[opendtv] Re: Barriers eroding to LCD TV adoption

  • From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2004 13:09:03 -0400

Craig Birkmaier wrote:

> I have been saying for several years that the price delta will be at
> least $300 for years to come.

Then how come Mark writes:

" - It might be worth noting that ATI's new HDTV Wonder
card, approximating the circuitry needed to add DTT reception
to a TV, retails for $199:
<http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1619390,00.asp>"

Clearly, if the separate PC card can be sold for under $200, a
built-in front end, without PCI backplane, should go for much
less.

Also, if STBs came in at under $300 last Christmas, and a few
were as low as $200 at Circuit City (could be old remnants, but
still), it just makes no sense to keep insisting on $300 as
premium when the front end is built-in. Pure nonsense, yes?

Also, I pointed out a two-chip front end that lists for $80
not long ago. Even adding in royalties and markup, even this
year, it's hard to justify any $300. Let alone "for years to
come."

> Others were saying
> that the added cost delta would soon be $50...

"Others" would be Motorola. By 2007. Sounds pretty credible to
me. I've been guesstimating less than that, by 1/1/2007.
Assuming the FCC doesn't levy some new requirements, of course.

> that's barely enough to
> cover the cost of all the royalty payments.

I thought the royalty payments were less than $20 all told?
And they will run out, eventually.

> Am I surprised that the delta has now shrunk to only $300 on the
> cheapest models?

If the 1st generation RCA DTC 100 in its final stand-alone
version listed for about $459, the $300 premium for built-in front
ends today can *only* indicate that the prices are way inflated. I
don't understand how anything else could be concluded. And what
would be so strange about inflated prices the first year a CE
product category is on the market?

Bert
 
 
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