50% of HDTV owners do not have high-def
By Matt Burns 
posted Dec 9th 2005 12:13PM
posted Dec 9th 2005 12:13PM
The headline says what we all know. In fact, I was surprised that 50% of HDTV
owners are using high definition on the set. I would have thought it
was around 30%. That may sound funny, but I sell TVs for a living and
many people are willing to drop $3000 for a nice Hitachi plasma but
will not upgrade their cable or satellite, and if I try to mention an
antenna they look at me like I am crazy. Sure, I use a salesman’s
analogy to try to get my point across that this is essential for their
investment but still, they will not budge. You get some people that are
all over the HD but most people just want that widescreen picture with
normal cable.Part of this could come from that 23% of people think that they are watching HD when the networks put the little HD logo at the bottom of the screen. This study found that 18% of people thought that just because they are buying an HDTV they would get high definition. While this can be true with QAM tuners and cable, it should not be taught as the gospel.
Why do people not want to upgrade their cable? I just do not get it.
The vast majority of people who see my HD setup cannot believe that you can get HDTV OTA. It just doesn't register with people, they have no knowledge or perhaps interest in it.
As for why people with HD monitors and cable don't upgrade to HDTV over that cable, the cable companies must be doing a bad job of marketing and pricing. Analog cable is pricey, I can't imagine what HDTV pricing is like!
On the other hand, watching analog cable on a HDTV has to be awful. I can't stand watching analog cable on 4:3 SD tvs.
1- The technology is new to most people and they do not understand how it works. Like you said, I think the majority think if they buy something labeled HDTV, they automatically are watching HD simply by turning it on.
2- Cable companies charge an insane amount for just STANDARD packages. I currently have digital cable through time warner, which gives us all local channels in hd, plus a few extras like TNT, Discovery, PBS, etc. They charge an extra like... 7 dollars or more a month I think to get their 'HD' package, which I think only gives you maybe 5 or so more channels in HD. Not worth it at all in my opinion. So the answer is... I'm sure people do not want to pay the extra money for digital cable - much less the HD packages.
It makes sense for me, because we also have road runner. They give us a discount for TV + Internet combined.
I agree with you - if someone pays 1000+ for a television, you'd think paying an extra $5-10/mo for HD is no big deal, but apparently it is. I have several friends with HDTVs, that have just SD cable, and I continually remind them they should get HD, but they say it's just too much of a hassle to deal with their cable company, or they don't have time to do it, or they don't care about the picture quality that much - makes me wonder why they bought the television in the first place.
My parents have a CRT based HDTV which was purchased a few short months ago when the other television died. It cost less than $700. My father refuses to upgrade the cable to HD until TiVo brings out a standalone CableCard (1.0 even) compatible HD unit. He doesn't want to rent a cable box from Comcast. I may recommend him the Toshiba HD upscaling/HDMI supporting/Divx & Xvid reading DVD player Costco is selling for $80 to tide him over for awhile. Well, once I figure out if its multiregion supporting (like the Philips DVP-642 currently attached to the tv) that is...
Hey, ignorance is bliss.
My budget for buying an HDTV includes both upgraded cable/satellite service, and an HD DVR. If I'm going to drop a few thousand dollars on something I'm sure going to do my research, but not everybody feels that way. Some people probably just have more money than they know what to do with, and some people are just stupid.
Then again other people probably know and don't care - they want the big TV as a bragging point, what is displayed on the TV isn't that big a deal.
Finally, there are probably a lot of people out there who just want the HDTV to watch their DVDs on. Sure it's not HD, but it can still look good and they may simply not care enough about TV programming to bother with it.
I just upgraded to a 1080p 508" from HP. I tried to upgrade to DirecTV HD, but can't get satellite reception because of the way my balcony (in my apt) is facing. SD analog cable looks crappy, but OTA HDTV is awesome, and it's FREE!
I watch so much HDTV from my $19 Silver Sensor antenna that I'm thinking of cancelling my analog cable. If there was a standalone HD Tivo available, I would do it in a heartbeat.
I think that 23% for thinking they are watching HD is LOW also. That would be more around 45-50%.
But I also agree with everyone else that: Bragging rights, refusel to buy into the cable companies, HD Built in but don't know how to use it.
It is a sad sight to see these figures but we knew they were out there but wanted them to be 'untrue'.
I figure that is why we venture to these types of outlets so we can spread the news. We have people come here all the time saying how they wished they would have seen this and BBS's along time ago so they knew how to put there 'investment'to good use!
