Technology outpaced quality programming?

Question

Everybody has to have the best wide screen TV nowadays. I don’t have one or do I think I will ever buy one. My question is do you think technology has outpaced quality programming on TV?

Answer 1

Do you still play "45's" for music?

Do you use a rotary-dial telephone?

Does your car have a clutch?

Do you have to defrost your freezer/ice-box every few months?

Do you use a slide-rule to do math?

Standard def televisions are based on 1940's technology.  We use modern circuits to show it - but the video/image quality is based on the limits of what we could do back then.

All the other things I asked represent the technology that was available in 1940.

I think we are WAY over-due for a upgrade in the TV standard.

Answer 2

Yes, there is an abundance of content in SD and not very much HD.   However, the content that we do have in HD is very good, especially if it is something that's orginal source is HD - like watching LOST on ABC:  it is the same content in SD and HD but the original source media is in HD therefore it is optimal to view the show in HD.  Seinfield or some other show which the content is key, has all it's source media in Standard Definition so it's not going to get any better in HD - infact, it may look worse to view on a 16x9 TV.   So it is all about content and source media.  Films, such as Star Wars for example, can be upgraded to HD because the source media (film) is already of very high quality [much more resolution than any current HD TV can display] so it would be optimal to view it in its highest consumer TV format which would be 1080p Blu-Ray - but it hasn't been released yet so you're better off watching it on DVD in SD since the content actually exists as of right now!

Answer 3

Here is some interesting stuff i learned when i worked at best buy.  In America the average cable/satellite company has only 5-10% of their channels in hd.  Which means these new HD tv's are really only being used on 5-10% of the channels.  Of course in places like japan they are running over 90% of their channels in hd.  We will catch up only to find a new technology is right around the corner.

Also Japan is in the process of getting their channels in 1080p we are still working on 720p