The Brazilian TV standard is just the Japanese ISDB-T standard with inbuilt MPEG4/H.264 coding (instead of MPEG2 coding, used in Japan). This is no real development in fact, although it has been presented as such. Suppliers individually developed products for this upgraded Japanese variant, this was no major issue. Japanese ISDB-T, which was always the most expensive DTV standard (from consumer’s point of view) lost the lead to the Brazilian variant which got even more expensive. Due to the low economies of scale there is no real way to get consumer product prices down. The few countries which adopted the Brazilian Standard plus a few African countries cannot really change that situation. Today, in Brazil, Set top box offerings are scarce, as these devices are too expensive for poor FTA (free to air) viewers, the absolute majority who should de addressed through low cost products. Despite Government insistent promises to deliver STBs at R$100 level, retail prices today start at R$299 (around U$160). These are the SD and low end/quality set top boxes. Acceptable quality is found starting at R$400 (U$220). These prices have been stable during the last year, so no drastic reductions are expected. Take a look at the product searching machine http://compare.buscape.com.br/proc_unico?id=9769&pagina=1&kw=conversor+tv+digital . In physical stores you will barely find such equipments which did not raise any major interest at folks. An TV’s with inbuilt DTV tuner, just the more expensive ones. Small screens usually have no inbuilt DTV tuner and when it is there it has higher cost.

This is reflected in the Digital TV transmission roll out as well. After 2 and a half years of digital TV transmissions in Brazil, less than 30 cities (out of more than 5.500) count with digital transmissions, three of them with less than ten broadcasters/programs and the rest of the cities counting with just one or two broadcasters/programs. Take a look at http://www.dtv.org.br/materias.asp?menuid=3&id=11 . This is not really a solid digital business model. In fact, high STB prices reduced attractiveness of FTA DTV, which started to loose room to Internet, satellite and even cable PayTV whose offerings are much more attractive for users. During 2009 this vicious circle started to become so evident that the Communications Minister (who personally defended the new standard) told youth “to watch more TV and to avoid staying connected to the Internet” (e.g. http://info.abril.com.br/noticias/internet/ministro-quer-menos-internet-e-mais-tv-20052009-38.shl ).

The only real development of the “new Brazilian” standard was the middleware called Ginga, designed to support interactivity. It is an alternative to the Japanese Middleware. Two and a half years after starting commercial DTV transmissions, the Brazilian Ginga is not really mature for commercial deployment. Recently suppliers started to deliver TV sets with Internet access and own application software to surf the web, so that relevance of Ginga may slowly fade away. But Brazil offers to his “partners” the “participation in its development” as a major advantage. And there were countries that really believed in the importance of that.

While other DTV Standards are working on further developments, based on a strong eco-system comprised by standardization bodies, technical and human resources and a backing renowned industry, the “Brazilian standard” does not has any real eco-system. For this reason it has all the ingredients to stay stuck and internationally isolated, similarly to what happened with its analog standard in the past (the PAL-M standard, which was a unique combination of PAL and NTSC standards).

In times of standard globalization for the benefits of people, with GSM and UMTS becoming global examples, it seems a bit odd bedding on Digital TV niche markets. In fact this all is seems to be framed in a broader political bed. If you read the local news in Brazil you will notice that actual Government is pushing the south-south alignment, making also agreements with Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, etc. to show its importance in aligning secondary markets, as a way to get a permanent sit in the UN.

THE BEST FTA DIGITAL TV STANDARD FOR A DEVELOPING COUNTRY IS THAT ONE WHO FITS IN THE POCKET OF POOR PEOPLE. THE REST IS DISCUSSION FOR THOSE WHO LIKE TECHNOLOGY AND CAN AFFORD OTHER MEANS OF WATCHING MEDIA. AND FOR THOSE WHO ARE DRIVING POLITICS.

Not saying ISDB-T is better but there must be a reason the Brazilians and the rest of South America has picked it

If one was a conspiracy theorist, you would think that this would be a way to control the manufacture of set top boxes for political and/or financial gain. DVB-T set top boxes are retailed for US$40 around the world. Great for the consumer, but not good if you want to make an empowerment killing.