Nielsen: report shows decline in TV ownership

[KeithE4]

maybe, just maybe, consumers will bite when SHDTV with its 2160p picture eventually rolls out (the other thing they're working on is an Super HDTV with a 4K resolution picture).

The technology keeps advancing. The resolution of the pictures just continues to get sharper and clearer.

Unfortunately, our eyesight does not.

Really, 1080p is good enough for 90% of us. Higher resolution would be better for screens larger than 60", but that's about it. I can't tell the difference between 1080p and 720p with my bad eyes.

 

[Carmine5]

maybe, just maybe, consumers will bite when SHDTV with its 2160p picture eventually rolls out (the other thing they're working on is an Super HDTV with a 4K resolution picture).

The technology keeps advancing. The resolution of the pictures just continues to get sharper and clearer.

Unfortunately, our eyesight does not.

Perhaps technology advancing in this way is a good thing. Televisions get sharper with larger screens and greater color depth to compensate for our eyes getting dimmer.

What is most worrying at this point is the Fed's goal to auction away TV spectrum and repack the band. This will make advances like SHDTV nearly impossible to implement.

 

[mjlarochelle]

When I was working in the marketing side of the cable industry as recently as four months ago, the number of people I came across who did not own a TV numbered in the single digits. One of the people who did not have a TV was a Mennonite who also did not have a computer. The other 2 or 3 were young people. All the other young people I spoke with had a TV; most had either cable or satellite, supplemented by Netflix and other online services. One or two used their TV solely for Netflix or video games.

Among the people I know in my age group (20s), most have a TV. A few use their TV for nothing except running Netflix or playing video games. Others have cable and a handful use OTA. I only know one person with satellite in my age group.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

Plus, it's pretty well assumed that consumers who were going to purchase HDTVs have already done so. The HDTV market is nearly played out. Manufacturers realize this and are now working on the "next big thing." 3DTV is proving to be a bust but maybe, just maybe, consumers will bite when SHDTV with its 2160p picture eventually rolls out (the other thing they're working on is an Super HDTV with a 4K resolution picture).

Probably by that time, broadcasters will have migrated to ATSC 2.0 or 3.0 and the tuners in our current HDTVs will have been rendered obsolete anyway.

A lot of people will not be replacing their 15 year old 27'' inch tube TVs until they break. Certain brands of tube TVs will be working long after they are obsolete.

I don't know about that. In the months leading up to the switch to HD - I saw a lot of tube TVs abandoned on the sidewalk. Sadly, that's the way many people now get rid of old broken or obsolete appliances where I live (San Francisco). But there were so many of them abadnoned at that time, they couldn't have all been broken. I'm sure many people with the financial means upgraded to HDTV even though their tube sets still worked just fine.

We're 50/50 - got an HD set for the living room, but still have the old tube set (watched maybe 3 hours a week) in the bedroom.

It's probably the older people who still have their tube TVs and won't replace them until the set dies (if it dies before them).

 

[nomadcowatbk]

maybe, just maybe, consumers will bite when SHDTV with its 2160p picture eventually rolls out (the other thing they're working on is an Super HDTV with a 4K resolution picture).

The technology keeps advancing. The resolution of the pictures just continues to get sharper and clearer.

Unfortunately, our eyesight does not.

The highest resolution OTA digital TV can support is 1080i, and the pay TV providers don't even have enough bandwidth for uncompressed HDTV right now and are too to cheap to upgrade.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

maybe, just maybe, consumers will bite when SHDTV with its 2160p picture eventually rolls out (the other thing they're working on is an Super HDTV with a 4K resolution picture).

The technology keeps advancing. The resolution of the pictures just continues to get sharper and clearer.

Unfortunately, our eyesight does not.

Really, 1080p is good enough for 90% of us. Higher resolution would be better for screens larger than 60", but that's about it. I can't tell the difference between 1080p and 720p with my bad eyes.

Many can't tell the difference between upconverted DVDs and Blu-ray.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

When I was working in the marketing side of the cable industry as recently as four months ago, the number of people I came across who did not own a TV numbered in the single digits. One of the people who did not have a TV was a Mennonite who also did not have a computer. The other 2 or 3 were young people. All the other young people I spoke with had a TV; most had either cable or satellite, supplemented by Netflix and other online services. One or two used their TV solely for Netflix or video games.

Among the people I know in my age group (20s), most have a TV. A few use their TV for nothing except running Netflix or playing video games. Others have cable and a handful use OTA. I only know one person with satellite in my age group.

With DVRs, people probably actually watch less TV since they pick and choose what they watch and do less channel surfing.

 

[Markxxx]

You guys make valid points. HDTV can't be seen in screens less than 30 inches, due to eye limitations. So it's really about screen size. And the bigger screens also depend on room placement and lighting even more. It's like mp3s, you can encode them at higher bitrates than 320kbs but it doesn't help any after that point. You have to move to lossless.

