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Technology Stocks : LAST MILE TECHNOLOGIES - Let's Discuss Them Here -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MikeM54321 who wrote (9493)	12/4/2000 7:11:09 PM
From: JayPC	Respond to of 12823

But when/if DVD does turn into a recordable device, my feeling is they will hurt PVR sales. I fully agree with you on this. I can't wait to get my hands on one of these... hitachi.com DV-RX2000 DVD Video Recorder The DV-RX2000 is a high-performance, high quality 4.7GB DVD-RAM video recorder that is as easy to operate as a videotape recorder, and providing adequate copy protection features. The DV-RX2000 incorporates MPEG-2 variable bit rate compression and a number of other high-performance features such as external input TBC (Time Base Corrector), 3D Y/C separation and digital noise reduction. Being a disk-based medium means that it has excellent random-access operability, and it is fully compatible with PC DVD-RAM drives and other DVD devices. This includes full playback compatibility with respect to DVD recordings made using the DZ-MV100 DVD video camcorder. The DV-RX2000 can also rearrange and erase images, and is cable-ready. The DV-RX2000 can play DVD videos, video CDs and audio CDs. For optimum quality reproduction of DVD movies, it includes 525-line progressive scanning playback and a Dolby Digital 5.1-channel decoder for full home theater viewing and listening pleasure. Main specifications Recording system DVD video recording Disk 4.7GB DVD-RAM disk Recording modes XP: 10 Mbps; SP: 5 Mbps; LP: 2.5 Mbps (variable bit rate) Recording capacity 4 hours maximum (using 4.7GB DVD-RAM disk) High-quality mode: 60 minutes Standard mode: 120 minutes Long-play mode: 240 minutes Video system NTSC Channel reception VHF (channels 1 to 12); UHF (channels 13 to 62); CATV (channels 13 to 63); BS (channels 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15) Playback media compatibility DVD (SL/DL: 8/12cm); DVC (8/12cm); CD-DA (8/12cm) ____ The price in Japan converted to USD $2254.29 is quite reasonable for the innovator stage (the first stage) in the product adoption life cycle. I also expect the DVD video recorder to replace the VCR eventually. Regards Jay

To: MikeM54321 who wrote (9493)	12/4/2000 11:44:02 PM
From: GraceZ	Respond to of 12823

IMO you can only spend so much money and time to hook up so many thingys to a TV. Confessions of a TiVo Junkie At first, just the idea of another video gizmo was exasperating to me. Our living-room console was already filled with nearly every entertainment appliance you could imagine: TV, VCR, DVD player, satellite set-top box, and a receiver to connect everything. And nobody in my house was even ever home to watch anything! When we were around, the only person who could figure out the entertainment system was Jeff. (As the founder and chairman of his own dotcom, he's pretty crafty when it comes to electronics.) But if somebody else had mistakenly pressed the wrong button or used the wrong remote, forget about it, blue screen. We have thousands of dollars' worth of audio-video equipment, and more often than not, it was impossible just to get the TV to work. Even my other housemate, Tim, who is the CTO at the dotcom, could never make heads or tails of the system. Only Jeff had the special mojo required to get a picture. In case you haven't figured it out by now, I live in a dysfunctional home. ecompany.com Once you've used a TiVo you can never go back to regular TV.

To: MikeM54321 who wrote (9493)	12/5/2000 1:54:11 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 12823

FCC may revamp phone, ISP subsidies By Bloomberg News December 4, 2000, 9:30 a.m. PT WASHINGTON--Verizon Communications, SBC Communications and other large phone companies likely will get a boost this month as U.S. regulators begin phasing out a subsidy system that cost the companies billions annually. The Federal Communications Commission has said it plans to revamp, by the end of this year, payments local companies make to each other for costs associated with processing calls. The plan being considered at the agency, to phase out fees, would eliminate about $1.4 billion in 2001 revenue from Teligent, Winstar and other local phone rivals, Legg Mason analyst Daniel Ernst said in a note to clients last week. news.cnet.com Competition to the ILECs will be wipped out.

To: MikeM54321 who wrote (9493)	12/5/2000 2:14:50 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 12823

