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To: John Rieman who wrote (24793)	11/4/1997 12:37:00 PM
From: DiViT	Respond to of 50808

Death knell sounded for analogue KIERAN COLVERT ÿ 11/04/97 South China Morning Post Page 12 (Copyright 1997) ÿ Analogue technology is doomed. This looks set to be the message speakers will deliver this week at the Asia Broadcast 97 Conference when industry professionals converge on the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Moreover, a look at the products on display at Asia CommuniTech 97 seems to confirm that digital technology is now ready to replace analogue in all areas of broadcasting. According to broadcast professionals, the prime advantage of digital technology is that it offers superior quality over analogue. Apart from such projects as Japan's Perfect TV and high- definition television, the state- of-the-art quality for television viewers are images generated digitally and transmitted Direct to Home (DTH) via satellite, as it is, for example, with the Star TV output and that of Malaysia's ASTRO network. Tim Kelly, controller at TVB's engineering division, said: "You basically have a digital stream from the camera recording the initial images to the television receiving the final product - you have a complete digital path." The digital revolution has also opened up possibilities for greater sophistication of the broadcasters' end-product - such as the incorporation of 3- D graphics with video output. And the price of digital products has been downward. They are now on a par with, and sometimes cheaper than, their analogue equivalents. Even where analogue devices are cheaper, their digital equivalents are easier to install and their maintenance cost is generally less. "We are in the second generation of digital technology now and it is significantly cheaper than first generation. The reason for our prices going down is the very large-scale integrated circuits which enables us to get more and more circuits into one chip," said Craig Norris of Sony Broadcast Products. Digital products also enable broadcasters to keep down costs because digitally transmitted signals can be significantly compressed. In the context of the high cost of satellite use, this can be a significant saving. A minute of full-screen full- motion digital video will take close to 1.38 gigabytes of storage space. The so-called MPEG compression technology expands opportunities for broadcasters by multiplying uplink capacity, enabling 16 or more channels to be transmitted via a single satellite transponder. With analogue technology, only one channel could be handled. However, the digital revolution does not mean that television and radio broadcasters can throw away their tapes. Tape will still form a useful part of the fully digital television or radio station. As a means of bulk storage, tape will save costs as it would be too expensive to store everything on hard disk. The only significant resistance to the new technology is likely to come from end-users unwilling to throw away their old television sets.

To: John Rieman who wrote (24793)	11/4/1997 9:59:00 PM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

VCD player warranties in China (and other good stuff)................... chinadaily.net VCD player producers join warranty network FIERCE market competition and a short product life cycle have encouraged Chinese video compact disk (VCD) player manufacturers to find new ways of upgrading their products and bettering their services. Last week, 12 VCD manufacturers took the lead to join the nationwide warranty network. This is a major initiative by the Ministry of Electronics Industry (MEI) to improve after-sale service for VCD players. Starting in November, about 500 out of the 3,044 household electrical appliance maintenance centres on the network are offering free repair to holders of the 12 VCD player brands within one year after the purchase. The 12 have 86 per cent of national VCD player market. "It is good news for both buyers and producers," said Wu Zhengzhe, deputy general manager of Guangdong Idall Electrical Appliance Co Ltd. "It will help elevate the standard of the product as well as the services." VCD players, first marketed in China in 1994, have seen an explosive growth. Chinese factories produced 220,000 VCD players in 1995 and 2.24 million in 1996. Sales were 65,000 in 1995 and 2.69 million in 1996. This year's sales are expected to rise to 10 million VCD players, said MEI experts. Experts attribute the popularity of VCD players in China to the national craze of karaoke beginning a few years ago, the moderate prices of VCD players and the high density of TV sets among the population. Chinese families have 120 million colour TV sets. Prices have kept dropping since the end of last year. A VCD player costs more than 5,000 yuan ($602) when they first appeared in China but less than 2,000 yuan ($241) at the end of last year. This summer, all the VCD player makers were involved in a fresh price war when Idall cut its prices by 25-30 per cent. Idall doubled its production by this campaign. The price war has helped regulate the market by forcing a number of small firms into bankruptcy. Now, both the government and manufacturers have agreed that the only way to improve competitiveness in the long run is to expand production, improve technology, quality and service. Despite the inroad of digital video disk (DVD) players, industry insiders believe that VCD players can hold onto the market for at least three years. DVD players have a higher definition and larger capacity, but prices are at least more than double that of VCD players. The expanded production lines will not be a waste when VCD players are replaced by DVD players because they can also be used to assemble DVD players. Foreign brands, including Panasonic, Samsumg and Philips, took up 30 per cent of the Chinese market last year. Date: 10/22/97 Author: Wen Fang Copyrightc by China Daily