http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/ Engadget HD Comments for http://www.engadgethd.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadgethd.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/Dec 30th 2006 11:49PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/
i suspect there are things you don't know a lot about, perhaps fine wines, maybe car repair -- who knows -- what seems like commons sense to the sommelier or auto mechanic is beyond your laymen's grasp of the field. i don't where your knowledge isn't of expert level, perhaps you are a great mechanic and have a 5,000 bottle wine cellar, what i'm quite sure of though if you had spent thousands on something only to be disappointed in the result, the last thing you'd want is for an "expert" to ridicule you.

personally, while i understand the differences between 720p, 1080i, etc... i find them obtuse and overly technical.]]>Dec 31st 2006 2:30PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/
Now, consider the technical knowledge required to select, purchase, install and program TV tooday. Multiple components, numerous variables, many failure points, inadequate instruction and unclear expectations and competing interfaces. Any wonder the average mom and dad has a hard time.

People have become neither smarter nor dumber in the last 10 years. However, the load they're now required to shoulder with new technology is enormous.]]>Dec 31st 2006 9:15PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/
I think that since a lot of stores don't do commission, there isn't an incentive for these sales people to go "above and beyond." The idea of good customer service is a joke nowadays.]]>Dec 31st 2006 12:53AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/Lots of blame to go around. I didn't find it that hard to understand but then I read up on it and it's a bit of a hobby.
The average Joe needs a little more help. You'd think with the money involved a better job would get done. ]]>Dec 31st 2006 1:38AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/Dec 31st 2006 8:07PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/
I work hard to make sure that my customers have a good understanding of HD before they're out the door, and my managers have complemented (and rewarded) me for my hard work, but the fact remains that most of the employees CAN'T educate the customers because they don't posses the knowledge to do so.

The solution? Offer more pay to draw competent talent, plain and simple.]]>Dec 31st 2006 1:56AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/Dec 31st 2006 3:33PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/Dec 31st 2006 2:08AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/Dec 31st 2006 3:16PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/Dec 31st 2006 6:57AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/
For instance, taking the same standard definition content and putting it up on a display that may be larger or of higher resolution will yield how poor that content is. Now take content that is overly compressed and do it. My off the air digital signal for standard definnition content is lightyears ahead of anything Directv can bring me.]]>Dec 31st 2006 8:53AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/Dec 31st 2006 4:34PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/
CENSORSHIP these days in the USA is the real problem.
When the will of the few over ride the will of the many - That's the big issue. I want to see Pulp Fiction for example, unedited after 10:00 pm on regular TV damn it! It's time to speak up! Seriously!
FREE OR FREEDOM! ]]>Dec 31st 2006 2:32PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/
Rarely will Canadian networks or other programming options showing things like Rescue Me uncut on basic cable, get complaints.

And for even more fun for adults, tune in Radio Canada - the french language television service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation :{) I'm proud of how far we've progressed "up here".

I'm not claiming Canada is better than your situation in the U.S., but I do know we're not all knotted-up about language or sex.

We don't have the FCC to deal with, and their ridiculous language/sex hangups. Or maybe we're just all headed to hell for hearing the word **** being transmitted, or a flash of boob or other nether regions. *shrug* Time Will Tell, I guess ]]>Jan 2nd 2007 6:54PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/Dec 31st 2006 3:46PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/
The thing I blame the industry and retailers for is the people who are intimidated away from HD by the complexity, not the people who dive in foolishly and then beef.]]>Jan 1st 2007 5:40PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/Dec 31st 2006 4:47PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/
Besides personal responsibility HD education should be given by Monitor Manufacturers, Cable and Satalite providers and content providers.

What confused me about HD was I entered into it thinking it was "new" technology. When in reality an HDTV is just like a modern (CRT or LCD) 15" to 19" computer monitor at native res. And those have been around for years. SD is like having a 20" monitor or greater set at 600 x 400 which lowers the amount of info you can have on the desktop.

