----- Original Message ----- From: "johnwillkie" <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
That may happen, but usually "where there's money to pay for something" a market develops.I paid $89 within a week or two of release to buy a DiamondVision USB 8-VSBdongle. (Which I haven't been able to use because I can't find the installation disk and d/l from their web site seems to give me a bad application file.) Take out the retailer's take (let's say 20%), and you have a $73 dollardevice. Then, factor I the learning curve, and it is a $36 device within ayear. Then, add back in a plastic case, take out the USB connection, and swap out the video/audio inputs for outputs, and you have a STB. Sell it online for the voucher amount, with shipping included. Make it real big compared to the dongle; say the size of a pack of cigs. (The Diamond comes with a remote control and a 6" antenna.)
In order to change your dongle to an STB, you need to also add a power supply and cord, (or a wall wart to avoid UL lab testing,) MPEG decoding with HD capability and up/down/cross conversion, HDMI interface, NTSC baseband and S-Video interface, Dolby Digital Audio interface, onboard Dolby AC3 decoding, baseband stereo audio output, NTSC RF modulator, microprocessor and memory for EPG creation and user interface. Then you would have an STB.
Oh, you can eliminate the HDMI interface and Optical audio output, and cripple the HD up/down/cross conversion to only down conversion in order to qualify for the Gov't coupon program.
John
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