Cheap TV could be a turn-off

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http://www.fin24.com/articles/default/display_article.aspx?ArticleId=1518-25_2318957

Comment:
Tuco on 2008/05/09 09:39:17 AM - Heh?
Clearly Radhakrishna Padayachie has not tried to buy a digital tv around here. And it's too late - all the analog tvs have already been dumped here, CRT, HD plasma, LCD you name it are all analog....And they are NOT cheap!

Next Comment:
Impatient on 2008/05/09 10:51:01 AM - "Digitally Ready" TVs
Tuco is right. Even the top-end (R15,000 plus)LCD TVs are analogue only. I compared the manual of a set available here with the same model available in the UK. The UK manual clearly shows the "DVB" logo and refers to the Electronic Programme Guide (EPG). None of this is in the manual of the locally available version. On the other hand, I have read that in the UK the analogue sets are still more popular (used in conjunction with set-top boxes), precisely because it works out cheaper.
 
Cheap TVs are exactly that.... cheap. When they stop working... you don't fix them, you throw them away and buy another one.

I have no problem with buying a sub R2000.00 TV and then another cheaper Digital TV later on when the time is right.

But I will not be forced into buying Digital right now at a premium.

They need to get their act together first and then tell consumers what to get.

and methinks some fatcats are going to be padding their wallets even further through this entire analogue to digital switchover...
 
That article is so littered with inaccuracies and DoC bullsh i t that it isn't worth commenting on.
 
Ffs Radharakrishna! or whatever that unpronounceable name is, you don't have the foggiest clue what you talking about! DoC Deputy Minister!

Ivy's so clueless as it is, and surrounded by total idiots! These people actually advise her and government on these issues! No Way! I can't believe it!

How does ICASA deal with these bafoons?

There is no hope for us, no hope at all.
 
Cheap "analogue" TV's

Mindless natter - that's is what the honourable minister's announcement is. It is a typical situation of him NOT doing his job and therefore we will miss the dealine for cutting over to digital (see http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,,2-13-1443_2319276,00.html). So the classic strategy is to try to divert attention by stating how GRAVELY concerned you are about the poor public being conned into buying analogue TV's... You will probably see this argument being used again at a later stage in the form of "Government is holding back on launching digital TV until they are sure that all stores have removed old analogue sets from their shelves". Do they really think we are this STUPID??? I spent R13k on a Sony Plasma last month and it did NOT have a digital tuner, so please, mr Padayachie, you are only displaying your absolute ignorance with a report such as this.

On the upside, a quick search to : http://www.parliament.gov.za/live/content.php?Item_ID=265 revealed his email address to be

[email protected]

PLEASE, ASK ALL YOUR FRIENDS TO COLLECTIVELY FLAME THIS IDIOT AND TELL HIM TO DO HIS JOB PROPERLY!!!!
 
Garyvdh said:
and methinks some fatcats are going to be padding their wallets even further through this entire analogue to digital switchover...
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Of that you can be sure. Luckily they cannot go too far as staying outside of the internationally accepted digital norms will be too costly.
 
luckily there is nothing to watch on FTA TV now and there will be nothing to watch in future in Digital format. I am quite happy with my DSTV select and TV show downloads.
 
The department of communications wants to pack into the set-top boxes as much interconnectivity as possible to allow people access to the e-government services, and this has delayed the design of the digi-boxes.

Ministers made it clear on Thursday that they want the boxes to be manufactured in South Africa. They seem unworried by the fact that the boxes may not be available when the digital signal is first switched on. "We will have three years, before the analogue signal is switched off," communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said.
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Story of our lives. They have plenty of time to do whatever they want and slow the process down...
 
Is the Deputy minister reffering to Sinotec sets specifically?
 
dablakmark8 said:
3years for ppl to switch..a bit impossible
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It's irritating watching another DoC disaster in the making with a blatantly unrealistic timescale (think of what the original time scale was for the SNO, compared to how long it ended up taking).

If you compare it to the UK trying to achieve the same thing, they began broadcasting back in 2002 and are only planning to do the switch off by 2012. We haven't even agreed on the format we're going to be using except that it needs to be manufactured locally.

The "manufactured locally" is going to be another hurdle since we don't have a huge electronics industry in South Africa. We also have a significantly poorer population to the UK, which is probably the most crucial element as government doesn't have plans as yet on how to subsidise the R400-R500 device needed.

We also have a larger number of signal towers, covering a spread out rural population, that need to be upgraded yet Sentech is still stuck in it's own budgetary crisis.

So forgive me Minister if I'm a little bit sceptical that we can roll out an expensive country wide project over three times faster than the UK when there's a huge history of project mismanagement and bungling from your department.
 
Oh shyte, I just remembered something:
They want too keep the price down to 500 bucks or so.

