scope:

INTRODUCTION

In January of 1982 the Electronic Industries Association (EIA) and the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) formed a Joint Engineering committee to make an assessment of the problems related to the compatibility of cable hardware and television receivers, with emphasis on the technical and operational issues at stake. The charter of the committee is "To establish and maintain dialogue between the cable and consumer electronics industries for the purpose of studying resolving engineering matters of common interest."

The main concern of the EIA/NCTA Joint Engineering Committee is communications, cooperation and, where necessary, the generation of guidelines to steer development of cable television services and consumer equipment into the future, in a way which will facilitate adaptation to new services and techniques.

It is important to recognize that there is no disagreement on the need to achieve certain minimum levels of compatibility. Both the system operator and receiver manufacturers are interested in satisfying their customer needs. The problem lies in determining those needs and then ensuring that most of them are met without undue disruption to the needs of others. Orderly development by both parties requires compatibility between the television receiver and the cable systems, which can be achieved through the EIA/NCTA Joint Engineering committee's efforts in defining interfaces.