Receiver trouble in Brazil

This recent report from AdvancedTelevision.com suggests that the decision to go with a variant of the Japanese system for DTT in Brazil may not be boosting the manufacturing industry there in the way the Brazilian authorities hoped it would.

"The Brazilian Government has threatened to liberalise imports of digital TV decoders from China if Brazilian manufacturers do not succeed in meeting the December 2 deadline (when DTT broadcasts are set to initiate) and offer boxes which do not cost more than $100. The issue will be discussed this week by the Committee for the Development of the Brazilian Digital Television System (SBTVD). Manufacturers claim that it will be difficult to produce the set-top boxes which will permit the reception of digital TV on conventional (analogue) TV sets for less than $200. The industry has requested tax benefits that could reduce costs by up to 36 per cent. For its part, the Government says it could import equipment from China for $75."


I don't know much at this point about the prices consumers are paying in Japan for ISDB-T set-top boxes - I'll do some research and report in a future post - but a quick glance at the ISDB-T entry in Wikipedia suggests that the bottom end of the market is around 125 €UR, or US$ 165. Maybe the US$ 100 target in Brazil is a little ambitious...?