Posted by Tony Calguire on 12/10/05 03:53

Goro wrote:
>
>
> News of the video bizarre: According to a just-released survey by
> Scientific-Atlanta, millions of people who have HDTV sets apparently
> think they are watching high definition television, but aren't. The
> survey was spurred by an earlier Forrester Research projection that by
> the end of the year some 16 million U.S. households will have HDTV
> sets, but only seven million wll have HDTV reception. The Scientific
> Atlanta survey found that, yes, some 49 percent of households were not
> taking advantage of their HD equipment. About a quarter found that
> their HD set itself provided better reception, without taking the
> additional steps necessary to view HD. Eighteen percent said they
> didn't even know needed additional equipment, such as a set-top box
> or antenna. A quarter admitted they thought they were watching HD video
> because, after all, the programs said at the beginning that they were
> broadcast in HDTV.
>


This is sad but true. My sister went out and bought an "HDTV", and I
was the one who had to break the news to her that the thing couldn't
actually receive HDTV.

I mean, think about that for a moment... they sell TVs that CAN'T
receive TV broadcasts. They actually sell TVs that can't receive TV
broadcasts. If that isn't the best example of how badly the FCC has
mishandled the digital transition, and how they have allowed the
consumer electronics industry to get away with murder, I don't know what
is.

Apparently, you need a special external receiver to pick up HDTV
broadcasts. Do you think you could walk into a store and buy one? Do
you think they could advertise these things in their Sunday ads
alongside those HDTVs that can't receive HDTV? My local Best Buy
doesn't even carry them! Or, at least they said they "forgot to order
them". I went down to Radio Shack and CompUSA, and they didn't have
them, either.

ComCast wants $5 a month for an HDTV converter, they don't carry all the
local OTA DTV stations, they don't carry all the mulicast channels from
those DTV stations that they do carry, and all the HDTV cable channels
are on another, more expensive digital tier.

The moral of the story is: DO NOT buy a new TV until April of 2007!!!

[Back to original message]