[opendtv] 20060717 Mark's Monday Memo
- From: Mark Schubin <tvmark@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: tvmark@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2006 21:49:35 -0400 (EDT)
Here are some very efficient (low-administrative-cost) relief
organizations (all have four-star ratings from CharityNavigator.org):
<http://www.americares.org/>
<http://www.redcross.org/donate/donate.html>
<http://www.directrelief.org/index.html>
<http://www.hopeww.org/>
<http://www.mercycorps.org/splash/>
Americans may also call the Red Cross at 800 HELP NOW (800 435-7669).
- Follow-ups:
- Portable/Mobile TV - According to Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)
market research published in the July/August 2006 issue of Vision, this is U.S.
ownership of "portable entertainment devices" as of April:
- Wireless phones --------- 79%
- Notebook PCs ------------ 47%
- Portable CD players ----- 44%
- MP3 players ------------- 28%
- Portable DVD players ---- 26%
- Portable Gaming Devices - 20%
- Portable Digital Assts. - 19%
- Digital Media Player ---- 12%
For what it's worth, they also published a chart of the percentage-point
difference between current use and future interest:
- Watch TV programming ---- +30%
- Watch movies ------------ +22%
- Listen to Audio Books --- +22%
- Watch Music Videos ------ +18%
- Watch Home Movies ------- +18%
- View Digital Photos ----- +18%
- Listen to Other Content - +18%
- Play Games -------------- +12%
- Listen to Podcasts ------ + 9%
- Listen to Music --------- -19% (94% currently do this)
In buying intentions, it was:
- Wireless phone ---------- 21%
- Notebook PC ------------- 20%
- Portable DVD player ----- 14%
- MP3 player -------------- 10%
- Digital Media Player ---- 8%
Perhaps surprisingly, the most common use of these portable devices is in
the home (66%), followed by 52% in a vehicle; 41% connect them to their
computers, and 25% to their A/V receivers. Some 78% use existing libraries of
content; 51% download:
<http://www.ebrain.org/crs/crs_arch.asp?crscode=CRS280>
- Next-generation disks -
- Warren Communications News had two stories on Friday (they're no
longer on their site). One had the Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA)
"and others" saying that there's no problem with the format war because DVD
will be dominant for at least the next ten years. The other noted that Toshiba
has delayed its launch of an HD DVD recorder in Japan due to parts shortages:
<http://www.warren-news.com/>
- The German magazine CT has come up with a very simple way to
circumvent copy protection on either format:
<http://broadcastengineering.com/hd/hddvd_bluray_20060711/>
- An executive at a manufacturer has contacted me about their
analysis of the bill of materials of Toshiba's HD DVD. They, too, believe the
lower cost player is being sold for hundreds of dollars less than it costs to
build.
- Here's the URL for Peter Putman's report on problems with HDMI and
DVI connections for both formats:
<ttp://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages_b/blu-ray_players.html>
In a similar vane, this story quotes expert Joe Kane as saying, "HD is not
plug & play":
<http://www.cinenow.com/us/news-2118.html>
- And this Business Week writer had trouble even getting HD DVD to
play on a Toshiba Qosimo laptop:
<http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_30/b3994022.htm>
- AVCHD - The Panasonic/Sony joint consumer camcorder recording format has
been expanded to flash memories and hard drives from just HD on DVD, and other
manufacturers -- Canon, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, and Sonic Solutions among them
-- are getting involved:
<http://twice.com/article/CA6352555.html>
- PVRs and broadcasts - Here's an update from MediaPost:
<http://tinyurl.com/mf55a>
- Broadcast vs. Broadband - "Broadband is old news. It'll be a little bit
faster, a little bit prettier, and there will be a few more features, but
there's never going to be a hugely successful broadband program." That
sentence would be unremarkable had it not come from a man who became a
billionaire from the promise of broadband, HDNet's Mark Cuban:
<http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6351537.html>
- USDTV's bankruptcy - Two parties are reportedly trying to get the assets:
<http://www.tvtechnology.com/dailynews/one.php?id=4100>
- The Draft Telecommunications Bill - It allows Spanish-language stations
within 50 miles of the border to continue to transmit analog for another two
years (to February 2011). CEA and others don't like the extension:
<http://njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-ALRM1152731315474.html>
- May 1 -
- Neither the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) nor the
National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) updated their lists since the last
memo.
