Japan to keep analog TV until 2011

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

It turns out that the ministry of posts and telecommunications in Japan
doesn't plan to pull the plug on analog TV until 2011. By then, Japan
will have spent 20 years on their HDTV deployment.

So, the Japanese government does not think that COFDM will allow them to
get rid of NTSC in 9 months. It's easy enough for Europeans to get rid of
PAL with its flicker and inferior color in favor of SD DTV. People in
NTSC countries want more.

In other news, Japanese digital broadcasters turned on DRM on April 5,
making it impossible to make more than a single copy of a program. DRM
also requires that a user identification card (a "B-CAS card" ) be inserted
into the TV in order to watch programs. The DRM system has generated more
than 15,000 inquiries and complaints since then.

Flatscreen HDTVs in Japan cost at least 300,000 yen (about US $2700), and
are mostly being sold to older consumers.

My contacts in Japan tell me that they're in no hurry to buy an HDTV,
given the high cost and DRM, and that analog isn't going away for at least
7 years.

-- Mark --

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