At 11:03 AM -0500 12/11/06, Bob Miller wrote:
Well it seems that HD is not even driving the sale of HDTV sets.
http://www.tvpredictions.com/hdwatching121006.htm
And the numbers would seem to be about to get worse than the pathetic
40-50% of HDTV owners who have an HD service of any kind.
Since....
"And, perhaps worse, the research firm said only 25 percent of current
HDTV shoppers said the main reason they wanted to buy one was to watch
high-def."
Only 25%.
And what percentage of those will go to the trouble of hooking up or
installing a roof top antenna. What percentage of that 25% even have a
clue about OTA???
OTA lies dieing on the street and everyone just walks by.
Bob Miller
I think Swanni was genuinely surprised by the fact that people are
buying HD capable sets but not watching HD.
I'm not.
People are buying new TVs that take up less space but have
significantly larger screens. That's one of the most important
factors. The ability to watch wide screen DVD movies with excellent
quality is the other important factor.
We just had an excellent case study of what is happening via a two
part newspaper series on HDTV in the Gainesville Sun. The URLs below
carry the main story but NOT all of the sidebars that ran in the paper.
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061210/LOCAL/61210010&SearchID=73265730341560
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061211/LOCAL/612110310&SearchID=73265730225499
The articles are as you might expect if you sent out a journalist to
do a story - someone who has no knowledge of the subject. His main
sources were local CE retailers at Best Buy and a specialty
retailer/installer. But this may be closer to the man on the street,
as opposed to the folks who are in the biz and hang out here.
Here's the real kicker. In the second article there is a sidebar that
leads - "What you'll need"
OK, so you're about to buy your first High-def TV. Aside from the TV
itself, here's what you'll need to get the full home theater experience:
* Sound system with at least 5.1 channels of surround sound.
* Digital cable or satellite with high-definition programming.
* DVD player (either a traditional DVD player capable of
progressive-scan playback or a high-definition Blue-ray or HD-DVD
player).
* Component or HDMI wiring for video components and Digital Coaxial
wiring for audio components.
* A comfortable couch and some time to enjoy the experience.
NOWHERE in either article was it mention that you can get HD
programming OTA.
It's just not relevant anymore for most consumers.
Regards
Craig
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings
at FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the
word unsubscribe in the subject line.
