[opendtv] Re: Incentives for buying integrated DTVs

  • From: Cliff Benham <flyback1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 22:39:02 -0400

johnwillkie wrote:
So, somehow it's news to you that there is no HDTV requirement, Cliff?
No, I have known about it for a very long time. As I stated at the bottom of what I wrote, this was a note originally posted on Audiokarma in May, 2006, for consumers who may not have been aware.
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? 


Can you?.
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? 


You are outrageous.



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:

  1. Home
  2. opendtv
  3. Archive
  4. 09-2007