[opendtv] Re: PR: I want my DTV
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 12:31:34 -0400
Tom Barry wrote:
> I somewhat think the driver for HDTV in the USA will be the
> attempt by
> cable companies to equate it with digital cable. Thus it will be a
> stealth premium service, having an increasing amount of HDTV material
> that requires a digital cable subscription and various tiers to get.
> The cable companies still have a competitive bandwidth advantage in
> this over the satellite folks.
I have to disagree, Tom. The way I see it, cable companies will
want to drop their analog tier as soon as possible, to offer
services such as VOD. We have already seen articles that allude to
this, as well as cable companies that have dropped all but a very
small amount of analog. And of course OTA will be dropping analog
as well.
At the same time, new TVs such as LCD TVs are appearing which are
HD capable *whether or not* their size makes HD all that important.
When you see 20" and 22" widescreen LCDs that are HD sets (actually
ED, but that still requires more than NTSC transmission quality for
optimal viewing) for well under $1000 now, you start to conclude
that HD is plain and simple a new standard. HD transmission, HD/ED
playback.
With OTA NTSC going off the air, and cable companies similarly
dropping analog tiers, and TV set makers using the flat screen
shift almost as an excuse to just go ahead and offer HD capable
sets, this is a sea change, not any sort of persistent "niche."
As it was always intended to be, of course.
I used to think that new digital TV set lineups would include a
whole slew of SD-only cheaper sets. What I'm seeing is instead
that new sets will be thin screen, will not benefit from interlace,
and will therefore be either ED or HD. Regardless of size. And
CRTs will disappear as LCD prices drop, simply because they are too
bulky and their image isn't as saturated.
=20
Bert
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