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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."
I haven't RTFA (I really should be asleep...), but my experience with my parents backs up the headline. They recently bought one of the new Dell 50" Plasmas and had HD service installed. Their cable system places SD channels in their "normal" slots, and gives them HD versions of the same channels in the 600 range. My parents, being creatures of habit, and not traditionally technology-savvy pretty much can't tell the difference and seem to watch the SD versions of these channels 99% of the time.
:). HD sporting events and Discovery HD Theater are so nice as to be almost completely different experiences from regular television.
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
Game... blouses.
This is great news.
With any luck, very few people will be disappointed when HDCP scales their backup copies to SD for them.
Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.
This is one of those areas where OEMs and service providers are incredibly stupid.
The high definition should be enabled by default. The broadcasts should be in high definition by default.
It's not the customers' fault that they don't use these features, it's the technology and content providers' fault for not making those features seamless.
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.
Jesus saved me from my past. He can save you as well.
There are not many channels either on satellite or cable that have TRUE HD content.
MOST of it is just stretched to fit and looks like crap.
I have a friend that has a HDTV and satellite and there's a demo channel that plays some very impressive demos, they blow your mind. When you switch from that to other "HD" channels you can tell that the content was not filmed in HD..
What's the point of having an HDTV?? There's just not enough content out there to warrant dropping the bucks on the bling. It's status and ego. As for usability, it's not very usable. Not yet anyway..
I plan to wait a few years and use what I have until it breaks beyond my ability to repair it. By then HD content may have taken off and the price of the sets will be much more affordable.
But for now, I can go to Wally World and pick up a nice 27" CRT set with multiple inputs for $150 that will last me 10 years or more.
My recommendation is to wait a while before jumping onboard the HDTV bandwagon.
Save your bucks and let the tech improve and prices to come down.
I had no other concern in my purchase. It is 16:9 and it has the ability to support HDTV provided I buy the receiver. I've talked with others who have one for the same purpose. The last part is one of the major reasons people don't use HD. Who wants to buy a special receiver?
Once all sets come with it built in then perhaps people will use it.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
This news reminds me of the people who use 17" and 19" LCD monitors but the LCDs operate at only 1024x768.
w00t
Who is supposed to be shocked at this? My family can't even figure out how to watch the TV in the correct aspect ratio on their widescreen non-HD TV. What's worse is that they don't even know that it is the WRONG aspect ratio, despite the short fat people on their screen that were previously tall and skinny. Oh wait. My dad knows. But he doesn't like the gray bars on the sides when it is in the correct aspect ratio. FFS. I swear.
Depending on consumers to do anything right is idiotic. It's why they're so easy to sell to in the first place.
I'm not trolling , but does anyone really care enough about HDTV to
fork out huge wads of cash on a new set?
Personally, I would have to say no. I really don't care about HDTV.
Now I'm a classic geek. I like my tech. I like what works. I like what's practical. I don't like chrome and cruft, and I'm generally able to tell an overpriced, overhyped product from a reasonable, practical one.
This isn't an innate talent or state of being. I've been burned by the gaming industry too many times in my youth and as a result have developed a healty skepticism when it comes to flashy new tech.
I've seen HDTV. It looks better, but I really don't care very much. I might like the view better, but I'm not paying current prices for it. I'm still quite happy with my old CRT's resolution. That is, when I'm even watching it anymore.
For me, HDTV is a solution looking for a problem. A very expensive one at that.
May the Maths Be with you!
The only reason I'd update to a HD tv set is if every channel in my digital cable package (400+) required HD to watch. As long as there is a large cable package that does not require HD I will use that. I refuse to go drop several hundred dollars, if not much more, for a HD set.
Remember when CD's first came out and having a cd player was the new rave? Yea well I was the guy still buying cassettes, and hunting them down as stores kept keeping their cassette isle smaller and smaller. Remember when DVD's went mainstream? I kept using VHS, it was cheaper and I already had my favorite stuff on VHS.
