One in five HDTV owners don't see the upgrade
Mon Dec 1, 2008 12:07PM EST
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You spent hundreds or thousands on a fancy new HDTV -- so you ought to be able to tell when you're watching a high-definition television program vs. one of those moldy old standard-def shows, right?
Alas, that's not quite the case. A full 18 percent of HDTV owners can't tell the difference between SD and HD, according to a survey from Leichtman Research Group, which polled over 1,300 U.S. households about what they were watching.
The confusion largely seems to lie with the issue that many HDTV buyers don't understand that their existing cable TV feeds come at standard-definition resolution and that a service upgrade has to be purchased in order to get high-def programming. To this day numerous consumers just don't get it that a high-def cable signal isn't included with the TV set itself, and that additional hardware is required in order to decode an HD signal. It also doesn't help matters that many cable and satellite providers offer low-grade transmissions that stretch the definition of HD, so compressed that you can't really be blamed for not being able to tell the difference vs. SD, even if you are watching the higher-end service.
This all bodes poorly for the rest of the high-def video world. If consumers can't tell the difference between a crummy, roughly VHS-quality broadcast and high-definition, what hope do they have when comparing, say, DVD vs. Blu-ray, which are closer in quality level?
Do you have HDTV programming for your HDTV? Are you sure?
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27 Posted by cherrypieater on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:22PM EDT Report Abuse
I purchased a 50" Plasma HDTV about 3 years ago, and promptly signed up for HD service from DirecTV. However, the quality has been so poor that I finally got fed up and cancelled my HD service. I can't even begin to list the number of programs that were distorted, pixelated, and often times simply unavailable due to poor signal quality. Imagine using your DVR to record the premiere of your favorite show only to find that nothing recorded due to a bad signal. I'm done with HD and will never pay for it again.
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28 Posted by harrison2272@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:16PM EDT Report Abuse
We never made the switch, but plan to with the prices. After viewing HD television at two of our families homes during Thanksgiving I know the difference is huge. The clarity at their homes is wonderful!
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29 Posted by b123153h on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:00PM EDT Report Abuse
I can tell the difference and have Philips 50 inch screen and use HD DVD's but at this time the offerings on HD suck. DircTV has 10 channels but most are older movies from what I've heard and at the price now it's not worth the HD, When they come down in price and offer more programs then maybe I'd flip for the cost but not yet. I have had High Def since 2002 when Directv offered it over the net and had a 20 inch screen and experimited with it and so few movies have the real HD. One problem I have noticed is lighting,having the wrong lighting givse Hd or the regular signal TV a washed out effect so when I added a wood floor to the house it changed how the picture looked. Hopefully the choice of programing will get bette and the price will come down.
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30 Posted by woodsaw104 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:49PM EDT Report Abuse
I went HD many years ago with a set that could use component TV. So they come out with a new standard HDMI, and say you can't get the full quality of HD unless you use this standard. Well with the size of my room, I don't need a TV over 32". I found one but it doesn't support HDMI, so the only way for me to use 1080P is with an antenna for broadcast TV. Why would I pay a ridiculous price for Bluray when I can't use it for 1080P. And since Dish Network wants over $250 dollars for their HDTV changeover, Not even considering that their HDTV don't come close to Broadcast HDTV why would I change.
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31 Posted by ajmontana2251 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:48PM EDT Report Abuse
Direct TV has a hundred channels of HD where have you been.
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32 Posted by bigdaddyrocks98 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:06PM EDT Report Abuse
Deceiving numbers like this are just one more reason you can't trust Null. 18% of 1300 homes means that 1/5th of Americans can't tell, wrong! I do agree that the 18% of the sample is most likely made up of people who don't realize you need to have HD programming to see the difference, but a broad extrapolation of these numbers is crazy.
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33 Posted by josiwax on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:41PM EDT Report Abuse
I would have thought it would be 50%. It depends who they talked to in the household. All the guys I know use, know, and are familiar with HD channels....my wife and their wives on the other hand don't have a clue. Sorry ladies.
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34 Posted by nitetrain114 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:39PM EDT Report Abuse
Make a billion, go back to plain a simple things World was fine without cell phones, IPods Nno, airbags, Homeland Security. A retiree who has to use a magnifing glass to rea a cell phone display. Triple cell phone size bring back 35 mm camera and forget this blue ray, tIVO junk
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35 Posted by mar528@ymail.com on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:05PM EDT Report Abuse
Who really cares what the picture quality looks like?? As far as I can see, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the picture quality we have now- the problem lies with the quality of TV programming!! When the networks and cable finally make a decision to give us quality programming to view, then I might worry about the picture quality. Until then, who cares?? Don't we have anything better to worry about? Too much technology if you ask me! Give me black and white with foil wrapped rabbit ears any day! All this high-tech stuff needs to go!
