AfterDawn: News

Consumers continue HDTV adoption even if they don't know what hi-def means

Even though retailers are planning big deals on HDTVs for next Thursday's annual "Black Friday" sales. Even though it looks like digital televisions will be in more than half of all U.S. households by the time Christmas comes this year, that's not necessarily a sign that manufacturers or programmers are getting their message out to consumers.

Despite ever increasing hi-def programming available from cable and satellite providers, according to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) most HDTV purchases are actually intended for watching SD content in the form of DVDs.



While many industry experts have speculated that the disconnect between manufacturers/content providers and consumers is all about fine distinctions between several formats, others believe the issue is a general lack of understanding about what hi-def actually is.

For many consumers, the improved picture quality of DVD equates to a higher definition signal. That's easy to understand given that most people adopted DVD after many years of experience with VHS and similar formats that don't even take advantage of the quality available in standard analog televisions.

CEA spokeswoman Megan Pollock says “We’ve worked with retailers for years on some of these issues,” adding “More and more retailers are engaged in this issue. They realize it bodes well for them to educate their customers.”

Source: Variety

Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 16 Nov 2007 18:58

• Previous article

• Gene Simmons hates music pirates

• Next article

• Using SecurDisc to protect important data on recordable media

• 9 comments

• sk8flawzz

  i have an idea..why not just get rid of 720p and make 1080p the 'standard'
  that would lead to alot less confusion IMO, probably bring down 1080p tv prices down quick too. if im not mistaken, in most european countries a tv that is only 720p cannot have the hdtv logo on it

  17.11.2007 01:23 #1

• A_Klingon

  Quote:Even though it looks like digital televisions will be in more than half of all U.S. households by the time Christmas comes this year...That still might be a rather optimistic industry figure, unless current prices for less-than-1080p Hi-Def digital tv sets come down in general cost.
  
  I believe a real breakthrough in sales will come when (believe it or not) FREE terrestrial (open-air) digital broadcasting becomes more widespread. High-definition aside, I think many many consumers equate buying a digital set with what's available in the free broadcast arena (CBS; NBC; ABC; the main Big TV Affiliates). I believe it's true that we should all try to get away from the analogue-tv-set mentality in favour of digital sets - but right now I think too many people equate digital sets with insane overhead costs, not necessarily the cost of the sets themselves, but ancillary equipment like high-definition disc players, 5.1 surround sound systems, ridiculous and conflicting complexity in formats (technology), etc. (DRM, HDMI cables...)
  
  A simple digital set can be a very worthwhile acquisition IF you start with plentiful Free Local Programming. (You can work your way up from there as time and finances permit). Also, general screen-sizes need to come down for the "average" tv-watcher. Many folks just want to watch the local 6:00PM news after supper, or catch the odd weekend sporting event or late-night tv-movie. They don't need or want 10-foot screens hanging off their walls. Also, many big-advertisers (beer ads, car ads, bla-bla-bla) needa large installed base of digital-tv-set users, - their futures depend on it -, so you would think they'd (maybe) be interested in trying to encourage manufacturers to provide Honest, high-quality, Hype-Free consumer-oriented digital sets.
  
  Despite ever-increasing web-based content, I still believe free terrestrial broadcasting is critical to wholesale mass acceptance of digital sets. Certainly, the CBC here in Canada makes regular digital broadcasts of both the HD and SD variety.
  
  Digital tv is no longer a 'niche' item, but a lot of big box store vendors sure don't make things easy with their sketchy and misleading specs. I will not buy a digital set whose resolution is measured in X-amountof pixels this way by Y-amountof pixels that way. To me, those are meaningless numbers. The only thing I'm concerned with are LINES OF RESOLUTION. Anything less is just lies. Although 1080i is the highest spec for broadcast Hi-Def, a person would be wise to get a set with 1080p capability for the cheaper Blu-Ray and HD-DVD set top players which you just know are coming.
  
  And I wonder whatever happened to those "little black boxes" I used to hear about that were supposed to ease the transition-period from analogue to the digital era? Their function was supposed to be to take a terrestrial digital broadcast signal and hunker-it-down into a plain ol' analogue signal for your current (old) analogue tv set.
  
  Well, perhaps if decent, genuinely hi-quality (if not necessarily hi-def) sets become more prevailent, these boxes will never be necessary.
  
  In summary, I'd still be very leery of claims that fully half the US population will have digital sets installed by Christmas.
  
