[opendtv] Re: Mobile DTV test
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 10:49:45 -0400
At 10:01 AM -0400 4/13/04, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
>
>Surely it's not close to that bad, Frank.
>
>As of now, I guess we never get a good idea what the
>percentages are, but they are closer to 50 percent that use
>OTA NTSC overall? At least some of the time. And if this
>50 percent is made up largely of small sets in the kitchen
>or spare bedroom, then those sets will need decent ATSC
>tuners too. This might not happen at first, but that's
>where ATSC *should* expect to go, in due course.
Not even close. Even the NAB does not claim 50%.
It may well be true that 40-50% of U.S. homes still have at least one
set CAPABLE of receiving OTA broadcasts...in a pinch I could hook up
an antenna to one of our sets. But the real questions are:
1. How much time do people who subscribe to a multi-channel TV
service spend watching programming delivered to an OTA receiver?
2. Is this viewing considered to be important enough to spend
hundreds of dollars to buy a new DTV capable receiver? And will it
work with rabbit ears in the same location?
Bert...you tend to look at this stuff with historic blinders.
Most of the sets that are still pulling in OTA broadcasts in homes
that subscribe to multi-channel services are at the bottom of the TV
food chain. They have been relegated to locations where there is no
cable or antenna connection available.
When someone buys an HD capable display, it is HIGHLY UNLIKELY that
it will be placed in the kitchen to replace a set that may have been
purchased in the '70s or '80s. NO SIR, that new HD capable display is
going to the TOP of the food chain, most likely as part of a home
theater system.
Do you really expect people to invest in DTV receivers for OLD TV
sets that are only used infrequently?
Do you really expect people to spend hundreds of dollars to replace
an old set with $zero value, so they can continue to watch OTA TV in
the kitchen?
I would humbly suggest that they will figure out how to bring the
multi-channel service to the kitchen, before they invest in a new
portable DTV...
The technologies for both analog and digital signal redistribution in
the home are proliferating.
Take off the blinders Bert...
Regards
Craig
>
>Also, many will use the tuner if it means they can dispense
>of their cable STB.
>
>I agree that broadcasters can help a lot, by using ATSC to
>revive their OTA offerings, as Germany and the UK have shown
>can be done.
>
>> You will get what the=20
>> market will bear, not what the best engineering science=20
>> projects can create.
>
>Over the years, haven't NTSC tuners gone through the same
>evolution? They became a commodity item, all adequately
>good.
>
>Bert
>
>
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