[opendtv] Re: ATSC STBs

John Golitsis wrote:

>Look how long it took YOU to purchase an ATSC receiver!

True, but that's no different from any other CE purchase I've made. Early 
adopters might reward CE vendors and retailers for peddling premature and 
unsorted out products, but the bulk of the market will not and never has. 
That's no excuse for arbitrarily deciding what's best for your customers.

I didn't buy a VCR until they came out with hifi stereo sound. I didn't buy 
a CD player until they came out with dual 16-bit D/A converters and 
oversampling to avoid brick wall low pass filters. I didn't buy an HD 
monitor until flat panel display prices had fallen to something reasonable 
for 16:9 screens bigger than what I already had, and didn't suffer from 
burn-in problems. I wasn't about to buy the huge, ugly, 4:3 CRT monitor the 
sales guy at Circuit City tried to push along with their early ATSC STBs 
(ca. 2000). I couldn't believe the stupidity of that store policy.

And I didn't want to buy an inferior STB, just to help retailers or CE 
vendors clear out inventory of obsolete products, two years after they had 
more reasonable solutions ready for mass production. On that last one, I had 
to compromise and buy something that was apparently "better than most," 
without actually being as good as it should have been. So what makes OTA 
STBs different?

>If I'm happily watching TV off-air today, why go ATSC? A
>new box...a new remote...who needs or wants the hassle?

Watching DTT is a completely different experience, just as FM radio was a 
completely different exeprience from band-limited and noisy AM. Even on my 
upstairs 20" CRT, it's like watching DVD quality for all TV stations. I do 
agree, though, that when/if NTSC shutoff occurs, that's when the big demand 
SHOULD happen. Unless retailers and CE OEMs continue on their present course 
of failing to produce, and coercing their customers into buying what is not 
in their best interest.

Don't retailers sell better-sounding audio systems, including FOTA radio 
tuners, just because they SOUND better? What makes OTA TV any different? Did 
you stop carrying FM tuners, and force people who want decent radio sound to 
XM Radio?

Remember the concept of customer service?

If you think that selling OTA products is a hassle, imagine what European 
retailers have to go through, in countries where (a) most people live in 
apartments, and (b) TV transmitters are low power. Somehow, they manage. Yet 
the customers typically cannot use rabbit ears and cannot install their own 
outdoor antennas. I'm not sure I understand how they can pull that off.

Bert

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