Are You Sure You're Watching HDTV?

[admin]

That's right. You bought a new high definition television at your favorite big box store. You brought it home or had it delivered. You connected it up just right and made sure you had all the right cables (and boy did THEY cost a pretty penny). But do you have HDTV? Do you? You do? Are you SURE?
http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/are-you-sure-youre-watching-hdtv.html/image_thumb

Discuss "Are You Sure You're Watching HDTV?" here. Read the article (http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/are-you-sure-youre-watching-hdtv.html).

[MDS]

This is a good summary of the relevant points of HDTV but I think this sentence contains a typo:

25% of those surveyed didn't even realize they weren't watching non-HDTV transmissions

Shouldn't that be '25% of those surveyed didn't even realize they were watching non-HDTV transmissions' or '25% of those surveyed didn't even realize they weren't watching HDTV transmissions '?

[westcott]

Those statistics are mind blowing.

Maybe I should become a televangilist, after all!

Seems like a lot of money could be made saving souls for that 25% of the 25%!!!!!

They obviously have more money than sense!

[corey]

Oops, those pesky double negatives.

Good article, should be required reading - perhaps passed out as you enter CostCo?

I do, however, have a different take on one of the points in #6: "In about 4 years no one will be using them much". In 4 years we'd better be watching mostly/all HD content, and some of it we'll want to own. I won't buy HD/BD DVD until the war is over, but when it is I'll have to get new copies of LOTR, Star Wars, Fantasia, and a few others.

[Clint DeBoer]

I put in that #6 comment to indicate my thinking that BD/HD DVD will go the way of the SACD/DVD-Audio. I think content streaming of HD will take over before either of those formats goes truly mainstream.

Thanks for the typo catch - I meant to say they "didn't not even realize they weren't not watching non-HDTV. NOT." lol

[kleinwl]

This whole HDTV and high-def audio is overblown. The market has already spoken. They want to watch their TV at 320 x 240 and lisen to their music at 96kbps on their Ipod.

All you guys with your 110" screens and 1080p resolution are just throwbacks to an earilier age. (/sarcasm)

As to my parents... I got my dad a dvd of all the airwolf episodes for Christmas... and he is loving it on his 27" CRT. I don't expect that he will EVER upgrade to HDTV.

I just think that the Sat and Cable companies are doing a horrible job of upselling their HDTV services... and having to reprogram the set top boxes after the intaller leaves is beyond the ability of most people... heck I have to plug my in-laws equipment because they can't figure out that the cable from the wall has to go into the cable box instead of directly to the TV.

Nope... I think the HD format adoption is going to continue to be slow and painful... we just have to face it... not many people are willing to invest the kind of time that we have to learn about HDTV. They want a drop in solution... and if it doesn't work... they are not going to do anything about it.

[MDS]

having to reprogram the set top boxes after the intaller leaves is beyond the ability of most people...

It certainly is beyond the ability of many people and some of the installers need more training. We can't dismiss them all though because some of them do know what they are doing. The Time Warner techs in Austin are pretty good.

When my sister first got digital cable (Comcast - South FL) I took one look at the box and told the installer that it was not a digital box because it didn't have digital audio outs of any kind. He basically told me that I didn't know what I was talking about because they have been using that box for years. It's really a matter of semantics - the box is digital in that it can receive the digital broadcasts, but there was no way to get the digital audio out of the box to the receiver. I could not convince the installer that they should have cable boxes with digital audio outputs.

Long story short is that it took months of calls to Comcast to find anyone that knew what we were talking about and she finally got a box with a coax digital audio out.

HDTV is even more confusing and we've all heard the stories where the installer used composite video and analog audio cables when connecting the customer's new HD DVR to their HDTV.

[majorloser]

My neighbors recently paid to upgrade to HD cable. When the installer came out to install the boxes and he just hooked up the regular SD coax to the TV's and tuned the sets to channel 3. "There you go! You now have HDTV. Sign here." :mad:

They were ready to cancel the HD service since the picture was actually worse then the way it was hooked up before with the old cable boxes (composite video and RCA audio). I told the neighbor when I saw the picture that the cable company either didn't hook the sets up right or didn't give the right service the neighbor thought they ordered. When they called the cable company to ask about the picture quality they told them they must have bought a cheap TV and it doesn't have HD. They knew for the money they spent on those monster plasma sets they had BETTER be HD.

