# what do you think the percentage is of people having HD tv? and actually using it?



## bjlc (Aug 20, 2004)

What percent of the country do you believe actually have HD TV? 20% 30%? 

I know a couple of people who have an hd "ready " tv , but don't have HD coming out of it.. 

but for the most part, next to no one that I know has an HD set.. 

no not even ONE.. 

honest, its true..


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## dbsdave (May 1, 2007)

I think it's pretty hard to watch any tv these days and not have any hd programming at all. Nearly all cable and broadband providers provide some hd channels at the basic rates these days, even directv. Of course where there are no services, OTA has had hd available for quite a while.

"but for the most part, next to no one that I know has an HD set.. "

Wow, you can almost say the exact opposite with me, and I don't exactly live in beverly hills.


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## brian188 (Oct 13, 2007)

Funny you mention that. I just read this article the other day. http://www.keywesttechnology.com/ke...gital-signage-keep-them-happy-with-hd-79.html

Seems a projected 52.5 million sold in the USA by the end of the year. 36% I'd say that is significant.


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## jwd45244 (Aug 18, 2006)

bjlc said:


> What percent of the country do you believe actually have HD TV? 20% 30%?
> 
> I know a couple of people who have an hd "ready " tv , but don't have HD coming out of it..
> 
> ...


Anyone who has purchased any of the LCD or plasma sets that you can buy at Wal-Mart, Costco, or Sam's or Bet Buy or Sears, etc are all HD sets.

What do you mean don't have "HD coming out of it"?


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## Birdieman30 (Aug 26, 2008)

A better question is how many people have HD Tv's, think they are watching HDTV and have no clue that what they are watching is SD stretched? They usually say, "I really don't see the difference in HDTV. What's the big deal." or "Why does Kelsey Grammer have such a big head?"


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

I think the better question is, How many people own an HD set, and have a HD cable box, but when the cable man hooked it up, they only used the latest great technology of COAX cable so that the customer could watch all there wonderful HD content in 480i resolution, and wonderful mono sound...

Over half the people I know that have gotten HD cable have had their sets hooked up and only set to 480i in one way or another by there cable company, and I've had to fix all of them for them. One family friend was even told they were getting HD and upon further review... They hadn't even give them an HD box, just a DVR... Talk about furious when I let her know that... She had a fun conversation with the cable company while I was there...


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

bjlc said:


> What percent of the country do you believe actually have HD TV? 20% 30%?
> 
> I know a couple of people who have an hd "ready " tv , but don't have HD coming out of it..
> 
> ...


I'm confused: "but for the most part, next to no one" and "no not even ONE" don't compute...

99.8% (or more) of TVs purchased this year are HDTVs. (A few still have analog tuners and are correctly labelled...) 

I've seen stats, but don't remember them. I want to say more than 20%, but it might have been 30%.

It's OK, I have DIRECTV. 

Cheers,
Tom


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## VegasDen (Jul 12, 2007)

Although it's from the first part of the year, I am certain the percentages are close...

Researchers found that 41% of US households have an HD capable TV.....but of those only 56% subscribe to an HD programming package.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/03/26/only-half-of-us-hdtv-owners-subscribe-to-hd-programming/


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

Thanks VegasDen. I knew I had seen stats, usually in the CEA daily news, but I could not remember the latest ones. 

Cheers,
Tom


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

So if I am interpreting the information from VegasDen's post, that comes out to about 23% that actually have HD (both set and service from provider).

Most of the people I know do not have HD (sets or service). Most of them are not currently interested in upgrading, they are happy with what they have. A few have taken the plunge after I show them the HD I have, but others have not.

Carl


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

I was trying to think about my family. As complex as it is, counting becomes tricky when thinking of family units. 

So I did the best I could. Of people I know for certain in my family, it is about 66%. Not bad.  (Actually, if I count the RV, that goes up a bit as one family has an HDTV in their RV but not in their home.) 

Cheers,
Tom


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## bjlc (Aug 20, 2004)

okay.. let me explain.. my personal friends.. not one person has an HD set..

my brother in Milwaukee.., I live in Western Wisconsin 200 miles away, is the only person in my family who has a set, and he has Directv..


only one woman in my wifes office has an HD ready set but its not getting HD signal to it..


so out of say 40 or 50 people that I know, 2 have an HD or HD ready set.. but only one is getting HD Signal..


I guess that my guess of 30% wasn't too far off of the 36% of the country.. and I would bet that those numbers are high, due to the fact that many HD people have more then one HD set..


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## bjlc (Aug 20, 2004)

and if I am going to buy an HD set, why would I buy a small set? I have a 32 by 28 foot living room.. my 32 inch set has been fine up to now.. But I would probably want at least a 52 inch or bigger HD set. and thats' in the upwards of thousands of dollars.. and right now, thats too much money..

