[CamperBob2]

Another way to put it: this page not only needs some editorial cleanup, it deserves it.

I had no idea of the politics behind the old-school TV standards -- I'd always assumed that they emerged fully formed from an archaeo-MPEG organization of some sort, where a bunch of industry players cooperated and pooled their patents, and where the regulators got involved only at the rubber-stamp stage.

It was well worth the time needed to plow through the verbiage, but not everybody will give it the same chance I did, which is a bummer.