[opendtv] Re: White paper from CEA
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 15:02:53 -0400
Frank wrote:
> If so, this explains a lot about the lack of availability
> of ATSC STBs. If you are loathe to put a box on top of
> your TV, then it makes little difference whether it's an
> ATSC box or a digital cable box, or whether you are
> renting it for a few $/month or buying it outright for
> $60 or $100 or whatever. You don't want the box at all
> -- right?
There's a huge difference between buying a box, one time
expense, as a hold-over measure to continue using a TV or
recording device for some time, and being forced into this
configuration for all time by a service provider.
One big obstacle for me in going to DTT, aside from the
so-so boxes of the past, is this: most of my TV watching is
of recorded programs. It is a hassle to record programs
with an STB, and downright impossible if the STB doesn't
incorporate a timer.
At prices and performance like the Accurian, I would gladly
buy two for now, dedicating one to the TV and the other to
the DVDR. If it had a proper timer.
So yes, STBs are a hassle, but a hassle I think many people
would put up with if it were only their choice, and if an
end were in sight.
> But I am not inclined to spend big $ to own my DVR
To me, that sounds strange. I suppose you might say the
same about PCs or any other appliance. Renting does have
its advantages, I suppose, but they are rarely truly
economic. The guy renting out the equipment ain't going to
go broke to do us renters any favor.
Yes, even I leased cars for some time, but then decided to
buy one of them after the lease expired.
> The question you should be asking is "why are consumers
> being forced, after 2006, to pay for DTT tuners in retail
> recording devices, when many of them only want the
> digital cable tuners or the DBS tuners?"
You know the answer to this better than I do, Frank. It is
because finally someone smart became head of the FCC.
Someone who understood that the price delta of offering just
a DTT tuner, vs offering a combined digital tuner for DTT
and cable (and potentially DBS too) is quite trivial. So
in order to push along this transition, Michael Powell
realized that a DTT mandate BY ITSELF would be a loser. It
had to be combined with the digital cable receiver, so that
most (or eventually all) consumers would benefit.
It was, and is, a very clever way to make the transition
happen within finite time.
Bert
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