Oh and, I don't want to start a flame thing but this is my opinion, I dislike Wide Screen. I know WS shows more picture per screen and is a slightly higher quality, I know this is the current standard for filming shit and has been for a few years. I can take a screen shot from Lord of the Ring's comparisons and I hate how the heads are "cut off". Sure it's stretching the image to fit my screen, and in WS you gain more length wise than you do height but if I can see the full persons head and shit in the frame vs say, some extra scenery footage I'd take the full head shots any day.
The real radical opinion is, well, I paid for a 35 inch screen. Using WS I am "gaining" extra footage on the sides but at the same time I'm losing over 5+ inches from the top and bottom. That's like a rather large percentage of 35 being wasted by black blank space not being used. Maybe tv's grow on tree's for some people but not everyone can afford to drop $200-300 for a nice sized tv. (Not that it destroys the tv or anything but if I pay for 35 inch I want all 35 inches to be used).
Aw Frell this
There really should be 2-way communication, so that the tuner knows if it is talking with a HDTV. If it is, it should pick a HDTV version of the channel. Of course, this means the tuner has to know that the two channels are the same content... Whilst this might be a challenge, it is certainly relatively trivial to employ. Also, seller should inform customers that they might have to select the channels manually...
Assembling etherkillers for fun an profit
It's just the same with surround sound - I know so many people who have shelled out for full 5.1 or 8.1 speaker sets but due to amateur wiring are really just listening to stereo.
To be fair, it still sounds a little better than two speakers due to the number of speakers, even though they're all pumping out the same signal. I imagine a similar thing applies to HDTV - even if the resolution is no higher, the mere fact that HDTVs are newer, clearer and have great contrast will probably mean the picture looks nicer; hence these people being convinced they're watching a HDTV signal.
Bless.
I own 2 HDTV sets, and I don't have HD programming at all. I use them to watch movies (for the 16x9 more than the high def, as dvd's aren't high def). My parents have an HDTV and they have the HD package from DirecTV, my friend has the HD package from Comcast, and another friend has dish networks HD package... In short they all suck. I refuse to pay an extra $20-50/mo for 10 extra channels that say they are "HD" channels and only actually broadcast HD maybe 20% of the time.
The worst is ESPN HD, 90% of the stuff they show on that channel is standard def, and just to rub it in your face the fill up the rest of the 16x9 screen with banners proclaiming ESPN HD! It's such a rip off. On the DirecTV HD package only 2 channels broadcast in HD more than half the time, Discovery HD and HDNET, Unfortunately, I'd say 50% of Discovery HD's programming from what I've seen is pictures of birds and flowers, no actual content, just a glorified screen saver.
In short, I'm suprised 50% of HDTV owners are actually wasting their money for a few channels that once in a while broadcast HD shows. Bring the content to HD, and more people will subscribe... Of course the networks won't have that, cause they're afraid of piracy, so until all the TVs are locked down there won't be any content....
I still feel my TVs were worth the money just for watching movies, with a good DVD player, good surround sound, good cables everywhere, watching a movie in my basement is just as engaging as watching it at the theater.. and I don't have to worry about gum stuck to my shoes or the inevitable jerk in the row behind me that refuses to shut up (or that brought his 1 year old to a 10pm showing, and wonders why the kid won't stop screaming).
Fear-based apathy and laziness. Technology is always cumbersome in it's infancy. Think it was easy the first time these people drove a car? How about operated a microwave? My dad used to cuss the microwave daily. "Damn new-fangled gadgets." Now he's a pro. Technology should work for us, yes. However, these so-called "challenging" technologies are not that difficult. There's nothing worse than someone who won't do something technical for themselves because either they fear it or "I can't understand this stuff." Excuses. Take setting up an HDTV. Is this really a difficult process? Cables are provided. Picture-laden instructions show you where to connect them. The channels you are supposed to view are labeled "HD" in the name. Come on... we are supposed to be intelligent adults here. Remember the toy you had as a child where you put the triangle into the triangle shaped hole? Are people really sitting around scratching their heads trying to put a component cable into an hdmi port? The truth is people want their cake and eat it too. "I want HD, but just make it work for me." Ah the consumer mentality. This attitude in general really just sucks. Of course this is all just my opinion.
Marry her!