[opendtv] Re: Mobile DTV test
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2004 14:55:30 -0400
Craig Birkmaier wrote:
> >In some cases, a separate server as you describe might
> >make sense. But it makes no sense for sets you drag
> >along to a picnic, the beach, or camp site, or in
> >homes that only use one or even two such small sets
> >and want no big deal setup. It's silly to install a
> >bulky home server if all you own is a couple of 13"
> >portables.
>=20
> This may well be true. But it does not represent a
> significant segment of the market today.
I submit this is the bulk of the TV market today. Not the
portables that actually get taken to the beach, but the
households that don't want to deal with their TV sets as
fixed, main-attraction home theater setups, but just
throw-about appliances on carts with casters. These folk
would hardly want to be bothered with home servers taking
up their closet space. Of course, gadget freaks will leap
at the chance to buy these up when they find them on
store shelves.
> And as I noted yesterday, the closest thing to a
> "portable DTV receiver" offered to date are some very
> expensive LCD panels.
I don't think this means anything profound. I also
didn't find a DVD recorder with ATSC tuner, or any other
digital tuner built-in, last Christmas. I hardly think
this means that there will be no ATSC DVD recorders. It
just means that the transition mechanisms in place
today, or lack thereof, don't promote production of such
appliances yet. DTV appliances are still targeted to
early adopters and gadget freaks. But if Ferree's
drop-dead obvious reiteration of the language of
the 1997 Balanced Budget Act gets implemented by the
FCC, then I submit things will change in a hurry.
> I can't remember the=20
> last time I carried one of our TVs outside of the
> home...Actually I did put a TV out on the deck last
> year to listen to a game while I was working outside -
> fortunately the cable outlet was close to the door
> and I have a long piece of coax...
Well, that's you. I've ridden in cars with battery
operated TVs propped in the center console, to watch
some morning feak show or other. That's immaterial,
though. The only common denominator to worry about
is that there certainly is, and will continue to be,
a market for *untethered* or at least minimally
tethered DTV sets. And it ain't no small segment,
either. If OTA broadcasters want to stay in business,
they should not ignore this market.
> By the way, 10 Mbps is plenty of throughput for a
> portable display.
By the way, the 10 to 15 Mb/s assigned to DVB-H
channels should pretty effectively take up the
entire 6 (or 8) MHz RF channel. So you're
dedicating specific channels to that service. Which
opens up all sorts of new possibilities.
Bert
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