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- HDTV launches with concern (10-30-98) (ZDNN)
HDTV broadcast capability to officially rollout 11-1-98. However, ZDNN quotes Josette Bonte, VP of of new media & entertainment practice at Ryan Hankin Kent Inc. as stating, "The consensus is that HDTV -- to a large extent -- is going to be put on the back burner. The trend seems to be towards broadcasting regular digital TV and then using the rest of the spectrum for other types of content." - Is HDTV a high-wire act? (1-19-99) (Seattle Times)
NBC VP of technology Peter Smith is cited as indicating NBC is considering simultaneous digital broadcasts where one show may be broadcast in high definition while another show may be broadcast in a "lower" digital resolution but including an Internet-type "data cast" allowing TV viewers to click over to an Internet site while watching the TV show. ["HDTV" or just plain "DTV" is not set in stone yet as to what will actually be transmitted to your TV set.... Stay tuned....]CONVERGENCE LINES BETWEEN SET-TOP BOXES, PC-TV COMPUTERS, & TV SETS MERGE AND BLUR (computer manufacturers to muscle in with "power PC-TV boxes" on the developing set-top box market):
- Pre-COMDEX NEWS: Computer companies want you to buy a PC as your next TV (11-11-98) (CNET)
- Philips Semiconductors helping PCs become TVs by unveiling "Coney" digital TV circuit board design; New circuit board design allows PC makers to turn PCs into "low cost" Digital TV sets (11-9-98) (CNET)
- PC-TV tuner cards to tune in Digital TV (11-04-98) (TechWeb)
- Hauppauge to demo WinTV-D digital-TV card at COMDEX (11-13-98) (CNET)
CNET quotes Ken Plotkin, Hauppauge's Vice President of Marketing as stating, "We believe the PC will make its move into the living room as the rightful center of digital information and entertainment in the home." However, CNET goes on to say industry observers believe that advanced digital TVs and TV set-top boxes may ultimately become the digital entertainment centers. - Early digital TV companies get foot in door (11-9-98) (ZDNN)
ZDNN quotes Envisioneering Group director of market research for new-media technology Richard Doherty as stating, "We expect that there will be far more people receiving digital TV signals through their PCs rather than digital devices, like an HDTV." Watch for digital TV to come to homes through power PC-TV boxes as well as digital-TV decoder equipped set-top boxes. - Lines blurred at CES (1-19-99) (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Survey article of products introduced at CES '99 also covers the Thomson debut of their RCA HDTV Converter DTC100 set-top box: "This digital set-top decoder/receiver from Thomson Consumer Electronics will enable existing analog TV sets to receive and display new digital TV broadcasts from land-based or satellite sources. The DTC100 serves double-duty by receiving more than 200 channels of subscription satellite programming from DirectTV, as well as standard broadcasts." This is not mentioned in the survey article, but you really have to see this coming down the line: set-top boxes with built-in digital TV converters will be HOT PRODUCTS since not everyone will want to spend the money to get new HDTV sets or new DTV sets to replace their old trusty analog TV sets. There are many people who have TV sets that are ten, twenty, even thirty years old (geez, I even have some old TVs at home). In the age of HDTV, set-top boxes with the built-in digital TV converters will allow people (and particularly those who do not have cable) to continue to say they are still watching television with old TV sets that are "umpteen" years old. The survey article also looks at the ReplayTV and the TiVo boxes (the more-than-a-VCR video storage boxes) and the TV Guardian box (which filters out profanity from closed-captioned videos, DVD, satellite, cable, and other TV broadcasts and programs.) - Digital Entertainment Box Study maps out future of convergence (1-19-99) (Business Wire)
Jon Peddie Associates predict that by 2001 there will be 103.8 million cable and set top boxes, 104.5 million game consoles, 149.9 entertainment PCs, 31.1 million DVD players, 1.37 Internet TV sets, and 0.94 Digital TV sets. Dr. Jon Peddie states there is a "rush to occupy the space on top of the TV or replace the TV.... There is considerable confusion in the marketplace and that spells both opportunity and disaster for companies entering it. The biggest issue facing the market is that each of these product configurations has a different business model. Consolidating the various models will be the most difficult phase of digital entertainment box evolution." So, what do you want in your "digital entertainment box" future: HDTV, DTV, a power PC-TV box (which would correspond to Peddie's "entertainment PCs" or full-size "Internet TV" sets), a set-top box with or without a digital TV converter, a game console, or some other digital entertainment box?
- Interactive TV Top.Box.News
From the
Interactive TV Top.Box.News at Ruel.Net
Ruel's Selected News Items & Comments:
DO YOU WANT HDTV, DIGITAL TV,
OR A POWER PC-TV BOX TO
REPLACE YOUR OLD TV SET?
OR WOULD YOU RATHER GET A
SET-TOP BOX WITH A BUILT-IN
DIGITAL TV CONVERTER FOR
YOUR OLD TV SET?
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