Quality, schmality? Who really cares about video quality?

(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)

High-definition, 1080p, Blu-ray, blah, blah, blah. There's a lot of talk about quality--manufacturers, consumers, and yes, and maybe most of all, by reviewers--but out in the real world, does anybody really give a crap about quality? The rush to HDTV is all well and good, but last night in a trendy midtown bar, I was appalled by the picture plastered on their 60 inch plasma. It was in eyeball searing mode, faces were an intense shade of orange, and of course, the aspect ratio was off, so even the skinniest TV hotties were fat and wide.

OK, it was a bar, but I remember that at one of last year's TV manufacturer line shows, they had commissioned a famous photographer to do high-rez portraits of movie stars, and despite all the hype about how much they cared about quality and resolution, the hosts proceeded to show a room full of consumer electronics journalists a parade of bloated faces. Right, every single one displayed incorrectly. I sat there squirming in my seat.

Point is, it's easy to talk about quality, but without the desire to follow through, it's just talk. Most of the HDTVs I see at major manufacturers showrooms in New York City are horribly out of whack. It's the rarest sight, seeing a well setup TV, so it's no wonder most people get it wrong. It's easier to just sell the latest and greatest new tech, and whatever the consumer experiences, well, they're on their own.

Of course, audio is in even worse shape. Good quality sound is harder to find, but only handful of audiophiles would ever claim to care about sound. Good enough audio is good enough for everyone else.

[john55440]

For me, DTV means a Zenith-LG converter box on a Sony analog television. Your article makes me glad that I don't own a pricy HDTV. :-)

[johnnysocko]

I really thought I was the only one waiting for the prices to come down to what I think a TV should cost. Thanks.

But my audio side of things I spent untold $$ over the years :)

[Fantastipotamus]

You're glad you don't own a pricey HDTV why, exactly? Because you're not willing to put in the 5 minutes it takes to change the color and contrast levels to something that isn't airline-flight attendant orange and 4:3 stretched to 16:9? If you're too lazy to spend 5 minutes on something you just spent $1000 on, then please don't get behind the wheel of a car, just ride a bike.

In the case of the bar above, whomever installed the TV (I'm sure it was professionally done) is probably out of business. While it's true ordinary SDTV can look miserable on a big screen TV, there are things you can do to minimize the issues with it.

Ultimately, both in terms of the bar TV setup and the professional showoff display, I highly question the abilities of the people involved in setting up the systems. If you can't understand that an ordinary aspect photogragh is not widescreen, then at the very least the testing you do (or should have done) long before the show could have saved a lot of embarassment. And I'm sure whomevers oversight that lack of testing was is now fired. That is complete bushleague.

[Composer_1777]

Dude, there is no need to insult this person just because they don;t want an HDTV. Some people are happy with nostalgia technology. Personally, i could never go back to SD television though.

[Fantastipotamus]

The insult was more directed at his flawed logic than anything else, as he says that the article makes him happy he doesn't own an HDTV. I question the validity of that argument. Not wanting to spend the money is one thing, but not wanting to buy an HDTV because someone wrote they saw some that looked like crap is another. I liken it to listening to the worst garage band, and saying 'boy I'm glad I don't spend money on music, because this sounds awful'. The REAL problem with HD is that it's cost prohibitive in many respects. The TV's are expensive, the cable/satelite is more expensive, the cables themselves are more expensive, the media is more expensive, and the misc input boxes are more expensive. It's therefore not cost feasible for a big perveyor like BestBuy or Circuit City to hook up each of their 60 types of TV to an individual HD source. So what happens? A single 720p source gets split up like 60 times, which degrades the signal to the point that it's barely distinguishable from SDTV. And people are supposed to use THIS to determine which tv to buy? Anyway, my point was that using that logic to reason yourself out of buying an HDTV is silly. Dont want to spend the money? Thats fine. Saw a true HD source/HDTV combo and weren't impressed? That's fine too. But dont want to buy one because Steve wrote that he saw a few that looked like crap? That's some of the worse logic I've ever heard.

