[opendtv] Re: White paper from CEA

  • From: Cliff Benham <cbenham@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2005 23:00:48 -0400

These are complex questions that generate even more complex questions.
How about just a simplie one:
I assume these new sets appearing after March 1, and for very low prices 
will be, like their predecessors, NTSC  4:3 CRT types.
Will they include an aspect ratio button on the remote control so you 
can watch a 16:9 picture correctly, or zoom it to fill the screen or 
still produce a normal 4:3 picture?
Are these considerations part of the 'tuner mandate' rules or should we 
all be prepared to be surprised?
Richard Hollandsworth wrote:

>1. Performance Tests?  What Performance Tests???
>Only performance tests I've seen (and I keep looking) are for PROTOTYPES, e.g. 
>Linx (Micronas), Zenith/LG and recent Samsung tests by CRC.
> 
>2. Side-by-side on-air tests?  There has been very little of that going on 
>recently, even by Mark...  And the old side-by-side tests (e.g. US, Brazil, 
>Australia, et.al.) don't identify equipment by model numbers.
> 
>2. ATI website presss release claims their THEATER chip series meets (some? a 
>few? a bunch? all???) of the A/74 Receiver Performance Guidelines.  But their 
>Jun05 posting in the FCC's SHVERA docket shows that chip "D" (something 
>unspecified from ATI) operated error free on only 34 out of 50 Field Ensembles 
>(data collected from difficult/impossible reception sites).  The gist of ATI's 
>submission is urging manufacturers to test (and the FCC to mandate?) against 
>both the Lab Ensembles and especially Field Ensembles.  However, they noted 
>that 9 Field Ensembles had sample dropouts requiring "special handling" in 
>order to somehow be included.  And it remains unknown if some of these field 
>captures are fundamentally hozed to being with....
>3. Although it might have been "expeditious" to REQUIRE manufacturers to 
>provide an ATSC tuner if they are going to include any sort of tuner, the vast 
>majority of users (e.g. CATV, SAT, FiOS, etc) will never, ever use this 
>additional cost feature.  It should be OPTIONAL.
> 
>4. I also object to paying an additional, mandated cost for a CableCard 
>feature in an HDTV that I won't use because an external HD-DVR is a much 
>better device.  It should be OPTIONAL.
> 
>5. About the only good thing I see will be two-way CableCards that can plug 
>into retail HD-DVR's.
> 
>6. As the price of low-end HDTV continues to come down, the cost of these 
>OPTIONAL, UNUSED, UNWANTED features will probably become a significant 
>fraction of the overall cost.
> 
>7. I'll take the lower cost Monitor with lots of standard HDMI and CV 
>interfaces please.
>Then I'll have maximum flexibility to connect X-Box, PlayStn, D-VHS, DVD, 
>HD-DVD, SAT/OTA HD-STB/DVR, CATV HD-DVR, FiOS HD-STB, HD-Wireless Hub, 
>HD-IPTV, SHD-IPTV, XHD-IPTV, et. al. over it's 10+ year lifetime.
> 
> 
>/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
>Cliff Benham <cbenham@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>Mark Schubin wrote:
>
>  
>
>>By March 1 of next year, the tuner mandate requires 100% of all 
>>tuner-equipped TVs 25-inch and up built or imported into the U.S. to have DTT 
>>reception circuitry. That includes the under-$100 25-inch TVs I find 
>>advertised periodically.
>>
>>TTFN,
>>Mark
>>
>>    
>>
>The above information brings out the skeptic and curmudgeon in me.
>Given the painfully slow rollout of good DTT set top boxes over the last 
>?seven? years, I find it difficult to believe that in less than 6 
>months, the seemingly impossible will suddenly emerge in full bloom at 
>Sears, Walmart, and Western Auto stores everywhere in the country.
>Some questions:
>What will the quality of performance be for this mandated 'built in DTT 
>reception circuitry?' Will it be something "thrown in at the last 
>minute that barely works" and is included only to satisfy the legal 
>requirements so the manufacturers can still sell TVs in the US market?
>Are there any real world performance specifications set by the tuner 
>mandate which this DTT reception circuitry must meet in order to be 
>approved for US sale?
>Are there any published reports on the DTT reception performance of 
>these new TVs available that could be displayed on the opendtv list?
>Is there any 'preview' or testing planned for these new sets to assure 
>that they really will work in the real world and not only while being 
>directly connected to a local 8VSB demo loop generator in the back of 
>the store?
>Or, will we suddenly find there are *no* new TVs as described above 
>being advertised or sold, but instead, lots of 25-inch and up 
>'monitors' that meet the description, except that they don't include 
>reception circuitry of *any* kind, just video inputs? 
>
>Regards,
>Cliff
>
>
>
>
>  
>


 
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.

Other related posts: