[opendtv] New ATSC STBs
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:38:09 -0500
John Shutt wrote:
>> The coupon set top box converters will not really work - no
>> way to have the channel change based on time, as any VCR will
>> do.
>
> Another mistatement. There are VCRs that are forced to be
> connected to STBs today. They are connected to cable and DBS
> STBs, where this problem has been battled for years. The two
> ways that are used for mulitple channel recording are A) the STB
> will do timed channel switching, or B) the VCR has an IR 'mouse'
> to remotely control the STB and change channels.
[ ... ]
> However I would imagine that most cable homes where STBs are
> required for tiered programming, the reality is also that there
> are no channel changing going on there, either. You want to record
> 60 minutes, you tune the STB to the appropriate channel ahead of
> time.
Ditto for OTA homes. Recording devices with IR transmitter to control
the ATSC STB are, as far as I can determine, nonexistent. And vice versa
(ATSC STBs with IR transmitter). Which is what Stephen was saying at the
beginning. It's also true for the ATSC STBs I know about, with the
exception of the relatively new Samsung DTB-H260F, which has an internal
channel-select timer. The others, at best, have an on/off timer only,
which tunes to whatever channel was selected last. I've checked most of
them available in the past couple of years (which isn't many).
HOWEVER:
Here's are new data points for low-cost in ATSC STBs:
$84.99 for a Coby SDTV STB (truly EDTV, because they say 480p max
output)
$119.99 for a Coby HDTV STB
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=abcat0104000&type=category
Both available at Best Buy. Not much info on them, no mention of timers
for instance. All have composite, S-video, and component analog outputs,
as well as stereo audio. The HD box has DVI output, not HDMI. In theory,
that should work with an HDMI monitor, if you buy the appropriate
DVI-to-HDMI cable.
No mention of NTSC outputs in either of these, but maybe that's just the
Best Buy spec sheet. To qualify for the coupon programs, IIRC, you need
the NTSC output.
Bert
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