How The Digital TV Transition Will Accidentally Help HDTV Sales
from the customer-confusion dept
There's been a huge amount of confusion concerning the February 2009 transition from analog over-the-air TV to digital over-the-air TV, but one of the big points of confusion is the false assumption by many that this has something to do with HDTV. It doesn't. It's just about the television content that's available freely over the air -- as opposed to via cable or satellite TV. For anyone who is a subscriber to cable or satellite (i.e., the majority of Americans) the transition basically means nothing. Yet, thanks to years of FUD from folks resisting the transition (mainly the TV broadcasters who wanted to keep their spectrum) many people are quite confused about what this means. Some new studies have looked at public readiness for the switch, and while most of the headlines focus on the fact that about half of those impacted are unready for the shift, what may be much more interesting is a tidbit not found in most of the coverage, but tucked into the Washington Post coverage:About 30 percent of the respondents indicated they had plans to ready themselves for the transition, even though they do not have to do anything to maintain service.In other words, an awful lot of people who already have a digitally enabled TV, cable service or satellite service somehow think they need to upgrade to keep service after February. Obviously, they're confused, and it would be a good guess to assume the root of at least a significant percentage of that confusion is that idea that this has something to do with HDTV. So, it sounds like a large group of cable or satellite TV subscribers are planning to upgrade to HDTV, not because they want to, but because they incorrectly think they need to to keep getting TV after February of next year. HDTV providers must be thrilled.
As for the percentage of folks who will be impacted and haven't done anything about it yet, that doesn't seem too troublesome. After all, there's still seven or eight months to get it done, and people sure do like to procrastinate. What's more troubling, perhaps, is the fact that the $40 coupons for converter boxes that are being sent out to those who request them expire after 90 days. Why? No one seems to have any clue, and its leading to many of these coupons expiring before people have a chance to redeem them.
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Filed Under: confusion, digital tv, fcc, hdtv, spectrum
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Even the cable companies are confused
My sister-in-law was told by "the cable guy" that her older, analog set would stop working even though it IS hooked up to the cable!
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Re: Even the cable companies are confused
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Re: Even the cable companies are confused
Wait til grandma finds out that, cable or no cable, the digital wonderland will include no more auto-setting of her vcr clock, no more taping in advance, no more watching one station while recording another, and no more picture-in-picture. Unless, of course, she rents a dvr from the cableco at an outrageous price -- she won't be able to buy her own.
There are some benefits to the transition, but leave it to the unholy alliance of telcos, sattelite, and the US government to more than negate them.
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Not only did they fail to mention the possibly of free HD programing via an antenna, none of the major electronics retailers are even selling rooftop antennas. Not even Radio Shack!
It's pretty clear that electronics manufacturers and retailers along with cable and satellite companies are using this switch from analog to digital as means to force us to spend a lot of money on new equipment and services we do not need.
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Er... we're talking *digital* not HD. They're two different things. So the retailers and electronics industry aren't ignoring it for the most part.
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And just to clear this up, digital is not necessary HD. However, HD is necessary digital. Therefore, by talking about receiving HD, I was necessarily talking about receiving digital.
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I don't think you understand it either...
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Concur
I think a lot of the confustion is in the terminology. Many products use the term "HD tuner" or "HDTV tuner" instead of "ATSC tuner" or "digital tuner." While it is possible to receive free OTA HD content, most digital broadcasts are 480i, so the term "HDTV tuner" is really a misnomer.
I don't think many companies are outright lying, but do think that they are happy to let consumers continue in their confusion. They certainly are not training their salespeople properly.
To play devil's advocate for Best Buy, they may not have included OTA HD in their video because it is still not available in all areas. Since they are a national company, they certainly sell in areas that are not yet broadcasting in digital, and to sell an HDTV on the concept of free HD where it is not available may lead to an awful lot of returns. Or, they just want to sell more satellite contracts.
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Re: Concur
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The more appropriate term...
I can't imagine the layman navigating those waters. I've lost count on how many family and friends I've had to advise on this topic.
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Re: The more appropriate term...
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I would argue
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TV Sale
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However, since the NBA finals have moved to ABC, the quality is much worse, and I'm watching this on the over-the-air telecast from the local ABC affiliate. Turns out the local ABC station broadcasts only in 720p, while all of my other local stations, i.e. NBC, CBS, PBS, etc. are 1080i.
So the moral of the story is that it also depends on who is doing the broadcasting.
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Re: TV Sale
DVDs only have 480 lines of information. Your TV either displays 720p, 1080i, or 1080p. So either you are watching a tiny image (relative to your total screen size) or you are upconverting. Upconverting never looks as good as displaying an image in its native resolution.
No offense, but if you don't want HDTV programming and just want to watch DVDs, you wasted your money. DVDs will look best on a 480p TV. Since 480p TVs are only marginally better than your 36" CRT, they never caught on and you could get one really really cheap.
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To get "HD" or high definition, a HD device. No "standard definition" device will give you a high def picture, regardless if the signal is digital or analog. The convertion has to do with the transmission format not the resolution of the picture. There's a difference.
There will be both standard and HD digitally broadcast channels over the airwaves for free. Those with standard resolution analog TVs will get the same TV they do now if they have a DTV converter box, it won't be HD.
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So, sure they were correct. I never said they were incorrect. But they failed to tell the whole story to get you to spend more money. And where I'm from that's lying and possibly fraud.
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It's not fraud when a customer intending to talk to Best Buy about DTV asks them about HD instead, not knowing there's a difference. Best Buy can't read minds. That is why the required stickers are to be on the soon to be obsolete units.
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Wow, lots of misinformation even in these comments...
The guy that came to her house? I'd go with confused. I've rarely seen one that wasn't.
