[opendtv] Re: How did Plug and Play (cable) come to include ATSC?
- From: <tjharvey@xxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, OpenDTV <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 11:16:36 -0500
Although no one will answer Mark's question, perhaps it can be said that so
called analog sets should be usable after the transition when augmented by a
set top box.
Today, I would not recommend buying an integrated receiver mainly because as
the technology rapidly evolves, the tuner and display will become obsolete at
different times.
There are many elements of the digital transition that is still being
overlooked. DTV has the ability to convey to the consumer a much richer content
than is currently being provided by broadcasters. Interactive television is
still stagnating in the United States. Consider also the future use of more
efficient video and audio codecs for delivery.
Forced integration will make upgrading more complicated: so long as the
display/ sound system can interface with the receiver box, perhaps the
un-enforced mandate for incorporated ATSC receiver is a blessing in disguise.
Terry Harvey
>
> From: Mark Aitken <maitken@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 2004/11/17 Wed AM 09:14:40 EST
> To: OpenDTV <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [opendtv] Re: How did Plug and Play (cable) come to include ATSC?
>
> Then, we have this take on the current situation.
> Also, while I'm at it...One question NO ONE WILL ANSWER...
>
> If it is so important to move the digital transition forward, why is it
> that analog products are allowed to be sold? I mean REALLY! I think that
> the FCC ought to move on a mandate to shut-down the manufacture of
> analog TV sets. CEA should move in to support that one! They can sell
> the CE manufacturers on the increased profit margins and the easier sell
> (because you can stretch the truth on things people know little
> about...that includes the sales folks...).
>
> Let the market decide clearly won't work. It would be best for all of us
> realize this fact. Also, I think that while the FCC is about getting
> that done, the mandate ought to be that all sets be 16x9. It would also
> be easier to make sure that producers elect 16x9 as a mandatory format
> for all material. Oh, by the way, what color should the cabinets be?
> Silver? Black? Other? We need to make a solid decision so that interior
> decorators have an easier time of blending the surroundings...
>
> (Oops, where is my tongue?)
>
> http://www.tvtechnology.com/dailynews/one.php?id=2475
>
>
> Date posted: 2004-11-12
>
>
> Tuner Mandate Loses Steam in the Real World
>
> In yet another splendid example of how government policy reflects actual
> human behavior, the FCC's tuner mandate is causing tuner-integrated sets
> to not sell like hotcakes. Consequently, the consumer electronics
> lobbies asked the FCC if it could please make the phase-in part of the
> mandate go away.
>
> In a cleverly worded statement that makes it appear as if they want a
> faster digital transition, the Consumer Electronics Association and the
> Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition asked the FCC to ditch the
> half-way point for phasing digital tuners into mid-sized TV sets.
>
> "CEA and CERC requested that the 100-percent deadline for DTV tuners in
> television screen sizes 25 to 36 inches be accelerated to March 1, 2006,
> thereby speeding the consumer migration to DTV," stated a release from
> the two groups.
>
> The current deadline is July 1, 2006, but the half-way point--when 50
> percent of sets that size have to have DTV tuners--is a year earlier.
> Less than five months into the 50-percent phase-in for big-screen TVs,
> the CEA is having nightmares about what the same process will do to the
> category of sets that comprise the bulk of all TV sales.
>
> As of last July 1, half of all 36-inch and larger TV sets with
> over-the-air analog reception and/or CableCARD slots also had to have
> over-the-air digital reception, aka ATSC capability. The CableCARD/ATSC
> combo added $300 premium to the price of those sets, so guess what the
> big retailers ordered by the truckload for the holidays?
>
> Retailers appear to favor the cheaper non-ATSC sets by about
> three-to-one over those mandated by the DTV tuner phase-in, based on
> highly scientific numbers derived from Mark's Monday Memo. The Memo,
> compiled by New York-based television expert Mark Schubin, tracks ads
> for TV sales across the country. Since July, about 24 percent of the
> so-sized sets in stores have included ATSC reception. (The average
> number of ads for 36-inch and larger sets was 86; an average of 21 of
> them had ATSC reception.)
>
> Part of the problem is that the FCC is not the boss of Circuit City or
> Wal-Mart. It can only strong-arm manufacturers into turning out
> ATSC-capable sets; it can't force anyone to buy them. And retailers buy
> what consumers buy, and consumers unfailingly buy the A) biggest thing,
> at B) the lowest price.
>
> It's one thing to stack up a 50-inch Hitachi widescreen LCD projection
> set at $3299.97 against the very same set, only sans an ATSC tuner, for
> $2999.97. It's another thing to tack $300 onto sets that retail in the
> $500 neighborhood.
>
> "CERC believes the proposed modification will eliminate the unintended
> consequences of the Commission's 50 percent requirements that became
> apparent only recently, but threaten to impede the DTV transition," said
> CERC Executive Director Marc Pearl. "In practice, the 50-percent
> requirement has proven to be unduly disruptive. It creates an artificial
> scarcity of products without tuners, providing an incentive for
> retailers to assure their supplies of these non-tuner products. This is
> the opposite result from the one sought by the commission, and by
> retailers, as a matter of public policy. Accelerating the100 percent
> obligation would eliminate that situation."
>
> Translation: getting rid of the 50-percent obligation would help
> retailers and manufacturers unload their current inventory somewhere
> besides eBay.
>
> --
>
> Regards,
> Mark A. Aitken Director, Advanced Technology
>
> ***********************************
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