May not be HD compatible
For a country that prides itself on our high-tech superiority. our populous’ technical literacy is on par with its declining scientific literacy. While admittedly Best Buy — never one to let truth or fairness get in the way of selling an extended warranty — might have ulterior motives in sponsoring this survey, it sure feels right.
Survey Says: Best Buy Says You Don’t Know What You’re Doing With HD
Best Buy hired a firm to take a survey of the state of the American public’s knowledge of HDTV, and sad results are in. You don’t know what the hell is going on with your television.
Half of HDTV owners who responded to Best Buy’s survey “admit they are either not watching HD programming, or they aren’t sure if they are. Of these respondents, 35% didn’t realize they needed to subscribe to HD programming to watch HDTV.” Ok, this is sad. Just… sad.
The survey also suggested that ignorance about how to set up the HDTV was a source of embarrassment:
“While 41% of HDTV owners admit to knowing little to nothing at all about HD, they would not want to admit that to friends and family; Half (52%) of HDTV owners agree it would be difficult to admit their HDTV wasn’t set up right after showing off to friends and family. ”
The unsurprising news is that this survey is essentially a sales pitch for Best Buy’s overpriced cables and installation packages—both of which you can skip, along with the extended warranty… if you know what you’re doing.
Obviously, many people don’t, so do us a favor. Tell a friend everything you know about HDTV.
Well thats the pot calling the kettle black. I don’t know how often Ive been to the Best Buy and seen SD content on the screens, or 4:3 content stretched beyond recognition.
When you’re watching the shit they show on TV, who gives a fuck if it’s in HD or not?
Buying one of these things, especially with the crap they have to offer for viewing, is nothing more than a status symbol. People who want one would buy ’em even if the only programming in HD available was the middle-of-the-night test signal. That would probably be better than what they’re watching most of the time anyway.
Even before HDTV, I reached the plateau where a sharper picture brings significantly diminished returns to my “viewing experience.” Even with crystal clarity and focus, sports won’t be more exciting, comedies won’t be any funnier, and Fox News still won’t be fair and balanced.
I’m in no hurry for an upgrade.
The predictably sad bit is that many employees of the Big Box stores don’t know any more than uninformed consumers walking in the door.
I can get an argument half the time from “home entertainment” staff about using a cheapo HDMI cable to hook up an HDTV set. They try to sell the expensive stuff – which might have a need on a 50-foot run – but, for the average 6′ installation, digital is digital is digital. You either get the signal or you don’t.
My HT set-up has an HDMI cable that cost less than $20 a few years ago. You can get ’em cheaper, nowadays.
And, yes, aside from the convenience of running audio and video through one cable to your TV, the only reason for HDMI is HDCP – the mandated copy protection.
Oh, I see the know-nothing crowd arrived while I was typing.
You think sports look the same? Get your glasses checked. You don’t watch documentaries from Discover or Smithsonian – history and politics from PBS – you only watch movies alongside dweebs with their cell phones turned on – stick to SD, Jack.
You’re Luddites whether you’re willing to admit it or not.
Now, return to your 12″ b&w 640×480 computer screen to read the rest of the page.
I met a guy who had a 52″ projection HD set. He had purchased it about 8 months earlier and was proudly showing it to me. I asked him if he had used component cables or HDMI cables. He wasn’t sure so I took a look. He did not even have a digital/HD cable box. 🙁
#5 lol Don’t forget HDTV’s improve SD signals, making HDTV better looking than a standard SD TV, so many people are satisfied.
#4 *profits* My neighbor – here in Montreal – is the Head Office for Monster Cable. It’s tiny, discreet, on a 2nd floor, they don’t even own the building.
Why is that?
Monster Cable engineers design, have it built in China, exported to the wholesales, distributors, stores. Each taking a healthy profit.
Except the “maker”.
So basically they are really just 9.99 cables that Best Buy resells at 99.99$
Proof, because they are made in China, you can order them through eBay – gold tipped HDMI – for 9$ + shipping (10$).
Interesting, I don’t subscribe to any HD programming, and I get 22 channels of digital content, 5-6 of them are in HD (including a couple public television broadcasts, and local network broadcasts). $20 HD antennae for the win! All I did was press the Digital/Analog button on the remote and it unlocked a whole new world!
I don’t find this surprising. We are 25-30 years into personal computer use and people still have problems figuring out how to use them. If they didn’t I wouldn’t get so many support calls. People are a lot closer to their ancestors (apes) than they want to admit.
I’ve been to Best Buy. The sales people don’t know less about HD than the customers!
I don’t watch much TV so I don’t care.
#7, what are you talking about? An HDTV does NOT make SD look better. At worst they will look pixelated due to a poor analog to digital conversion, and at best they will be upsampled (wrong word, but my brain isn’t caffeinated) so that they won’t look like crap leaving you with a picture that is, at best, the same as a decent analog TV.
I was recently on business trip. In my hotel, they had an small LCD wide aspect ratio TV with HD channels. Because they stretched the non-HD channels, they all looked awful in comparison to the HD channels. While I was watching the games on Saturday, I remarked that from the distance I was watching, the HD image was only slightly better than a DirecTV feed on a high quality 4:3 television. Certainly, watching movies in native format was nice but for television content the difference was noticable but not so dramatic as to compel someone to buy HD unless you get a substantially larger television or watch from a much closer distance.
Here’s the real question you should ask yourself before getting an HDTV; are you really going to spend the entire length of a program marveling at the display resolution? That would be an awful lot like spending the day watching the junk that floats on top of your eye. Sure you can, but the brain tends to tune it out for a reason. That extra resolution, while not a bad thing, won’t improve your viewing experience any, and will almost certainly be ignored by your brain after a minute.