I hooked them up with a couple HDMI cables and digital sound. The neighbor's jaws just dropped to the floor. Needless to say they were PO'd with the cable company.

Heck, when the DISH installer came out to install my system he didn't have a clue how to set up the receiver or what HD was. I had to do it all.

Just goes to show you the installers are just there to get the job done fast. And they may not have a clue what they're doing.

[no. 5]

My neighbors recently paid to upgrade to HD cable. When the installer came out to install the boxes and he just hooked up the regular SD coax to the TV's and tuned the sets to channel 3. "There you go! You now have HDTV. Sign here." :mad:

Reminds me of what one of my friends went through, he got HD satellite but since it only worked for a few days out of the month he had it, he canceled it. And when I was at his house helping him move, I pulled out the sat box from the rack, and lo and behold, it was connected to the TV with a composite video cable and analogue stereo; I think his exact words were “so after all that I wasn’t even getting HD??”.

[zildjian]

A possible way to get HDTV not mentioned in the article, those who have just plain analog cable (no cable set top box, & no HD package, just regular cable) can try just connecting the cable signal to their new HDTV sets (since many sets now have built-in ATSC & QAM tuners). This works on my service (just plain cable) and I get HD signals from ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CW, FOX, and maybe one other station, not to mention about 50+ music channels via the QAM tuner.
Brad

[HDWIZARD]

[QUOTE=admin;262670]That's right. You bought a new high definition television at your favorite big box store. You brought it home or had it delivered. You connected it up just right and made sure you had all the right cables (and boy did THEY cost a pretty penny). But do you have HDTV? Do you? You do? Are you SURE?


I guess even the idiot adminstrator is gulliable. You shop at Best Buy (worst buy) too?

I bet you even think you need the 130USD monster cable too? Educated by Best Buy, scarry.......:eek:

God there is a sucker born every second.....and they all think they know it all.:p

All joking aside, HD cables are cheap (about 5 bux) and are all made to the same specs. There is no need for the over priced garbage that they sell at those over priced "discount" stores. It is the biggest joke to think you need the monster truck cable when HD requirements are very specific.

I got my HD cables (plus the DVD player) free from Direct TV. They set up the HD box correctly and I expect about 50 HD channels in the next year. WHo knows how many after that. Even the BBC is in HD.
The picture is amazing on my 48in LCD, 1080.


Lame.....

[Seth=L]

Yep, a long known truth here at Audioholics, expensive cables are for dumb dumbs.:D

Welcome to Audioholics, and don't call Administrators Idiots, they will eat you!:D:DLOL

[zildjian]

I think somebody might be a cable or satellite installer who's feelings were hurt when they read the HD article. :rolleyes:

[Clint DeBoer]

I guess even the idiot adminstrator is gulliable. You shop at Best Buy (worst buy) too?You're new here. Welcome aboard and feel to read some of our articles to understand our position on expensive cables.

Don't assume anything and it's important to understand that we interject a lot of practical experience and humor into our articles. Just because we acknowledge that consumers do spend a lot of money on cables, it doesn't mean that we endorse that.

[HDWIZARD]

You're new here. Welcome aboard and feel to read some of our articles to understand our position on expensive cables.

Don't assume anything and it's important to understand that we interject a lot of practical experience and humor into our articles. Just because we acknowledge that consumers do spend a lot of money on cables, it doesn't mean that we endorse that.


Well, quotes and a more obvious link to your slick AP style misinformation type article might have lead a first time reader in the right direction.

I thought it was another lame tech ad.

anyhoo....not a installer, my installer was great though... thanks for asking..
my direct TV is second to none...

[Seth=L]

Well, quotes and a more obvious link to your slick AP style misinformation type article might have lead a first time reader in the right direction.