Ministers made it clear on Thursday that they want the boxes to be manufactured in South Africa.
Click to expand...

Oh Dear,..... W-A-F-Up !
Assuming you don't have a digital TV, are they going to build into the decoder all the functions you would normally have in the TV like HD (HDMI output needed), dolby decoder (for 5.1 surround sound / pro logic, decoder needs RCA's or co-axial or optical outs), CAM slots for simm cards (for those channels that require payments and are not "free"), [this is a point they still fighting about, but they don't know who the players are yet - want THEM to pay for that feature probably etc], the abilty to autotune for a preprogrammed item you wish your pvr to record, It displays the name of the channel on your TV so you don't have to worry about a whole pile of numbers like a external decoder eg dstv (who keep frikking changing them!!!!)

All for R500 bucks..????? I have my doubts.

They should have been selling DVB digital sets here years ago. They knew we were going to follow the same path useing the same technology as europe - and Sentech has been testing it for years already, which is why any pc card or TV import from europe already works on their test signal in JHB. I don't believe for one second the DoC BS that they still have not decided what DVB standard they going to use!

The retailers have made a killing selling us this analogue sh*t at the same price as digital sets!

Utterly Pathetic - and the DoC is so stupid to think we all so stupid as to swollow their BS story!

Makes me sick :sick:
 
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I think this has to be one of the most retarded things I've read in quite a while.
"Eish, we can't even decide what we want our digital decoders to do, and it is going to be a set top box that plugs into current analog televisions, but don't buy an analog one now, because it will stop working when we switch to digital."
Um... Excuse me? That doesn't make any sense whatsoever. The only way you're even going to be able to buy a tv with a digital reciever in is to actually have the standard finalised, communicated to manufacturers, and persuade the manufacturers to start incorporating that into the sets. I'm in Holland at the moment, and been shopping for a TV here, and have noticed that only about 20% of the TVs available have digital recievers built in, and there are at least 2 different standards available that I've seen... I think some of them are aimed at cable services instead of digital broadcast. So good luck buying a tv with a digital reciever for the SA market any time soon...
On the other hand, there are several set top boxes available - including from big names like Phillips and Samsung, amongst others, some with PVR capabilities, some without, etc...
Additionally, it took Holland more than 2 years from the first digital broadcast till they could turn the analoge signal off - and this is a country less than twice the size of the Kruger National Park, with no real signal blocking landscape worth noting...
Oh well. Yet another DoC disaster in the making. What fun.
 
RSnow, do yourself a favour and buy one there. Quickly. Not sure about holland and the different types - tell them it must be compatable with the UK DVB digital standard (ours..to be...immanent), they'll understand that, and you'll be smiling all the way boet!

..unless you gonna be happy with one of our El cheapo "home made" decoders....:D

PS
Um... Excuse me? That doesn't make any sense whatsoever
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I think the whole of SA can't figure out that either mate. But with her poisoness ivyness at the helm, imbesel cohorts advising her, and icasa cowering befor her, what do you expect?

Take ICASA's ADSL bill tabled and passed how many years ago for instance....shaped to kingdom come, IP reset every few hours with bugger all 7 days notice, etc etc - may as well wipe your @ss with it!
 
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Ja, well, like I said, I think some of the differing standards are for cable tv reception, not digital broadcast. But either way, the fact remains, in a country that no longer has analog broadcast (it was switched off in December 2006), only a smallish portion of the sets available have digital recievers built in, and some of those are not even for digital broadcast, but for cable... So warning people not to buy analog tvs now is just totally retarded any way you look at it. Sure, having the digital built in to the tv reduces the clutter, is a neater and more sensible solution all around, but it isn't like there is no way you're going to be able to get an analog tv to work...
And of course, then there's the factor of price... Much as people like to ignore it, the average South African is cash strapped. A big chunk of people are, and I suspect will continue to be, buying the cheapest thing they can find, simply because they can't afford anything better. Saying R2000 for a TV is not much is all very well, but when that is more than many people are earning in a month, then the whole argument starts falling apart. And for many people, paying R1000 now for a cheap 52cm tv, and then maybe in 2 or 3 years paying another R400 or R500 for a decoder will be a much easier pill to swallow than having to pay R1500 or even R2000 or more for the same tv now with a digital reciever in, which will only become useful in the next year or two... I don't think most people think that far ahead.
 
RSnow said:
I don't think most people think that far ahead.
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I agree with you in almost all respects, and you make a good point.

But....

I save all my money and splash out on a 20 grand HD TV... Don't you think I should be able to expect digital and state of the art technology?

Rather than find out later I got conned and have to buy this ****ty decoder to make it work ? (assuming no satelite subscription).

Good for some, others get scewed...
 
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