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HYPE - HYPERBOLE … A Curmudgeon’s Perspective

Posted in Observations, 2008 by Administrator on the February 15th, 2008

 

Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines “HYPE” as:1: deception, put-on2: publicity; especially : promotional publicity of an extravagant or contrived kind hype before the boxing match>

The same dictionary defines “HYPERBOLE” as:1: : extravagant exaggeration (as “mile-high ice-cream cones”)

 

February 2009 is slated to be the age of “Digital Television” and by government edict you will not be able to receive television signals unless you purchase either a new digital TV, or a set top converter for your existing unit (but wait, if you sign up now you can get a $40.00 voucher toward the purchase of this converter, but hurry, supplies are limited). Why? …Now I love my wife dearly, trust me, but she says she read the reason is because the government needed those analog signals for security reasons…

 

STOP!



 

    First of all, if you are reading this then you must be sentient. And if you are sentient, then it is wholly possible you have been exposed to written accounts of American history. Regardless of how much white-washing our history books have gone through, you know something about Watergate, Monica Lewinsky, and good old Tricky Dick’s “I am not a crook” speech. What you should have learned from all of this is that man is fallible and, for Pete’s sake, you can’t believe everything the government tells you. You do remember the little flap over a certain President on a ship announcing the war in Iraq had been won. (May 1, 2003) http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/rm/20203.htm

That said, then you are probably aware the real reason for this change is the result of a lobbying campaign in D.C., which has succeeded beyond its wildest dreams. As my grandpappy always said when examining some truth or other, “follow the money!”. And, baby, this is all about the money – billions upon billions of dollars to be made off the American people. It’s a get rich scheme that has a government guarantee – a new gold standard.

Conspiracy? Goodness, no. This is the new economic. You’ve been living with it for years. Remember the computer? The indispensable tool of modernity? The tool that only works so long before you give up and buy the next latest and greatest version? The computer industry perfected built-in-obsolescence, upgrades and gadgets that you just cannot live with or without. It is only fitting, therefore, other business models climb on board. And to succeed they need “early adopters” (people and organizations that buy-in to the latest craze regardless of price, hype or functionality.) - lots of “early adopters” - like you, and you, and you, and you. Point is, they need all of us to be “early adopters” to succeed. Hence the Herculean lobbying efforts.Oh, but then there is the payoff. Everything is going to be so much better and reliable like Microsoft’s Vista operating system. (http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9012140) (http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/132891.asp)

 

  

Unfortunately, just because it is “digital” doesn’t mean it is better. And just because “high definition” shows pimples, wrinkles and warts with more clarity than “standard definition”, it doesn’t mean you want it or need it. It just means a very outspoken minority has persuaded your government to impose this upon you – for your own good, to be sure. Today, “early adopters” are the beta testers for industry. There was a time they had to pay beta testers. Times, they are a changing.  

  

 

Here’s the deal. The whole HD thing is not mature. The cameras cost more. The storage needs vis-a-vis computers and hard disks is roughly 4 times more. The rendering times to bring all those extra pixels into a cohesive timeline are longer. And whereas a top-of-the-line blank DVD costs about $0.50 per disk, a BluRay or HD DVD disk runs around $19.00 per disk (http://www.kingdom.com/category.aspx?categoryID=895&adcode=yahoo&OVRAW=Blu%20ray&OVKEY=%E2%80%9Cblu%20rays%E2%80%9D&OVMTC=advanced&OVADID=10067047521&OVKWID=109455742021). 

  

“By the way”, I asked her, “which format will you be wanting your disks in? Blu-ray (Sony standard) or HD DVD?” Did I point out we’re in the midst of an, as yet, undecided battle over formats that harkens back to the old Sony beta versus VHS squabble? (http://www.videomaker.com/article/13754/2/) Any of you “early adopters” out there care to tell us what happened to the Sony beta units you bought?  

    

How about the players for your Blu-ray or HD DVD? Let me see, I can buy a good ole DVD standard player/burner for about $35.00. What’s that you say? Your Blu-ray player costs how much? No, seriously, how much? http://www.circuitcity.com//ssm/HD-DVD-Blu-ray-Disc-Players/sem/rpsm/catOid/-16221/N/20012866+20012872+20016221/link/ref/rpem/ccd/categorylist.do?WT.mc_n=449183&WT.mc_t=U&cm_ven=PAID%20SEARCH&cm_cat=ADVERTISING.COM&cm_pla=CATEGORY%20-%20VIDEO%20HDWR-  

  

  

 

  

For all the “HYPE” the industry is spewing, the new wave of products simply are not mature and I just haven’t bought into the “public” as beta tester role that has been foisted onto us. No, I am not a “technophobe”. I subscribe to a higher authority: COMMONSENSE.    

The Real Johnny Glucose

 

 

Addendum

  2/29/08

  2/29/08This article was originally published on February 15th. Since that time the industry has announced that Sony’s Blu-ray technology will be the new standard. For those early adopters who invested in HD DVD, my condolences. However, lest the rest of you start feeling smug about your Blu-ray persuasion, there is disconcerting news. At a recent industry tradeshow I attended, a major DVD replication & duplication firm lamented that the best price he could get for Blu-ray blank disks was $7.00/disk in minimum lots of 1000. That pretty much puts the home user and small business owner out of the market. I am seeing prices of blank disks in quantities under 100 at $19.00/disk. Plus this: Sony has insisted that every Blu-ray disk be encrypted so that all disks are copy-protected. That means sharing your disks by letting others burn duplicates is now impossible. Hopefully, we’ll see hackers come up with work-a-rounds.

  2/29/08This also: as a small firm doing small batch duplications (under 500 per batch) our top of the line burning equipment (7 bays) could be purchased for around a $1000.00. The equivalent Blu-ray duplication equipment starts at about $7200.00 (7 bays). http://www.octave.com/cgi-bin/shop/shop.cgi/choice/Blu-Ray%20Duplicators/subchoice_1/Copy%20Master%20II

What all this means to the consumer: higher prices.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  2/29/08

 

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