Are you sure you're watching high def?

This latest article states again that surveys show half the people with HDTVs are not watching high definition. From the article by Peter Grant for the Wall Street Journal:

Anyone who thinks consumers understand high-definition television should consider a recent survey by Leichtman Research Group.

It concluded that close to one-half of the 24 million households with HDTVs don't actually watch high-definition programs because they haven't obtained the necessary hardware from their cable, phone or satellite operators.

And about one half of those viewers - about six million - don't even realize they're not watching HDTV. Bruce Leichtman, the market research firm's president, figures the confusion is partly because the consumers spend so much money on the set they can't believe they're not getting what they paid for. "This is cognitive dissonance," he says.

HDTV, and maybe digital television in general, is not your father's television (to borrow a phrase). It is more appropriate to think of HDTV as Computer-TV. It certainly seems more computer than television in the old sense I think. And we all know there are still a lot of computer-challenged friends and relatives among us. I really hope the industry continues to educate and to make HDTV more user-friendly.

The answer is Lost

Where is the hope that KMID-2 will begin High Definition broadcasts this year?

The latest I hear is mid-2008.

Your favorite ABC programs like Lost, Grey's Anatomy, and (snicker) Desperate Housewives will remain 4:3 standard definition for another season. Or two.

The NFL Football Season Ends Today

The Pro Bowl (CBS7) is not in HD today but the NASCAR Bud Shootout (KPEJ24) is. I might watch a few minutes of the Pro Bowl but that particular football game has just never held my interest. And, because today is our anniversary (28 years) and I'm taking my wife to dinner, I guess I'll record the race and watch it tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime I'll continue to watch and listen to new Dallas Cowboys Coach Wade Son of Bum Phillips at dallascowboys.com.

I have to admit it's been hard to keep my attention on TV lately. I keep thinking about the local bloggers who have recently been/are taking ballroom dancing classes. Why in the world are they doing it? I know the reasons they've stated in their blogs but what is the real reason? Is this going to become the latest fad in West Texas? I cannot believe that one day in the not-too-distant future I'm going to wake up some morning and start Googling "Ballroom Dancing Lessons in Odessa Midland" because everyone else in West Texas seems to be doing it. I am a bit susceptible to suggestion but surely not with something like ballroom dancing. No, there has to be something else going on here. I can see maybe one guy making an unintended affirmative reaction to his wife's suggestion because he wasn't paying attention while she was watching Dancing With The Stars. Or maybe one guy recently attended a function and found he and his mate the only two people at the function not out on the ritzy dance floor doing the whatever-Cha-Cha-Cha and was shamed. But two guys getting swept up in this within a few months? No, that's just not likely. And, I think neither of these guys is above an elaborate practical joke. Has one of them, or maybe both in cahoots, begun some slow-developing sinister plot to sucker in their readers? I don't know about anyone else out there but I, for one, am going to be watching this latest development very carefully. There's something awfully fishy going on. Or maybe I'm just paranoid.
Again. Still.

Superbowl XLI in HD

I enjoyed watching my first superbowl in high definition. The CBS 1080i picture quality was very good but still noticeably less sharp than what I've come to expect from 720p broadcasts. The weather was partially to blame as continuous rain throughout the game softened the view and boy, rain drops on HD cameras sure are obvious - especially in the long shots.

The local broadcast (KOSA via Grande for me) was well done except for the Lithia Toyota commercials which were 4:3 standard definition, s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d to 16:9 so that everyone in them appeared short, fat and fuzzy.

Most, if not all, the much anticipated national commercials were in high def and looked very good. The commercial which showed the best qualities of HDTV was the one in which Coke gave us a peek at what goes on inside a coke machine when you drop in your money. By the way, was that a quarter? Where, this side of 1969, can you buy a Coke from a machine for a quarter?

And finally, in case you missed it, you can see all the superbowl ads online at CBS.SportsLine.com.

CableCard DVRs Do Exist Afterall

I guess my skepticism was unjustified in my previous entry on this subject. I just found this release from Motorola which announces a new line of cable set top boxes which use CableCard and/or OCAP to meet the separable security requirement mandated by the FCC. There is no indication in the release if these DVRs will be available in adequate numbers by July.