How about this, I own an HDTV, but I don't even subscribe to cable. I use my HDTV almost exclusively for DVD's and Video Games. I think most HDTV buyers buy because of the progressive scan on DVD's.
Hey, we should be thankful! Without stupid people, there could be no clever ones like us...
I have no idea of the percentages, but I expect that I am one of the many people in the UK who bought (or are about to buy) an HDTV only for its gaming/media centre capabilities. It's not that I'm averse to HD shows, but no UK broadcasters actually support HD yet.
Poor us :(
I'll tell you why a lot of people don't upgrade their cable -- it's because they're not currently paying for it. To upgrade to HD would also require upgrading to digital cable, which is about $60-$80 more a month than they're currently paying ($0).
Because cable and satellite companies are blood sucking parasites and nobody wants to give them more money to fuel their never ending battle to control your homes and your property. Or so I would hope, could just be that it's confusing and people assume it's all a scam... not that they are wrong...
Plain and simple... the average consumer is an idiot. Always was and always will be.
HDTV sets are a classic case of "monkey see, monkey do". If the Johnsons just bought a 50" HDTV, the Smiths will be going to Best Buy this weekend to get a 52" set.
Consumers are typically impulse buyers who won't research any of their purchases. Whenever I'm planning to spend more a few hundred dollars on something, I spend a few hours, days, weeks as necessary to do the research. I looked into HDTV sets and technology six months before I bought a set.
I don't see any way to make consumers smarter. I hope the "True Def of High-Def" capaign works.
Cable HD sucks. I use OTA for most of my HD and get some from Directv (compressed garbage). I've seen Cox HD at friends' homes and it's the same lousy compressed signals as DTV sends.
OTA offers the best sound and picture as it's not nearly as compressed.
BTW, I've had HD for 4 years.
If you buy a tv with built in HD reciever is any other equipment needed to bring in an HD signal? My father in law has a sony with Built in HD reciever, but I have HD myself, and the picture he gets is NOT hd.
If you buy a tv with built in HD reciever is any other equipment needed to bring in an HD signal? My father in law has a sony with Built in HD reciever, but I have HD myself, and the picture he gets is NOT hd.
I think price is the biggest factor. I currently have analog basic cable. I can have a pretty nice setup with a 1K LCD tv, my xbox 360, basic cable, and ota hdtv without having to spend the extra money for a digital package that is required before you can pay the extra 15 for hdtv over cable.
(and I am not willing to give up my cable modem for directv)
My parents SDTV went out, so they bought an HDTV. They continue to have standard cable because it is cheaper. At least they'll be ready when the time (eventualy) comes when everything is HD. Likewise they're happy with the 'quality' they get, and many people are. Look at I-pod quality, UMDs, portable DVD players, ect.... There are only a very few people who are really hyped up about HDTV. I don't have any cable, satellite TV. My OTA is a 2 foot long wire hanging off the back of the TV for local news and weather. Otherwise our video viewing is watching bought/rented DVDs through an SXGA (1400x1080) projector. We're happy!:)
Well, for me its simple no cable HD available! Cox in my area has a analog/digital package for about $70/month and NO HD is included(not availble yet).
I would have to go to the sat. dish in order to get something in HD, and all I've seen plenty of complaints about the sats.
So, no HDTV for me yet. Once the source is improved and lots of HD is available then I will get rid of my 1992 36" CRT :)
Well, for me its simple no cable HD available! Cox in my area has a analog/digital package for about $70/month and NO HD is included(not availble yet).
I would have to go to the sat. dish in order to get something in HD, and all I've seen plenty of complaints about the sats.
So, no HDTV for me yet. Once the source is improved and lots of HD is available then I will get rid of my 1992 36" CRT :)
Just out of curiousity, how much does Cable HD and HD DirecTV cost per month?
I didn't have HDTV the first year I had my TV. I tried OTA, but didn't have reception. It was complicated for me because I was living in a dorm room and the regular cable was all you could get ... then we moved to an apartment while our house was being built and it only came with standard cable, as well. But now that I have it in the new house, I'm never going back!
my cable package includes hd reciever and dvr that I pay approx $45 a month for.
I have an HD and no subscribed HD content for the simple reason that it is not available in my area, either ota or cable or sat. While sat should be available next year in my area, it's cost is still at a premium. Cable will be available by june according to Charter, but I'll believe it when I see it.
For now, bittorrent is my friend :)