I think we can all agree that even if we have a great knowledge of the A/V world ourselves, we can easily understand how pretty much anyone out there could get very confused by all of the acronyms, technologies and jargon. I've been an A/V enthusiast for several years now, but I can easily admit that there are many facets of the A/V World that are still confusing to me. I don't have the knowledge or qualification to perform a professional level calibration of a display. I couldn't possibly explain the exact electrical workings of more or less any A/V related product. I couldn't set up a complete home automation system on my own.
So when some random person I come across doesn't know the difference between composite and component video, I really don't blame them. If someone were to begin an in-depth conversation about car engines with me, I'd be the same way. I may have heard the names and even know what many of the parts do, but really understanding car engines? That isn't my forte.
So the way I see it, what we're really seeing in the results of this poll and others like it is simply that people are confused. Most people like to watch TV and movies and listen to music. But that doesn't mean they're seriously interested in how it all works. I like to drive my car, but that doesn't mean I could build or repair one!
So if I were to guess, I'd say that anyone who has a car probably has a TV. There's a lot of car enthusiasts out there, but there are a great deal more people who are like me and really don't fully understand how a car works and don't have the skills to repair one. So what do we do? We leave the repair and maintenance of our cars to professional mechanics. People who know more about cars than we do and are trained to repair and maintain them.
What's happened is that a full high definition setup has reached a level of complexity where a similar sort of relationship is needed. People were pretty ok when it was a matter of buying a single box and connecting one cable to it. Adding a VCR was enough to confuse a heck of a lot of people (all the jokes about the "12:00" flashing?). With high def, we're talking about needing a new display, a box from a cable or satellite provider, a receiver, 5 speakers, a subwoofer and a new disc player with all new discs (which confusingly, look exactly the same as the old discs!)
Even if someone wraps their head around all that, they then have to contend with needing all new types of cables and connections. HDMI at least helps to simplify that a little, but we're introducing new acronyms and jargon.
Get past the connections and you're faced with a myriad of new tech jargon and technologies. VC1, mpeg4/AVC/H.264 (<--right there is a great example of confusing terms! 3 names for the same thing!), Dolby TrueHD, Dobly Digital Plus, DTS-HD High Resolution, DTS-HD Master Audio, or how about DTS-HD core only?!
The way I see it, there are two choices if we really want to see HD become the standard. We either have to drastically simplify the whole thing; or, we need to make it like car maintenance: we have to get people to pay someone else to do it and more importantly, there need to be well-trained professionals available to help!
The second choice may be the better way to go in terms of quality, but let's not forget the big difference between a car and HDTV: people need their car, they don't need HD. So I believe that simplifying is the way to go.
We can keep the elaborate products, they're like the upgrades and luxury car items. But for the masses, we need to make HD simple so that it is no longer confusing and intimidating. So what might work?
Well, first off, like I said earlier, we need to reach a point where the only TV you can buy is a HDTV. And everything you get from a satellite or cable provider needs to be HD (even if it's upscaled - like an older show in reruns, so long as every channel is broadcast in HD resolution all the time). The one cable solution of HDMI is good. And for movies, we need a single transport that can play ALL movies, both HD (which should gradually become the only thing that you can buy) and DVDs for everyone's already purchased collections.
The TVs themselves (ALL of them) need to have surround sound built in. Something like the Yamaha sound bar technology would work well for this sort of thing. If we get to this type of situation, then it just becomes a matter of buying a TV (ANY TV), pluging it into the wall and plugging a single cable into the back from their single disc player that plays EVERYTHING. Then, they just have to call their cable or satellite provider and that provider can come to their house, give them one more box that plugs into the back of their TV with a single cable and that box will let them watch TV and record it on a hard drive. One TV, two boxes and two cables. That is pretty simple and I really think that's what it needs to be.
