[opendtv] Re: 20060117 Mark's (Almost) Monday Memo
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 12:03:12 -0500
Mark Schubin wrote:
> - This story from Connected Home Media I liked for one
> of the headlines. Did you know 2006 will be "The Year of
> HDTV"?
> <http://tinyurl.com/ctnro>
I think what the paragraph actually describes is the year of
1080p. Which The Perfect Vision is also claiming. In which
case, the interesting question (IMO) would be what looks
better on a 1080 at 60p display? 720p upconverted, or 1080i
deinterlaced?
> <http://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages_b/ces2006mmqb.html>
> That last ends with this comment. "Missing in action:
> Terrestrial DTV set-top receivers! Where'd they all go?"
Great question. A related question is where are the 4th/5th
gen products? DTT HDTV STBs seem to be the only CE products
on this planet that have not been upgraded from last year
-- same models *and* same prices! Even though they are one
product that would benefit greatly from the latest
technology, not to mention lower prices. I think the speed
with which the Accurian STBs flew off store shelves at the
$89 closeout price should not be lost to the bean counters
out there. I also wonder why they were a best kept secret
by Radio Shack and the TV industry in general.
Related to this, we need DTT receiver spec measurement
standards just as we have for, say, audio amplifiers or
video monitors. So people know what the heck they are
buying without having to rely on word of mouth.
> - Here's a story about advanced compression likely
> making Freeview DTT receivers in the UK obsolete:
> <http://tinyurl.com/cc4k3>
> Of course, the same could be said of U.S. DTT receivers.
Yes, except that in Europe, the move to AVC is virtually
mandatory for migration to HDTV. Here it's not. It is
quite possible here to provide a freeview system offering,
say, well upwards of 20 program streams, which can be a
mix of SD and HD channels, without making any changes. But
not in Euro markets. Adding HDTV, as simulcast AVC streams,
to allow existing sets to continue operating, would
seriously cut into the number of channels a freeview system
can offer, unless more spectrum is allocated. So without a
wholesale migration to AVC, offering HDTV would mean
diminishing greatly the appeal of Freeview.
> - Based on figures from CEA, sales to U.S. dealers of
> non-H/DTV television sets for the first 49 weeks of 2005
> were down 12.4% from the same period in 2004; my
> ten-week running average was also down 16.3%. For the
> first 50 weeks it was 13.1% and, for the ten-week running
> average, 20.9%. For the first 51 weeks it was 13.2% and
> 21.8%
> Sales of so-called non-flat-panel "Digital Televisions"
> to U.S. dealers for the 49th week were 84,086 units, for
> the 50th week 83,343 units, for the 51st week 78,795,
> and for the first 51 weeks 4,134,921 (compared to
> 19,997,895 for non-flat-panel sets not called "digital" by
> CEA). For 24 of the last 27 weeks, the number of
> non-flat-panel "digital televisions" sold to U.S. dealers
> was lower than in the same period last year.
I think this shows that CRTs of all types are fading into
the sunset. Which was easily predictable a year ago or even
before that, what with all the announcements about new flat
panel display production plants being revved up.
Bert
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