At 9:48 AM -0700 6/28/04, John Willkie wrote: >Whatever, Craig. > >Whatever, Craig. About 60 instances of this phrase deleted... >(get tired of it yet?) > >Whatever, Craig. You know not what of you speak, or you are engaging in (I >hope it's compensated) spin. I grew tired of your tirades years ago... Whether you neighbor thinks he has a Home Theater system or not is irrelevant. It is counted by the CE industry as a Home Theater installation. As i have written MANY times on this list, the real transformation here is that the CE industry is cost reducing and mass producing the components that were formerly only used in expensive custom installed Home Theater systems. The $25,000 custom system of the early '90s can now be duplicated at any number of CE retailers for less than $5,000. Better yet, it will outperform that $25,000 system...at least with respect to the video components. Just a few specific examples: 1. The $15,000 Farudja line doubler has been replaced by a < $20 chip in the Digital TV monitor. 2. Analog components inputs that were once the exclusive domain of high-end projectors and professional monitors are now commonplace, even on a $500 direct view 27" receiver. 3. Surround sound systems are now a commodity, with prices starting at only a few hundred dollars. 4. DVD has provided a high quality source of analog component video to feed these systems, and many upscale systems now feature progressive scan DVD players. Yes, there is still a wide range of options and prices for home theater systems. But the only part that matters is that this market segment has been transformed from a small custom installer niche, into a large general CE market segment. It is ALSO important to note that Home Theater does not necessarily mean HDTV. MANY of the HD capable displays that have been sold DO NOT have HD sources to feed them. The current generation of DVD has been the mani driver of uptake of bigger, higher resolution displays. Regards Craig > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.