SD Programming Still Dominates the Airwaves
SD Programming Still Dominates the Airwaves
Posted 11/10/2010 at 7:28am
| by Paul Lilly
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Market research firm Nielsen put together some interesting, if not slightly disparaging, figures on the state of high definition programming. Here's the deal. The majority of U.S. households -- 56 percent -- own an HD television, which is "one of the most quickly adopted consumer entertainment technologies of the past 20 years." But even though the hardware is in place, standard definition programming still rules.
"Only 13 percent of total day viewing on cable and 19 percent of viewing on broadcast television is 'true HD' viewing, which requires an HD television and HD tuner that are tuned to an HD channel," Nielsen said. "In other words, despite the billions of dollars that Americans have spent buying high definition TVs, more than 80 percent of television viewing is still a standard definition experience."
Nielsen identifies a few different reasons for the disparity. First, some 44 percent of homes either don't own an HD set or subscribe to HD service. Secondly, most homes have at least one non-HD TV, of which about one-third of programming is viewed. And finally, that swank HD set in your living room still views non-HD programming about 20 percent of the time.
Peering into its crystal ball, Nielsen says HD viewing will continue to increase as kids and teens get HD sets in their rooms and as cable and satellite providers switch HD channels for SD where available.
Image Credit: AVS Forum (Xylon)
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Talcum X
November 11, 2010 at 10:20am
We got our HDTV by default. The 27" SD got damaged in the move, so we invested in a new 32" Samsung HD. But I have been unemployed for 22 months (yet another statistic), so we cant afford any more than the standard digital package from comcast. As it is, it isn't worth the over priced service. I used to get all 3 services for $99 from Time Warner. now I'm paying 92 for just TV and NET. INSANE!
bathtbgin
November 10, 2010 at 8:28am
Do these numbers also account for people like my parents who have an HD set, HD programming, but still for some reason insisnt on watching the SD version of the channel because its the number they remember? I'd be curious to see how much bandwidth is being wasted by companies like comcrap continuing to offer SD versions of an HD channel and in some cases needlessly duplicating the HD channel several times over.
JohnP
November 10, 2010 at 9:15am
Heh. I was just going to write about my son watching the discovery channel and all the rest as SD even though there is an HD channel available on the favorites list. I keep catching him at it and changing to the HD channel but next day, BACK to SD.
jac_goudsmit
November 10, 2010 at 1:48pm
Even with a "Watch in HD" button I bet that it just switches you to the channel where they stretch the 480i original recording to 1080i Oompa Loompa version, or (at best) an HD version where the station just adds two big pillar bars with the station ID on both sides.
Until stations start getting it right and just transmit EVERYTHING the way it was intended and let ME decide how to watch it instead of stretching or formatting it FOR me, I'm not interested in buying a TV that costs 5 to 10 times as much as the one I bought 10 years ago and still works like new. The day I don't see ANY item (commercial or show) that shows up as wide-screen in high-screen in wide-screen on my SD TV (connected to a cable co HD DVR) is the day when I start browsing for a new TV.
bathtbgin
November 10, 2010 at 11:14am
Its gotten a little better since comcrap added the "watch in HD" button whenever you try to watch an SD channel with an HD alternative, but even still I am still annoying both my parents and my wife by constantly saying "ya know we get this in HD right?" It's gotten to the point that i'm actually thinking of setting the parental controls to block the SD version of channels.
nHeroGo
November 10, 2010 at 10:17am
Stupid kids. They don't know that watching SD fry's the brain. They don't know what is good for them. They a lazy and good for nothing. What is this world coming to? When I was a kid, my dad...
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