OzHub, the Macquarie Telecom-led cloud computing alliance, has come down firmly on the side of Optus over the copyright controversy surrounding Optus TV Now, warning that any moves to change the law "risk branding Australia a global luddite state."
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Adam Turner
Tuesday, 13 February 2007 10:37
Of the world's 48.2 million HD households, only 16.4 million have sets with an integrated HD tuner or a HD set top box. In other words, two out of every three have wasted the extra money they spent buying a HD set.
This staggering statistic could mean one of two things. It's possible television buyers are so tech-savvy they're future-proofing their televisions for the day they're ready to embrace high definition. Alternatively, it could be that two out of every three shoppers are so stupid they have no idea what they're buying or what on earth high definition even is. Call me a cynic, but my money's on the second one.
Perhaps stupid is too harsh. I don't think so, but let's give them the benefit of the doubt for a minute. Uninformed and confused might be a better words (although I still prefer stupid). In countries like Australia the introduction of digital television has been a disaster thanks to incompetent government meddling. As a result, people's understanding of the technology is almost non-existent. Your average man on the street thinks 1080p is a trick where you spin around three times whilst taking a piss.
Even so, you would at least expect the salesman to set them straight when they go in to buy a new television. Any salesman who can't convince someone spending thousands on a HDTV to spend an bit extra on a HD set top box should be flipping burgers for a living. I don't know what they're doing wrong, but maybe the introduction of high definition sport will give salesmen the ammunition they need to close the deal. If content is king then sport is the king of kings when it comes to television.
Global HDTV sales are set to triple in the next five years, according to research by Informa Telecoms & Media, but there's no word on whether buyers will get any smarter. It will interesting to see in five years time how many idiots will be sitting at home in front of their big arse HDTV, watching glorious high definition football in pissy standard def - running into the backyard at half time for a 1080p.
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