# HD Users don't know they aren't watching HD



## ebaltz (Nov 23, 2004)

Its amazing.

http://www.cepro.com/article/research_you_may_not_actually_be_watching_hdtv/

Why do people buy stuff they are so uneducated about?


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## bartendress (Oct 8, 2007)

ebaltz said:


> Its amazing.
> 
> http://www.cepro.com/article/research_you_may_not_actually_be_watching_hdtv/
> 
> Why do people buy stuff they are so uneducated about?


Never underestimate the stupidity of the American consumer. Just ask anyone who bought a 'baby' Jag.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

bartendress said:


> Just ask anyone who bought a 'baby' Jag.


I have one of those. Mine has Lincoln badging on it though.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

ebaltz said:


> Why do people buy stuff they are so uneducated about?


Why do people continue to buy Windows based computers?

Marketing pressure. Throw some new buzz phrases and a heapin' helpin' of doubletalk and you can rule the world. Remember that we come from a market where VHS won and Harley-Davidson thrives.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Also to some extent people buy what is on the shelves. I'm one of those "reach to the back" people looking for a less-dented box or a farther out expiration date for food. Other people just take the item closest to them and move onward.

Some folks read the ingredients (or list of contents for non-food) while others don't.

Some folks want HD, others take it by default if they buy a new TV that includes the feature. Those folks who aren't actively seeking HD, don't notice the difference because they aren't really looking.

If you just buy shiny things, then the difference between cubic zirconium and diamond is minimal. But if you want to buy diamonds, then you know what to look for and you care about the difference.

As in many things, what drives the majority of the consumers isn't necessarily what is best about a product... but rather its simply being available and affordable and on the shelf when they go to buy.

As an example.. many people who go in to stores to buy "on sale" specials, end up buying another product when the first one sells out because they are already in the store. So they end up buying a better product than they intended, but not necessarily because they actively sought the better product. In the end, they have something better but may not even know why.


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## bartendress (Oct 8, 2007)

harsh said:


> I have one of those. Mine has Lincoln badging on it though.


There are even more out there who's cars read, "Ford Contour".

It's high-larious, it is.


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## bartendress (Oct 8, 2007)

HDMe said:


> Also to some extent people buy what is on the shelves. I'm one of those "reach to the back" people looking for a less-dented box or a farther out expiration date for food. Other people just take the item closest to them and move onward.
> 
> Some folks read the ingredients (or list of contents for non-food) while others don't.
> 
> ...


IAWTC: ... and add that others are reaching for an HDTV to over-compensate for the fact they have a smaller remote.


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## spdmonkey (Feb 5, 2006)

bartendress said:


> There are even more out there who's cars read, "Ford Contour".
> 
> It's high-larious, it is.


I hear you guys... true story here. I was driving my wifes '98 Contour SVT recently and came up behind a mimi jag. I passed the car and a few miles down the road the jag pulled alongside where the road became 2 lanes and rolled down the window. the driver signalled me to do the same. he said to me why did I change the badging to Ford on my jag? For tax purposes...I had a hard time not laughing in his face. So yes the American consumer never fails to surprise. I'm sort of the opposite though. i complain about nt having "all" y HD channels even though its only FSN Cincy. I have the dish and lnbs etc. They have been sitting in my garage for over a month. i'm just too lazy to install them and before long it will be snowing and much harder to install....


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## PTown (Aug 18, 2007)

harsh said:


> Remember that we come from a market where VHS won and Harley-Davidson thrives.


Both inferior products


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## girdnerg (May 17, 2007)

ebaltz said:


> ...Why do people buy stuff they are so uneducated about?


Well, IMO, one of the big problems is the choices of SD TVs out there (or the lack of). About a year ago, I went to replace a 35" CRT SD TV. I really wasn't ready to move to HD, but after finding out the choices I had, I really didn't have one. At the time, Sony had a 35 or 36" tv but it didn't even have PIP and was still almost $1k. Everything else was 32" or less. So I could downgrade from my original TV or upgrade to an HDTV. Luckily I knew what was involved to get the most out of the new HDTV, but many do not.

I've run into many folks here at work that were bragging about their new HDTV, but when I ask them who they were getting their HD programming from, almost all of them say the local Cable Co. The bad thing is it is only digital, with absolutely ZERO HD programming provided. After I explain the error of their ways to them and ask them why they bought an HDTV in the first place, most answer that that's all there was at the store unless you wanted a 27" TV. And all of them have been shocked when I tell them the cheapest way to get HDTV programming is OTA.

Rob


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

HD Users don't know they aren't watching HD 

Be kind and invite one of these folks over to watch real HD. They'll notice right off.


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## ebaltz (Nov 23, 2004)

phrelin said:


> HD Users don't know they aren't watching HD
> 
> Be kind and invite one of these folks over to watch real HD. They'll notice right off.


