HDTV remains largely a state of mind with most consumers
I haven't been writing much about HDTV and flat-screen TVs lately, since most of the offerings are locked and loaded for the Christmas selling season. We won't see any new or exciting products or price drops until CES in January, where Blackfriars will be covering the news from the show floor on opening day.
But sadly, the news of HDTV that is around isn't that encouraging. Scientific Atlanta just released a very depressing survey showing that even among the 16 million households expected to have high-definition TVs by the end of the year, only about 49% actually have the gear and are watching true high-definition content. What are the rest doing? Looking at standard definition content and calling it HDTV, just because they have an high-definition TV.
This is a great case of where high-definition vendors, cable companies, and high-def content creators should be doing a better job of consumer education. Organizations like the Consumer Electronics Association have made a start on this type of work, but it needs a real marketing and branding effort behind it. It's also one of the reasons I think Apple is likely to be successful with its future TV offerings -- this is a technology where nothing is simple and easy for the ordinary consumer to understand yet. And strangely, they may be onto something -- it may in fact be easier for consumers to buy high-def video content from iTunes and play it on your high-def computer display than it is to get your cable company to hook up your HDTV and TiVO correctly for high-def programming.
But sadly, the news of HDTV that is around isn't that encouraging. Scientific Atlanta just released a very depressing survey showing that even among the 16 million households expected to have high-definition TVs by the end of the year, only about 49% actually have the gear and are watching true high-definition content. What are the rest doing? Looking at standard definition content and calling it HDTV, just because they have an high-definition TV.
This is a great case of where high-definition vendors, cable companies, and high-def content creators should be doing a better job of consumer education. Organizations like the Consumer Electronics Association have made a start on this type of work, but it needs a real marketing and branding effort behind it. It's also one of the reasons I think Apple is likely to be successful with its future TV offerings -- this is a technology where nothing is simple and easy for the ordinary consumer to understand yet. And strangely, they may be onto something -- it may in fact be easier for consumers to buy high-def video content from iTunes and play it on your high-def computer display than it is to get your cable company to hook up your HDTV and TiVO correctly for high-def programming.
Technorati Tags: 1080i, 1080p, 720p, Apple, Audiences, Business, Consumer Electronics, Consumer Electronics Show, Flat-screen TV, HDTV, Marketing, Cable TV, TV
posted by Carl Howe at
8:56 AM
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