Big secret: if you want HD on the cheap Use a 22" WS computer monitor and a Home theatre in a box. Comcast Motorola DVR boxes have DVI interfaces.]]>Dec 31st 2006 5:16PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/Just wait until consumers find out their bluray/hddvd are going to be downgraded from HDCP that their HD tv doesn't have!!!!!!!!!!!!!]]>Dec 31st 2006 5:22PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/Dec 31st 2006 5:43PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/Dec 31st 2006 5:45PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/
1. You can't blame the consumers. TV has "just worked" for at least 30 years or more. Sure, some folks would get confused with multiple video/audio inputs and outputs in the past, but those were comparatively simple problems. All you really had to do is ship around an NTSC signal and some audio from device to device to get a picture and sound. Not a big deal. Even adding stereo audio in the 80's wasn't a big deal. Today consumers are expected to know NTSC (they never knew what that was before) plus 480i, 480p, 720i, 720p, 1080i, 1080p, LCD, plasma, DLP, HD, ED, SD, HDCP, component HD, HDMI, VGA, SPDIF and so on ad infinitum. You really expect consumers to pick this up? They shouldn't have to to watch TV. To get the best possible bleeding-edge picture they should be expected to study up a bit, but to watch some simple TV -- even simple HD -- the bar to entry should be much lower.

2. You can't blame the retailers. Their job is to make money, to sell the products. Some may spend more time or less time explaining products and features and standards and all, but to really understand HDTV, start to finish, would take a master class -- no retailer is going to provide that level of instruction for free, nor should they. Better boutique retailers will, for a fee, do all the work for you, and good on them. The Best Buys and Circuit Cities are warehouse stores, not specialists. They should be able to list features on a little card by each TV, list a price, and get the box out to your car -- end of story.

3. You can partially blame the TV networks and cable and satellite providers. To their credit they've been dealing with changing out their own in-house transmission gear and dealing with constantly changing FCC regulations with relationship to HD programming requirements and standards. Plus, they're out to make money, not explain every possible variation of TV and program stream out there. But they do deserve some blame for lobbying Congress for delay after delay after delay on the rollout. And cable and satellite providers deserve an extra helping of blame for providing pseudo-HD services, not real HD services, and insulating so many consumers from a digital conversion. Wait until 2009 when analog over the air disappears and cable and satellite customers suddenly realize there was something going on behind their backs over the last several years and no one told them about it.

4. You CAN blame the FCC, Congress and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) for completely screwing this pooch from day one. The NAB plays the victim, but they could have taken a lead here and set meaningful standards and encouraged thoughtful regulations. The FCC has botched everything they've touched for the past 15 years, and HDTV is no difference. Congress has been all too happy to take money from manufacturers, broadcasters and others to delay HDTV rollouts for at least a decade. And they all participated in making a "Baskin-Robbins 31 Flavors" of HD fiasco out of this. There are too many standards and variations on HD programming. NTSC, for all its faults, was good for being a one-size-fits-all solution.

5. You CAN blame all the countries of the world for failing to produce a single international standard for digital television broadcast. There are far too many, and the manufacturers have to make so many different products on so many different standards -- we all lose due to the diffused competition and parts specialization that drives up costs.

6. Finally, you can definitely blame the manufacturers for producting TV sets and monitors that do not deal with the multiplicity of viewing standards in a smooth way and for muddying the waters with competing claims about feature sets and display technologies. To this day, the LCD vs. Plasma debate rages. And now we have HD-DVD and Blu-ray, too. Even though we have a colossal mess on our hands with all these standards and systems, the manufacturers could have spent more time making products that just put out good pictures regardless of source. It takes extra engineering, but that's what we're paying you people to do!

In the end, it's NO WONDER consumers are confused when selecting a set, and no wonder they are disappointed with the results. Just be sure to spread the blame around liberally -- there are a lot of players that played a losing game here.]]>Dec 31st 2006 6:12PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/
Broadcasters, Cable and Satilite providers should have been casting in HD 5 years ago in my opinion.