Yep I do that. And when I go to their big houses with big TVs, I point out that their new 60'' plasma it watching something in SD in stretch mode and not HD. They insist it is. Then I ask what HD provider or what kind of HD box they have. They looked puzzled. "I just have basic Cox service, but its all digital." Yep, you are an idiot. How much did you pay for your TV? $5000 they say. What kind of research did you do before buying your plasma? "The guy at the store said...." Well that is all I need to know. Double idiot. How is your Cox SD box connected to your $5000 tv? "Don't know." So I look. Yep, as I suspected, s-video. So then I say, for one, your box is incapable of receiving or delivering HD. Second, even if it were, your cable connection could not deliver it to your TV, s-video doesn't send HD. Then I get into it more and explain that they have to order a new cable box, and have a new tier plan from Cox and you have to connect it through HDMI (or componant). Or I say you could get an OTA antenna and get local HD for free. "What?" Of course they have no idea about that kind of thing. "But we have been watching the local new in HD every night. They say, 'in HD'". Then I go back to point one of my speech and then further discuss how just because a show says it is in HD doesn't mean you are receiving HD etc... etc... etc...

Arggghhh.


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

ebaltz said:


> Yep I do that. And when I go to their big houses with big TVs, I point out that their new 60'' plasma it watching something in SD in stretch mode and not HD. They insist it is. Then I ask what HD provider or what kind of HD box they have. They looked puzzled. "I just have basic Cox service, but its all digital." Yep, you are an idiot. How much did you pay for your TV? $5000 they say. What kind of research did you do before buying your plasma? "The guy at the store said...." Well that is all I need to know. Double idiot. How is your Cox SD box connected to your $5000 tv? "Don't know." So I look. Yep, as I suspected, s-video. So then I say, for one, your box is incapable of receiving or delivering HD. Second, even if it were, your cable connection could not deliver it to your TV, s-video doesn't send HD. Then I get into it more and explain that they have to order a new cable box, and have a new tier plan from Cox and you have to connect it through HDMI (or componant). Or I say you could get an OTA antenna and get local HD for free. "What?" Of course they have no idea about that kind of thing. "But we have been watching the local new in HD every night. They say, 'in HD'". Then I go back to point one of my speech and then further discuss how just because a show says it is in HD doesn't mean you are receiving HD etc... etc... etc...
> 
> Arggghhh.


You should've ask what's 1080i is. And a white glare comes on their faces. They reply: a new channel??

I'm not well veresed in HD, but that's why I'm on DBSTALK "the best board in INTERNETLAND....


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## ebaltz (Nov 23, 2004)

Yeah can you imagine how many people have purchased a 1080p HDTV and think that means that is what they are watching when they hook up their SD cable box with s-video. They probably have no idea there is no 1080p broadcast HD content. Only get it from something like a Blu-ray player.


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## bairdjc (Sep 22, 2005)

I was suprised when I bought my TV @ BB - the cashier actually asked me TWICE if I had an HD source. I indicated TWICE I did and he asked "are you sure?". I was a bit miffed at him thinking I was a moron but then he said "well I have to ask because we get all sorts of people in here not knowing if they're getting HD only to come back here in the end and want a refund"


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## markyd21 (Mar 28, 2006)

"Not surprisingly, the number of HDTV owners is continually increasing, the research also found"


This line in the article is funny. I have not put a second of research into this issue and I could have came to that conclusion. Wow.:lol:


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

I'm half surprised the BB clerk's question doesn't read "that we sold you ?". Certainly OTA should count as a source....  That's what I'm using, anyway


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## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

ebaltz said:


> Yep I do that. And when I go to their big houses with big TVs, I point out that their new 60'' plasma it watching something in SD in stretch mode and not HD. They insist it is. Then I ask what HD provider or what kind of HD box they have. They looked puzzled. "I just have basic Cox service, but its all digital." Yep, you are an idiot. How much did you pay for your TV? $5000 they say. What kind of research did you do before buying your plasma? "The guy at the store said...." Well that is all I need to know. Double idiot. How is your Cox SD box connected to your $5000 tv? "Don't know." So I look. Yep, as I suspected, s-video. So then I say, for one, your box is incapable of receiving or delivering HD. Second, even if it were, your cable connection could not deliver it to your TV, s-video doesn't send HD. Then I get into it more and explain that they have to order a new cable box, and have a new tier plan from Cox and you have to connect it through HDMI (or componant). Or I say you could get an OTA antenna and get local HD for free. "What?" Of course they have no idea about that kind of thing. "But we have been watching the local new in HD every night. They say, 'in HD'". Then I go back to point one of my speech and then further discuss how just because a show says it is in HD doesn't mean you are receiving HD etc... etc... etc...
> 
> Arggghhh.