It is possible to get the networks in HD this way, but few people want to mess with an antenna. Sales are very low for antennas for HDTV (any UHF antenna is fine). Not to mention that many people prefer cable channels and that most cable services and DirecTV now have locals for most markets.
It's definitely the latter. They don't sell antennas, but they do sell DirecTV subscriptions. And most people want DVRs these days anyway.
How so? Every HDTV device that I have seen will output in 480i somehow. Just hook that output to the VCR or DVD recorder. DVRs come practically free from your provider anyway ($5-10 monthly). And TiVo has had CableCard slots for years.
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Re: Wow, lots of misinformation even in these comments...
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Re: Wow, lots of misinformation even in these comments...
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People are stupid
The thing that people need to be aware of is that a lot of satellite systems allow you to hook up an external antenna and pick up your local channels over the air (as they do in our area) and if you have an older satellite box (more than 2 years old) you need to contact your satellite provider and find out if it has a built in ATSC tuner or else you're going to need a converter box or a new satellite box before the switchover in Feb of 2009.
Don't be misled by the statement "if you're on satellite - you're safe" as you may not be.
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Every time
My area is served by four broadcast stations all located approximately 30 miles west of me. Each is broadcasting both analog and digital signals at their approved full power.
I can receive all four analog signals clearly. In fact I can receive all four analog signals at a home a further 40 miles east of here, three singals clearly. Further than that and stations from another market slowly become tunable as these stations singals fade out.
Unfortunately, I can only recieve two of the four digital signals here and NONE of the digital signals at the further home. That further home has a new high gain antenna atop a 40ft tower too, something few homes have.
Based on my experience and an educated guess on population densities I'd bet that no more that 50 percent of the homes covered by the analog signal are able to receive the digital signals. Digital converter boxes won't matter and I suspect the uproar will be great when analog shuts down and especially so when a few families dies during inclement weather they weren't alerted to.
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Why do we have to deal with ordering, mailing, losing, using coupons. Why can't the government write one big check to each of the three or four companies that make the boxes. Really whats easier lots of coupons reimbursing thousands of retailers or four checks to the manufactuers. In fact there is probably ten dollars in hidden costs just in issuing and reimbursing by using the coupon model. After all the government is making money from this transaction why do they care if I get an extra box or two at a discount rate. It's not like I'm going to use the box for something other than intended.
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TV Stations aren't helping.
The annoying thing is that they broadcast it ON EVERY TYPE OF FEED. My parents get the channel via the local cable company. They are completely unaffected by the switch over. It's there. I get the local feed in SD via Dish Network, it's there too. I can also pick up their DTV SD and full DTV 720p or 1080i HD signals via OTA antenna, it's there too. And lastly, if I reconfigure my TV to pick up analog signals, it's on their 'old' analog broadcast as well - the only signal that's actually going to dissapear.
The fact is that there is a lot of mis-information out there. It doesn't help that the 'average Joe' customer doesn't understand the difference between DTV and HDTV. Let alone 480i vs 480p vs 720p vs 1080i vs 1080p. Consumers as a group are stupid. But there are plenty of resources out there for people that need help. They just have to put forth the mental effort to do it.
My local Radio Shack sells a wide variety of both inside and outside antennas, as well as more esoteric devices such as antenna amps and pre-amps and signal meters. They're not the best quality, but they are there. Likewise, my local Best Buy has all of their HDTV's actually hooked up to an OTA antenna, and encourage people to flip through the channels and compare SD vs HD via OTA. Funny, the last time I was there and paid attention to their HDTV infomercial, it mentioned OTA broadcasts. I've overheard many conversations between confused customers and the 'blueshirts' about DTV and HDTV and what I've heard has always sounded at least mostly truthful. They also have a variety of OTA antennas to choose from.
Though they do still push the 'necessary' $80 3' HDMI cables...
The simple truth is that there are people that will be 'left behind' with the transition. You will read about it in the news. I'm sure we'll see it sensationalized. But within a week they'll figure out what they need for DTV and get it taken care of. Life will go on.
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Without the ability to tune to a channel, no programmable support is available. Now if you are content to change the channel on the converter box before every recording, or content to only watch prerecorded media, they aren't totally useless, just largely so.
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Digital Sucks!
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Yawn
I'd rather rub my face on cement for an hour. Its much less painful and a whole lot cheaper.
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Why the fuss????
So, dont bother too much. When the day arrives and if your TV is not working, do what is needed.
Hakuna Matata!
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Re: Why the fuss????
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Feb 2009?
I know a lot of people procrastinate, but geez, the TV stations have been running these commercials for the past few months... which makes it a year before the switch. Do the TV stations and ad agencies really need to spend their money telling people about this (over and over) so far in advance?
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no box needed
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Feb 2009?
Couple that with a change in configuration of the way they broadcast and they're worried they will no longer have people watching.
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bah
Heh, you've got the right idea!
@Thom:
Yeah. Once those families have spent all that money on their TV and service upgrades, they won't be able to afford a radio to get those inclement weather reports. And they'll have to cancel their Internet service. And won't be able to get to a newspaper stand. Or knock on a neighbor's door. God knows TV is the only way to keep up with events!
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I do not want cable or digital TV and from everything I've read on line, this won't help the problem anyway.
I now so appreciate what will no longer be available by Feb. 09: a constant image on my tv screen.
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I hate Digital!
People keep asking if consumers are ready for the big switch in February. Are the broadcasters ready? I remember when Jeopardy switched to digital...the program was completely screwed up for almost an entire week.
Why has the government decided that we should all suffer digital broadcasting? So we have a little more room for more junk on TV? Seriously, there is plenty of wasted space now. How about quality vs quantity? The techies would like to convince us all that digital is so much better, but I just don't see it. I think digital sucks.
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Converter Box Hater
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