Is Europe ready for HDTV?
Not everyone seems to think Europe is ready for HDTV, regardless of the progress made over the past few years. The VP of product management at SES Astra, Thomas Wrede, gave his thoughts on why the European nations aren't ready. Apparently there's a lack of consumer confidence in high-def displays, which is shocking to me. Perhaps I'm just spoiled by the products we see here.
As recent as two years ago, HDTV via satellite apparently had varying quality which has scared some consumers. At that time, resolutions of 576p were the best that could be offered. A new "HD Ready" logo indicates to European consumers that the set can display at least 720 horizontal lines of resolution and can accept inputs up to 1080i.
It's surprising that with so many HD sets coming out of Asia that they hadn't hit the market until recently. Sure, Europe has had the PAL standards for television resolution, but you aren't going to win consumers over with 576p!
