HDTV equals consumer confusion

[Ken McDaniel]

Howdy all. The Army was kind enough to let me out of the field a couple of days before Christmas so I could go shopping with my wife. I currently own a 32" Pro Scan so it goes without saying that I am always looking for a bigger, better picture.

I spent most of my day examining the virtues of HDTV at a great Austin shop, High Fidelity, Inc. The staff is very knowledgable and know how to sell a product. The gist of our discussion is this:

What is the point?

We weren't arguing about the quality of HDTV. The quality is as plain as the nose on my face. We were going over recent developments in the realm of HDTV regulating land. A slew of points and counterpoints were discussed. First, after the internet is done expanding, how much bandwidth for HDTV will be left? Will manufacturers, the FCC, studios, and broadcasters association ever agree on a product? Most of us doubt that the format will ever truly reach the level many have hoped it would.

All this equals endless amounts of confusion over the purchase of a new TV. When I purchase a TV, I buy itt because it has a great picture I can enjoy for a long time. What do I recommend to my friends? I don't like viewing my purchase as a risky investment that may or may not prove profitable.




Ken

[Allan J.]

I think the biggest threat to HDTV is the studios. They are demanding better copy protection and one possible outcome may be a scarcity of HDTV shows we can watch without special descramblers and/or pay per view. Today's HDTV set top boxes e.g. RCA DTC-100 really should be grandfathered in but there is no assurance they will be able to tune in all the HDTV shows five years from now, due to scrambling. Already mentioned is an unscrambled simulcast in standard definition (480p).

Next, there are many up and coming TV set technologies, notably LCD and similar panels that have extremely fine grain (dot pitch) and no convergence problems. There are extremely good TV sets today that will give you a stunning picture for ten years or more, it is just that even better ones are just a few years off. There will always be set top boxes you can buy to play into your TV whatever HDTV format is standard.

Other video hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm

[migliore]

The Dish 6000 has accessory card slots, so hardware changes aren't much of a problem. Maybe the software could even be downloaded. Does the RCA not have this?

I think this could tide people over for some time. I hope they will come out w/ a card for digital inputs (firewire), whenever that comes more into play.

Rob




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