When I got my HD set (720p/i) I felt cheated. Not necessarily because the clairity of HD channels made all the SD look like complete crap. But, knowing that The level of detail in film media has been around for a while. But until reciently you could only see that level of detail in a movie theatre.

My next complaint is HD Media replacing DVD's. $500-$1000 USD for a next gen media player.]]>Dec 31st 2006 7:35PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/Dec 31st 2006 6:54PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/
Yes, Rabbit Ears! Not the expensive type, just a plain HD antenna. The one I have is just like the one at this link ... $21

http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?main_cat=03&CAT=&PROD=ZHDTV1

Great HD pPictures of all local channels for all major networks.

(For 30 days we have attempted to get DirectTV to finish the install of their HD DVR but they can't quite seem to get it right.)]]>Dec 31st 2006 10:49PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/Jan 1st 2007 2:08AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/
]]>Jan 1st 2007 4:05AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/Jan 1st 2007 10:33AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/Jan 1st 2007 1:52PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/Jan 1st 2007 2:08PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/
HD is already competing on the little things like brightness and contrast and whatever saleable feature clinches the sale for the manufacturer. As the technology matures so to will useability. Sour Grapes on a grand scale IMHO, give it time these early adopters are still breathing eating there corn flakes I think this report was sensationalistic.

Join a discussion group and many mannnny new owners are absolutely thrilled to bits!

Any new technology is problematic, patience.]]>Jan 1st 2007 4:58PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/When will people realize that if you the consumer don't make an effort to understand and know about something you are always going to be screwed by those who can and will screw you at every opportunity.
These same people are also the ones who want small government, so let them know that without a strong oversight over business, there is no business that acts nobly or has any real principles besides " Profit maximization at all costs".
So yes you can find ways to blame everyone and maybe thats justified but at the end of the day the individuals are to blame for not reading and informing themselves.
Those who read and are commenting out here are but a very small percentage of the population that cares and is informed.
So go around telling people to go to the Library or online to read and get informed on everything they do or spend money on. Maybe if they did that we will have a better society.
]]>Jan 3rd 2007 8:16AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/I was recently checking out circuit city's web site and they had hatachi 65F59 tv advertised for $1199. I then read that they were telling me that it had a built in hdtv tuner. I knew that this was not true and i checked the hitachi web site and they confirmed my suspicions. I then e-mailed circuit city and they told me that set did indeed have a built in hdtv tuner. I said that was not true and they told me to contact the local store. They told me their salespeople were very knowledgeable and could help me with this.
I then called the Evansville Indiana and the tv salesperson that the 65F59 tv did have a built in hdtv tuner. I said that i know for a fact that it doesn't. He said that he would go check and when he came back he told me that it definately had the built in hdtv tuner.
I told him you had better call hitachi. They could enlighten him a bit.
I also called Hitachi and talked to a customer service rep and he told me circuit city and others should not be advertising this way. It could possibly get everyone involved in trouble.
Can you imagine if some unsuspecting consumer would purchase this set and go home thinking he can get the same high def picture that he sees in the store. He would probably be upset.
I then called the better business bureau and told them about this. the BBB then told me that they had received over 3000 complaints about circuit city and over 600 of these were about advertising. So i doubt if this problem is anything new to cc.
I went ahead and checked various other business and found a lot of them were advertising these same tv sets in the same way.
I contacted the local newspaper to see if they were interested in the false advertising that they were displaying and they told me to contact the BBB. So they were more interested in getting the advertising money than actually helping the consumer.
I also contacted a local tv station to see if they were interested in running a story and they have not contacted me.
Meanwhile i just checked the circuit city web site and guess what, they have corrected their errors. so i guess between me and the BBB they finally decidedly to correct their advertising.
If anyone expects the federal government to help in this manner, you had better guess again.
The tv industry is responsible for all the different formats and the feds do nothing to rectify this. There are no standards and regulations to protect the consumer.
Buyerbeware is the word.
]]>Jan 15th 2007 12:03PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/12/30/millions-miffed-at-poor-quality-from-holiday-hdtv-purchase/Feb 7th 2007 12:29AM