TECHNOLOGIES TO watch - Consumer Electronics Association

Is the Price Right?The starting price point for a new DVR is approximately $250.However, a CEA study says sales could soar if prices wereslightly reduced.Is $200 a Fair Price? – 65 Percent AgreeIs $150-$199 a Fair Price? – 78 Percent AgreeWill Cable TV’s DVR Service Hurt RetailSales?It is possible. Research shows that consumers are tired of stackingbox upon box atop their televisions and stringing yards ofcoaxial cable across their living rooms. And they are equallyweary of bringing home a new set-top and spending severalhours trying to figure out how to hook it up. Consumersexpect a new technology to make their lives more convenient,not less so. This helps explain why TiVo has stumbled; peopleare reluctant to bring home a new set-top to replace the VCR,which works just fine. In the minds of most, buying a TiVo ora ReplayTV is inconvenient.However, cable and satellite TV services now are offering DVRtechnology as an extra feature in existing set-tops. You canclick a remote or make a phone call to sign up rather than haveto trek down to the electronics shop. Echostar has signed upapproximately 850,000 homes for its DVR service, and TimeWarner and Cox are quickly filling orders. In several yearsDVRs will be software, not hardware. Then consumers willgladly put their VCRs on the shelf. (It’s no coincidence thatEchostar has more DVR subscribers than TiVo, which is solelya retail product.)No Pause in Sales?The Yankee Group estimates that the DVR market will jumpfrom two million to 20 million by 2005.Marty Yudkovitz, president of TiVo, contends that his company’s“standalone” retail business will not dry up if cable andsatellite providers add DVR services to existing boxes. “There’sOCTOBER 2003no question that to hit the numbers, we are going to needsome of these mass distributors [cable and satellite operators],”Yudkovitz says. “But if [cable operators] go down a differentDVR path, it doesn’t close the door to us. Consumers are notsatisfied with knockoff DVRs.”However, in the end, it seems unlikely that consumers wouldneed to buy a DVR set-top at retail if the service is available viatheir existing cable receiver. That said, though, it is likely thatboth cable and satellite TV DVR set-tops eventually will findtheir way to retail. Satellite set-tops already are available instores. Cable operators are expected to offer high-end receiversat retail in the coming years.Recording in HDTVDigital video recorders, from companies such as TiVo, aregetting a lot of press right now. However, other new digitalrecording technologies could have a tremendous impact on theHDTV industry and the American lifestyle.HDTV CamcordersThe rise in sales of high-definition TVs (HDTV) will likely createa demand for camcorders that can record in the high-defformat. Impressed by the incredible HD picture, consumerswill be curious to see how their home movies would look withthe same picture detail and quality. Earlier this year, JVC introducedthe GR-HD1, a high-definition camcorder that lets usersshoot and edit real ATSC standard HD content. The camcorderalso allows you to record and save your HD content and view iton several different types of TVs, including rear projection,front projection, plasma and CRT. The video can be playedback in 480i, 480/60p, 720/60p and 1080i.Other electronics firms are expected to launch their ownHDTV camcorders in the coming months. The new technologycould help boost HDTV sales as well as the camcorder business.Consumers love to show their favorite home videos tofriends. The high-def home movie is a great way to introducemillions of Americans to the format. It’s fun to see a movie or5 TECHNOLOGIES TO watch23