50% HDTV owners don't use HD

Yeah... some people do that. In fact, a couple friends of mine do that, and they're more technically inclined than most.

I have a front projection system that was only fed standard definition for a long time... but that was before you could get HD from a cable box... now I have the comcast HD DVR and it totally kicks ass... the difference between 320 and 720 vertical lines is crazy (unfortunately, my projector can't quite handle 1080). I'm also upscaling/filtering/etc my DVDs (via HTPC of course).

-Nate
 
I am one of those. The pay HD contnet isn't really in my wheelouse. I have plans on buying an OTA card to run HD through sage, but need to free the cash up first. I bought the TV because I wanted a big screen for my DVD's.
 
one of my friends parents bought a 50+" widescreen HDTV and still watch normal TV on it, no HDTV programming has been played on it yet.
i've got a small 30" widescreen HDTV that I usually watch movies from my PC on, but I'll sometimes watch PBS or some network show in HD. My TV has a built in digital tuner so I just have a pair of rabbit ears attached to it. works great.
 
Before HD became available I was one of those people. Only lasted about a year though before Time Warner started offering HD channels. Now I've got TW HD service, fror HBO, Sowtime and the locals they carry, plus a Fusion5 Lite in my Sage server for the one OTA channel TW doesn't carry. I very rarely watch anything now in my home theater that isn't HD or ffdshow processed DVD's.

My aunt and uncle are among those people tthough. Bought a 42" Widescreen flat panel per the advice of my brother in law. They don't subscribe to the HD service, and he even hooked up the prog-scan DVD player with an S-Video cable.

When I asked him about the DVD player his reply was "Well, one thing at a time" :rolleyes:
 
some people just don't care that much. they want the size but are fine with the quality. If quality were so important, analog cable wouldn't have any subscribers.
 
im an owner of an HDTV w/o HD. the reason being is that we dont bother to get cable, so we esp arent gonna buy HD.

but thats what further justified buying an HD set for us. since we dont watch SD programs and only play games and watch DVDs, why not get an HD set?? we get great color and clarity.

im actually proud to be part of that statistic :D
 
TSS Modder said:
im an owner of an HDTV w/o HD. the reason being is that we dont bother to get cable, so we esp arent gonna buy HD.

but thats what further justified buying an HD set for us. since we dont watch SD programs and only play games and watch DVDs, why not get an HD set?? we get great color and clarity.

im actually proud to be part of that statistic :D
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You could try OTA HD. I've had good luck with it.
 
jebo_4jc said:
You could try OTA HD. I've had good luck with it.
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i probably will whenever i feel like going out and buying the antenna... dont those also require a box? i dont remember if the TV is 'HD Ready' or has an 'HD Tuner'...
 
TSS Modder said:
i probably will whenever i feel like going out and buying the antenna... dont those also require a box? i dont remember if the TV is 'HD Ready' or has an 'HD Tuner'...
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Yeah exactly. Tuner = jack some rabbit ears on it and *poof*, HD.
HD Ready = you need a hd tuner box, which probably aren't cheap (I honestly don't know how much they are).
 
they have an OTA tuner at radio shack for about $89 on sale. I think that is one of the cheapest ones you can buy. I think the OTA tuners average about $200.
My $600 TV came with a built in one. :), but that isn't the reason I purchased the TV.
pic of the TV with my $5 rabbit ears,
tv2.jpg
 
I have the HD package on the HDTV's but I can honestly say I am still disappointed...most programming is not in HD (actually even barely any is in true HDTV....most is really poor upsampled)......and we are about to cancel because of lack of things we watch that are in HD (true or otherwise). We do use the HD though for the HTPC running at HD resolutions, and DVD's/games.
 