Yeah it was just one of those kind of idiots that ruined the whole idea of HD for me for a while about 5 years ago or so. I had to visit a business associate at home one day and he just had this big new house built and bought the big new HD tv to go with it. Well all he had hooked up to it was a regular cable box. Well the local news was on and I made the mistake of mentioning that the news anchors looked kind of "odd and/or funny" (of course that now has a name: "stretchovision"). Well he immediately went into his little spiel about how that's actually how those people looked in real life which of course I wouldn't know that because I had an "old fashioned tv" where the picture isn't as clear as his. He also made the point of telling me that on my tv I couldn't see the whole picture on my tv because it was "square and cut off the edges" but on his wide screen tv he is able to see the edges that old fashioned tv cut off. At the time I was almost as clueless as he was about HDTV's, but I left thinking that why in the world would anyone want to pay thousands of dollars for a tv that was going to make the people on it "funny looking"? So for a while there I had no desire what so ever to even consider HD. It wasn't until I started seeing what it was actually supposed to look like that I got it.


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## ebaltz (Nov 23, 2004)

Have you looked that idiot up since and set him straight?

Its funny, people will believe anything they are told without knowing anything. "Well the guy at the store said..."

A friend of mine bought a computer from a store, "because the guys said..." I was like, you mean you asked the 17 year old slacker who knows nothing about how to spend your $2000 on a computer, rather than asking your friend who has actually been in the computer industry for 20 years. Well you got what your deserved then, a piece of crap computer. I suppose they added AOL too as their service provider since it was pre-installed for them. Arrrgghhh


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## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

ebaltz said:


> Have you looked that idiot up since and set him straight?


No I lost contact with him when I changed jobs. But i'm hoping that sometime in the last few years he's seen somewhere what real HD actually looks like and realized that he was an idiot! :lol:


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## ebaltz (Nov 23, 2004)

tsmacro said:


> No I lost contact with him when I changed jobs. But i'm hoping that sometime in the last few years he's seen somewhere what real HD actually looks like and realized that he was an idiot! :lol:


Or better yet, he continues to think what he is watching is HD and continues to argue with people and show others what an idiot he is.


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## kenglish (Oct 2, 2004)

bairdjc said:


> I was suprised when I bought my TV @ BB - the cashier actually asked me TWICE if I had an HD source. I indicated TWICE I did and he asked "are you sure?". I was a bit miffed at him thinking I was a moron but then he said "well I have to ask because we get all sorts of people in here not knowing if they're getting HD only to come back here in the end and want a refund"


What they REALLY want to do, is get you to sign up for Cable or Satellite.

It's extra money for them.

Even BB doesn't have OTA available in their stores around here.


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## Lincoln6Echo (Jul 11, 2007)

Well, after some further thought on this issue and the question the linked article raised, I think I have figured out what is causing so much confusion and who's behind it.

It's the freakin' SERVICE PROVIDERS!!!

How? Their advertising is EXTREMELY misleading to those who are not in the know concerning what truely is HD and what isn't.

Where in this advertising is it so confusing, you ask? I'll tell ya...it's easy to see when I tell ya...

"We offer over (some # of) *digital channels* and [free HD (in some cases)]."

Digital channels...

When people hear this, they think/assume it means HD. When we know that it's 1s and 0s, instead of an analog signal of old. To be honest, I was a bit confused with the terminology at first when talking about the analog to digital turn-over that is supposed to take effect in Feb. '09. So I know that it must confuse those who are way less tech savvy than me. My ol' man is one of them.

So when all these J6Ps tune into their digital channels on their new shiney HDTV, they think they're watching HD.


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## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

Lincoln6Echo said:


> Well, after some further thought on this issue and the question the linked article raised, I think I have figured out what is causing so much confusion and who's behind it.
> 
> It's the freakin' SERVICE PROVIDERS!!!
> 
> ...


Yeah confusing HD w/ digital is very common. The other day the wife was watching QVC and they were selling an HD tv and they said that in 2009 everyone was going to have to have a HD tv because SD tv's weren't going to work anymore. Of course when I heard this I yelled at the tv "No! No! you idiots!" Which of course got me a strange look from said wife and then I explained to her what was really going to happen in 2009 w/ the switch over to digital OTA broadcasting. She was a good sport and pretended to care! :lol:


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## rkr0923 (Sep 14, 2006)

It's the freakin' SERVICE PROVIDERS!!! not all consumers are up to par on this stuff like people in fourms
yep..........just look at D*saying they have CMT HD
enough said


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## ebaltz (Nov 23, 2004)

tsmacro,
we should buy a TV from that channel and then later sue them for false advertising. 

I am planning to develop and run a commercial on a local HD station where I have black bars on the screen and talk about HD, then I walk into the black bar area...whoa! and then ask, "Can you still see me?" If you can't, then you aren't watching HD. If you want to find out why, call me..."


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## kenglish (Oct 2, 2004)

The best way to do it, is like HD Net's test pattern. It says something like: 
If youcan readthis, yourset ismuch betterthanmine."


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