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Tuesday, August 11, 2009

More Than Half of US Own an HDTV


According to a CTAM study, "about 53% of American households now have a high-def TV, compared with 35% in 2008 and 23% in 2007 ". So why are there still so few HD channels and why aren't there more HD shows on their channels. Unfortunately many consumers may be unaware. Excited to open their HD set, they may not see that their picture may be "stretched" to accommodate the screen. And while the picture will absolutely look better than what they had before, it is not true HD that they are watching. Consumers may mistakenly assume that 100% of the programs on their HD version of a channel is HD; that is not true. In fact,very few channels offer 100% HD programming. The challenge is knowing the difference.

HD viewing requires an HD show on an HD channel through an HD converter box on an HD TV set. Digital is not HD; while some networks may offer digital channels off of the main channel (X.1, X.7), they are not necessarily HD programming. We are in the midst of a transition and over time HD programming will become the norm. To those who recall the black and white to color transition, this must be similar, although it was far easier to know which was which.