[opendtv] Re: Incentives for buying integrated DTVs
- From: "johnwillkie" <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:01:42 -0700
So, somehow it's news to you that there is no HDTV requirement, Cliff?
Could you provide a link to a government document published in the last 12
years that even suggested that it might be desirable to mandate HDTV
broadcasts?
Come to think of it, I don't see how, under the U.S. constitution you can
force broadcasters to do anything. You can grant them a license, but you
can't force them to use it. Heck, even paying income taxes is putatively
voluntary.
Do you think that failure to broadcast HDTV 24/7 should be punishable by
death? Or, is this one of those circumstances where even Allan Dershowitz
would approve of torture?
John Willkie
_____
De: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] En
nombre de Cliff Benham
Enviado el: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 12:33 PM
Para: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Asunto: [opendtv] Re: Incentives for buying integrated DTVs
John Shutt wrote:
The US is doing it with $40 STB coupons, presumably from 'money' received
selling off the spectrum.
Pity that the US is so narrow minded that they only allow the subsidy to be
used for a government approved STB, not to offset the added cost of an ATSC
tuner in an integrated set.
John
Exactly.
The only set top boxes covered by these coupons decode ATSC but just down
convert it to NTSC and output analog stereo sound, composite and S-Video
only. No Y, R-Y, B-Y, no 480p, 720p or 1080i, and no 5.1 Ch, SPDIF or
TOSLINK. The specs are here:
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/dtv...ufacturers.pdf
<http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/dtv/DTVmanufacturers.pdf>
I have yet to see any of these 'coupon offer' set top boxes for sale
anywhere, and from what I have read none are being manufactured yet. They
seem to be vaporware at this point.
Also, there is NO legal requirement for any broadcaster to transmit HDTV
signals. The only broadcast required by law is a digital version of the same
standard definition signal that the broadcaster is currently sending out in
analog NTSC.
Further, the cable and satellite companies do not want the general public to
know about free over the air digital broadcasting because it cuts into their
income. Some cable companies have even threatened broadcasters with pulling
their ads from the station if they promote their free OTA channel number in
their broadcasts.
Do any stations anywhere promote their digital TV channels? Not in the
Philly area. Most people have no idea what's coming in 2009.
I am saddened by the current state of affairs in broadcasting.
~From my post to Audiokarma, May 2006, and still true today so far as I
know.
Other related posts:
