Digital Video Free

Gene Frantz
TI Principal Fellow and Business Development Manager, DSP

It’s the holiday season and people are naturally out shopping and creating their own wish lists. A while back, Dylan McGrath at EE Times posed several questions for his readers on what they wanted for the holidays. Here are my thoughts as I wind down this week, with holidays and CES just around the corner.

1) If you had $100 to spend for electronic devices for the holidays, what would you spend it on? a) If $300? b) If $500? c) If $1,000?

This is a hard question as my entertainment tastes exceed the $100 mark. Some of the products I am wanting fit into other categories. So, here they are:

For $300, I would invest in a Sling Box, that is if I didn’t have one already. The reason for even mentioning this is that the Sling Box gives me one more dimension of freedom with my entertainment. That is it gives the ability to have my entertainment where I want it. As I am writing this I am sitting in my hotel in Taipei wishing I could watch a local Houston channel. OK, I guess I could even now except TI won’t let me connect to the Sling Box through the firewall. Perhaps this is something else I could wish for this Christmas.

For $500, I guess I would be looking for a new DVR. I really need an HD DVR. Believe it or not, I actually have two DVRs right now. One is a TIVO which I bought the first year they were available. The other is a ReplayTV. And yes, I bought it the first year it was out. But that has now been more than five years and its time to upgrade. My fear is that an HD DVR is going to be more like a $1000 product this Christmas, so, I may be waiting another year for it.

For $1000, I’m focusing on an HD DVD player. But I am waiting for the battle to subside and a winner to be declared. It would also be nice to see significant content available.

Now, for the real interesting toy that exceeds the price choices is a new projector for my home theater. I am still using a 480p projector for my 12 foot screen. Yes, it looks just fine and no, I’m not severely near sighted, thank you very much. But, it is time to finally get the 1080p projector I need. What is holding me up is the battle for the HD DVD space and for the price of projectors to come down a bit more.

So, all in all, I can spend all of the money and not blink an eye.

2) What do you consider as a great value in its technological evolution? (e.g. MP-3 player, iPod, digital video camera, HDTV set)

I always think the greatest value in the evolution is the next one – what ever that is. If I have to pick what truly revolutionized the consumer it would be the digital cell phone rather than any of those in the question. It was that “aha” moment that turned the consumer on to digital toys (I sometimes call them the “new adult toys”, but generally am told that I shouldn’t refer to them that way). Cell phones have continued to increase in value while the prices have stayed relatively the same for consumers. Whereas five years ago, a cell phone was just a voice communications tool, today for virtually the same price a cell phone is more than that. Cell phones can create content (pictures and movie), be entertaining (listen to music and watch video) and are a full communications suite (voice, email, text) all in your hand.

3) What do consider not ready for prime time? (e.g. plasma TV, LCD TV, rear-projection TV, home theater)

Once again I go in another direction. All of these are in prime time. As I have been saying, the battle for the living room is over. The winners are: big screen TVs, surround sound, set-top box, DVR and DVD player. This is prime time. What is emerging is the battle for the “bedroom”, or perhaps better put, the personal entertainment space. New content distribution concepts like MySpace, YouTube and so forth are changing the whole industry. But, I don’t think it is quite ready for prime time. Many aspects are still open for consideration. Aspects such as the creation, distribution, and monitoring of content, along with how anyone makes money at it. I suspect the latter will be the controlling issue. Products which are making an early attempt at meeting the needs of this emerging market are things like personal video players, video phones and other AV entertainment devices. We are finding them not only show up in the “bedroom” but also in pockets and automobiles.

4) What consumer systems, if any, have you personally worked on that you’d recommend to your friends for the holiday buying season and why?

That depends on who I’m talking to. That is, how old are they and how techno savvy are they. Things like a DVR or a good sound system will revolutionize the dedicated TV watcher. A Sling Box will excite the technosavvy traveler. A camera ready cell phone, a notebook computer or a broadband connection would be on my short list for a teen or twenties consumer. Notice I’ve left off things like iPods, and the sort. As neat as they are, I feel most have already got one if they want it.

Note that I haven’t mentioned an gaming systems – so try to guess my age;->.

5) What consumer systems that haven’t been conceived need to be conceived?

If the personal space entertainment industry is going to succeed, it will take several dedicated products to be invented. The first is a product for the end user. I’m guessing it will come down to a cell phone with a 7” screen and a video camera. Such a product would allow the user to create content and to download content. I am certain there are other products that will enhance this new concept of entertainment.

Happy holidays, folks. We’ll chat more in the new year.