HDTV sets reach 50K in sales. They still have issues.......
www2.digitalbroadcasting.com{A5BBBEF0-7525-11D3-9A64-00A0C9C83AFB}&Bucket=HomeLatestHeadlines
CEMA: HDTV Sales Have Reached 50,000
9/29/99
By Tom Butts
Copy Protection Issues Linger
CEMA Reveals Latest Consumer Research Results on DTV
VSB Proponents Speak Out
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOS ANGELES ? Despite lingering problems over content and connectivity issues, sales of HDTV units in the US have exceeded 50,000 as of the end of August, according to the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association (CEMA).
CEMA president Gary Shapiro announced the updated figures at its semi-annual DTV Summit here, which included discussions among industry leaders over HD content, consumer reaction to HDTV, and technical issues. The figures have doubled since CEMA reported at its last DTV Summit in May that 25,000 units had been sold since HDTV sets started selling in the US in August 1998. CEMA says HDTV sets are being sold at more than 200 locations.
?50,000 units is phenomenal considering the extraordinary lack of programming and the number of manufacturers who have delayed production,? Shapiro says. ?That?s a very, very significant number.? CEMA estimates that the number will more than double to 120,000 units by the end of 1999.
CEMA has defined HDTV sets as any display unit capable of displaying the 1080I standard, but a number of the sets being sold are displaying less than the whole 1,080 line number, leaving some in the industry to debate over how many of those 50,000 are actually HD.
?The numbers need to be cleansed,? says Jim Palumbo, senior general manager, industry affairs, Sony Electronics.
Copy Protection Issues Linger (Back to Top)
Commenting on the continuing debate between the motion picture industry and consumer electronics manufacturers over copy protection in the digital age, Shapiro called on the motion picture industry to ?respect? the concept of home recording rights, as laid out by the Supreme Court and the federal government when VCRs were introduced onto the US market in the late 70s.
?Technologies for digital protection were developed in light of assurances from the motion picture industry that rules would be in place to protect consumer rights to record free over-the-air television and with limitations to subscription programming,? Shapiro says. ?We have a duty as a technology industry to ensure that these systems are not abused or allowed to erode consumers? home recording rights.?
CEMA Reveals Latest Consumer Research Results on DTV (Back to Top)
The association also unveiled the results of its latest studies over consumer reaction to, and awareness of, HDTV, which it is conducting every six months?the latest which were done in late August.
According to Todd Thibodeaux, CEMA senior economist who oversaw the survey, over half (51%) of the consumers surveyed said they expected their next TV set would be a DTV set, which he says translates into about 46 million US television households adopting HDTV technology over the next eight years. This represents a significant increase in awareness of DTV technology, Thibodeaux says, who adds that only 17% of the respondents said they would probably not buy a DTV set in its current form.
?This is very, very encouraging news,? Thibodeaux says. ?This is a product that people, down the road know they will accept.?
The introduction of HDTVonto retail floors is also boosting overall traffic in retail stores, according to Thibodeaux. According to the survey, more than 16 million families have visited retail stores to see DTV and that those surveyed said they will return over the next 3?6 months for another view of the technology.
?The key is to get people to come back?and once they find it they are pretty excited about it,? Thibodeaux says. ?That?s what we?re starting to see. Retailers are doing an outstanding job.?
The results of the CEMA consumer studies on DTV can be found at CEMA?s Web site, www.cemacity.org.
VSB Proponents Speak Out (Back to Top)
Representatives from DTV manufacturers weighed in on the current debate on modulation standards which have clouded the DTV picture over recent months. Current DTV sets on sale in the US are using the ATSC?s VSB standard, and many in the industry have heavily criticized its inability for indoor reception. Sinclair Broadcasting, which has severely criticized the VSB standard, has released results of its antenna reception tests conducted in Baltimore this past summer, and the summit gave the manufacturers, who support VSB, a chance to lash out at its critics.
VSB opponents have continuously criticized the HDTV rollout since day one, according to Bob Perry, marketing director for Mitsubishi Digital Electronics, and the current criticisms are just the latest in an effort to derail HDTV.
?The political posturing by other organizations to try to derail this is not related to the modulation standard,? Perry says. ?Most of the noise you have heard over the last six months about modulation and different broadcast techniques is exactly that. We see no compelling reason to change modulation formats.?
Others were optimistic that the technology will improve over time.
?It would be na‹ve to think we?re at the top of the VSB technology,? says Stephen Nickerson, VP for Toshiba America Consumer Products. ?It will get better faster than we?ve ever seen before.?
?The VSB format has improved tremendously over a very short period of time,? says Mark Knox, senior manger of marketing for Samsung Digital Products. ?I don?t think there?s any need or reason to even consider changing from VSB to any other format. I think by the time we get to January CES [CEMA?s Consumer Electronics Show], the majority of the challenges being brought up will be over.?
|
