[opendtv] Re: White paper from CEA
- From: cbenham@xxxxxxxxxxx
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 15:19:13 +0000
Patrick Joy wrote:
>Gentleman, I have been following your discussions about the coming
>cutoff and the STB issues. But, I see that you all don't get the point
>of why the RS STB or other STB's did not sell well. It is value to the
>customer. What value is there in putting investment into a device that
>would not give them anything better then what they have, and why would
>you put money into something that is not worth anything? The market for
>stand alone STB's for older sets is much smaller then people realize. I
>for one would not put another 80 dollars into my 30 year old Sylvania
>TV. I would not put any additional money into the other four old TVs.
>That would be very expensive and probably would be about the same value
>as a fairly good SD DTV. The only interest that the RS STB is getting is
>from those that have purchased new HDTV capable sets.
Not my experience on this. Three friends have purchased the RS STB so they can
watch better looking pictures on their old NTSC TVs. They previously had
noisey, ghosty off air signals. These are non-technical people and they are
thrilled to be able to watch what to them are pristine, perfect pictures
on their older TVs and to be able to record these programs on their VHS decks.
>These people have a financial incentive to buy. Until the mandatory cutoff
>>date for NTSC arrives there will be no market for such a box. Even after that
>>date, the value issue will drive people to buy a new sets with built in DTV
>tuner.
We are all about to experience a new sensation. Never in US history will we
have suddenly lost an entire communications system totally, completely and
overnight.
This event will be different from any other change to radio and television
broadcasting that has ever occurred.
Until now, everytime a new broadcasting medium has been introduced, it has
supplanted the previous one, but has not replaced it. When FM was added, AM was
not shut down. When UHF was introduced, VHF was not turned off. Stereo and
Color were both added to previously existing transmission mediums, but did not
replace them, they only supplanted them.
No amount of advertising, public service announcements, billboards, or
flyers from all the consumer electronics stores in the country will be enough
to stop the fury that will occur the day TV stops working.
You who are reading this are well aware of what is happening. You have been
hearing about this literally for years. However, most of the general public
won't understand because they are not expecting such an event. They are
generally completely unaware of it.
It will be like turning off the water everywhere and telling people they now
have to buy it by the bottle in grocery stores.
It is going to be an amazing day, that March 7, 2009, and I doubt the NAB,
the FCC, Congress and all the TV networks and stations are going to ready for
what they will be unleashing. I can hardly wait.
> I guess you would call this replacement value, where it is
>cheaper in the long run to replace the older set with a new set if the
>new value is comparable to what the older set had when originally
>purchased. The market will be with new cheap SD sets with digital
>tuners.
So how much is that, these new cheap DTV sets?
>I believe that the STB market will not be there in large
>numbers, only very small based on value to the customer older out if
>date TVs will just be junked.
Not if it's the only set you own and you can't afford anything but over the air
TV.
>
>P Joy
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