I somewhat think the driver for HDTV in the USA will be the attempt by cable companies to equate it with digital cable. Thus it will be a stealth premium service, having an increasing amount of HDTV material that requires a digital cable subscription and various tiers to get. The cable companies still have a competitive bandwidth advantage in this over the satellite folks. - Tom Craig Birkmaier wrote: > At 1:37 PM -0400 6/30/04, Manfredi, Albert E wrote: > >>Craig Birkmaier wrote: >> >> >>> According to the following report, it is DVD, NOT >>> HDTV that is driving the adoption of new digital >>> television displays in most areas of the world... >> >>I think you seriously misinterpreted what the article >>is saying. As in: >> >>"High-definition television (HDTV) - a subset of >>the overall DTV market - will eventually have a >>dramatic impact on consumer education and >>adoption of digital TV in certain parts of the >>world." > > > What misinterpretation? > > Note the use of the term "eventually." > > The reality is that even here in the U.S., TODAY, DVD is a stronger > driver of purchases of HD capable displays than HD receivers and/or > program services. > > I agree that HD will be a strong driver in the future as it becomes > more pervasive, ESPECIALLY in non-entertainment applications of > digital media. > > I do not agree that HD entertainment is going to cause any > significant shift in the mass market for TV displays in the next few > years. Perhaps in a decade we may see HD become commonplace. For the > rest of this decade it is going to remain a market niche, closely > coupled with home theater systems. > >>And >> >>"At this point, HDTV content delivery, and therefore >>set adoption, is essentially limited to Australia, >>Canada, Japan, South Korea, and the United States for >>the foreseeable future. Digital TV in other parts of >>the world will continue to be driven by advances in >>flat-panel displays and the red-hot DVD market, ..." > > > Yup. In the countries listed above there is some HD content > available. Korea may be the most advanced in terms of peo0ple buying > HD capable displays and actually watching HD programming. In > Austrailia there is VERY LITTLE HD content available today, as is the > case in Japan. Canada is mostly getting its HD content from the U.S. > In all of these countries, DVD is the dominant driver of sales of HD > capable displays today. > > >>Bottom line is that only in those parts of the world >>where HDTV is unavailable will DVD *alone* drive the >>adoption of so-called digital TV, according to this >>article. > > > Nobody said anything about "alone." The dominant driver in my > purchase of an HD capable display was the desire for a "watchable" > big screen image. The integration of a deinterlacer for SDTV was the > dominant driver of my purchase. DVD was second. HD is now on the > horizon, but still mostly unimportant to my family. > > Ther are other drivers as well. Perhaps the most significant is the > appeal of flat or very thin cabinets that take up less space in the > room. For others, it is the ability to display the progressive scan > output of a PC, which can act as a DVR, source of content (tuners and > libraries of images and music), and a portal to IP based services. HD > is just one of many factors that are causing people to buy HD capable > displays. > > >>So when you say "in most areas of the world," it's >>only true because "most areas" won't see HDTV for >>some time! > > > > We even disagree here. > > Because of the success of HD as a niche service in the U.S. and a few > other countries, and especially because a significant amount of > premium content is now being made available in HD, it is likely that > HD services will be available in virtually all developed countries in > the next 2-3 years. The most likely form of distribution for this > content will be satellite. Cable will also be a factor in some areas. > And HD-DVD is just around the corner, IF the major content providers > elect to support the new standard. > > The reality is the same around the world. HD is now, and will become > an important driver of premium television services in the near > future. This should not be confused with the continuing mass market > for SDTV. As Mark Schubin pointed out in this week's memo: > > >>- NPD Intelect, which measures sales to consumers (except Wal-Mart, >>catalogs, and Internet) reported 404,660 CRT-based projection TVs in >>the first quarter and 56,623 microdisplay-based (DLP and different >>forms of LCD) projection TVs. LCD 27-inch and up exceeded plasma. >>But CRT still has a roughly 11 times more units sold than non-CRT: > > > The mass market is not going HD anytime soon. > > 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. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.