- Doug Lung's RF Report says there was no change in the number of
licensed U.S. DTT stations in the FCC CDBS database as of July 9, still 905:
<http://www.tvtechnology.com/dlrf/one.php?id=1343>
- Bleeping live TV - I have personally pushed the button when I've known
something was coming, but the FCC now plans to crack down even on background
remarks by spectators. This Reuters story wonders if it means the end of live
TV:
<http://tinyurl.com/s2s9m>
- Verizon is now offering 1.485 Gbps or 19.39 Mbps service within its
local-access transport areas (LATAs):
<http://www.tvtechnology.com/features/news/2006.07.12-n_Verizon.shtml>
- Is digital cinema not reliable enough? The Ventura County Star has Joe
Berchtold, head of Technicolor Digital Cinema, saying film is more reliable:
<http://tinyurl.com/ef4v5>
- International news:
- According to this story, the Philippines National Telecommunications
Commission is considering issuing no analog-TV licenses after 2010:
<http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=44020>
- Australia, meanwhile, has scrapped an end-of-2008 date for analog
cut-off. The new date is to fall between 2010 and 2012:
<http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds34825.html>
- The latest lists from Digital Broadcasting Australia show 105 models of
DTT set-top receiver boxes from 28 brands starting at a new low of A$90
(US$67). Of those, 37 from 20 brands are HD, starting at another new low of
A$290 (US$217):
<http://www.dba.org.au/index.asp?sectionID=18>
In integrated sets, they list 44 models from nine brands, starting at
A$1099 (US$822). Of those, 15 from four brands are HD, starting at A$2799
(US$2094):
<http://www.dba.org.au/index.asp?sectionID=78>
- Sanyo has added features to its VPC-HD1 HD camcorder (including a mode
for capturing 320 x 240 for iPods) and has dropped the price of the HD1a to a
suggested $699.99:
<http://www.twice.com/article/CA6352374.html>
- Based on figures from CEA, sales to U.S. dealers of non-H/DTV television sets
for the first 26 weeks of 2006 were down 46.6% from the same period in 2005; my
ten-week running average was also down 46.6%. Sales of so-called "Digital
Televisions" to U.S. dealers for the 26th week were 390,036 units and for the
first 26 weeks 8,006,842 (compared to 5,248,193 for sets not called "digital"
by CEA), still accounting for 60.4%.
To qualify to CEA as a "Digital Television," a display need only be
capable of dealing with at least 480p; it need not be capable of either
receiving digital signals or displaying them, although now that the 100% "tuner
mandate" has kicked in for sets 25-inch and larger, it would seem that most do
have such capability. CEA says about 82% of the "digital televisions" sold in
2005 (when not all TVs 25-inch and up were supposed to have DTT-reception
circuitry) were HDTV.
- DVD news:
- According to CEA's figures, sales of DVD players to U.S. dealers for the
first 26 weeks of 2006 were up 20.9% from the same period in 2005; my ten-week
running average was up 34.7%! I find these figures amazing!
FYI, despite excellent sales of "digital televisions" in the 26th week
(390,036 units), they were overshadowed by DVD-player sales (624,021 units).
- According to the Digital Entertainment Group, some 6.3 billion
pre-recorded DVD-Video disks have been sold, 740 million of them in the first
half of this year (down 4% from the same period last year). This story is from
Home Media Retailing:
<http://tinyurl.com/l4l2l>
NPD also sees a slight cutback in DVD purchases:
<http://www.npd.com/dynamic/releases/press_060711.html>
- Upcoming Dates (DTV and non-DTV):
- *August 10-11, Georgia Public Broadcasting, Atlanta, SBE/GPB seminar on
ATSC 8-VSB fundamentals and measurements
<http://www.broadcast.net/~sbe5/GPTV_Seminar_Flyer.pdf>.
- September 27-29, Hotel Washington, Washington, D.C., IEEE Broadcast
Symposium <http://www.ieee.org/organizations/society/bt/sympo.html>.
- October 3-5, Hotel Fort Des Moines, Des Moines, Iowa, Iowa DTV Symposium
<http://www.iptv.org/dtv/2005/>.
- October 4-6, Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, Jackson Hole Tech
Symposium <http://www.jhfestival.org/symposium2006/>.
- October 18-21, Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, SMPTE convention
<http://www.smpte.org/conferences/148cfp.cfm>.
- ***January 31-February 2, The Westin at Mission Hills, Rancho Mirage
(Palm Springs area), California, ***HPA Technology Retreat***
<http://www.hpaonline.com>.
- April 14-19, Las Vegas Convention Center, NAB convention
<http://www.nabshow.com/>.
- April 18-21, Atlanta Convention Center, Satellite Expo 2007 with C-band
Pioneers Reunion <http://www.bobcooper.tv/c-band-reunion.htm>.
* - new or revised listing
TTFN,
Mark
PS Permission is granted to forward this or any other Monday Memo. There
might not be a memo next week or the week after.
Have a question about the memo? Before contacting me, please try the FAQs and
glossary in the second postscript to the January 5 memo:
<http://www.digitaltelevision.com/mondaymemo/mlist/frm02213.html>
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