More...
The Quest for Ever-Higher Resolution
by Randy Hoffner, 04.03.2009
Currently, 1920x1080 is the HD video scanning format with the highest spatial resolution, but there are efforts underway to change this. More...
The High Speed World of 1080p Over 3 Gbps
by Randy Hoffner, 01.13.2009
Although there is little equipment supporting it available, the interest in 1080p/60 as a future scanning format has been high enough to result in a SMPTE standard for an interface to accommodate it. More...
What's All This About 1080p and 3 Gbps?
by Randy Hoffner, 12.12.2008
Several years ago, video mastering and archiving of film-based material for the various, and proliferating, video applications, migrated to 1080p/24 (well, really 1080p/23.98). This was a good thing, for several reasons. More...
The Evolution of Videotape Formats, Part 2
by Randy Hoffner, 11.03.2008
This wrapping pattern requires tape that is much thinner and more flexible than 2-inch tape. It is so thin and flexible that as it travels through the transport, it is subject to stretching and flexing which effectively changes More...
Videotape is Not Dead, Either
by Randy Hoffner, 10.01.2008
You have previously read in this column that despite several memorial services, film is not dead as a capture medium for television programming. In fact, after some flirtation with 24 fps video, we are back to the situation in More...
Is Broadcast Television Losing Its Mojo?
by Randy Hoffner, 06.11.2008
The broadcast station business suddenly seems to be less of a financial sure thing than it used to be. More...