Spectre said:
I have the HD package on the HDTV's but I can honestly say I am still disappointed...most programming is not in HD (actually even barely any is in true HDTV....most is really poor upsampled)......and we are about to cancel because of lack of things we watch that are in HD (true or otherwise). We do use the HD though for the HTPC running at HD resolutions, and DVD's/games.
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Interesting. I watch HD stuff all the time. Sports mainly. I also enjoy Smallville, Lost, and some other primetime programs. Some sports broadcasts are poor upsampled feeds, but I would say that a larger and larger percentage of what I watch is in HD now.
 
jebo_4jc said:
Interesting. I watch HD stuff all the time. Sports mainly. I also enjoy Smallville, Lost, and some other primetime programs. Some sports broadcasts are poor upsampled feeds, but I would say that a larger and larger percentage of what I watch is in HD now.
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What in particular have you noticed more of? I don't watch Lost or Smallville so I miss thsoe but I don't see much in my channel listings that is in HDTV. The bain of my tv watching existance is poor upsampled sports....and poor 480i. For some reason the best looking channel on our TV's is the History Channel.
 
Spectre said:
What in particular have you noticed more of? I don't watch Lost or Smallville so I miss thsoe but I don't see much in my channel listings that is in HDTV. The bain of my tv watching existance is poor upsampled sports....and poor 480i. For some reason the best looking channel on our TV's is the History Channel.
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Like Morley said, Discovery channel rawks. And I enjoy an NBA game from time to time on TNT. HDNet has some good programming on some nights. College basketball is one of my favorite sports so ESPN's HD broadcasts make me happy inside.
I'm not sure why you think most HD sports broadcasts are poorly upsampled. Some Fox NFLgames look like crap, and sometimes CBS just doesn't even bother (leaves it 480i), but both of their full HD broadcasts look fantastic. Monday Night Football looks good too, too bad the games have sucked so much this year.
Our local sports in St Louis are only just beginning to grasp HD. The WB channel here gets Cardinal baseball games some weekends, and a few of them were HD last year. They looked good. But I know that some of the regional Fox networks are starting HD broadcasts (for example, Oakland).
Also, I should point out that our channel listings don't always indicate HD programs, even though they come in HD.
 
jebo_4jc said:
Like Morley said, Discovery channel rawks. And I enjoy an NBA game from time to time on TNT. HDNet has some good programming on some nights. College basketball is one of my favorite sports so ESPN's HD broadcasts make me happy inside.
I'm not sure why you think most HD sports broadcasts are poorly upsampled. Some Fox NFLgames look like crap, and sometimes CBS just doesn't even bother (leaves it 480i), but both of their full HD broadcasts look fantastic.
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Because we notice a big difference in the quality of broadcast from channel to channel on HD sports broadcasts. ESPNHD is generally good but the Big 3 usually are poor in comparison....most games I watch are CBS and ABC (college football).


Monday Night Football looks good too, too bad the games have sucked so much this year.
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I don't watch professional football so this goes back to why I will be canceling....the good content is not the content I watch right now.

Also, I should point out that our channel listings don't always indicate HD programs, even though they come in HD.
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I do my research, and then a I flip through to see if the show happens to be in HD if I want to see it.
 
Out of three of my friends with HDTVs, only one is displaying any HD content at all on their televisions. Basically, I drove my friend down to Time Warner Cable with his PVR box and forced him to trade it out for the HD PVR box. My other friend has one of the old rear-projection HDTVs from when they first hit the market. He has an SD cable box, with the picture stretched to 16x9. ::sick:: And then my other friend has a brand new Hitachi HDTV, but the thing is running an SD cable box, and it is either calibrated like complete garbage, or it's just a crap set. I don't understand people...
 
Spectre said:
most games I watch are CBS and ABC (college football).
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That is one thing that pisses me off though. It seems very rare that any NCAA football games are in HD. If you're not an NFL fan, aren't addicted to any primetime shows, and really mostly just watch NCAA football, I can totally understand roundhouse kicking HD in the face. Though I think my HD service is only $7/mo on top of my normal sat bill (Dish Net).
 
jebo_4jc said:
That is one thing that pisses me off though. It seems very rare that any NCAA football games are in HD. If you're not an NFL fan, aren't addicted to any primetime shows, and really mostly just watch NCAA football, I can totally understand roundhouse kicking HD in the face. Though I think my HD service is only $7/mo on top of my normal sat bill (Dish Net).
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Mine is somewhere in that range 7-15 dollars but it is simply money for something I am not using. I have the TV's so when the content is available that I want I will be back. For know though I will be dropping it after the first of the year.......hopefully by next football season the content will be there and i will pick it up again.
 