I could care less if I know the difference between HD content and not. Television is pretty much irrelevant in my life. And to be honest, I still can’t see a difference between what I am told is non-HD television and HD television. HD looks brighter to me, and that’s all.
And what is the point of HD anyway? It doesn’t look anything like real-life, and with so many movies and TV shows being pulled through Color in Final Cut Pro, it’s bears very little resemblance to reality.
“…35% didn’t realize they needed to subscribe to HD programming to watch HDTV.”
Since when does one need to subscribe to off-the-air broadcast HD signals? #8 has it: a $20 antenna. An outdoor mast-mounted one like I have will improve the receivable range… but not program content.
I’m still looking for a cheap off the air HD-compatible DVD recorder that will allow me to connect my NTSC television set to it. So far, WallyWorld has one for $150. As soon as it hits a C-note it’s a go.
#15: “I could care less if I know the difference between HD content and not. Television is pretty much irrelevant in my life.”
So which one is it? Do you care a lot, or is it irrelevant?
…or did you mean to say you couldn’t care less?
I needed a new TV. HD was only a few bucks more than the analog. I didn’t buy a $300 receiver, I don’t subscribe to HD cable for another bunch of bucks every month. so I have HD but only watch Analog. HD is a catch word that is going to catch us in a few years, but right now it’s just another basket of money the cable companies can dip into, or the equipment manufacturers can over charge for.
The responsible parties for developing the HDTV standard should be shot. And while we’re at it… string up the content providers, their belief that every consumer is a thief only made things worse – due to draconian DRM policies.
HDTV could have been made as simple as plugging in your TV and hooking up your content box. Instead those responsible created a nightmare of unfathomable numbers, wires, and boxes.
In the movie 300, at the Delphi Oracle.
Look at the girls nipples in SD, then look again in HD. Wow!!!
I for one welcome our superior nipple viewing technology overlords.
What do you expect from a country with a long standing joke about the flashing 12:00 on the VCR. Most Americans are morons when it come to tech, sad but true. One has only to look at the average PC user to figure that out.
>>#7, what are you talking about? An HDTV does NOT make
>>SD look better.
Hey, it’s on an expensive HD set. That makes all the difference, regardless of how shitty the picture really looks.
moss >>You’re Luddites whether you’re willing to admit it or not.
I’ll admit it. I’m even kind of proud of it.
I have just a regular TV with an antenna — I get all the free networks and that’s plenty for me.
HBO does great stuff, for sure, but it’s all available on DVD.
Most Americans don’t have the slightest idea what a quality TV image looks like. For years, I’ve seen horrible pictures on other peoples TVs and they thought they were fine. HD is MUCH better than SD, period. If you’re not interested in TV to begin with, of course you don’t give a crap about HD. But for those of us who enjoy sports, documentaries, movies and nature shows, HD is fantastic.
Oh yeah, and I should point out the it’s not only the sharper image that makes HD great, it’s the color quality. Colors are extremely realistic. You’ll never touch a tint control again. Also, you’ll never be nailed with multi-path interference.
#19, Agreed completely. And I really can’t see how anybody could argue your point. Building all this anti-consumer bullshit into the standard makes everything hard to use and more expensive.
#24, You’re correct, assuming you have a decent HDTV that has been set up properly. Most HDTVs on the market are crap and likely will be for the near future (At least, this is true of display models in various stores). Color, while nice and sharp, still varies from TV to TV. HD is closer to getting it right, but it’s not there yet.
Getting beyond the first “ah-ha!” minute of viewing, does HDTV really improve your viewing experience in a way that SD does not?
>>You’ll never touch a tint control again.
I haven’t touched the tint control since about 1971. The TV seems to have the tint control thing pretty well mastered. Of course, if I want REALLY life-like colors, I turn off the TV and go out for some Real Life.
Of course people don’t know…all they know is they had to spend more than their neighbor on their tv, damn who cares about the picture quality.
#27, it depends. I care if the picture quality is distracting me. So things like pixelation, the picture cutting out, or poor frame rates will negatively impact my enjoyment of whatever I’m watching.
#29, Calling everyone who disagrees with you luddites with no taste isn’t going to help you make your point.
HD set up properly on a quality TV does indeed look nicer than SD on a good TV set up properly. Nobody is likely to argue this point. The question is, when you are watching TV how long are you going to marvel at the amazing picture detail? Odds are that unless you’re watching crap, it won’t be for very long.
Aside from higher definition, in what way is the viewer experience improved?
HD viewing is a little more complicated. You can have 1080i satellite pictures coming into your set but if the signal has been compressed to the max to do so, you may as well be watching a standard def DVD.
Also, if you sit too far away from a hi def picture, again you may as well watch standard def as far as *resolution* is concerned.
http://www.carltonbale.com/home-theater/home-theater-calculator/
Standard def up-rezzed to HD will benefit in that the increased number of HD resolution lines will hide the SD lines, if you are close enough to see such things. But I would think that the extra electronics the SD must travel through would add to picture noise and degradation. An increase in perceived detail or color information is not possible.
RBG
>>but probably see sets correctly set up, the ambient lighting properly
>>placed and at the right level, the set’s white balance correctly set,
>>and the damn brightness brought down to where it’s supposed to
>>be, so that the blacks are actually black, and there’s still shadow
>>detail.
Hoo boy. All that blood, sweat, and tears (not to mention money) to watch “Dancing with the Stars”. I hope it’s worth it.