You do get HD, don't you?
By Kevin C. Tofel 
posted Dec 26th 2005 7:15PM
posted Dec 26th 2005 7:15PM
Please tell us you're not a statistic. Apparently, the
folks over at Scientific Atlanta did a little survey on
HDTV programming and the results made us feel like we were watching CSI in standard-def (Disclaimer: viewing CSI in standard def is not recommended, nor do we take any responsibility for any
damage to your eyes caused by watching CSI in SD).According to the survey, only a third of HDTV owners are actually watching high-definition programming. *gasp* Here's the even scarier fact (please be sure to sit down before reading any further): Another third of HDTV owners think they're watching high-def programming when they're actually not.
In fairness, some folks just don't have access to HD signals either due to location or budget. We get that part, it's the "we thought we were watching HDTV" that we don't get. C'mon folks: can people really not tell the difference? We haven't met anyone yet whose eyes didn't pop during their first HDTV experience. Do you know anyone who can't tell the difference?
Ugh, that just kills me. And it's happened to plenty of people I know who've recently bought an HDTV. My father-in-law just bought a new 61" DLP, got the HD box from the cable company and just thought everything was in HD. He told me "wow, the local news looks pretty good in high def!" I had to sit him down and break the news to him....
My local news is in HD.
Time Warner hooked up my neighbor's HD set with composite cables. He thought it looked great, until I got him an HDMI cable and showed him the difference.
The thing is, most people (especially those not "into" technology or HD) buy an HD set and think that all their programming will be in HD. Or they think that HD will make standard definition look better. It's either ignorance or lack of education.
His local news isn't in HD but he thought it was.
I don't have HDTV. Hope to convince my parents to get one before PS3 comes out.
I remember when I moved into my apartment with my roommates and hooked up the HDTV, the next day, one of them said "I don't see the big deal... it doesn't look that good"... then I showed him an actual HD program... he then realized 'the big deal' (I think I showed him something on DiscoveryHD - a great reference channel for demoing HD quality)
My wife doesn't really notice the difference between HD and SD, but I think it's more an issue of not caring. I'm always pointing out details, like the foam microphone cover or the slightly raised mole on Al Michaels right cheek, so she certainly can see the difference.
This is true.
After people come to my place and see my 1080 stuff, they say "holy $#iT" you gotta come to my house and make mine do that... WHY?
Not having a side-by-side reference exposure is part of it, the other part is that there is no HD "how-to" on the cable or broadcast or anywhere easy, that explains the few details they need to know...and i'm finding some (samsung) 1366x768 TVs that look awful when fed a true 1080i source, so some people think that widescreen is just big bright flatscreen.
I will try to help out on my http://www.hd1080i.com
so searchers will get some help.
Even more severe is they dont get that the "fill" or "Zoom" modes on Standard 4:3 TV are the problem that makes a bigger and even crappier image.
They only get upset when they see a proper HD setup and image, without that they seem to just accept what they see. It is rather discouraging. When you setup thier sets to display properly - the image is actually smaller for SD TV, and they say "put it back the way it was" ... streched out wide or zoom crappy big.
I am Not Kidding.
I dont really notice a difference...but, I may just need new glasses. Either that, or I dont really remember SD and vice versa when watching.
I know...but, CoD2 for Xbox360 (got it for Xmas) looked SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET in HD.
It seems the average person doesn't even notice the difference between VHS and DVD, so the general public probably won't notice the diference with SDTV and HDTV. We have (gulp) Gilligan's Island on standard DVD, and even now we can see Mary Ann's moustache (slight but still there) on SDTV! How much more resolution do we really need?
Don't get me wrong, we watch newer TV shows and movies too, but for most people the improved quality isn't noticable even with a screen a good bit larger than 42 or 60 inches. We have a Canon SX50 projector connected to our computer, and our picture measures 128" diagnal. For our "Higher-Demand" pictures (LOTR, Star Wars, Disney's Dinosaur, ect...) we buy the DVDs from Australia or England, PAL encoding, with about 100 more lines of resolution. Many people can see quite a difference between the two of them (I do), but most don't (go figure?..).
Check any search engine with "UMD sales". To my surprise, the sales are skyrocketing, they have lower video quality than DVDs and are comparable to VHS! Look at I-pod videos, and many do! After watching that stuff, anything looks HD!
Most people don't need or care about the higher quality HDTV anyway, and if they 'think' they are seeing HD and are satisfied - fine!
So many of these lousy LCD, DLP, plasma and projection TVs make HDTV look worse than SDTV from a CTR, it's another reason why people can't tell the diference.
There's a Circuit City next to where I work, and I pop in now and then on my lunch break to view the expensive junk with no intent to buy them.