[triplejumper18]

DVE's BluRay calibration disc is arriving to us on March 21st. I've been waiting forever for them to start selling it.

http://www.dvdinternational.com/pd-dve-hd-basics-blu-ray.cfm

[Tiberious_V-222141788280568980]

Well in my "real world" I do care about quality. I cannot afford the latest and greatest, but if I could I would take the time to properly use the assets in my control to their fullest potential. I would say your definition of the bar as "trendy" hit the nail on the head. Go figure a bar setting the bar low. They just want to get the booze sold from behind the counter. Anyone who buys something and just pops whatever cables in and turns the device on clearly does not care about proper function or getting their monies worth. They care more about keeping up with the times when in fact they are still behind just covering it up. I actually would consider not providing business to a location that does not take the time to learn how to use what they own. This could be an indication about their overall quality as a business as a whole. Again you point out another example of how people overlook the fascinating art of technological evolution with the TV manufacturer show. They just want to make sales. A combination of poor planning and training and a number of other variables likely contributed to a poor showing of their best products. This is clearly disappointing. This topic is not limited to just HDTVs as you indicate either and blends into Audio as well. This is pretty much the case with most if not all electronic devices worldwide. Nice post it generated the same spark in me that happens when I am asked help people with their personal computers.

[johnnysocko]

IGNORANCE IS BLISS

Think about it, most people don't even read the instruction manual for their new Timex, and henceforth, never take full advantage of all the features that $30 watch has.

Look at what kinda of audio systems the average consumer buys to go along with that expensive, beautiful TV. Crap, and for the most part, I think they're happy with the sound. Go figure.

Even if the TV manufacturers include set up calibration disks, Audyssey sound calibration, etc. in the box, would they be used?

Caveat emptor!

But more importantly, Steve, "IGNORANCE IS BLISS"

[hfjacinto]

When I got each one of my HDTV's I spent time playing with the color and picture to get it the best I could (even before buy a TV I spent a large amount of time researching which one had better picture quality). I used the highest quality source available (1080i upconverted DVD, 1080I component cable from the cable box) and made the picture the best for each input. I even compared DVD picture with 480P from component and 1080I from HDMI to see which one had the best picture quality and to tell the truth I couldn't see a difference, even freezing parts of a movie. In the end I felt the upconverter on the DVD player did a slightly better job and since the TV is 1080P already, I felt a 1080 I picture wouldn't be coverted any more.

As far as audio is concered, 1 year ago I purchased a subwoofer based on the recommendations I saw in Amazon, well I get the sub home and it sounds like it was f**rting instead of reproducing bass. I then purchased a new sub based on Mr. Guttenberg's recommendation, what a diffrence, crisp lows it wasn't boomy and I could tell when someone played bongo or a bass guitar.

But I am probably the exception, my wife can barely tell 480 I from 1080 I and to her the sound is all the same. She can't even tell I got a new sub. My brother has an HDTV and uses it to watch analog cable, I walk in and cringe everytime the TV is on. He also listens to compressed music on a computer which is always too loud. When he got his new car stereo and sub he comes to my house and the music was soo badly tuned that it hurt my ears. I spent 20 minutes playing with it until music sounded like music.

His settings:
treble +4
Bass -1
Fader + 20 front, -30 rear


My settings
Treble 0
Bass -1
Fader +10 front, -20 rear

[rockstarstatus]

I had the happy circumstance of being able to successfully demonstrate the difference between hi-def and standard def TV. I used a football game to show my girlfriend there IS a difference between the 2 formats. Now she won't watch SD unless she can help it. It gave me that warm happy feeling inside to know I'd made a difference. Now, if I could only convince her son that MP3 sucks...

[Composer_1777]

100 % true !!!!!

Its true at best buy too, you will see sony HDtv's lookin like a static 1980's T.V. while some LG might be hooked up to look fantastic, its rediculous. Maybe LG and samsung bribe best buy to set up their T.V's better.

Even with mp3 players, manufacturers seem to care more about gimmicks than the actual practicality of sound quality + a player that does its job to the best of technological ability.

Cell phones are also another good example, lets remember first a phone should function as a phone to the best of technological ability; then add some extras and make sure each of those extras perform good. rather than throw low quality useless cameras and music players as gimmicks, manufacturers should make the best damn phone possible.

[minimalist]

I feel your pain. Stretched out and overly-zoomed pictures make me want to scream. Why did you get a 2000 dollar TV if you are going to display utter crap on it?

But when I really think about it I am not sure the consumer hasn't really changed. What's changed is the simplicity of 4:3 TV.

People bought a tube TV plugged in their antennae or cable box and watched it. Now we have a dizzying array of aspect ratios coming at us from all directions and otherwise intelligent people think the "black bars" on their screens are a problem that must be remedied. Commercials on HD broadcasts get pillar-boxed or window-boxed. Movie previews bounce around from one aspect ratio and resolution to the next. Its enough to make a non tech person want their old set back.

If manufacturers were smart they would make their TV's and components adjust automatically to take consumer ignorance out of the equation.