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Reader feedback from HDTV owners is proving to be a great value in finding out what the "other side of the coin" has to say about DTV. The first response is a reactions to the announcement Friday about the DTV Summit to be held in Washington on January 11, 2001. This summit is sponsored by Sinclair Broadcast Group, who has been the David hurling stones at Goliath. This time Goliath has resisted being hit, and when hit, fails to fall. Time is growing short. Goliath is reported gaining new strength--new chips that solve old problems. The second is to our question asking what the new Bush administration could do to further the transition. Let's see what the owners say:
"To Everyone in the Television Industry:
I have owned an HDTV for about four months now. An RCA direct view set. My yearly income is under $35,000. I spent the $4,000 on my new HDTV for the same reason I bought my first CD player nearly 20 years ago: the promise of a high quality medium that would greatly enhance my appreciation for and enjoyment of a form of art.
I remember when the Compact Disc faced similar criticism from the so-called 'experts': "Oh it's too expensive, no one's going to buy them, records sound just fine!" Today LPs are but a distant memory, but I can walk into a Wal-Mart and purchase a CD boombox for under $60 and cut-out CDs for $5. In addition, the success of the Compact Disc has led to the advent of the CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD, and soon the FMD: 100GB of data storage on a single CD-sized disc! Something even Bill Gates couldn't have imagined possible in the early '80s when he said that no one would ever need more than 400k of data storage.
The 'experts' were wrong 20 years ago, and I believe they are wrong now.
The notion of a flawed ATSC standard is, in my opinion, a myth. A fabrication disseminated by some in the television industry, who wish to abandon broadcasting in favor of datacasting. Their reason: the promise of higher profits. So first they create an artificial crisis of confidence, then they propose a solution which by sheer coincidence, fits their datacasting needs just perfectly. They don't really care about the future of digital television.
The 'experts', then as now, always have their own special interests to protect.
13 miles from where I live, the local PBS affiliate transmits their normal analog signal (1.5 megawatts) and a digital signal (50,000 watts). Using the same HDTV and amplified outdoor antenna, the digital signal comes in to my living room bigger, clearer and sharper every time, through some of the worst weather imaginable. I've been to their studio downtown. Their HD set in the visitor's lobby is connected to an indoor hoop antenna placed near a window. Their engineers report no problems receiving the signal at all, and the studio is at least 8 miles from the transmitter. They tell me that any occasional split-second interruption in the signal is the result of flaws in the satellite transmission from PBS, and NOT from their transmitter.
So my HDTV is working just fine, thank you. Only three things are missing:
*The commitment of the suppliers of content to provide more HD programming.
*The commitment of broadcasters, DBS and cable to offer more HD programming.
*The commitment of electronics retailers to properly
display more HD programming.
When I go to my local Circuit City to compare H/DTVs, I don't want to watch a demo loop from a DVD. A demo loop doesn't tell me a thing. I want the retailer to put an antenna and dish on the roof. Digital cable too. I want to see a genuine HD program: a movie from HBO-HD via Dish Network or DirecTV, a football game from CBS, a PBS documentary. I want the salesperson to actually know more about H/DTVs than I already do from surfing the internet. I want to see components on the shelves AND in the stockroom. I compare products. I make my purchase. I invite my friends to a Super Bowl party. They go to Circuit City. Prices on sets steadily come down as demand increases. Madison Avenue gets wind of a new advertising market. They call CBS. And the beat goes on...
If you want consumers like me to buy H/DTVs, give us a REASON to buy. One more thing. The FCC allocated the digital spectrum, free of charge no less, for BROADcasting, not datacasting. The airwaves belong to the people, or so I've been told. Speaking on behalf of the people, the digital spectrum should be used primarily for H/DTV, and for interactive services where space permits, as the FCC originally intended. If you want to become an Internet Service Provider, find some other part of the broadcast spectrum to do it in. 8-VSB works just fine, based on personal experience. I am confident that it will get even better, just as CDs did. Don't tell me about what's happening in Sweden. I'm an American. I lead, I don't follow.
The die has been cast. This is not the time for doubt. It's time to finish what was started, time for the American television industry to 'get with the program'.
I want my H/DTV.
Christopher J. Golas, Amherst, MA
Regarding: What is your suggestion to the Bush Administration regarding DTV?
"How about a huge tax break for networks and stations to make an aggressive transition to digital television with yet another tax break for subsequently relinquishing their analog spectrum?"
Thomas G., Springville, IN
"Dump 8-VSB ASAP. Take a tiny fraction of the tax cut and use it to provide replacement exiters for broadcasters and receivers for users. Admit the FCC totally got it wrong with 8-VSB and switch to COFDM with DVB-T tables just like the rest of the world.
Get rid of the tax on subscription services via digital and use the daytime bandwidth for an SDTV version of the TV station's output along with Internet over DVB-T. A certain percentage of the profits from the bandwidth sold must be directed towards HDTV production and programming which is only broadcast during the day.
In short, I want a high bandwidth Internet downlink to a cell-phone size device during the day (which can be easily done with COFDM) and HDTV shows to watch at night.
That's what digital TV is really for - not the current approach of stuffing it down the broadcasters throat with full-time HDTV as the goal."
-- Rod H.
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