[amillians]

GAO survey just published....

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...a_digitaltv_dc


Yikes! I knew it was bad, but this bad?


"40% of Americans said they had never heard of the digital television transition and another 43% said they were only somewhat aware"


"Almost half of those surveyed did not know the differences between the current analog television signals and digital"


"There are 250 million televisions already in consumers' homes and 68% of those surveyed did not know they would need a converter box to receive over-the-air digital signals."


"GAO said visits to retailers discovered staff overestimating how much digital content was available and misstating what was needed to receive digital signals." (gosh! )

 

[jckessler]

Mentioning HDTV usually generates one of two reactions:


1) Blank stare.


2) Minor annoyance at the idea, and a mention of something along the lines of "Current TV is just fine for me."


I'm not terribly suprised by those numbers.

 

[ldivinag]

Quote:

Originally posted by jckessler Mentioning HDTV usually generates one of two reactions:

mine is:


"oh, that gardening show is..."


"no!!!! not HGTV... HDTV. oh never mind..."

 

[tonyb100]

not a surprise at all, i would be surprised if even 5 percent of my friends knew of it before I got an hdtv, and still I bet 50 don't understand teh details. or that someday they too will own a digital tuner... In other they don't have a clue.

 

[norxh]

the people i have found that do know about digital tv don't know the difference between DTV and DirecTV.

 

[Bill]

What do people think the "simulcast in HDTV" means?

 

[Dreamwriter]

Well of course peope don't know anything about *digital* TV, they all know about *HDTV*. Had they been asked about that, a lot more of them would have known about it. And retailers *overestimated* the amount of "digital" content? How could they, when all networks are broadcasting digital content all the time? HDTV content, Ill still say that - it's pretty hard to overestimate it when most of primetime is in HDTV. And my experience has been retailers tend to underestimate it - "No, we don't carry any HD Receivers, but you won't need one for 4 or 5 years anyways - I think there's an HD channel on DirecTV, but that's it."

 

[kshipe]

Is this really suprising in a country where 30% can not find the Pacific Ocean on a map. While there are many intelligent and brilliant people in this country, there are also many more who are not. HDTV is too complex for most people, not that many could not learn, but it takes effort and the Best Buy,Circuit City, Sears, etc. salesman is not helping the situation by giving bad information. The average consumer does not know they are not getting HDTV when they have digital cable, nor do they really care. The truth is most people just don't care about the quality of the picture (look how many tv's Wal-mart sold last weekend). They see "Simucast in HDTV" and they think they are seeing HDTV because the cable company told them that there is really no difference so they are happy in their ignorance.

 

[norxh]

Quote:

Originally posted by Dreamwriter And my experience has been retailers tend to underestimate it - "No, we don't carry any HD Receivers, but you won't need one for 4 or 5 years anyways - I think there's an HD channel on DirecTV, but that's it."

its funny you mention that. i went in to a local high end shop called Hoyt Stereo a couple of months ago. they had $15k plasma displays hanging on the walls, quite a few HD displays, B&W speakers, the works. I asked the salesman about a HD tuner with integrated DirecTV and his first reply was "huh?". Then he quickly added "we dont carry any HD tuners. It will be at least a couple of years..." bla bla bla. A few days ago I picked up my HD200 at Circuit City and I'm enjoying 5 local digital channels. heh

 

[Dean Roddey]

Quote:

Is this really suprising in a country where 30% can not find the Pacific Ocean on a map.

What's a map? And wouldn't they have to be really big in order to have oceans on them?

 

[msamuel]

11 % couldn't even locate the US on a map. Most foreigners were able to do it (97% +).


Mathew

 

[fire407]

I think that only about 30% of the country watches over the air television with an antenna. Those people will definitely be affected when the analogs are shut off. However since the majority of viewers get TV from cable and satellite, they are used to having a converter box connected to the TV. My guess is that the average viewer may not even notice that channel 7 analog is now channel 7 digital, and other stations like Nickleodean and CNN will still look the same to them. Hopefully the general public will see HDTV demonstrated in stores properly and then want it.

 

[woowoo]

This is why some broadcasters feel that DTV and ANALOG will run side by side for a long time..........

My.02

woo

 

[Gerald C]

Like the others, I'm surprised the awareness is as high as it is. Remember the going-in position: 50% of the people are below average.


Gerald C

 

[Filburt]

Quote:

What do people think the "simulcast in HDTV" means?

Several of my friends think HDTV means widescreen and nothing more.

 

[S. A. Moore]

They really need to put "control questions" in these kinds of surveys,

to establish the quality of the people taking the survey.


Suggestion:


Q. Gel pens are edible (Y/N):