I can buy a digital cable box NOW for 50 bucks. When hundreds of millions of sets can make use of such a device some nice Asian company will gladly flood the market with a unit and I will be shocked if the price doesn't quickly settle at under 20 dollars.
Remember that all the unit has to do is the same thing as the tuner that will be just one small component in the new TVs being sold. Just how expensive could it possibly be? And why would it be a dead product? They still sell devices that allow you to hook up RCA connectors to a TV that is only equipped with a coax connector. How long has it been since you saw a new TV that didn't have RCA connectors? Those devices are being purchased by people who have perfectly working TVs who are now finding that the DVD player manufacturers have stopped putting coax outputs on their units like the VCRs they're replacing. So for ten bucks they buy an adapter.
There are a few out there with HD built-in, usually for 2-3 hundred dollars more. I've been looking at TVs lately and at first it is confusing. I think the wide screen Sony WEGA (conventional flat screen) TVs have a best picture for the price. Those $3000+ TVs look really nice but that's beyond my practical price range.
Tell me who sells legitimate digital cable boxes for $50. Show me where Scientific Atlanta, Motorola or GI sells them directly to end users. And were not talking about HOT boxes on Ebay. Most cable companies ONLY rent them. And if you get one stolen and have to have it replaced, guess what, its NOT $50. Try a few hundred. Call your cable company and ask. And most of those boxes are LOCKED to particular cable systems like cell phones are Locked to a company. And if your talking about direct TV satellite boxes, they don't actually cost $50. they subsidize the hardware so you will buy the software. Them smart cards aren't cheap. And they keep having to upgrade them to keep the pirates at bay. Its like the printer companies selling you cheap printers so they can later sell you expensive ink carts.
When hundreds of millions of
Sounds easy doesn't it? Well it isn't. Here is a link to a trade mag Twice on the issue:
formatting link
You may have to register to read the meat of it.
This was suppose to be the year that 25" to 35" TV's transition to have ATSC tuners in them. It been a SLOW transition. WHY? because in some cases it has cost up to $300 more per TV to implement this. This is DIRECT quote from the trades.
Many people got around this issue by selling units with NO tuners. Just as you suggested. Just RCA jacks for inputs or Digital. But that still does not solve the problem.
A digital tuner is MUCH more complex than its analog cousin. It more akin to a small computer than a tuner. It not only has to tune the digital signal, do complex math for multi path cancellation, but then demod the signal and buffer it before doing decompression and D/A decoding. Granted, pricing will come down in the future. Buts it not even close to a $50 product now. Not to mention how many patent holders get a cut of the action on the technology. How many links can your provide for stand alone ATSC to NTSC tuner boxes under $50 now? And do you want that box on top of your $100 wallmart TV?
Just how expensive could it
Its basically a dead product because its will be for old technology units only. After a cutoff date, most new units will have the ATSC tuners built in. SO your tooling up resources for a box that will have large sales for a year or two at best. And people will be screaming that they have to buy them at all. The kicker on that scenario is the cable companies will probably rent you a box to do the conversion that is a cable convertor also in the future. That will also cut way down on tuner only box purchases. You will rent it, not buy it. That's the model the cable companies want you to buy into. Its the people NOT on cable or Satellite that will likely suffer.
"He IS correct...you just don't read well. He's talking about digital broadcast transmissions and you're talking about the end of analog broadcasts. Two very different things. "
Heh, cumudgeon, this is what larry posted and that I responded to:
"There's no shutoff of the analog signal scheduled. The digital signal
transmission is required by 2006 "
And I'm the one that doesn't read well? He clearly stated that there was no shutoff of analog planned. And as I pointed out, that is incorrect.
Now get on down to Kmart and buy some reading glasses instead of making an ass of yourself.
Tony, be sure to look at Toshiba CRT TVs for really outstanding picture quality at a reasonable price. I have purchased two of them in the last two years. Although these particular sets were not HDTV-ready, the picture is excellent.
I have a Sony Wega flat screen HDTV ready. It's a 34 or something around there. Awesome picture. And it's not even hooked up for the HD. Paid $1200 for it a couple years ago. The person who said they are heavy was 100% right.
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