Thursday, March 09, 2006

Clueless Video

When we bought an HDTV last Memorial Day, we rapidly ordered an HDTV converter box from our local cable tyrant. That's because we were smart enough to know that just because a program is on a Hi-Def TV, it's not necessarily in Hi-Def; and we figured we'd be missing out on the benefits of our investment unless we actually saw HDTV programming on the box.

Apparently, not everyone who buys one of these hi-tech idiot boxes is that (ahem) smart. According to a Christian Science Monitor article from last month, more than half of HDTV owners aren't getting HDTV on the set:

-- About 40% know they're not getting Hi-Def programming; but aren't sure how to get it (or just want to use the TV to watch DVDs); and

-- About 17% believe they are watching High-Definition programming -- because they bought a High Definition TV and, dammit, anything on it has to be in Hi-Def!

A pollster interviewed for the article wryly notes that about 80% of HDTV purchasers are men -- who may be reluctant to admit they made a mistake.

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