Re: HDTV

["A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@world.std.com>]

Dib9@aol.com wrote:
 
> The HDTV manufacturers will
> also be competing with converters for traditional TVs so they will have to
> bring their prices down or people will just substitute converters for new HDTV
> sets.

Yes, and I suspect that converters will be rather inexpensive.  I suspect,
too, that regular TVs with converters built in will probably be on the
market in the near future unless the FCC bans them.  For HDTV to catch on,
first the programming must be there, and so far it isn't.  Especially, the
cable companies will have to convert to HDTV.  And for it to really catch
on, someone will have to offer something that is simply not available on
regular TV.
 
> Prices for most new technologies in consumer electronics start high and drop
> quickly as the technology becomes widely used.  This has happened with
> calculators, VCRs, computers, and satellite TV systems.

True enough for most items.  But I think the price of computers hasn't
really dropped as much as that.  What happens is that, for any given level
of computer, the price drops, but the latest computer comes in at the top
of the price heap.  So, you can get a 386 quite cheaply these days, but a
Pentium II costs as much today as an XT cost in 1986.
 
- -- 
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 A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                                     617.367.0468
 15 Court Square                                  lawyer@world.std.com
 Boston, MA 02108-2503                   http://world.std.com/~lawyer/
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