Almost a Quarter Of Households Are Watching HDTV

Sorry for being cynical but I wonder how many of them don't realize they are being screwed by the fake "HD" (upconverts, stretch-o-vision, etc) being provided by the likes of TNT, TBS, etc.

Nearly all the shows that get any relevant ratings at all are presented either in actual HD or in 4:3 SD (even on those networks that do that sort of thing).

The stretched stuff is mostly syndicated fare that isn't going on anyones list of ratings winners.

As a result, that stuff would not affect the data in any meaningful way. Plus, the blurb at the bottom specifically cites the presence of an "Available in HD" indicator. So, while some people may be watching that stuff, they're also watching shows that are being presented in actual HD - which still makes them HD viewers.

^ not only that, but the purpose of the study was to see how many people are watching HD material on their HD sets, and not just buying the TV and thinking they are getting HD and are not. It's not like those examples are presented in non-upconverted or non-stretchovision.

Anyways, the knowledge or lack of knowledge of how TNT and others present the HD has absolutely no bearing on the study at all.

For that matter, even if all those viewers do is watch stretched TNT and TBS programming all day long, they still have to have HD service to view them. So the title of the article would be correct: those people get HD, whether they tune into it or not.

the viewing habits of hdtv owners has been discussed quite heavily in this thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1088894

Different topic.

That thread is discussing how people are passing on HD service with their new TVs (which, BTW, has been occurring almost since HDTV sets have been available) as opposed to discussing a study that says a good number of people actually are watching HD, whether they are subscribing to pay TV or not.

In fact, based on the mention of the DTV transition, one can assume from the study that some of the people passing on HD service are finding themselves watching HD OTA - something the article in the other thread chooses to ignore.

Sigh... I remember when we argued in this forum whether there were 50,000 ior 70,000 in the U. S. with the capability to watch HD.

Rick R

Or, another way to look at it....

Here we are 10 years into HDTV availability with over 75% still mired in standard definition.

Ah the good old days.

My thought exactly (since I was one of the ring leaders of many of those debates!! ).

I sort of recall those debates but don't remember which side I was arguing for. Maybe I was mostly still lurking back then. Dunno.

I think the important part is getting everybody watching new displays that at least CAN see good pictures (happening with cheap new tech) and get past Feb 17 so everybody will be at least be sending digital to put on them.

At that point maybe viewers will really start to notice some shows look a whole lot better than others, and start to care.

Or maybe I am just fooling myself and most people will just continue to use a 75 ohm RF connection from the cable box because it is more convenient.

- Tom

The rate of HDTV adoption isn't linear but more like an S curve. As far as the time period, it's still faster than NTSC color which didn't require parallel paths for the transition.

The price was a barrier for both transitions. Color TVs were selling for over $500 ten years after the standard was adopted, but prices came way down a few years later. Unforetunately that involved illegal dumping by the Japanese manufacturerers, Matsushita in particular, which eventually was the major factor in the destruction of television manufacturing in the US. We'll never know how things would have progressed if things had been fair, but it did probably help accelerate color TV sales.

The current falling prices of HDTVs coupled with an increase of programming from providers, physical media and perhaps the internet should combine with the psychological effect of the cutoff to propel sales. Of course a major barrier will be the economic conditions, but even that may force prices down further. I think in five years that ratio between HD and SD will be reversed. If it doesn't hopefully this post will be so buried that no one will remind me of it. In that case I'll just have to hope it becomes a victim of an unfortunate server crash

It won't take another 10 years to hit 50%, though. I expect 50% in 5 years or less and 75% within 7-8 years based on the steady lowering of equipment costs.

Once the number hits 80-85%, though, it will pretty much level off for an additional decade taking into account those that are happy using their digital tuner boxes for the long haul. Those folks will upgrade when that existing equipment begins to fail. By the 15-18 year mark, SD-only viewers will be statistically insignificant.

Is Comcast still sending out this boilerplate reply as to why they aren't adding HD channels?

"-the relatively low number of subscribers (currently only a small minority of customers have high definition compatible television sets)"

Naw....they're just squeezing them down to the point they're aren't really HD anymore.

Hopefully, like D*, it's only a temporary measure during the system upgrade process.