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36 Posted by jasonconrady on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:29PM EDT Report Abuse
Make sure you have an HDMI cable running from your cable or satellite box to your TV. If you are using any other type of cable, you likely are not getting a full HD signal to your TV even if you have an HD capable cable or satellite box. These cables are available at Sam's Club/Wal-Mart for about $15, don't get suckered into ones that cost $50 or more at the electronic stores.
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37 Posted by thisjukeboxplays33rpm on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:07PM EDT Report Abuse
I have a lot of LASERDISCS. My 29 to nearly FORTY YEAR OLD Trinitrons, even the 12" and 9" make anything look decent and I can get satellite if I want. Some of you are Pavlov's bloggers with your placebo effect wisdom. I've studied TV and radio since before kindergarten (1971!) and I just chuckle and know the only rhing different is the lack of interference, which is MOOT which the signal falls into a hole. Most of the really rural areas of Idaho, for an example will be HD FREE because of the "cliff effect" that would at the least be a mess--but WATCHABLE--in NTSC. Put THAT tobacca in yer cob pipe fer ya unhitch yer mule!
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38 Posted by ggrotke on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:08PM EDT Report Abuse
I have both HDMI and component video connections from my DirecTV HD DVR to my HDTV. I can't see any difference when I switch between the two. But I can see a difference between the 1080i I get over the air and the 1080i coming out of the DirecTV box. The free over the air signals are not compressed and then expanded, so they look sharper. Don't believe everything you read on antenna.org. They said I could not get anything, but with my good UHF antenna and almost line-of-sight view I get about 35 HD channels from Mt Wilson (Los Angeles) from 75 miles away.
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39 Posted by chef13007 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:22PM EDT Report Abuse
Local HD channels over my digital antenna look better than any HD channel that I get from Time Warner. Their stuff is so compressed! It looks horrible - very blocky, and it's definitely HD channels that are doing this.
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40 Posted by svender3553 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:50PM EDT Report Abuse
Well, I've had HD for over a year and I definitely can tell the difference. I don't even watch a channel if it's not in HD. And I see some people on here think it's expensive? I also have DirecTV and it's only $9 a month for the basic package which has approx 30 channels. But, you do need an HD receiver to get the signal - which is a little expensive - it was $200(not all at once) and $5 a month for leasing the receiver. To buy it was $700 - I opted for the lease. I can't wait till I get my XBOX to see what that is like!
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41 Posted by svender3553 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:50PM EDT Report Abuse
I've had DTV since 97 and they are by far the best as far as quality & customer service. And also, for those who think it's too expensive??? It's $9 a month for HD service and more channels coming, more than I can ever watch. And - get the HR20 HD DVR - you'll love it!
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42 Posted by svender3553 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:50PM EDT Report Abuse
Hey - cherrypieeater - Maybe you need to check your signal strength. I've never had a channel pixelated or distorted and have some trees in the way. You can have them come out and check - maybe they need to move your dish???
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43 Posted by kabdoe on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:46PM EDT Report Abuse
HD is messed up so far as cable goes. First, you have to get an HD cable box. Then, for the best picture it is recommended you use an HDMI cable from the cable box to the TV set. With an HDMI cable, closed captions don't work. If you want closed captions, you have to use a lesser cable connection and either won't get HD, or it won't be as good. In addition, not all the programs on the HD cable channels are really in HD, and about half the programs on the HD channels have sidebars. If you stretch the picture to get rid of the sidebars, the picture is distorted. HD broadcasting is far from being perfected. Networks, broadcasters and cable companies do not seem to be working very hard to fix it.
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44 Posted by tncpearson on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:14PM EDT Report Abuse
I couldn't agree with the report more. That has been my beef all along. Who cares if you can now see a bird that is 300 feet away? I didn't know that distant scenery was such a vital role in watching a tv broadcast.
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45 Posted by jonathan+gottlieb on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:40PM EDT Report Abuse
That is a common problem. Some people also think that digital TV is the same as HD service. If you get TimeWarner they charge for the box and the service. Switching to UVerse for all the goodies and the HD service is already in the box as soon as I upgrade my older sets.
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26 Posted by danmurphyartesyn on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:35PM EDT Report Abuse
Over the air HD(free)is the best quality HD vs sat and cable. You notice the diff when you have a large TV(50" or greater)vs non hd. Not all programing is HD, not all HD is the same quality. It gets confusing and takes a while to learn all of this stuff.