I suppose...

....that our favorite newsgroup crackpot will claim that Europe's miserable
failure to deploy HDTV is due to the COFDM modulation allowing European
consumers to freely choose whether or not to buy HDTV; and that given this
free choice European consumers do not want HDTV.

That doesn't explain why 11 million Japanese consumers choose HDTV, even
though only analog HDTV is widely available over-the-air in Japan and
digital TV is only in limited districts of a few cities.

That also doesn't explain why 19 million American consumers choose HDTV,
even though it meant having to switch to digital at the same time.

But facts and explanations have never been terribly important to those who
spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt against the 8-VSB modulation; all
because HDTV is a threat to their business purposes.

When Australia has numbers to rival the US on HDTV market penetration, we
can then talk about whether COFDM in Australia is better than 8-VSB in the
USA.

When Japan has numbers to rival the US on digital HDTV market penetration,
or for that matter to rival itself on analog HDTV market penetration, we
can then talk about whether COFDM in Japan is better than 8-VSB in the
USA.

When Europe has numbers to rival the US on HDTV market penetration, or for
that matter has any HDTV at all!!, we can then talk about whether COFDM in
Europe is better than 8-VSB in the USA.

When China has HDTV at all, we can then talk about whether COFDM in China
is better than 8-VSB in the USA.

But until that time, COFDM based HDTV is a miserable failure worldwide,
and 8-VSB is the ONLY successful digital HDTV system anywhere. The only
rival to 8-VSB is Japan's analog HDTV, but 8-VSB has caught up.

-- Mark --

http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.

"Mark Crispin" wrote in message
...
...that our favorite newsgroup crackpot will claim that Europe's miserable
failure to deploy HDTV is due to the COFDM modulation allowing European
consumers to freely choose whether or not to buy HDTV; and that given this
free choice European consumers do not want HDTV.

That doesn't explain why 11 million Japanese consumers choose HDTV, even
though only analog HDTV is widely available over-the-air in Japan and
digital TV is only in limited districts of a few cities.

That also doesn't explain why 19 million American consumers choose HDTV,
even though it meant having to switch to digital at the same time.

But facts and explanations have never been terribly important to those who
spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt against the 8-VSB modulation; all
because HDTV is a threat to their business purposes.

When Australia has numbers to rival the US on HDTV market penetration, we
can then talk about whether COFDM in Australia is better than 8-VSB in the
USA.

When Japan has numbers to rival the US on digital HDTV market penetration,
or for that matter to rival itself on analog HDTV market penetration, we
can then talk about whether COFDM in Japan is better than 8-VSB in the
USA.

When Europe has numbers to rival the US on HDTV market penetration, or for
that matter has any HDTV at all!!, we can then talk about whether COFDM in
Europe is better than 8-VSB in the USA.

When China has HDTV at all, we can then talk about whether COFDM in China
is better than 8-VSB in the USA.

But until that time, COFDM based HDTV is a miserable failure worldwide,
and 8-VSB is the ONLY successful digital HDTV system anywhere. The only
rival to 8-VSB is Japan's analog HDTV, but 8-VSB has caught up.

-- Mark --

http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.

I think that the main reason why HDTV is more urgently required in the US
than in Europe is the size of the TV screen. In Europe, 27" wide screen has
been the most popular size for a decade or more, and most programming is
16:9. The screen size has been pushing up a little in recent years, but
living rooms are just not big enough for a large rear projection set. Flat
panels (up to 42") are making inroads and will take off soon, especially if
HD programming arrives, but are outside of most people's budgets right now.

On a 27" 16:9 screen, a digital SD picture looks pretty decent (if I
remember correctly SD in Europe has about 600 lines so it is already a
higher def than SD in the US). In the US, there is a huge difference in PQ
on a large screen when going from SD to HD, in Europe this just isn't the
case.

In the UK, and I think elsewhere in Europe, there are a good selection of
digital channels available for free from a low cost set top box and a set
top antenna. Cable and Satellite do not have the market penetration that
they have in the US. Digital radio is also starting to get traction in the
UK, here it is almost unheard of.

In the US 8-VSB debate is interesting, but long term I think most people
will get their HDTV through cable or satellite. Antennas are just too
complex and service is too spotty for most people. In my area, 1/2 the
channels come from the north, the other 1/2 from the south, and the signal
is blocked by trees anyway so I don't get any channels from a simple
antenna. I don't want to invest time and money to figure it out - I am sure
it is possible, but, the channels that I watch most (BBC America, Discovery,
and Fox Sports). don't come OTA anyway, so I give DTV some money every
month, in return they give me a mediocre selection of HD channels!

To be honest, although I love the HD PQ, if the show is decent, the PQ
doesn't matter that much