Since the comparison to NTSC color TV has already been made, I'll note that ten years after the NTSC color TV standard was in place, color TV penetration was still under 10%. From what I've seen, it took 11 years for color to hit 10%. It took 15 years to hit 25%.

So, compared to that, the HDTV transition is just blazing along!

And, I think it is worth noting that despite the fact that HD was not mandated when the DTV standard was set, the marketplace has been driving the increase in HD programming sources. Back in 2002 when we got our first HDTV, even though there was a substantial amount of HD programming available, there were lots of stories in the media about this "new HDTV technology" that focused on the lack of HD programming. This story in the New York Times in which I was quoted is a good example of what I'm talking about: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...50C0A9659C8B63

Also, don't forget that in those early years many of us were pretty unhappy about certain networks dragging their feet (Fox comes to mind quickly) and seemingly needing to be pushed into providing HD programming. There were certainly thousands of words posted here about the horrors of Fox Widescreen particularly when it came to sports coverage. When "hell froze over" and Fox bit the bullet and began offering true HD programming I knew that market forces were actually beginning to have an impact on the availability of HDTV.

Nevertheless, I and many others here no doubt continue to have friends and family who truly believe that they are seeing HD on their new (and in some cases their old SD sets with a DTV converter box) TV because the programs they watch say they are presented in HD.

Many HDTV owners think they are watching HD and are not. About 4 or 5 months ago my daughter and her husband purchased an HDTV and upgraded to HD service for DirecTV. I watched the installer make the connections from the STB to the TV. He connected composite video and analog audio. I didn't say anything, waiting to see what he said.

I asked him point blank if the picture on the tv was HD and he said that it was. I asked him how it could possibly be HD when he didn't use the HDMI cables or component cables. He said that any connection from an HD STB to the HDTV would give an HD picture.

With the installer there, I ran an HDMI cable to the tv. My daughter was relieved that they really did get the HD picture they were paying for.

I wonder how many of his other customers are happily watching the same old picture. I know at least a half dozen other people who think they're watching HD when they're not. How can anyone ask viewers if they're watching HD and get the right answeres when the viewers may not even know what they're watching!

To increase the penetration of people actually watching HD the satellite and cable operators will have to only offer HD STB. For example my Dish Network 211 HD STB has HDMI, component, s-video, composite, and RF outputs. If this box was cheap enough they could ship it to all customers. It currently comes with an HDMI cable. It could come with an HDMI and composite AV cable with instructions to connect the HDMI cable if the TV is HD and composite cable if the TV is not HD.

Rick R

Well at least it's not as bad as all those people who bought color filters to paste on their B&W TVs. I wonder how many of those would have responded in the affirmative that they were watching color TV.

Two weekends ago I was talking about HD with someone at work. She said she couldn't tell the difference even though she had it. I told her to call Comcast and complain that something wasn't right. This weekend she tells me that they came out and now she's getting real HD. That's the general public - happens all the time.

While sitting on their plastic chair and sofa covers.

I talked my parents into getting a 42" plasma in the living room about a year and a half ago. Every time that my father sets the channel it is always on the SD version. No matter how many times I explain that the football game on channel 2 is on in HD on 702 he has never set this on his own. He is 58, still has all his faculties and agrees that the HD picture is far superior yet he never puts the HD on.

LOCK out the SD channels

Cablevision is rolling out a feature that automatically tunes in the HD channel when a user enters the SD counterpart. I like the idea and it would help a few people out in my family as well.

HEY HEY HEY!! I am not that far from 58 and I still have quite a bit of my....... of my ........... What are we talking about??

D* started doing that with their HD receivers and DVR's last year. Man, that is nice feature. I had that same issue with the wife asking her why she had the SD version on instead of the HD version. "It was the channel that came up when I punched in the number."

It seems my experiences are different than the others posting to this thread.

Everyone I know, family and friends, who has an HDTV is also viewing actual HD sources.

My older sister has gone from no HD six months ago, to 3 HD sets, D*, cable, and OTA - at the same time!

Full disclosure: I work in IT, as does my sister and most of my friends with HDTVs.

Art

Dish Network does this also. However since some HD channels have no HD but only stretched SD it makes it a pain to view the SD channel. History channel is my chief offender in this area.

Rick R