I have a HDTV but only have basic cable. The only TV I watch is Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. I am not going to pay for digital cable when the basic cable I have I don't have free.

However I do play my consoles and watch movies in HD. These also happen to be what I use my TV for most of the time.
 
I don't understand why people are so bent out of shape about this.
it's their TV, let them watch what they want. If they don't think there is enough HD content being broadcast, I think it's a legitimate argument. I have COX DIGITAL CABLE WITH HD, and I used to sometimes wonder if it was worth it, but since they added TNT HD, I'm satisfied.

I guess it's like bitching about people who own a Porsche 911 Turbo and don't drive faster than the rest of traffic.
 
I guess I am really off the deep end then considering I have 2 HD-Tivo's and 3 other HD DirecTV recievers plus an HD tuner card for one of my PCs.


I install this stuff for a living and if I haven't had a chance to really train the end user on how to use the system or haven't programmed the favorites yet they are always watching the SD version of the show because its easier for them to remember the old channel numbers.
 
Stuff that's good that's in HD:

Las Vegas
CSI
CSI NY
CSI Miami
House
My Name is Earl
Numb3rs
West Wing
Lost
Smallville
How I Met Your Mother
Law and Order
L&O SVU
L&O CI
Arrested Development
Medium
Wanted
Bones
Criminal Minds
Veronica Mars
Alias

And that's not even mentioning all the sports and reality shows if you like that sort of thing.

Anyone who says there isn't enough content in HD is crazy, since practically 100% of stuff that's on in primetime is in HD.

-Nate
 
Nate Finch said:
Stuff that's good that's in HD:

Las Vegas
CSI
CSI NY
CSI Miami
House
My Name is Earl
Numb3rs
West Wing
Lost
Smallville
How I Met Your Mother
Law and Order
L&O SVU
L&O CI
Arrested Development
Medium
Wanted
Bones
Criminal Minds
Veronica Mars
Alias

And that's not even mentioning all the sports and reality shows if you like that sort of thing.

Anyone who says there isn't enough content in HD is crazy, since practically 100% of stuff that's on in primetime is in HD.

-Nate
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Not really the sports I watch aren't in HD (as was already discussed) normally and I bolded the only show out of those I watch....soooo....yeah. Not the content I am interested in so I am not going to be paying for it any longer. So crazy....no. Economical....yes.
 
I always wanted to watch TechTV in hi-def, when G4 bought it out, I thought I would have the chance. But then I realized that since hi-def does not involve:

1) Scantily clad women
2) Fast Cars
3) Ricers
4) Stupid sons of bitches
5) Liars
6) Thieves
7) Bastards
8) People destined to hell
9) Stupid things on the internet that people think are "geeky" but really are not
10) Lame bands
11) People who deserve to die


chances are I'll never see it in hi-def.
 
The article is about right, Most of my customers who own an HDTV set don't care to pay for the HD service just cause whats in HD isn't enough for the extra money, although, i've had a few customers tell me they are running HD on their sets when they are running in SD cable box and they have been paying for it for months!!!

There are some though with 2-6 HD sets in house all hooked up with HD and seperate boxes.

Myself though, even though HD looks great would rather own a older rear projection that displays SD with a beautiful picture, cause these HD sets displaying SD is horrible with the grittiness :mad:

Although i just went through the new 6th gen Pioneer plasma training course and those Plasma's are the best to date that i've seen. Less artifacting, better black levels, crystal emissive layer, built in TV guide, true progressive, the 50"+ can do 1280x1024, and alot more. Cheap for the quality too!
 
I've got an HDTV but no HD service, I just don't see the point right now. I actually work for a sattelite company (not to be named) and our HD service is pathetic - there just isn't enough available from the networks yet!

