Consumers like HDTVs better than HD programming
Posted on 26/03/08 19:15 by Tim Stork                             
Consumers like HDTVs better than HD programming

Fourty-one percent of the TV owners in the United States have an HDTV, but only 56 percent of those same consumers subscribe to an HD programming package. These numbers were announced today by ABI Research. ABI's findings also indicate that interest in high-definition in the US is back on track. Last summer In-Stat discovered that high-definition was losing popularity, while it was increasing in other countries like France and South Korea. Now US consumers are happy to spend a few dollars once again.

Just before this year's CES in January the Consumer Electronics Association found that a 'big screen TV' was on parents' wish list for the holidays. The previous year the same item ended on place eleven, which shows that a 'good' TV became more popular in only one year. Ofcourse a big screen TV isn't the same as an HDTV, but it shows a change of thinking. Why?

The main reason can be found in next year's transition to digital programming. Many households probably decided to buy an HDTV since they were going to need new equipment anyway. The most important question that we can ask ourselves is why don't we buy an HD programming package? An ABI analyst said that HD programming providers should do a better job 'highlighting what HDTV owner without an HD package are missing out on.'

Is there anyone here that ownes an HDTV, but doesn't have an HD programming package? If so, please tell us why not?

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By ivid, Wednesday 26 March 2008 20:20
Well I do have a HD plasma and the only reason I subscribe to a HD TV package is for hockey games. Most of the TV shows I care about are cartoons or are not broadcast in HD - Battlestar Galactica is not in HD in Canada Frown If it wan't for sports I would be downloading all the TV shows I watch since the HD cable quality is not much better. I also use the HDTV for HD gaming and HD movies with XBOX 360. I can download most shows off bit torrent and the quality is better than the SD channels on cable and very close to some HD channels. And no commercials !
By ronmarr1, Thursday 27 March 2008 01:37
OTA HD programming is superior to cable or satellite packages and is free. Many folks do not want to pay extra for compressed HD content.
By jnv11, Thursday 27 March 2008 08:31
ronmarr1, nearly all HD content is compressed. HDTV is impractical uncompressed. Also, cable companies often chose not to recompress what you get with OTA, so you often get the same picture quality with cable as well as OTA. In some cases, cable can beat OTA during the NCAA college basketball tournament in the United States because there are sometimes four basketball games being televised at once. With OTA, the station can only transmit all of them in SD because trying to transmit one HD will starve the bitrate for the other games. The cable company can transmit them all in HD, beating what OTA offers in this case. However, some cable companies do recompress content, sometimes making it look worse than SDTV. This is rotten, and putting up an antenna and having to adjust it constantly is the only alternative because the American satellite companies do not sell HDTV anymore, but HD Lite while calling that garbage HDTV. This is false advertising which I do not like. Basically, this depends on your local cable company, and the division within the cable company. This is because one cable company can own some stellar divisions while owning others that are pure sewage. EDIT: Fix a few things in the beginning.
This message was edited at: 27-03-2008 08:32
By DeadMan, Friday 28 March 2008 11:03
DeadManMost people got a HDTV to have a bigger flatter screen. Not for the HD and at a viewing distance of a few meters nobody can tell the difference anyhow. Especially on upscaled DVD's. To see the difference you need to sit real close and/or have a HUGE screen. Especially so if you want to see the difference between 720 and 1080 content. I know all the enthusiasts will pipe in saying that is BS and they can see the difference yadda yadda yadda. But Joe 6 pack does not care for your opinion.
By Dr. Smith Jackkson (guest), Friday 18 April 2008 23:30
I have a ps3 and xbox 360 both hooked up to a 42 inch 1080p using hdmi. I dong have a hd package because i dont wath much tv but my set is still being used a a hd gaming screen. p.s. i have hooked my ps3 up with component composit and hdmi, you can tell the difference from across the room. If you can't see the difference between hd and sd then you dont need a hdtv you need glasses and maybe a kick in the ass .
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