On Thu, 19 Apr 2001, Robert Shiels wrote:
> Hmm. I too am pissed off about this digital stuff, as the quality is worse
> than analogue TV. My measure of quality is uninterrupted viewing. I have yet
> to watch any digital TV where at some point the picture didn't pixelate or
> completely blank for a few seconds. I have an excellent Sony 100Hz TV, and
> cannot fault the picture. Why are we being forced down this digital route?
> Money I expect.
Why else? Basically, it's a bit like the G3 phones, although we haven't
heard so much about the investment phase. Some companies poured huge
amounts of money into the research to do digital streaming (and various
forms of compression[1]. Now they want their investment back, but noone
will buy DigitalTV [2][3] unless they have no alternative. So they've
asked the government to make sure that there is no alternative.
[1] Of course compression/error-correcting pick one, hence the pixellation
etc.
[2] Whatever standard
[3] We aren't the US, and they misread the market. A large number of
British people are quite happy with the small number of channels,
because they appreciate that larger number of channels just means that
the good stuff is spread even more thinly.
> But if you get a digital TV/receiver, surely BBC is available for free
> without any subscriptions. If this is not the case then I think it's
> criminal.
Why? The digital TV is a one-off cost. The license is on-going. The
revenue from the digital TV/reciever doesn't go to the beeb.
Personally I don't mind funding the beeb, as long as the quality of
content they produce is high. I do object to funding random corporations
whose interests are to their shareholders...
> /Robert
> [thinking maybe he should have taken this to (void)]
No, it's "on-topic" for london.pm. :)
MBM
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