You Mean That Is Not Actually HD?
Say you ordered a porterhouse steak but the waiter plunked down a Salisbury steak TV dinner.
Would you notice? Maybe you wouldn’t — if you had no idea what a porterhouse steak was supposed to look or taste like.
There’s something like this happening with HDTVs. In a nutshell: Only 56% of the estimated 39 million U.S. HDTV owners receive HD programming, according to recent research from In-Stat.
That means there are some 17 million American households with high-definition televisions that don’t have an HD set-top box or service.
The question is, Why? Leichtman Research Group has found a sizable number of HDTV owners — about 18% — think they are watching HD programming but are not.
But we would still need an explanation for the remaining one-quarter of the HDTV-owning population, which apparently is aware that they’re not watching Roger Federer’s fuzzy brow not even breaking a sweat or Anderson Cooper’s preternaturally twinkling eyes in high-def.
Do those folks just not care enough about HD programming? Then why did they buy the HDTV set? (True, it’s become nearly impossible to buy a new TV that is not HD-capable, but still.) Perhaps they are reticent to fork over the premium many video providers charge for an HD set-top or DVR. Or maybe they’ve just been laid off.
If the problem is perceived value, programmers and their affiliates need to do more work to convince the HD holdouts that there’s a whole lotta sizzle to be had in upgrading to a high-def service. Could MSOs persuade more people to take an HD “staycation” this summer instead of scorching their feet on the beach?
30yearcablevet commented:
You\’ve touched on some of the reasons: primarily, HD-compatible TV\’s are about all that\’s available these days. So, if your old TV is about to give it up and you find yourself in the market for a new one, then likely you will be evaluating TV\’s that are HD compatible, even if reception of HD programming is not your primary concern.
Further, those who are in the market for a new TV, likely know about or, at least, have heard about HD. As such, even though they may not have access to HD programming today, they may want to make sure while investing in a new TV that they will likely have for several years, that they choose a TV that will support HD once available. Also, they may be considering the fact that they may source HD content from elsewhere, such as a future purchase of a disc player or direcTV service.
All in all, there are few reasons (and fewer sales channels) for the purchase of a TV that is not HD compatible.
miffy commented:
Insider - it\’s still perplexing … the only explanation is that most people either A. haven\’t seen real HD or B. don\’t care enough to do anything about it. Have they never been to their friends house to watch the Superbowl???
Insider commented:
Its as simple as this. The picture (even stretched) looks better than what they were viewing with the previous tv set. Stations are branding as WZZZ-HD and touting their news is HD. So, someone who simply had to plug up the tv before, does as they have always done. Simply plug up the tv. SOmetimes with the same coax as before. I\’ve even seen installations done by the cable installer this way. Lucky for my friends they know me and I straightened that out. Then add in the fact HD is on different channel numbers (sometimes not even matching the SD number) and there you have it.