#Foreign Production
22 messages in this thread
it seems to be a very popular notion that American companies are either
lazy, not quality conscious, or just totally disregard the needs of
customers. When in fcat American companies are the only innovators in the
world market.
You mention the Japanese and Koreans, both of whom have made great inroads
in our country with their efficient and quality products. I have no qualms
about their quality. But realize that the Japanese and Koreans, and to some
extent a few European countries, have offered very little in the way of
innvoation or technological advancement. They are very good at what they
do, which is taking someone's idea and running with it… refining it,
perfecting it and mass producing it cheaply. American companies spend far
more than their Japanese counterparts on research and development, American
companies don't have the government subsidies, American companies must deal
with far more restrictive trade and patent regulations than their far
eastern counterparts. I ask you, what is the last great inventions to come
from Japan ? Wht are the patent laws so blatantly in favor of their
domestic companies and hostile to ours ?
We lost the television market despite being the driving force behind the
technology, we lost the car market despite being the most innovative car
makers, we are losing the computer hardware market despite being the
technology leaders. Why ? Is it shoddy American workmanship ? IS it cheap
foreign labor ? The national debt ?
Unfortunately I don't think it will end… Our society values creativity,
but we are to free and independant to adopt the work ethics so prevalent in
the far eastern countries. We are currently the leaders in virtual reality,
but that too will be cloned by the japanese and they will steal it away…
Just like the video game, the automobile, the television…
James,
You're echoing something I've been saying for years. The Asians
are great at taking someone else's idea and perfecting it, making it
commericaly viable but very poor at coming up with something original on
their own.
Don
Oh soooo true! I spent some time in Japan and the "cookie cutter" way of
life was just incredible to me… I liken it to an ant farm. But I gotta
give them credit… what they do, they do very well…
…… 🙂
Don…
Of course, now that the education obtained by Japanese (and soon
Taiwanese, and possible Chinese) children far surpasses the quality of
education received by the 'average' American child, just how long, do you
think, before innovation is also an imported commodity?
What most don't recognize, is that the east is in the 45th year or so of
its 'industrial revolution'… while the west is approaching its 100th.
All of the social impacts associated with that type of change in society
are just now begining to be felt overseas:
empowerment of women through political and economic strength
rising standards of living
dissatisfaction with working conditions
dissatisfaction with living conditions
organized crime
organized labor movements
If this doesn't look familiar, then we are blind to the realities of
social development. Japan's present is our recent history, and our
problems today, are its future.
The US 'American Dream' isn't dead… it is just being redefined for the
future. Society, by its very nature is dynamic, not static.
Michael,
I agree, society isn't a static "thing", it's very dynamic. Things
could change quite a bit in the future…but for now, we come up with the
ideas, and then abandon them…the Asians take those ideas, refine them,
jazz them up, make them viable and resell the final product back to us.
I still remember when the label "Made in Japan" stood for junk.
That was 40 years ago. Things have obviously changed. They could, and
fact will, change some more.
Don
James,
How about HDTV? If the Japanese have the ball now, it's because we
fumbled…
-Sean
Sean,
The last I heard, a U.S. developed all digital HDTV system had the edge
over the the Japanese analog system. Even that system is not taking the
consumer by storm…. the sets are just too expensive.
Jim
Jim,
I'm really not an expert (to say the very least) on business matters
and haven't kept up with HDTV a much as I would have liked, but it seems
to me that if the Japanese already have a product for sale they're well on
their way to trampling upon US manufactures in this field just as they did
with VCRs.
-Sean
Sean,
HDTV standards haven't yet been set in this country, so unless we
adopt what the Japanese have adopted…the fact that some Japanese
companies have HDTVs on the market is of no concern…yet. BTW, last I
saw, HDTV sales in Japan were reported to be *very* low, the cost of the
units was way too high.
Don
Don,
I wonder if the fact that the Japanese are producing HDTV now means
that they could somehow use the technology they have as a headstart
producing the system that the FCC finally decides on.
-Sean
Sean,
I doubt it…kind of like building computers, just because you can
design a PC doesn't mean you have a head start on building an Amiga.
Also, it's my understanding that there are both digital and analog
standards proposals under consideration. They're two different concepts.
The one thing that would carry over would be the "back end"
circuitry…that is the raster scanning circuitry. That would more than
likely be the same no matter what front end (broadcast/receive) standard
was implemented.
But then, by the same token…there's not a whole lot of magic
there either.
Don
Don,
I was thinking that there might be some kindof of chipset that might
have been designed that might be able to be used in a similar system (like
68000s in Amigas and Macs). Thanks for the info.
-Sean
Sean,
Well, I'd say they have a certain head start. But the FCC still has to
determine which HDTV format will be used here. About the only thing
salvagable from the current Japanese HDTV system would be the CRT. That
is, if my reading is right.