I use my HDTV for my HTPC (until january, when I sell it off), my xbox, and DVD's (DVD's look awesome, and I can't wait to see how they look with a nice upscaling player!)
 
RogueTrip said:
The article is about right, Most of my customers who own an HDTV set don't care to pay for the HD service just cause whats in HD isn't enough for the extra money, although, i've had a few customers tell me they are running HD on their sets when they are running in SD cable box and they have been paying for it for months!!!

There are some though with 2-6 HD sets in house all hooked up with HD and seperate boxes.

Myself though, even though HD looks great would rather own a older rear projection that displays SD with a beautiful picture, cause these HD sets displaying SD is horrible with the grittiness :mad:

Although i just went through the new 6th gen Pioneer plasma training course and those Plasma's are the best to date that i've seen. Less artifacting, better black levels, crystal emissive layer, built in TV guide, true progressive, the 50"+ can do 1280x1024, and alot more. Cheap for the quality too!
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The new Pioneer plasma are very nice, gotta love the fact they finally have good black level to go with the great processing they have always had. There is a review in the latest Home Theater magazine saying basically the same thing. If you really want to have good quality SD signals on an HD spend the 1000-3000 on a decent quality scaler such as a Lumagen or DVDO unit.
 
rayman2k2 said:
I always wanted to watch TechTV in hi-def, when G4 bought it out, I thought I would have the chance. But then I realized that since hi-def does not involve:

1) Scantily clad women
2) Fast Cars
3) Ricers
4) Stupid sons of bitches
5) Liars
6) Thieves
7) Bastards
8) People destined to hell
9) Stupid things on the internet that people think are "geeky" but really are not
10) Lame bands
11) People who deserve to die


chances are I'll never see it in hi-def.
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QFT :D see sig...
 
El Barto said:
I guess it's like bitching about people who own a Porsche 911 Turbo and don't drive faster than the rest of traffic.
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No, that is not the correct analogy.
The correct one would be that they own a 911 Turbo and don't drive on the unlimited speed lanes, if we have regular speed lanes and unlimited speed lanes for supercars.
 
WS6 said:
No, that is not the correct analogy.
The correct one would be that they own a 911 Turbo and don't drive on the unlimited speed lanes, if we have regular speed lanes and unlimited speed lanes for supercars.
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Or it's like having a Porsche 911 Turbo with incredibly horrible gas in it that makes it run at a rate not equal to it's full potential....
 
Point 1: A lof of the people not taking full advantage of their HDTVs are due to piss-poor salespeople who don't full explain what they can do. I spent 4 years working at circuit city before the company went to shit (read: non-commission). I never let a customer buying a HDTV out without convincing them of the benefits of HD cable, HD sattelite, or an outboard tuner and antennae. Similarly, especially in the early days when not all DVD players were prog-scan, I made sure they picked up a DVD player and the correct cables to fully take advantage of their new set. Sure, it made more money for me (and I have to admit, that was a big bonus) but also, it made sure they fully enjoyed their purchase. FWIW, I had the lowest return rate in my store, as well as on of the highest accessory attachment rates. It is all about explaining to people in terms they can understand what the benefits of new technology are.

Point 2: I have had an HDTV for four years. I bought one before there were a ton of HD channels availible via cable. I think when I got it we had 3: HBO, NBC, and CBS. Since then the number of HD channels and shows have grown exponentially. I can watch any show I really want to watch in Hi-Def, CSI, CSI:NY, CSI:Miami, NCIS, Threshold, Numbers, Entourage, Oz (well, when it was broadcast over HBO regularly), random HBO movies, NFL football, NCAA football, etc. When the Spice network goes HD I am really going to be in trouble...

Plus, comcast only charges an extra $5 a month for HD service here, and an extra $5 for HD DVR service... how could anyone say no?
 
I don't take full advantage of mine. I'm not home enough to justify what the cable company will charge me for HD and the bulk of the shows in HD are not what I care about watching.
 
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