I am already giving Directv over $100 a month.. with no other tv payments. I really don't want to go into debt just to watch TV..


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## tcusta00 (Dec 31, 2007)

bjlc said:


> What percent of the country do you believe actually have HD TV? 20% 30%?
> 
> I know a couple of people who have an hd "ready " tv , but don't have HD coming out of it..
> 
> ...


bjlc: I have to be honest, this is an extremely confusing thread. To paraphrase you:

paragraph 2: ~*2 *people you know have HD sets.
paragraph 3: *Most *of the people you know don't have an HD set.
paragraph 4: *No one* has an HD set. _(what happened to the couple from paragraph 2?)_


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

Just because they aren't subscribing to HD Services DOESN'T mean they don't have access to HDTV programming. OTA works pretty well for me, and I use Dish to get additional cable programming / DVR. We made the concious decision to not upgrade Dish at this time for financial reasons.

As for my neighbors / family - I don't know anything about the neighbors, but I'm pretty sure at least one brother has seen the HD light when he came out to visit last Thanksgiving. I'm pretty sure he is on cable.


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## CapeCodder (Mar 19, 2008)

inkahauts said:


> I think the better question is, How many people own an HD set, and have a HD cable box, but when the cable man hooked it up, they only used the latest great technology of COAX cable so that the customer could watch all there wonderful HD content in 480i resolution, and wonderful mono sound...
> 
> Over half the people I know that have gotten HD cable have had their sets hooked up and only set to 480i in one way or another by there cable company, and I've had to fix all of them for them. One family friend was even told they were getting HD and upon further review... They hadn't even give them an HD box, just a DVR... Talk about furious when I let her know that... She had a fun conversation with the cable company while I was there...


This begs another question. "How many cable customers were sold an HD box and service by their cable provider when they don't have an HD TV?" I know a few of those!


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## n3ntj (Dec 18, 2006)

I'm guessing approx. 30% of USA households have an HD capable TV in their homes. Probably only 1~2% actually understand HD and know real HD (not stretch-o-vision) when they see it. Probably half of those people use DBSTalk.com or similar sites.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

I will admit I know someone who uses a 32" LCD for stretchovision SD exclusively. However, I know far more people who have an HDTV and use it for HD. But that's probably a consequence of the circles I travel in


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## brant (Jul 6, 2008)

of all my friends and family who have hdtv's, my brother and i are the only ones i know have an hd programming package. i had one friend telling me about how crystal clear his hdtv was; when i looked at it, i said "it'd be a lot clearer if you had actual hd programming." his response: "huh? that is HD. anything you watch on an hdtv is HD". - hmm, looked like crap to me.


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## afitch99 (Aug 25, 2008)

When I worked at bestbuy I always got questions like "what is the difference between HD and Plasma" on a daily basis if not 2-3 times a day.

I now work for the largest low voltage wholesale company in the world and I was just asked today by a customer "what is better, HD or Plasma". I almost lost my mind!

I would bet only about 5% of the people who own an HD tv have it properly setup. I bet at least half who have HD service are running S-video cables!!!


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## n3ntj (Dec 18, 2006)

afitch99 said:


> "what is better, HD or Plasma"


That's a good one..:lol:


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## HDTVFreak07 (Sep 12, 2007)

inkahauts said:


> I think the better question is, How many people own an HD set, and have a HD cable box, but when the cable man hooked it up, they only used the latest great technology of COAX cable so that the customer could watch all there wonderful HD content in 480i resolution, and wonderful mono sound...
> 
> Over half the people I know that have gotten HD cable have had their sets hooked up and only set to 480i in one way or another by there cable company, and I've had to fix all of them for them. One family friend was even told they were getting HD and upon further review... They hadn't even give them an HD box, just a DVR... Talk about furious when I let her know that... She had a fun conversation with the cable company while I was there...


My neighbor watches SD channel when there's HD channel (or digital channel) on a different channel number. For example, CBS SD channel is 4 and CBS HD channel is on 875 but my neighbor keeps watching channel 4!


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## bidger (Nov 19, 2005)

brant said:


> of all my friends and family who have hdtv's, my brother and i are the only ones i know have an hd programming package. i had one friend telling me about how crystal clear his hdtv was; when i looked at it, i said "it'd be a lot clearer if you had actual hd programming." his response: "huh? that is HD. anything you watch on an hdtv is HD". - hmm, looked like crap to me.


At that point you explain to him that HD comes in 3 resolutions: 720p, 1080i, or 1080p. Then grab the TV remote and hit either the _Display_ or _Info_ button to show him it's a 480i source and let him know that's SD resolution. Then, depending on his source, you inform him what he needs to do to get true HD.


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