I thought it was another lame tech ad.

anyhoo....not a installer, my installer was great though... thanks for asking..
my direct TV is second to none...
You will find we have quite a sense of humor about Snake Oil and other such things that we deem hocus pocus and pure bologna.;)

For instance, sarcasm-

Bose is awesome!:eek:

And that is the way things are done.:D

It was a good thing he didn't eat you,;) Again welcome to Audioholics.:)

[Hi Ho]

I can certainly believe those statistics and I wouldn't be surprised at all if the numbers were higher. I fix many Comcast "HD" installations every week. There is a reason that we ask customers who buy a new TV to stop by Comcast and pick up an HD box so that we can install it.

[obscbyclouds]

When I got my HDTV (before I found AH and AVS Forums), the comcast installer came over and hooked the HD DVR to the TV using the standard Coax cable. It looked like Junk, he then told me this was because comcast broadcasts in 1080P and my TV doesn't accept 1080P. He told me i should return my TV and buy a Sony. That very night i did some research and found AH which just about saved my year :). It's an absolute disgrace that these installers don't know how to hook up an HDTV or even at what resolution their own company's stations are broadcast(never 1080P!). He didn't even admit he was unsure or had to call someone, he just flat lied to me, if i was less weary, i may have even returned my TV and spent 2X as much as I wanted to. I tried later (unsucessfully) to get Comcast to train their installers(even offered to show them myself), apparently to no avail.

A Cable installer not knowing how to connect an HDTV is like going to a Car dealership and having them not know the difference between the Cavalier and the Corvette on their lot! These people should not be in business.

On a side note i really need these format wars to end because I'm sick of my HD experience as it is: watching the 15th re-run of Austin Stevens: Snakemaster on Discovery HD theater. . Maybe once dish gets these 150 HD channels

[hyghwayman]

I liked the article and have sent it to all my family and friends.

Thanks,
hyghwayman

[Tom Andry]

You know, this thread makes me wish I had forked over the $20 (or whatever it is) to have Comcast install my HD. Just to see what they did. Maybe I could hide a recorder in the room and tape the whole thing. That'd make a great article. Especially if I got one of the clueless ones that are being discussed in this thread.

[Frock7]

There's a very simple way to fix all of this confusion.
Put some LEDs on the front panel of the display that light up based on the incoming signal. If the HD LED lights then you have a HD source. Are the HD display makers trying to hide something?!?!
Better living through better design.

[avaserfi]

There's a very simple way to fix all of this confusion.
Put some LEDs on the front panel of the display that light up based on the incoming signal. If the HD LED lights then you have a HD source. Are the HD display makers trying to hide something?!?!
Better living through better design.

Apparently being an informed consumer is just asking too much so everything must be dumbed down. Personally, I wouldn't want another light, even if it is only an LED, annoying me during my movie experiences. Besides what if the owner doesn't read the user manual and isn't told what that light means, they could just go on not watching HD without ever knowing about the feature.

[MDS]

There's a very simple way to fix all of this confusion.
Put some LEDs on the front panel of the display that light up based on the incoming signal. If the HD LED lights then you have a HD source. Are the HD display makers trying to hide something?!?!
Better living through better design.

That's actually not a bad idea but I agree with aversfi that I personally wouldn't want another LED.

Most TVs do have a feature that shows the channel information and one of the pieces of information is the resolution of the incoming signal. If you are familiar with HDTV resolutions that is enough to know if you are getting a HD signal. Of course most non-technical/non-HDTV enthusiasts still wouldn't know the signal was HD even if it said 720p or 1080i in big giant letters.

[westcott]

I think this discussion is somewhat wasted on the 25 to 33% of the people who own HD tvs but do not have an HD signal. If I were not so lazy, I would dig up the Audioholic article on just how many people just have to have that big HD display but do not even bother to get HD service.

As my father always said, "Half the people in this world are below average!"

[NapaDRB]

You would think if your job title is "cable installer" that you might actually be trained in installing cable.

I don't know about the rest of the country but in my area (Northern California) most of the installers are "independent contractors" and get paid flat rate. So they get $75.00 or whatever per install, I'm sure this doesn't help matters any. I know a person who is an actual employee of Comcast and his job is to follow behind all these guys and clean up their mess.

I too have straightened out many a comcast install. After having my first HD box installed by Comcast and arguing with the installer about connections, etc. (I finally gave up, let him do it his way, and then took it all apart when he left and hooked it up correctly) I now just go straight to their office and pickup the box and install myself