A Broadcast Engineering Tutorial for Non-Engineers

by Graham A. Jones

Important Updates! This third edition has been reorganized and updated throughout. It encompasses new standards and identifies and explains emerging digital technologies currently revolutionizing the industry. Additions "Broadcast Basics" - first principles for those who really are starting from scratch. ATSC PSIP (Program and System Information Protocol) and Data Broadcasting. More information on ATSC digital television standards and implementation. Current TV studio operations - HD and SD systems, video servers, non-linear editing, electronic news rooms, closed captioning, and compressed bitstreams. Station and network arrangements, centralcasting, and multicasting. IBOC digital HD radio and methods for implementation. Current radio studio operations - digital audio workstations, program automation, and voice tracking. and much more! * Learn from industry expert Graham Jones of the National Association of Broadcasters-the most trusted name in broadcast* Covers television and radio, analog and digital* Packed with jargon-busters

328 pages, Paperback

First published April 13, 2005

Reviews

[Katrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a fascinating look into broadcasting science. Dry, like you would probably expect of a textbook, but more or less did a good job of explaining the science conceptually. A phrase that annoyed me to no end when I encountered it (and I encountered it a lot): "outside the scope of this book." To a certain extent, understandable, but on certain concepts, aggravating, as some things bore explanation (for example, the generation of captions.) There were also a lot of bold key phrases and concepts that were never quite explained. I could pick up some of them from context, but not all of them.
I did, however, appreciate the delineation of analog versus digital broadcasting, especially since analog is not a format used very much anymore. It explains the advantages and disadvantages to each format so that I understood why the digital transition had to happen.
Overall, a mediocre textbook that at least sets up a basic understanding.