What Broadband Revolution? You've heard the hype, but corporate infighting and technological snafus have slowed the rollout of cable and DSL. Here's why. By Richard Martin Communications technologies usually take years to fulfill their promise. The early hype surrounding the telegraph gave way to a period of disappointment and lawsuits. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, but it took more than 30 years to create a nationwide phone system. The Internet was around for 20 years before anyone called it an information superhighway. By the mid-1990s, early broadband pitchmen at companies like @Home were making foolish subscriber projections that they couldn't come close to meeting: Within a few years millions of us would be freed from the slavery of slow 56Kbps connections. The Internet might even replace television as the entertainment and information medium of choice. But years later, only about 9 percent of wired households have a broadband connection. Pretty much everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. On the cable front, the partnerships between established cable companies and new broadband providers have turned into bad marriages. The government hasn't been much help, either. Demand from local governments for ISPs to have open access to cable lines has slowed the rollout in some places. And with federal regulators now insisting that Time Warner (TWX) open its cable lines before its merger with America Online (AOL) is approved, open access could become standard practice across the industry. In turn, digital subscriber line services are even more problematic, with a slew of technological snafus made worse by warring companies that according to law should be cooperating. Incumbent phone companies were not interested in pursuing DSL until upstart data carriers like Covad began rolling it out. The Baby Bells have used and abused the courts to slow the rollout with some of the most unusual legal maneuvers this side of the Florida vote recount. Since regulators are doing little to end this phone company foot-dragging, consumers have been relegated to voicing their complaints on Web sites and through advocacy groups. Naturally, industry leaders have tried to put the best possible face on their sputtering revolution. But their repeated explanation – an inability to keep up with soaring consumer demand – seems disingenuous. In reality, companies have spent more time fighting than planning, and they can't keep up with the small demand that now exists. The United States is full of consumers who have heard broadband installation and performance horror stories, and they are refusing to sign up until the industry gets its act together. That will probably happen, but much more slowly than customers wish. Prognosticators now say 36 percent of Net users will connect via broadband by 2005. They also predict that DSL, which was slow out of the gate, will overtake cable because the ubiquity of phone lines means it can spread more quickly. We suggest you ignore these predictions; too many Internet companies have already bet on such rosy forecasts and lost. It's smarter to focus on the reality today, and to do that, we've put together a package of stories: Broadband's Tug of War By Jason Krause Once caught between cable fat cats and ISP upstarts, broadband leader Excite@Home is finally breaking free. Now the real struggle begins. The DSL Waiting Game By Daniel Tynan Bitter feuding among Baby Bells and smaller DSL providers, along with a slew of technical snafus, has slowed the delivery of service. Will DSL Mergers Mean Better Service? With 'neighborhood gateways,' faster service and some healthy competition, the possibilities abound. But the little guys – including the consumers – will have to be patient as the battles play out. By Daniel Tynan Entertainment Sites Squeezed by Narrowband By Laura Rich Many online companies banking on broadband have either gone under or changed course. thestandard.com OT If the legal maneuvering is like that for the election of the President, I can imagine how the legal maneuvering is when they try to kill DSL!!!

To: MikeM54321 who wrote (9493)	12/13/2000 3:30:49 PM
From: MikeM54321	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

Re: Digital TV - STB Stats "A worldwide conversion from traditional analog broadcasts to digitally-encoded transmissions is powering the digital set-top box market to become a $21 billion market by 2005. The global installed base of digital set-top boxes will increase from 44 million in 1999 to 339 million boxes by 2005." Thread- When I first read the number $21 billion, I didn't think it was realistic. But a quick back of the envelope calculation shows it might be possible. Assumming $300 would be the price the MSO pays for a STB. If 44 million were sold in 1999, it would appear to be realistic to expect 70 million to be sold in 2005. $21 billion/$300 per STB = 70,000,000 STBs. Now consider there are about 1 billion TV housesholds worldwide. Of those, 256 million are cable. IMHO, I would say there will be a big push to convert those to digital cable. And the remaining are either broadcast or DBS subscribers. Mainly broadcast. I would assume a large percentage of those broadcast customers will eventually be converted to DBS customers(which requires a STB). So the bottom line is, IMVHO the $21 billion figure does appear to be realistic. -MikeM(From Florida) PS For those that don't know BRCM is number one in STB silicon. STM is number two. And CUBE is three. As far as STB vendors, MOT is number one(due to it's General Instruments buyout)....and I forget who is two and three. Probably SFA is number two but I can't quite remember. ___________________ Despite Rapid Growth, Digital Set Top Box Market Still In Infancy Says Allied Business Intelligence OYSTER BAY, N.Y., Dec. 12-- A worldwide conversion from traditional analog broadcasts to digitally-encoded transmissions is powering the digital set-top box market to become a $21 billion market by 2005. The global installed base of digital set-top boxes will increase from 44 million in 1999 to 339 million boxes by 2005. The key catalyst for growth will be the use of digital set-top boxes by both satellite and cable operators. This is according to Allied Business Intelligence's (ABI) report ``Digital Set-Top Boxes: World Markets, Architectures and Vendors.'' The report discusses the shift toward digital set-top boxes across satellite, cable and terrestrial platforms. These platforms are further segmented on a geographical basis. ``The massive growth in digital set-top box shipments is occurring at the same time as the set-top box is evolving beyond being a simple television transmission receiver,'' said ABI analyst Joshua Wise, the author of the report. ``With expanded feature sets, newer generations of digital set-top boxes are at the epicenter of the convergence between the entertainment, computing and broadband industries.'' The first wave of digital set-top box deployments came largely in the DBS field. At the end of 1999, 76% of all digital set-top boxes deployed serviced DBS subscribers. DBS providers are expected to continue to expand their digital subscriber base significantly with North America alone accounting for over 26 million customers by 2005. The second wave of digital set-top boxes, which is already under way, is highlighted by the impact of digital cable service and the increased emphasis on advanced ``thick client'' features. By 2005 the cable platform will account for 40% of the total worldwide installed base of digital set-top boxes and should have begun to outsell boxes based on the satellite platform. Meaningful impact from terrestrial digital television (DTV), the third major broadcast platform, on the sales of digital decoder boxes will be delayed until 2003 onward, by which time more countries will have begun DTV broadcasts. DTV transmissions have been delayed by standards wrangling, most notably in the US. Nevertheless, with over 100 US stations already broadcasting some DTV content, the terrestrial platform represents untapped potential. biz.yahoo.com