Albert Manfredi wrote:
I watched an "estimate" put together by a company showing a group of Legislative Assistants in DC a prototype of a converter box. Basically the LA's repeated over an over the question "and this will cost about $50 right? At first the company officials tried to go over what went into the box, IP cost, power cord, led lights and various other essentials but in the end they just answered "right" accompanied by a silent shrug.Mark Schubin wrote:
- The idea of the coupons was that they would cover $40 of the cost of a $50 converter box, but, according to the sidebar to this story, Thomson vp Dave Arland said that price was just a "wish." "Today these boxes would cost $200. Nobody's box today will cost only $40, or $50. It will probably cost less than $200 by 2009, but not as low as they want":<http://www.tvtechnology.com/features/news/2006.08.23-n_NTIA.shtml>
Supposedly, the Samsung box due (I think it was) next month is to cost $168.
The real question is, if the guts of the built-in ATSC receivers now incorporated in TV sets are transplanted to a separate box, how much should that box cost the consumer? Seems to me that as a built-in component, that receiver is now very cost effective.
What's strange is that stand-alone STB prices (and performance) have stayed steady since what, Christmas of 2003? Something like that.
Anyway, the $50 guesstimate was made by the CE vendors, as I recall. It wasn't a mandate of any kind. The CE vendors can always claim that price to represent a SD-only STB with only an NTSC signal output, for example.
Bert
Bob Miller
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