Jim
Jim,
Well, maybe it won't be that big a deal then. Of course the sooner the
FCC make the decision the sooner I can have a HDTV system! <g>
-Sean
Your reading is right. The systems are as different as night and day.
–Ben
…via AutoPilot
Agreed… Often times our problems lie within the area of standards… I
have been reading an awful lot of the review work done by the FCC in
attempting to choose a standard, something that they should do in the
second half of 1993. The very fact that a government body is determining
the standards is a hindrance… Let the consumer decide, let competition be
the guide.
Unfortunately, even if the FCC does promote a standard it may be a long
time before we see HDTV. The televisions will available to us, but how many
programmers and local stations are going to be willing to expend the kind
of money needed to offer HDTV programming. According to FCC chairman
Richard Sikes, the amount of money a station will need to spend to offer
HDTV is between 10 and 15 million dollars.
James,
It'll be like the move to color in the late 50's and early 60's.
Major market stations will do it within a year or two of the standard being
accepted. Others will follow over the following years to the point that by
the year 2000, I suspect all stations will have HDTV transmitters.
Don
James,
That is a bummer that we have to wait so long before a standard is set.
I wonder if the rational of letting them set a standard was to somehow
protect the businesses and (by trickle-down) the consumer so that there
weren't a bunch of different standards set and confusion. Thinking about
it the above really doesn't make to much sense since the broadcaster/cable
folks are going to need to purchase their equipment first. I wonder if
the FCC, in an act of protectionism, will go out of their way to not pick
the Japanese system (if that is even one of the options).
I wonder if there is any way for a digital system to get picked that
could be changed over time? So that if someday everybody wanted to bump
the resolution from 1000 to 1500 scan lines they could just reprogram
everything to do so? Any ideas?
When you say 'station', what do you mean? Are you talking about the
local distributers or the 'originators of the programming?
-Sean
Sean, I see HDTV as a high-end medium. How many people are going to care
about watching soaps & game shows in HDTV format? On the other hand,
movies would benefit from the higher res and wider aspect ratio of HDTV.
These could be delivered by tapes, direct-broadcast satellite, cable, or
fiber optics regardless of what the local stations do. If the FCC adopts a
digital HDTV system, the sets (essentially computers) could be designed to
display a standard NTSC signal – perhaps with enhancement. That way, the
people who want HDTV can get it & use it with existing programming while
HDTV sources become available. Those who don't can still use the current
ancient system while it lasts. By the time it's ready to fade away, the
price of HDTV recievers should be comparable to NTSC sets.
Jim'
Jim,
I would imagine that all the people who now moan about seeing movies in
letterbox format would appreciate HDTV. I saw a couple hours of this
years Wimbledon Championship on an HDTV set and must say that I was very
impressed. It really is a nice aspect ratio for a bunch of sporting
events. The screen was quite large (probably 6' across) and getting right
up to it to watch just a little corner had incredible detail, it was as if
thirty TVs had been put together for this one screen (if you know what I
mean). On top of all that anything would be better than seeing all those
ugly blank/black lines on an NTSC screen. Thanks for filling me in on
what might be coming.
-Sean
Yah. <grinning>
And you know what? When they have big, hi-res sets with wide:short aspect
ratios, know what they're gonna moan about?
Right. that darned “little "square" looking movie format''
still grinning>
–Ben
…via AutoPilot
Consumer research in Europe and the USA has shown very clearly that there
is almost no demand at all for HDTV (even if sets were cheaper) … I do
not believe that the authorities over here or in the USA will make any firm
decisions for quite some time yet.
I can't go into too much detail as the research contents are
company-confidential, but I can say that a tiny fraction said they'd buy
HDTV if it was available at under #1500 ($2500) … that fraction just
about trebled if the price was comparable with existing high-end TV sets.
What was interesting is that the demand for wide-screen was _very_ much
greater.
Media pundits that I know do not believe HDTV will become a fact of real
life for another 10 years or so … but wide-screen is already beginning to
see a real consumer demand and is likely to become a small, but
significant, market in the next 3 years.
The problem is that most punters really do not understand that there's a
difference between HDTV and Wide-Screen TV. Indeed some HDTV systems use
more or less the existing aspect ration … in other words HDTV doesn't
mean wide-screen.
Some experiments were carried out earlier this year with a large (2000+)
lay viewing panel … it turned out that what they preferred was not
wide-screen but big-screen. They don't want wide aspects, they just want
bigger pictures … in fact the image that was preferred by 95% of the
panel was on a _square_ screen, but one which was a bright and flicker-free
image 36"x36" (but the resolution was actually slightly _worse_ than
standard PAL!)
Miek (from the UK)