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PUBLISHER’S LETTER www.siliconchip.com.au Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Leo Simpson, B.Bus., FAICD Production Manager Greg Swain, B.Sc.(Hons.) Technical Staff John Clarke, B.E.(Elec.) Peter Smith Ross Tester Rick Walters Reader Services Ann Jenkinson Advertising Enquiries Rick Winkler Phone (02) 9979 5644 Fax (02) 9979 6503 Mobile: 0414 34 6669 Regular Contributors Brendan Akhurst Rodney Champness Garry Cratt, VK2YBX Julian Edgar, Dip.T.(Sec.), B.Ed Mike Sheriff, B.Sc, VK2YFK Philip Watson, MIREE, VK2ZPW Bob Young SILICON CHIP is published 12 times a year by Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd. A.C.N. 003 205 490. All material copyright ©. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Printing: Macquarie Print, Dubbo, NSW. Distribution: Network Distribution Company. Subscription rates: $69.50 per year in Australia. For overseas rates, see the subscription page in this issue. Editorial & advertising offices: Unit 8, 101 Darley St, Mona Vale, NSW 2103. Postal address: PO Box 139, Collaroy Beach, NSW 2097. Phone (02) 9979 5644. Fax (02) 9979 6503. E-mail: silchip<at>siliconchip.com.au ISSN 1030-2662 * Recommended and maximum price only. 2  Silicon Chip High definition TV not wanted in Australia Hands up all those readers who want high definition tele­vision? How many of you are prepared to pay around $8000 for the privilege? And how many are prepared to pay $1000 or more for a set-top converter for the privilege of receiving broadcasts that previously required no decoder? I would guess that the numbers replying yes to the above questions might start out fairly high, until people realise how much it is going to cost. The more you read about what is pro­posed, and until recently there has been very little technical information available, the more you have to conclude that the high-definition digital TV broadcasts being promoted are going to be a financial disaster – pretty much like pay TV, I suppose. Philips Industries, one of the major suppliers of consumer equipment, recently put the cat among the pigeons by stating that the high definition TV option was just not going to be viable, mainly because no other countries have adopted it. Unless high definition sets are going to be made in really large quantities their prices will not drop – they will always be too expensive for the average family to afford. The simple fact of the matter is that the Australian TV market is only a drop in the bucket compared to the total international market, so such sets will always be very expensive, provided that manufacturers can be persuaded to make them in the first place. But even if high definition sets were eventually going to come down in price, there is probably little justification for the huge outlays that will be required by the TV broadcasters. Why? Because most people would not recognise a high definition TV picture if it jumped out and punched them in the face. Large numbers of people routinely put up with picture quality which is appallingly bad. They just don’t realise how good a standard PAL broadcast can be, especially on a late-model 68cm set as made by Sony, Panasonic or any other mainstream manufacturer. And when you turn around and feed the same set with a signal from a DVD player, the picture is even better, even though it is still using the PAL standard. That same picture quality will be available from the standard mode digital broadcasts. Why go better? The fact is that unless you use a larger (more than 90cm) and higher resolution screen, say in a projection setup, there simply will not be a visible benefit. And even if there will be, most older people will still not be able to see it because their eyesight is not good enough. Mind you, now that Philips have made a major demonstration of high-definition pictures versus standard mode pictures, the politicians appear to be coming around to that view. This is just as well. But even if we do decide to go for standard mode broad­casts and use the extra channels for interactive TV, data-casting or whatever, the whole proposal still seems unnecessary to me. As a pay-TV customer, I already have 30-plus channels of mostly unviewable programs; why would I want heaps more? And remember, the scheme involves a proposed end to normal analog TV broadcast­ing by 2008 in capital cities and by 2011 in regional areas. If you want to know more, the draft report of the Produc­tivity Commission on TV broadcasting is available on the Internet as a 1.3MB file at www. pc.gov.au Leo Simpson