[opendtv] Re: 20060807 Mark's Monday Memo
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2006 13:37:08 -0400
> - DTT reception in my apartment - Today, we tried the
> DVico FusionHDTV 5 USB Gold. It reportedly uses the
> 5th-generation LG demodulator but doesn't appear to use
> the same RF front end as the 5th-generation LG box that
> conquered set-top reception here.
> We got good reception on many channels with various
> set-top antennas and got more with a Silver Sensor at the
> window, but, so far, the LG box is still the only one to
> be able to receive ALL DTT transmissions reliably with a
> set-top antenna here.
My bet continues to be that LG figured out that in Manhattan they would
need, in addition to a good equalizer, two ingredients in the tuner that
no one was selling:
1. Either a dual-conversion IF or a tuner that actively suppresses IM
images, and
2. A tuned RF amp up front.
Since there is plenty of signal strength available where you are, as
past tests showed, the Silver Sensor is probably helping by improving
the selectivity of the receiver system, compensating for the
less-than-ideal tuner. (Assuming here that the Silver Sensor needs
aiming.)
> - Time Warner Cable of Raleigh reportedly refused
> to supply a CableCARD for a TiVo PVR, saying they will
> supply them only for TV sets. This story is from
> Gizmodo.com, but I've seen it elsewhere, too:
> <http://tinyurl.com/ls69l>
At least they are honest. "We will rape you because we know you are
addicted to the point that you will let us," is how I read this. The sad
part is, they are correct in their assessment.
CableCard-enabled DVDRs/PVRs and TV sets, much like the upgraded cable
plants that go up into the UHF range, are great for OTA users. Because
they create a demand for cable gizmos that are also compatible with OTA
TV. E.g., before cable expanded its spectrum, availability of wide band
antenna amps or distribution amps was starting to become a problem. For
cable, these devices only needed to go up to 450 MHz or so, back then.
Now they universally go to 900 MHz, which works out great for OTA TV.
Looks like some cable systems are trying to create a similar shortage of
standard recording devices.
> It says that, of 109.6 M TV households, only 15
> million "homes continue to receive TV over-the-air":
> <http://www.ce.org/Press/CEA_Pubs/1989.asp>
Not much news here. The FCC figures claim 94.2M out of 109.6M households
"subscribed to some form of multi-channel video service," which
translates to 85.9 percent. As always, this does not include the
households which use OTA for secondary sets, nor does it include the
households which combine OTA and, typically, DBS. Which, around here
anyway, appears to be quite common.
> They list 27.7 million U.S. DBS households:
> <http://www.ce.org/Press/CEA_Pubs/2011.asp>
Which is still at about 25 percent of households, leaving about 60
percent to cable. These numbers seem to have stabilized in the past
several years.
> Best Buy's $199.99 price for the Insignia NS-27RTV 27-inch
> DTV is the lowest price I've seen for a set with integrated
> DTT reception circuitry, and over the course of the many
> ads, Circuit City actually ended up charging less for the
> integrated Panasonic TC26LX60 than for the non-integrated
> TC26LX50.
I told you so, I told you so. Many years ago.
Bert
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