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50% of HDTV Owners Don't Use HD
Ant writes "Broadband Reports and Techdirt posted The Technology Liberation Front's article that said apparently half of all High Definition Television (HDTV) owners don't actually use the HD capabilities of their set, and nearly a quarter think they are watching high definition video when they actually haven't set it up correctly. Set-top box maker, Scientific Atlanta's survey, noted that HDTV sets will be in approximately 16 million homes across the country by the end of the year."
My parents are convinced that they are watching HD in their very rural home town. But then again these are the people who were equally convinced that letterbox cuts off the top and bottom of the picture.
and other hilarious quotes from people with more money than common sense. The worst if it is that I can't go to a bar or a restaurant without seeing another HDTV flatscreen stretching out an NTSC signal so everyone looks short and chubby.
/ Your newly generated marketing word is: \ /
| HDTV. |
\ Want more?
\ ____
\ / __ \
\ O| |O|
|| | |
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|___/
cpu0: Microsoft Clippium ("GenuineClippy" ChromedMetal-Class). Paperbinding, lockpicking, fish-hook-hack support.
Yea, I once read that 50% of Americans are below average intelligence.
I pushed my father (who likes watching television) to purchase an HDTV a couple years ago. He simply wanted a "big screen", but after reviewing the numerous benefits of high-def over and over again (at gunpoint), he finally gave in. I took care of ordering Comcast's HD service for him as well- so in my mind, he's living life in the fast lane for once!
Fast forward two years- I find out he's shopping for a DVR. He's sold on one that will let him record directly to DVDs, but in standard definition. I asked him why the hell he would want to waste a perfectly good DVD on crap like that, and he told me it's because his VCR is starting to flake out.
I say, "VCR? What VCR? (I run downstairs to find 50+ VCR tapes of recorded standard-def movies with commercials, meaning he taped them off network television) What the fu- ahh, nevermind. Yeah, get the DVR with a DVD burner. I'll grab you a 500-pack of blanks for Christmas."
Some folks just don't care enough to change how they enjoy life.. even when their asshole childen, like me, threaten them. Well... that means it's time to play hardball.
Never mix Parents and Tech ;-)
Unless you never want to leave "home" again
Get the EULA T-shirt
The other 50% who do use HDTV must be the ones who are obese...
And on every f***g airport or whatever, -all- the screens (where they play CNN and stuff) have the wrong ratio. Drives me nuts. In a few years there will be no way to convince people they are too fat, after all everyone on TV looks like this.
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
It almost makes me want to cry, but I'm still glad they have it, if only for the week or two a year I visit them :). HD sporting events and Discovery HD Theater are so nice as to be almost completely different experiences from regular television.
Does it still have the easily-peeled-off manufacturer's information labels on it? You know, the ones most people remove within ten seconds of unpacking the device, but which certain, erm, less technically able persons leave on for the entire lifetime of the product?
(I've seen them on kettles, heaters, tellies, toasters, radios, you name it. Offer to remove one, and the appliance's owner's eyes widen in horror, as if you just suggested stripping all the insulation off the cables and then fitting several kilograms of Semtex to said appliance. I wouldn't be surprised if many of these non-HD HDTVs have such labels present too...)
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
We haven't got much HDTV in this country (UK) yet, but I can see the same thing happening here when we do;
One of my girlfriend's friends hasn't got a DVD player yet, but bought DVDs and got me to copy them to VHS tape. When I asked why she didn't just buy them on VHS, she said that she wanted to watch them in DVD quality!
That's almost 55%!
"All you have to do is be fragile and grateful. So stay the underdog." Chuck Palahniuk, Choke
Study: 95% of VCR Owners Don't Use Recorder.
When you have people who don't really understand the technology, or have little experience with it, it doesn't get used.
By comparison, here's a representative college-years dialogue between me and most any girl "friend", who naturally considered me so non-threatening as to nearly be asexual:
Her: "Then we did 69 for like a half hour. Have you ever done that?"
Me: "I have a pee pee."
I've always felt the goal of technology was to become as unintrusive as possible. Making things that "just work" without fiddling or even minimal setup is one way to make technology invisible.
MAC users, bleh
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
Get some glasses, cow!
!ERR: Signature not found.
I just realized my laptop had one of those. I felt a little brave and took it off. And wow! The computer still works!
I have my plasma on Discovery HD pretty much 95% of the time. Nothing like African tribal women breasts hanging out in front of you in high defination.
30% off web hosting. Coupon code "SLASHDOT".
The Geek : ...those news technologies that restrict users freedom and cripple the functionnality in name of copyrights shall be bannded !
(Goes signing pettitions on website no-one has heard about, writes article read only by other geeks, listens to speeches by well-known geeks in NerdCon.05 etc)
Joe Six Pack : Woah ! This new model is surely better ! There's a new thing written on it : HI-GH-DE-FA-NI-TI-ON. Shiny !
(Buys it. Even if he doesn't know what it means.)
The Industry : Money ! Here I come !
(new technology becomes new standart because everyone is buying it)
The Geek : you suck.
(Cannot use new media in his old linux-powered hybrid E-toaster-coffemachine)
The Geek : you really suck.
(eventually, manage to circumvent the protection scheme because it was designed by a 2 years old. Strangely, HE is the one who gets blamed - because of suputative piracy - and not the boss of the engeneering team - who employed children and even let them do underage drinking while designing the scheme).
The Geek : you really really really suck.
The Industry : Wait, I have more useless, stupid, freedom-crippling, ads-enforcing, shiny technologies to sell !
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Most people who own a Ferrari never take it out of 2nd gear either.
Quit making up countries! You think we can't tell a real country from a phoney one...
With you 100%. I peel the labels off everything I buy. Grandma's body was found facedown by the medicine cabinet.
My dad now religously records my advice in little lists and keeps them in a folder because I snapped at him after he asked me one too many times.
Are you sure the folder isn't full of receipts and calculations on exactly how much it cost him to raise you for 18 years? I'd be worried about going over there. One of these days he may just present you with a hefty bill and say "Fix it or else..."
Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
Damn right I do. HDTV is so much better that I've quit watching any non high definition channels and I will never buy another non-HDTV set. In fact, the prices on some small HDTV LCD sets are coming down to the point that I may start replacing all my 4 or 5 tvs with HDTVs.
01/20/09
But... how will you know there's Intel Inside now?
...they want yesterday back.
You misspelled local hardware store.
Kind of a similar story with those labels..
My mother-in-law had a refrigerator deilvered to her house. A few days later, the display screen above the ice maker had developed some bubbles on the surface. She called, had a repair technician out and he said he needed to order a new ice maker panal. He called back in a few days and stated he could not get that part and would get her either a new door or a new frig. Two weeks later, a brand new frig was brought in and swapped out. Two weeks later, the same thing, the same small bubbles in the display. I show up for Thanksgiving dinner and while I am getting some crushed ice, I notice the same bubbles and without even thinking about it, I pull off the plastic protective cover over the clear plastic display and go about me business. While eating she brings up this story to the entire family about having her frig swapped for a defective display and the new one is bad as well. I stated that i was just looking at it and it looked fine. Turns out, she and the "tech" and who knows how many other people she spoke with did not realize that bubbling was the protective cover that was supposed to be removed after initial setup.
Hot actresses just look that much hotter in HD. You can see each strand of hair and the threads on their clothes.
Wow, you're a creepy dude. Really, really creepy.