I thought the $50 was the Zenith/LG estimate for an SD converter. I
wonder if that will get cheaper once the patents expire.
For that matter, once the patents expire I wonder if LG will even be a
champion of ATSC? Maybe it will have only inertia going for it.
Will other CE vendors wait until the patent expiration to release new
stuff that needs fewer royalties?
- Tom
Mark Schubin wrote:
- The idea of the coupons was that they would cover $40 of the cost of a $50 converter box, but, according to the sidebar to this story, Thomson vp Dave Arland said that price was just a "wish." "Today these boxes would cost $200. Nobody's box today will cost only $40, or $50. It will probably cost less than $200 by 2009, but not as low as they want":
<http://www.tvtechnology.com/features/news/2006.08.23-n_NTIA.shtml>
Supposedly, the Samsung box due (I think it was) next month is to cost $168.
The real question is, if the guts of the built-in ATSC receivers now incorporated in TV sets are transplanted to a separate box, how much should that box cost the consumer? Seems to me that as a built-in component, that receiver is now very cost effective.
What's strange is that stand-alone STB prices (and performance) have stayed steady since what, Christmas of 2003? Something like that.
Anyway, the $50 guesstimate was made by the CE vendors, as I recall. It wasn't a mandate of any kind. The CE vendors can always claim that price to represent a SD-only STB with only an NTSC signal output, for example.
Bert
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