The change to digital less noticeable than color was

[oldtvman]

I have had people come over and I would show them what a program looked like broadcast in HD. For the most part (even my wife) the response was less than enthusiastic.


When I was a kid a my dad took me to a tv store one day, my eyeballs just about popped out, there was a television and the show was in living color! I guess in simpler times color was much more of a big deal. In today's world with all the other distractions it almost becomes a ho-hum!

[MRX37]

I agree that digital is more ho hum then color, but to me so far it's not been as nightmarish as I expected.

[kx250rider]

I think that the issue here is that today's public is spoiled by technology. Probably radio was the single most exciting technical development, the first time that a human voice was heard over the radio, as opposed to Morse Code. Then television itsself was a big one, and finally color.

Now with all the other technology around, there just isn't any true excitement no matter what the development is. We are now conditioned to just expect these developments regularly, and nothing is a great wonder anymore. Just as cellphones were a new excitement about 20 years ago, and I was only marginally fascinated when we were driving to Wisconsin last year, and Kay decided to get on the internet and do the company payroll from her laptop, with a cellphone modem, on a desolate highway in the middle of the Utah desert. Ho-hum, anymore.

Charles

[cbenham]

Originally Posted by kx250rider

I think that the issue here is that today's public is spoiled by technology. Charles

I have to agree that for most consumers that is probably the case.
After 10 years HD is still exciting for me because it mostly just works. When I started working in commercial TV in 1967, the station had just begun broadcasting locally produced color programming. At that time the effort required to make good color included complete camera setups and adjustments before every show, and usually while the show was in progress. Videotape in proper color was not at all easy to achieve, besides the fact that some of those 2 inch thick reels of tape weighed 30 lbs! It was sooo hard to make really good detailed and colorfull pictures at that time with the then current state of the art and to do it consistantly day in, day out.
With HD today all that is usualy required is to turn the equipment on and wait for it to boot!
Cliff

[Greg B.]

Originally Posted by cbenham

After 10 years HD is still exciting for me because it mostly just works.

You really think so? I've had HD for a couple of years now and while it can be impressive depending on the programming, it seems to have an awful lot of glitches. Picture freezes, sound dropouts, out of synch sound/picture, and pixelization problems are fairly common. It strikes me as much the same as other digital technologies -- great when it works, but beset by an infinite number of bugs and compromises that nobody really understands very well.

[wa2ise]

I've seen bad "HDTV" done in places like "Best Buy". Lots of low res, over cored images on every screen. The source images look to be low res over processed, and then cascaded by more processing in each set. Barf. I've seen real HDTV, so I know what it should look like.

[ChrisW6ATV]

Originally Posted by Greg B.

I've had HD for a couple of years now and while it can be impressive depending on the programming, it seems to have an awful lot of glitches. Picture freezes, sound dropouts, out of synch sound/picture, and pixelization problems are fairly common. It strikes me as much the same as other digital technologies -- great when it works, but beset by an infinite number of bugs and compromises that nobody really understands very well.

HDTV and digital TV in general "just plain work" for me, too. Yes, there were some problems with it here in, like, 2000 and 2001, but I can't remember the last time I had any issues with receiving TV signals. I haven't watched any analog TV in years.

Originally Posted by cbenham

I have to agree that for most consumers that is probably the case.
After 10 years HD is still exciting for me because it mostly just works. When I started working in commercial TV in 1967, the station had just begun broadcasting locally produced color programming. At that time the effort required to make good color included complete camera setups and adjustments before every show, and usually while the show was in progress. Videotape in proper color was not at all easy to achieve, besides the fact that some of those 2 inch thick reels of tape weighed 30 lbs! It was sooo hard to make really good detailed and colorfull pictures at that time with the then current state of the art and to do it consistantly day in, day out.
With HD today all that is usualy required is to turn the equipment on and wait for it to boot!
Cliff

Hi, when you talk about those 'quad' vtrs..I wonder, just how finicky were they..especially about being in the right environment, having to be cleaned, and the adjustments that had to be made to get a decent picture, either in black and white or color? And what color cameras did you get to work with?

[andy]

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[bgadow]

I often think of what a big deal it would have been if HDTV had hit the market big back in the late 80s. It would have been a big deal, and would have saved a lot of people in the industry their jobs. (think Zenith)

[oldtvman]

Originally Posted by bgadow

I often think of what a big deal it would have been if HDTV had hit the market big back in the late 80s. It would have been a big deal, and would have saved a lot of people in the industry their jobs. (think Zenith)

Funny you should mention that because I remember seeing prototype HD sets at the consumer electronics show back in the 80's Remember there were several proposed hd systems back then and it was left up to the ATSC to decide which system the US would use

[old_tv_nut]

Hey Cliff - great- uh, I mean SUPER avatar!

[Don Lindsly]

Color produced a significant consumer benefit over B&W. For the past 20 years, NTSC color TV produced a quality picture. Only the most critical viewer can appreciate the difference between a decent NTSC picture and and HDTV.

Consumer acceptance was limited so manufacturers, now all foreign, lobbied for a mandated change to force public acceptance. If it were so great, it wouldn't be mandatory. Color was never mandatory. Customers and advertisers wanted it so broadcasters and receiver manufacturers provided it. Like most government mandated programs, we just endure it, not welcome it.

With over 70% of viewers on cable, the Feb '09 hard shutdown will have less effect so there is no urgency and diminished interest. Like digital cellular, digital TV is not about customers.

[Carmine]

Originally Posted by Don Lindsly

Color produced a significant consumer benefit over B&W. For the past 20 years, NTSC color TV produced a quality picture. Only the most critical viewer can appreciate the difference between a decent NTSC picture and and HDTV.

Consumer acceptance was limited so manufacturers, now all foreign, lobbied for a mandated change to force public acceptance. If it were so great, it wouldn't be mandatory. Color was never mandatory. Customers and advertisers wanted it so broadcasters and receiver manufacturers provided it. Like most government mandated programs, we just endure it, not welcome it.

With over 70% of viewers on cable, the Feb '09 hard shutdown will have less effect so there is no urgency and diminished interest. Like digital cellular, digital TV is not about customers.

Hammer, meet Mr. Nailhead.

[oldtvman]

Originally Posted by Don Lindsly

Color produced a significant consumer benefit over B&W. For the past 20 years, NTSC color TV produced a quality picture. Only the most critical viewer can appreciate the difference between a decent NTSC picture and and HDTV.

Consumer acceptance was limited so manufacturers, now all foreign, lobbied for a mandated change to force public acceptance. If it were so great, it wouldn't be mandatory. Color was never mandatory. Customers and advertisers wanted it so broadcasters and receiver manufacturers provided it. Like most government mandated programs, we just endure it, not welcome it.

With over 70% of viewers on cable, the Feb '09 hard shutdown will have less effect so there is no urgency and diminished interest. Like digital cellular, digital TV is not about customers.

That's the response when relatives come over and watch HD, I do mention the program is broadcast in hd, but I get this ho-hum response.

On the other hand we were the first family to get color in 1963, and when relatives came over we got an oh-wow! Response. Color was a tangible change to where HD for us in the business is a major improvment over analog but is wasted on the masses