31% of Seattle households have HDTV

Sam Spade wrote:
Larry Bud wrote:


The switch to HDTV has millions of Americans buying new sets already.
Here's the basics on what's available. "

Cripe, he can't even get this right. It's not a switch to HDTV, it's a
switch to digital broadcasting. His 31% number is suspect in my
eyes.


That technical distinction is lost on most consumers. They see it as a
switch to high definition television.

But it's not a consumer writing this article, it's supposed to be an
expert.

If the so-called experts can't even get it right, it's no surprise the
public who reads this stuff don't get it.

Mark Crispin wrote:
On Mon, 21 Aug 2006, wrote:
I see many published items that muddy the Digital v. HD issue.
The people writing these stories don't understand the difference
between HD and Standard Definition digital. From reading the
item referenced by the link above, it's clear that Robert Mak
doesn't understand it.

Once again, boys and girls, get the damn transcript! Don't make
assumptions based upon a few paragraphs in a web page. Sheesh, kids today
are so lazy.

You're the one who posted the damn article in the first place, with a
subject line of "31% of Seattle Households Have HDTV"!!

No, the 31% was the figure of households that had HDTV.

Like I said, I'd like to see a source for that. Just because the guy
in the article, who doesn't distinguish between HD and Digital says
it's so, doesn't make it so.

Larry Bud wrote:
Mark Crispin wrote:
On Mon, 21 Aug 2006, wrote:
I see many published items that muddy the Digital v. HD issue.
The people writing these stories don't understand the difference
between HD and Standard Definition digital. From reading the
item referenced by the link above, it's clear that Robert Mak
doesn't understand it.
Once again, boys and girls, get the damn transcript! Don't make
assumptions based upon a few paragraphs in a web page. Sheesh, kids today
are so lazy.

You're the one who posted the damn article in the first place, with a
subject line of "31% of Seattle Households Have HDTV"!!

No, the 31% was the figure of households that had HDTV.

Like I said, I'd like to see a source for that. Just because the guy
in the article, who doesn't distinguish between HD and Digital says
it's so, doesn't make it so.

And does he mean that 31% have an HDTV set, have an HDTV set and think
they have HD, think they have an HDTV set and think they have HDTV, have
an analog set and think they are watching HD because it says so on the
screen or does he mean they have an HDTV set and are actually receiving
HD part of the time.

Other more reliable sources suggest that up 50% or more of those who
actually have an HDTV set don't have any HDTV service to go with it.

So that 31%, if it means the percent that actually receives an HD signal
and has an HDTV set, may represent only half of those in Seattle who
have HDTV sets.

Maybe what he is saying is that 62% of homes in Seattle have an HDTV set.

Wow! Considering that on the average only 18% of US homes have an HDTV
set of which say 9% are watching HD and of which maybe 1% are receiving
it free OTA.

Go Seattle! So maybe 2% of Seattle gets OTA HD. That super.

Bob Miller

On Wed, 23 Aug 2006, Richard C. wrote:
I live in Seattle.

I live in a Seattle suburb.

I know many, many people who now have digital TVs.
There are even more antennas on roofs than there were two years ago.

I agree. It's pretty easy to tell new rooftop antennas from the old ones;
the new ones are UHF-only since that's where all the DTV channels are.
Then, too, you can see who has HDTV satellite, both by the distinctive
multi-satellite dishes and equally distinctive OTA antennas that the
satellite companies use.

The ATSC tuner in DirecTV's H20 receiver is quite a bit better than any
other I've seen. For most OTA channels, I don't have to aim the antenna
at all any more; the exceptions are the shop-at-home channels and one of
the televangelism channels.

All the electronics stores are filled with HDTV TV sets -- and people
buying them. There's a small area that fire-sales the analog sets that
are still in inventory, and a slightly larger area for the el cheapo SD
and "EDTV" digital sets. But what people are buying are the large screen
HDTV sets.

-- Mark --

http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.

On Thu, 24 Aug 2006 14:29:34 -0700, Mark Crispin
wrote:

I agree. It's pretty easy to tell new rooftop antennas from the old ones;
the new ones are UHF-only since that's where all the DTV channels are.

Untrue. There are many VHF DTV stations. Most are high-band VHF.
Low-band doesn't seem to work well. I have one in my market on Channel
11.

Rich

On Sat, 2 Sep 2006, Rich Wood wrote:
On Thu, 24 Aug 2006 14:29:34 -0700, Mark Crispin wrote:
I agree. It's pretty easy to tell new rooftop antennas from the old ones;
the new ones are UHF-only since that's where all the DTV channels are.
Untrue. There are many VHF DTV stations. Most are high-band VHF.
Low-band doesn't seem to work well. I have one in my market on Channel
11.

To clarify: in that posting I was referring to the DTV channels in the
Seattle area, which indeed are all in UHF. I am well-aware that there are
DTV channels in VHF in other markets, just not here.

People who buy "HDTV antennas" around here are all buying UHF-only
antennas, often taking down any old VHF antenna that was on the roof.

I don't know what will happen in the long-term. Two of the VHF analog
broadcasters are low-band (4 and 5); the others are high-band (7, 9, 11,
and 13).

-- Mark --

http://panda.com/mrc
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.

Mark Crispin wrote:

On Wed, 23 Aug 2006, Richard C. wrote:
I live in Seattle.

I live in a Seattle suburb.

I know many, many people who now have digital TVs.
There are even more antennas on roofs than there were two years ago.

I agree. It's pretty easy to tell new rooftop antennas from the old ones;
the new ones are UHF-only since that's where all the DTV channels are.
Then, too, you can see who has HDTV satellite, both by the distinctive
multi-satellite dishes and equally distinctive OTA antennas that the
satellite companies use.

The ATSC tuner in DirecTV's H20 receiver is quite a bit better than any
other I've seen. For most OTA channels, I don't have to aim the antenna
at all any more; the exceptions are the shop-at-home channels and one of
the televangelism channels.

All the electronics stores are filled with HDTV TV sets -- and people
buying them. There's a small area that fire-sales the analog sets that
are still in inventory, and a slightly larger area for the el cheapo SD
and "EDTV" digital sets. But what people are buying are the large screen
HDTV sets.

-- Mark --

http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.


your hard empirical data to support this is?

How many of these HD sets are being used to view HD,,??