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smadge1
10 May 2011
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even the Telstra T-Box is $299 (rrp) and it's a fairly standard DVR with IPTV features...
Comment made about the PC & Tech Authority article:
Kogan issues challenge to government on set top box scheme?
Debate about the government's $308 million scheme to supply free set top boxes for pensioners is already brewing.
What do you think? Join the discussion. |
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.:Cyb3rGlitch:.
10 May 2011
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Kogan is correct. He's also whoring free publicity. |
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amcmo
10 May 2011
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Trust Kogan to try big note himself.
Still think the whole things a monumental waste. |
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Slatts
10 May 2011
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I wonder if the government issued box has an RF modulator output for old TVs that don't have an AV input?
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walkerjian
10 May 2011
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Is Kogan deliberately being a knob? The STB looks great and I may buy one - but not for my old giant Samsung - BECAUSE OLD TELLIES DONT DO HDMI! So unless a balun or dongle can be found, the HDSTB for pensioners is dead in the water. Unless of course some giant brain recognises this and gets the Chinese to make on for him/her and they corner the 300M all for themselves. Unless this had already been done of course... |
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Dinks-c
11 May 2011
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Dealing with the target audience of this government gift, I tend to think this will ultimately be a waste of money. Not because of any political propaganda, it's just that a significant proportion of the target audience will not have the aptitude for turning on/off with one remote and then using another to change channels. A better solution would be a 32" digital TV. |
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amcmo
11 May 2011
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I agree, a no name LCD tv would be a better bet.
Don't sell pensioners short.
I know a good number of oldies into their 70' who ae very much into tech. On the other hand mother-in-law.... The least said the better. |
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Gordon
11 May 2011
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I got into computers with the old Commodore, and have worked as a computer technician on hardware in the 80's 90's and the 2000. Helped many of my friends with Technical problems. So I at 73 like many of my peer group can help many young people with no technical knowledge at all, we may be old but were not dumb. |
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BobD
11 May 2011
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Kogan is obviously ignoring what the money will be spent on. Set Top Boxes is the headline but the program provides, to maximum rate pensioners who dont already have DTV, a Set Top Box, a new antenna (if necessary) and new cabling (if necessay). When you have full knowledge you can see that Kogan is just big noting himself. This offer has so many conditions on it that only a minority of people who get a pension, will qualify. I think this may be the wrong way to go fo some oldies. What they are getting is an extra remote. One to change the channels and the other to do other things. Can you imagine old Dave saying to Mabel, "Which @#$%^&* remote do I use?" and they can blame it all on Mr Duck in Canberra. |
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Doc Harry
11 May 2011
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There is always some smart Alec who knows better. I am in my late 60's and learn't to program 40 years ago. I even build all my own computers. But I look around at all my friends and neighbours and half of them do not even know the basics of even of even setting up set top boxes, let alone anything more complex. How do I know? They usually ask me for assistance. The number of times I have been called upon to set up STB's DVD players and even the odd TV I have lost count of and some are not even approaching my age.
It was a government imitative to turn off the analogue signal and so it could be argued that ethically it is the governments responsibility to see that those who have served this country well (Some even at war)and who have little chance to get out and around, have not been forgotten when their access to their major source of entertainment and in some cases contact with the outside word, have not been forgotten.
Reading some of the earlier blogs there is doubt about confusion when two remote's are required and in some cases it is a legitimate beef. But this act of comparison from the government for our senior citizens is the least the government should do and those wishing to throw stones or seek cheap publicity should but out. |
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photohounds
11 May 2011
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I have no problem helping pensioners with old sets, but at $350 per box?
I got a basic STB with PVR for a bit over $100.
You save a *LOT* per unit if you buy 100,000 of ANYTHING.
PVRS could be INSTALLED into pensioners homes for $150.
Why not give pensioners something worth the effort?
Let's face it their VCRS are probably clapped out by now.
Let's NOT waste 100% more than it realistically costs - again and again (groan)
As the Daily Telegraph (yeah, I know...) spruiked yesterday; "Here cone the rorts".
If this "initiative" is administered as well as other recent government "initiatives", I can only agree.
