Deal would rev fiber optics for auto entertainment

Fiber Optics Weekly Update, July 9, 2004

The IDB Forum could reach an agreement this month with electronic content creators which would set the stage for greater use by automakers of high-bandwidth optical fiber in place of conventional wiring in rear-seat DVD systems. Lingering concerns about the reliability of optical fiber in vehicles could stall its advance in such systems, however.

The industry standards body and the group of content creators say the agreement will formalize content protection and simplify digital signal transmission by eliminating conversions, with the latter step vastly improving picture quality for rear-seat DVD viewers. Even so, automakers have lingering doubts about the quality of fiber wiring and connections, and many are already moving to all-in-one DVD units that don't use fiber.

The agreement, expected at a meeting among the IDB Forum, the DVD Copy Control Association, and representatives of the entertainment industry, could affect more than 1 million vehicles per year that incorporate dashboard-based DVD players and ceiling consoles. It could also potentially account for the annual use of more than 10 million feet of IDB-1394 fiber-optic cabling, an automotive version of the IEEE 1394 specification often called FireWire. The IDB-1394 fiber would be used to deliver digital signals from dash-mounted DVD players to overhead rear-seat displays and other devices in a car.

Until now, the entertainment industry has resisted using IDB-1394 optical fiber for automotive DVDs because executives worried that 1394 had insufficient means to protect against duplication of digital content. Executives were unconcerned, however, about using conventional, metallic-based analog systems, because such systems require digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital conversion, thus making high-quality copying almost impossible.

The IDB Forum plans to allay concerns about 1394 by adding new levels of protection to it. A new specification, released last week, calls for implementation of digital transmission copy protection schemes. It also includes so-called localization, which essentially ensures that content is maintained within the vehicle and is not being sent out to the Internet, where it could be copied.

If an agreement is reached, rear-seat DVD systems could use plastic optical fiber between the DVD "head unit" in the dash and the ceiling-mounted screen in back. As a result, picture clarity would be improved because the signal wouldn't have to go through a digital-to-analog conversion, followed by an analog-to-digital conversion, before reaching its destination at the rear-seat display.

Proponents of the technology claim that it could affect the design of millions of rear-seat entertainment systems. According to figures from the Consumer Electronics Association and the IDB Forum, more than 750,000 in-vehicle DVD systems were sold in 2003, and another 1.1 million are expected to be sold in 2004. By 2008, those figures reportedly could reach as high as 2.9 million per year. IDB executives hope that each such systems would use 6 to 10 feet of optical fiber in the connections between the head unit, ceiling console, and rear seats.

Still, very little optical fiber has been used to date for in-vehicle DVD systems, even though the entertainment industry had previously approved its use. Such use was described in a specification created by the Media Oriented Systems Transport Cooperation, founded in part by European automakers.

Industry observers also said last week that many rear-seat DVD systems won't use the technology, because of the growing popularity of systems that integrate DVD players with rear-seat displays.