Bert wrote: "Don't know about you, Barry, but this is just the progression one should expect out of any subscription service. Shareholders and analysts are not happy if they don't see growth, and you just can't expect growth to come exclusively from increasing the subscription fees. People bail out when their fees go up too high. I fully expect satellite radio to go through this same evolution once the number of subscribers stabilizes." If you say one must expect it then the "shareholders and analysts" must also expect to see many people such as myself exit such services. If they cannot supply a viable profitable service that enough people see adequate value in, then what are they doing in business? Obviously, there are people who are satisfied (or more likely put up with) what they get but it reaches the lowest common denominator, i.e. the shareholders make their money and enough people watch content that they only just put up with. This is verified by a high churn rate (here anyway). Regards Barry -----Original Message----- From: Manfredi, Albert E [mailto:albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx]=20 Sent: Friday, 14 January 2005 5:25 a.m. To: OpenDTV (E-mail) Subject: [opendtv] Re: "we'll forever be stuck with by going ATSC" Barry Wilkins wrote: > So what about HD and broadcasting? If it is > free like terrestrial broadcasting here, it > would not impress me in the least. The pressure > is on to constantly interject the desired > material with commercials which are always set > at a blaringly loud average sound level > (compared to the desired material) that just > results in infuriation and no recognition of > the actual item trying to be marketed. I agree with most of what you posted, but I think these two topics -- quality level and ad insertion, are orthogonal. For one thing, if viewed time-shifted, as I view most TV, ads become quite innocuous. For another, I can't think of any commercial program I watch that isn't better when viewed at cinema quality levels. Not a single one. Same applies to audio. I can't think of any radio I listen to that isn't better when reproduced with the full audio range. Even if there are ads in the mix. Even if the program is all news. The presence of ads and the quality of the signal are simply two different discussions, for me. With my 26" LCD, the difference between the ~6 MHz luma bandwidth of DVD and 4.2 MHz of NTSC becomes very noticeable. So there's little doubt that I'll appreciate the improved quality of my favorite commercial shows when I buy my ATSC STB. If all these commercial shows look as good as DVDs on my LCD set, that would be wonderful. With larger screens I've seen in stores, DVD playback could stand some quality improvement. HDTV playback and DVD playback are in two different leagues, on these larger sets. Not saying that DVDs by themselves don't look great, but it's just not the same thing as HD content. So that's the way I see it. I don't think of HDTV as some discrete entity. Instead, HDTV means that you have the potential of seeing a more impressive image every time you increase the size of the display. Previously, with NTSC for instance, you simply did not. Larger displays only gave you uglier pictures. They only scared you off to a greater viewing distance. > The local subscription DBS channels here have > the effrontery to charge subscriptions + shove > in ever more advertising of products and > previews. Don't know about you, Barry, but this is just the progression one should expect out of any subscription service. Shareholders and analysts are not happy if they don't see growth, and you just can't expect growth to come exclusively from increasing the subscription fees. People bail out when their fees go up too high. I fully expect satellite radio to go through this same evolution once the number of subscribers stabilizes. Bert =20 =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org=20 - 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.