  Poppycock. ;-)

  17.11.2007 03:15 #2

• ali2007

  i have an idea..why not just get rid of 720p and make 1080p the 'standard'
  that would lead to alot less confusion IMO, probably bring down 1080p tv prices down quick too. if im not mistaken, in most european countries a tv that is only 720p cannot have the hdtv logo on it
  
  you got that right, our US markets want to get money and just raise confusion so people buy anything ,after a while those who bought 720p
  would be told you don't get best pic with 720p and they will have to buy 1080p , so we spend more.

  17.11.2007 07:15 #3

• hughjars

  Originally posted by sk8flawzz: i have an idea..why not just get rid of 720p and make 1080p the 'standard' - Because as far as broadcast TV goes noone is broadcasting anything other than 720p/1080i (and it's usually 1080i).

  17.11.2007 10:13 #4

• elfman12

  Originally posted by sk8flawzz: i have an idea..why not just get rid of 720p and make 1080p the 'standard'
  Well, for one thing, 1080 on a tv under 35" would be overkill, and not look any better than 720p, really.

  17.11.2007 14:41 #5

• dallasj

  I bought a 26" LCD TV mostly for my Xbox 360. The games look great in 720p. I don't have digital cable yet; I'm still watching the old analog stuff.

  18.11.2007 14:14 #6

• maitland

  A_Klingon sez:
  
  Quote:I believe it's true that we should all try to get away from the analogue-tv-set mentality in favour of digital setsA_Klingon continues:
  
  Quote:I will not buy a digital set whose resolution is measured in X-amountof pixels this way by Y-amountof pixels that way. To me, those are meaningless numbers. The only thing I'm concerned with are LINES OF RESOLUTION.hmmm... I just ate some mushrooms, but hey man, that sounds kind of an analogue-tv-set mentality you have there ;)

  23.11.2007 21:30 #7

• A_Klingon

  maitland was musing ...
  
  Quote:hmmm... I just ate some mushrooms....Indeed! (Really?) Oh Yummy! schrlup!...munch, munch..., muthwooms, ummmmm..... 2 tell U the twooth, I usually only partake of the muthwooms U get from a tin of Campbell's Muthwoom Soup,
  
  
  
  
  or maybe those big, oversized "Portebello" muthwooms U can get from the grocery store - I chop 'em up and fry 'em in a non-stick frying pan with a pat of butter......
  
  Mostly though, if I'm in an analogue-frame-of-mind, I like to smoke dried banana scrapings:
  
  * Peel a Chiquita banana. Give the banana 2 yer pet monkey or yer sister.
  
  * Using a paring knife, scrape the inner coating of the banana peel
  off and save the stringy strands on a piece of paper.
  
  * Place the paper in front of a sunny window & allow the scrapings to dry.
  
  * When dry, (2~3 days), roll the scrapings up in the ciggy paper of your choice. (I like ZigZag's lemon-flavoured ones the best myself).
  
  * U can then toke-up 2 your heart's content. Better than those silly ol' muthwooms I can tell U ! Makes looking at a cheap old $60 bargain-basement 17" Walmart analogue TV seem like a 8-foot High-Daffynition 1080p Widescreen 16:9 Plasma TV!
  
  And just think, maitland..... No DRM !
  
  (Moving on.....)
  
  Quote:hey man, that sounds kind of an analogue-tv-set mentality you have there ;)Nah ....... I'm a digital convert (with or without the muthwooms) - I'm just waiting for digital broadcasting -the free terrestrial type)- to arrive in my area. (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada). Did you know that digital TV can be received with little more than the proverbial coathanger ??? Or a random length of cheap copper wire? (I shit thee not. - Depends of the strength of the digital broadcast in your area).
  
  So - if U R like me, do not be suckered into buying a new, thoroughly-overpriced "high-definition digital antenna" from your over-hyped big-box store (Best Buy, etc.) , and instead, just solder-in an empty can of Campbell's Muthwoom Soup 2 your antenna terminals.
  
  (And if that don't work, U could always try the banana scrapings.)
  
  Merry Christmas MainLand! (Ho-ho-ho..... bless my banana scrapings)
  
  ;-)

  25.11.2007 16:05 #8

• borhan9

  Quote:Consumers continue HDTV adoption even if they don't know what hi-def meansEven before i read this article the fact of the matter is even if they dont know what hdtv means the fact is that standard analog tv is going to be gone soon so they need to make the change regardless the consumers probably figure the sooner i change the faster i will learn how to use the tech and that will make the transition easier.

  11.12.2007 17:15 #9