Our current DTV is old technology and we will need a new upgrade. I've seen date ranges from 2025 to 2050 for how long we can go before needing another TV transition.

Hopefully the next transition will be done so future transitions can be handled with updates to the TV set firmware.

 

[FreddyE1977]

I am starting to notice increasingly large mountains of tube TV's out on the curb
with each passing trash day. I do not doubt that most of them still work. Really
a shame that the recycling programs have not kept pace.

 

[mjlarochelle]

Among the people I know in my age group (20s), most have a TV. A few use their TV for nothing except running Netflix or playing video games. Others have cable and a handful use OTA. I only know one person with satellite in my age group.

With DVRs, people probably actually watch less TV since they pick and choose what they watch and do less channel surfing.
[/quote]

That's very true; we were selling a lot of DVRs this summer, and a lot of people I spoke with had one or more DVRs.

 

[TheRob]

I am starting to notice increasingly large mountains of tube TV's out on the curb
with each passing trash day. I do not doubt that most of them still work. Really
a shame that the recycling programs have not kept pace.

I finally recycled my 23" TV, which I bought in 1996. It works, but it had been sitting in the closet since 2009, when I bought an HDTV. The closest recycling firm accepting electronics required a 12-mile drive into our city's crumbling warehouse district. They charge $0.35 per pound to recycle old TVs. Thus, I paid $14.70 to get rid of my old TV. I can see why people prefer to leave televisions on the curb.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

I am starting to notice increasingly large mountains of tube TV's out on the curb
with each passing trash day. I do not doubt that most of them still work. Really
a shame that the recycling programs have not kept pace.

I finally recycled my 23" TV, which I bought in 1996. It works, but it had been sitting in the closet since 2009, when I bought an HDTV. The closest recycling firm accepting electronics required a 12-mile drive into our city's crumbling warehouse district. They charge $0.35 per pound to recycle old TVs. Thus, I paid $14.70 to get rid of my old TV. I can see why people prefer to leave televisions on the curb.

Some thrift stores won't even accept tube TVs because they're already overstocked with them. It's hard to even give them away.

 

[LynnW]

My 12 year old Sony 32" CRT died about three years ago. It was replaced by the 23 year old 20" Mitsubishi from the bedroom. When that dies, it might be replaced by the 30 year old 13" Circuit City cheapo collecting dust in the basement. Or I might not bother and just cancel DirecTV.

 

[LKellerIII]

I am starting to notice increasingly large mountains of tube TV's out on the curb
with each passing trash day. I do not doubt that most of them still work. Really
a shame that the recycling programs have not kept pace.

I finally recycled my 23" TV, which I bought in 1996. It works, but it had been sitting in the closet since 2009, when I bought an HDTV. The closest recycling firm accepting electronics required a 12-mile drive into our city's crumbling warehouse district. They charge $0.35 per pound to recycle old TVs. Thus, I paid $14.70 to get rid of my old TV. I can see why people prefer to leave televisions on the curb.

Good point. It's too bad the big waste companies won't offer free pick-up as a service for items containing toxic chemicals and parts, but disposing of these things costs them money, so they've decided it's fair to pass the costs on to consumers.

My local waste company "Recology" (even the name sounds green) offers free pick-up twice a year for up to 5 large items, but many types of items are excluded. So you can throw away a couch for free, but not a TV. I tried to get them to take away a tire I've had in my garage for years. They told me I'd have to bring it into the dump myself - Minimum charge - $25. It is tempting to dump it on the sidewalk, or find an unlocked dumpster somewhere :'(

There are occasional free pick-up 'events' in my area for computers and other electronic items - I'm sure they take TVs. But those things come around on an irregular basis.

 

[BMR]

My 12 year old Sony 32" CRT died about three years ago. It was replaced by the 23 year old 20" Mitsubishi from the bedroom. When that dies, it might be replaced by the 30 year old 13" Circuit City cheapo collecting dust in the basement.

Nice plan! I too plan to use my CRT til it breaks

 

[vchimpanzee]

My 12 year old Sony 32" CRT died about three years ago. It was replaced by the 23 year old 20" Mitsubishi from the bedroom. When that dies, it might be replaced by the 30 year old 13" Circuit City cheapo collecting dust in the basement.

Nice plan! I too plan to use my CRT til it breaks

Me too. I have six. The VCRs quit working right on three of them but the problem mysteriously cleared up on one of those. The third might work now too but it's hooked up to TiVo.

Two of the TVs have no converter boxes or cable at the present time so they wouldn't work. I fogot! There's one vCR that still has the tape stuck in it. I should try to get it out and that VCR might work too. The TV can't be used since the VCR problem makes the TV turn off.