[opendtv] Re: News: DIRECTV Sued Over HDTV Picture Quality
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2006 18:47:19 -0400
Tom Barry wrote:
> I personally harp on the cost of $50 STB's because I do not
> think they will exist. You talk about 5th gen PC cards but I
> don't even know of any current $200 5th gen STB's, much less
> $50.
Tom, it is undeniable that built-in 5th gen receivers in LG sets do not
make LG sets non-competitive. Just go to the major retailers and see.
The price delta caused by built-in receivers is no longer noticeable.
So my point is, if CE vendors can create a DVB-T SD STB for whatever
price to consumers, there's no valid TECHNICAL reason why they couldn't
do the same with ATSC. I'm not saying they will make these $50 STBs
available. But if they don't, it's for *marketing* reasons.
> The $50 STB was part of Congress' plan for the 2009 shut off.
> If that part of the plan does not exist then maybe other parts
> will also fail.
I wouldn't make such a big deal of the $50 price point. They asked some
CE vendors what they could make a bargain basement STB for, and that's
what they were told. Since DVB-T can do it, I've no doubt at all that
vendors could also make this happen for ATSC.
Let's see if next month we get the $168 Samsung Gemini-based STB. I
could easily see that price erode to under $100 by 2/18/2009, and that
would be for an HD STB.
I notice that Circuit City keeps selling out of STBs. Whether they just
don't re-order fast enough I don't know. Yesterday, as I walked into a
nearby Circuit City, someone was walking out with a Samsung SIR-T451.
And there were none of those or of the Digital Stream left in the store.
I asked the clerk and he said they were temporarily sold out.
Bert
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