This may be the year when HDTV goes mainstream

[Chris Blount]

The boob tube we grew up watching is going the way of videocassette recorders. Digital television is taking over the airwaves, store shelves and our living rooms. Some experts say this will be the year when high-definition TV goes from being a toy for the rich to a mainstream media appliance.

If you think you are going to sit out this revolution, think again. The switch to digital will affect everyone who watches television. By 2007 all television programming must be broadcast digitally, and much of it will be available in a high-definition format, known as HDTV, offering even better picture quality. The Federal Communications Commission has set 2006 as a transition year for consumers, manufacturers and cable and satellite providers to switch from analog to digital television.

Rather than wait two or three years, many manufacturers and content providers have already embraced digital television, and its superior form, HDTV, and are bringing film-quality images to viewers. The HDTV format displays twice as much color resolution and an image that is six times sharper than the standard TV format. That translates to more dramatic, realistic images: droplets of sweat beading on the faces of players and whiskers bristling on snarling tigers.

Full Story (http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/8404228.htm)

[Geronimo]

But I don't want to pay % grand for a set that allows me to see swet an britling whiskers. When the price drops sufficiently I will jump.

[dfergie]

As long as some retalilers...have hdtv sets hooked up to sd signals or hd down rezzed where it really looks letter boxed and like sd most people will wait until forced. Myself I went hd in Jan a year ago and hardly watch sd any more. :)

[dbdsac]

As long as some retalilers...have hdtv sets hooked up to sd signals or hd down rezzed where it really looks letter boxed and like sd most people will wait until forced. Myself I went hd in Jan a year ago and hardly watch sd any more. :)

This depends on which store you go into. But, granted, most stores have a horrible HDTV display. For this reason, most people have never expirienced true HD. Many are very disappointed when they walk in to their local "box" stores to see what all the HDTV talk is about and see the horrible picture being displayed on a $3,000 set. A common response is, "...my TV looks better than this! No way am I spending $3,000 for that garbage!"

Too bad...they don't know what they are missing! ;)

[Nick]

"This may be the year when HDTV goes mainstream"

If by "this", you mean 2004, that would be wrong. Keep in mind that HD content isn't there yet.

HD is definitely ramping up well, but to say that this will be "the year" is totally unrealistic. First, what is the definition of "mainstream" anyway? When the preponderance of HD displays are priced well under $1k, i.e., affordable by the average joe, then you will see them going out the door of Wal*Mart along with the Huggies and Depends.

[JM Anthony]

"This may be the year when HDTV goes mainstream"
First, what is the definition of "mainstream" anyway? When the preponderance of HD displays are priced well under $1k, i.e., affordable by the average joe, then you will see them going out the door of Wal*Mart along with the Huggies and Depends.
While I agree that '04 won't be the watershed year, I disagree that <$1k is all that critical for set prices. Joe 6-pack who will throw lots of $$ against anything cool will make the plunge at $2-3K when the airwaves are filled with good sports broadcasts.

Final Four this year was great. I'm watching the Masters with my better half who gives me all sorts of grief when I invest in our home theater. My wife is one of those single digit handicappers and now she thinks the HD set was a great buy. This is the same way I hooked her on Dish back in '96.

[Jacob S]

I also do not think this will be the year of HD. Tv's will have to come down in price and more HD content will have to become available before that will happen. Even if the price came down on the tv's without a lot more HD content becoming available it would help enormously.

[mini1]

"By 2007 all television programming must be broadcast digitally, and much of it will be available in a high-definition format, known as HDTV, offering even better picture quality. The Federal Communications Commission has set 2006 as a transition year for consumers, manufacturers and cable and satellite providers to switch from analog to digital television."
This mandate ONLY applies to OTA broadcasts and nothing else. The mandate does not effect the cable and satellite industry at all, but it most likely will effect the cable industry as they pust to have 100% digital cable in the next 2-4 years.

[jrbdmb]

I should copyright the follwing text, I see it so often in the Internet and trade papers:

"Product aaa has had some limited sucess so far, due in part to its high cost. But analysts at firm bbb predict that this is the year that aaa will go mainstream, with the number of users increasing ccc% (some number over 100%) this year and as high as ddd% (multiply ccc by at least a factor of 4) next year."

These stories (which I suspect are often planted in the media by those with a vested interest in the product / technology - i.e. the experts quoted in the story from Pioneer and GoodGuys) always tend to overestimate how quickly these new products will be accepted by the market.

By 2007 all television programming must be broadcast digitally, and much of it will be available in a high-definition format, known as HDTV, offering even better picture quality. The Federal Communications Commission has set 2006 as a transition year for consumers, manufacturers and cable and satellite providers to switch from analog to digital television. Not a chance. *Maybe* the transition happens by 2010.