[opendtv] Re: News: No End in Sight to Supply of Cheap TV's
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "OpenDTV (E-mail)" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2005 14:45:55 -0500
Craig Birkmaier wrote:
> > I think the premise that the digital tuner is
> > meant primarily for HDTV is what's wrong. Digital
> > is the next general purpose TV standard, which
> > includes, but is not exclusively for, HDTV.
>
> Agreed. But you get both when you get a digital tuner.
Not necessarily. You might get HDTV on larger sets, but
you might not on small and cheaper portables. This is
exactly the same situation as you get with portable
radios as opposed to fancy home hifi stereo systems.
I don't think anyone today assumes that a radio with
an FM band is necessarily an audiophile quality sound
system, right?
The point I'm trying to make is that *if* it were true
that the ATSC front end will add "hundreds" of dollars
to the price tag of a cheap TV set, *then* the CE
manufacturers would obviously have been hard at work
developing decimating receivers.
While I don't know for sure that they aren't developing
such cheap decimating receivers, my suspicion is that
the economics won't make sense. Common front ends,
built in highly integrated packages, are already
emerging that will put an end to this "hundreds" of
dollars stuff.
Before Christmas, I saw a brand new Samsung ATSC STB
for $199. Surely, built into a cheap TV, the guts of
this STB will not add up to "hundreds" of extra
dollars. Yet, it did provide HD outputs.
> My concern is that people will find them inadequate
> for HDTV, and thus be reluctant to invest in a
> mandated HDTV tuner.
What's mandated is a DTT tuner, not HDTV. As the
price of the front end erodes in the next couple of
years, consumers will forget all about it.
The hardware is not the price problem. Perhaps the
royalties are.
Bert
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