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photohounds
11 May 2011
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I have no problem helping pensioners with old sets, but at $350 per box?
I got a basic STB with PVR for a bit over $100.
You save a *LOT* per unit if you buy 100,000 of ANYTHING.
PVRS could be INSTALLED into pensioners homes for $150.
Why not give pensioners something worth the effort?
Let's face it their VCRS are probably clapped out by now.
Let's NOT waste 100% more than it realistically costs - again and again (groan)
As the Daily Telegraph (yeah, I know...) spruiked yesterday; "Here cone the rorts".
If this "initiative" is administered as well as other recent government "initiatives", I can only agree.
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gnome
11 May 2011
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Ruslan Kogan may be promoting his company, but it is undeniable that the STB policy is idiotic, mainly because for $350 you can get a new current spec TV set, which will be much better - AND use less power. |
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Slatts
11 May 2011
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walkerjian wrote:Is Kogan deliberately being a knob? The STB looks great and I may buy one - but not for my old giant Samsung - BECAUSE OLD TELLIES DONT DO HDMI! So unless a balun or dongle can be found, the HDSTB for pensioners is dead in the water. Unless of course some giant brain recognises this and gets the Chinese to make on for him/her and they corner the 300M all for themselves. Unless this had already been done of course...
OK, here's a link to what I assume is the beast in question.
If you check the specs you'll see it has AV and component video outputs as well as HDMI so all but the oldest, pre AV TVs would be catered for.
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photohounds
12 May 2011
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Slatts, forty bucks ... amazing how much cheaper they become.
So ... Koglan may be shamelessly self promoting, gnome, but when he can supply something with extra functinality for 1/9th the price, WHY would any taxpayer WANT the government to wast $350 on vanilla STBs???
And here are the outputs available - from the spec on Slatts' find ...
1 x AV
1 x Component
1 x Coaxial Digital Audio
1 x HDMI®
1 x Antenna Out
Yep, that would cover just about everyone AND let them record TV!
I'll bet any supplier would shave the price hard for 1000,000 unit at a time.
Add $60 delivery and installation (cheap and quick if they do it street by street etc.)
If the government pays much more than $100 per unit installed they are utterly incompetent.
The insulation rorts, school building rorts and others in the last few years don't bode well for THIS project, do they? |
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rubaiyat
12 May 2011
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K.I.S.S.
Don't give them a set-top box that they can't work out without a lot of hand holding.
Just give them a new TV. If you must give them anything. |
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Slatts
12 May 2011
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rubaiyat wrote:Just give them a new TV. If you must give them anything.
Actually I'm inclined to agree.
My mother and my Aunt are both pretty tech savvy but have a hard time setting up a set top box.
I won't even mention, as mentioned by another poster, the inlaws.=;
A single cheap TV would probably be a better option.
Particularly if it were supplied on the proviso that it was swapped for the old TV.
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rubaiyat
13 May 2011
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Typical public servants, found the dumbest, most expensive way to achieve an objective.
No doubt the "policy development" took years, dozens of overpriced consultants and tossed all the commonsense out of the window.
Cheapest direct solution is a $300 voucher, linked to the pensioner's ID, to be spent at the retailer of choice.
Frankly I see this as welfare for foreign electronics assemblers. |
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blockcentre
13 May 2011
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I agree rubaiyat, except I think the voucher would put more of our tax dollars in foreign hands as the cost of an individual unit at RRP would be more than something specifically available negotiated at wholesale by the Govt.
I know, I'm probably asking for too much from our Govt.
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rubaiyat
13 May 2011
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I've worked as a contractor for the Government.
Any savings in bulk purchase would be more than eaten up by the bureaucracy in distributing it. Their propensity for waste and time wasting is bottomless.
btw The waste is not exclusive to this government. The previous Liberal-National government poured over a billion into the "Pacific Solution" making a misery of some poor victims lives, 10s of billions ruining the shareholder value of Telstra whilst simultaneously screwing up telephone/internet service, $10-15 billion in the Australia-USA 'Free' Trade Agreement every single year, and untold sums in dead trees on National Party voters' properties.
Edited by rubaiyat: 13/5/2011 07:33:36 PM |
