Talk about having no standards
Imagine a country where nobody speaks the same language, where no-one can understand anyone else and where every person has a different way of doing things. Well, at times, we already live in that country — it’s called the IT sector.
Recently, I went and did what every good AV editor does — I went shopping for some new kit. So there I am in a well-known electronics retail outlet, looking for an iPhone dock — yes, that’s right, an iPhone dock, not an iPod dock.
Now you would think that an iPhone and iPod, which both have identical power connectors, identical iTunes and are almost identical in size would each be able to be played on any dock that is out on the market. Well, you would be wrong.
In fact, some players can only play iPods, some of the higher end models will play both, some play an iPhone as well, but you wouldn’t know this as even those iPod players that can play the music off an iPhone aren’t marked that they can.
So basically it’s a game of trial and error. Not that this should be of any surprise to anyone who has spent more than five minutes in the technology sector anytime in the past 15 years. VHS-Beta anyone? Or how about MP3 & iTunes or Mac & PC or even the various computer languages used for the programming of home automation systems?
I could almost write a small book of examples of where standards not only don’t exist in the IT world, but actually won’t ever exist in any meaningful shape or form.
So why is this the case? Perhaps it’s because we are all used to being spoilt for choice that the IT vendors can ignore the fact that having products that actually work together seamlessly is a good thing. The likes of Panasonic, Logitech and even Nokia have worked this out. Perhaps its time the rest of the AV world caught on to the fact that plug ’n’ play is not just a glib slogan but something that consumers actually want.
But on the subject of standards, there is one area where standardisation is not such a good thing.
At the recent Sound and Image awards held in Sydney, it was painfully apparent that when it comes to quality AV gear, the big name players, although catching up, still have a long way to go in terms of output quality. For those who are serious about music and video and want their dollar to go a little bit further, buying specialised niche brands is still the done thing. Sure, we all understand the concept of economies of scale and manufacturing for the greatest possible number of people, but the big vendors still don’t seem to understand that sound and image quality don’t need to be lowered so that everyone can afford a decent AV system.
But if all you do is play the occasional CD and watch one or two DVDs a week, do you really need a Rolls Royce when a Holden Commodore will do? The answer is of course no.
One of the few companies that tried to bridge this ‘audiophile’ divide was Pioneer, whose products not only were of the highest order, but also whose prices were not in the heart attack category.
Ok, maybe that’s a bad example since Pioneer has withdrawn from a couple of key AV categories of late, but that’s not to say the rest of the main brands need to sacrifice AV quality to keep the prices low enough so that every three-legged dog can have an LCD TV with a sub-woofer attached to it.
After all, that’s what Chinese knock-offs are for.
Branko Miletic, Editor
Smart Home Ideas
Summer 2010
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