Half of US households own a digital television

We already learned that some 28-percent of US households were rocking at least one HDTV back in March, but now the Consumer Electronics Association has come forward with new figures showing that over half of American abodes are home to a digital television. According to revamped CEA projections, around 32 million DTV units will ship out next year, with 79-percent of those being HD sets. 'Course, the downside of this is that a good chunk of America still isn't prepared for the DTV cutover in 2009, but thanks to all the advertising that will likely be taking place over the next year and change, we'd say they've got plenty of time to get on board.

[dcny @ Dec 29th 2007 11:18AM]

there is no way i way believe that i doubt more than 30 % have a digital tv

[Sporkinum @ Dec 29th 2007 11:27AM]

Agreed, I would guess based on people at work that it may be around 25 to 30 percent if even that. Since I have cable I doubt I'll replace my 27" panasonic anytime soon as most TV sucks and doesn't really need uber quality anyway.

May get a projector for watching movies in the next year or so though.

[Sid @ Dec 29th 2007 11:30AM]

I totally agree with that. Not many people I know, have switched.

[AlexP @ Dec 29th 2007 11:33AM]

Current RCA CRTs (non-HD) are f'ing fine digital sets.

From personal experience, CRT TVs are the only good consumer products RCA/Thomson makes to this day.

[Sid @ Dec 29th 2007 11:37AM]

Yup. RCA/Thomson really need to move on.

[Sid @ Dec 29th 2007 11:39AM]

Yup. Totally agree.

[mattclarkie @ Dec 29th 2007 12:03PM]

I have a Thomson CRT 28" 4:3 about 4 years old. We traded up to a 32" Flat Wega a year later, and now we are trading up to a 46" Sony X, but I must agree that Thomson, and Ferguson (bought by Thomson) made some good sets.

Are these figures based on sales, as I expect people with DTV have 3/4 devices. I have 3 Digital boxes/TVs alone, but I am not 3 people.

[Jeff @ Dec 29th 2007 12:19PM]

Anecdotal evidence ftw!

Ever consider that you guys just live in an area that's a little ass-backw... er, a little slow on the uptake? Or that you don't have very tech-savvy friends?

Literally every single person I know has switched. I'm talking *at least* 50 out of 50 friends. I live in an area with relatively high average incomes (New York City) although none of my friends are what you'd call "rich" (and neither am I).

So if I was going to be like you guys and believe my own personal experience over a large study of the entire country, I'd have to say their numbers are obviously too *low*, right?

[Abuzar @ Dec 29th 2007 12:23PM]

You only have 50 friends?

[Senor_Tom @ Dec 29th 2007 2:54PM]

50 friends is a reasonable amount, if not a lot, for an adult.

[Steve @ Dec 30th 2007 4:56PM]

Hate to break it to you Abuzar, but if you have more than 50 friends, they're not really your friends.

Also, requesting friend adds on myspace doesn't count.

[thethirdmoose @ Dec 29th 2007 11:52AM]

37" CRT from craigslist ftw!

[Wwhat @ Dec 29th 2007 11:56AM]

Strange, luddites in majority on engadget's comment section?

[Sporkinum @ Dec 29th 2007 12:30PM]

There's a difference between being a Luddite and being practical. I am as techy as they come, but I am a cheap bastard. I see no need in replacing something that works fine. Yeah, sure, a flat screen is more pleasing to the eye, and uses less energy, but it would cost me $400 to replace something that works fine.

However, I did buy my 27" back in 2000 to replace my perfectly functional 20" Mitsubishi I bought in '86 (which is now in my bedroom). So I am not immune to wanting nicer things. I'm just a soon to be completely debt free tightwad.

[Racedriven @ Dec 29th 2007 12:01PM]

I don't know about half of all households owns a digital tv, but I can speck for my household in saying that out of three working tv's, one is an HDTV, second one is digital and the third is only anolog, but all three are hooked up to cable anyway.

I'm sure everyone will be all set by Jan-Feb 2009.

[dale_nx26 @ Dec 29th 2007 12:09PM]

I don't know where you people live but most people I know, if not all, own digital TV. I've never been to any house with TVs that has antenna. Besides, digital TVs are not expensive at all, but I guess some people don't want to pay for cable? Well, there's free cable as a substitution...I, for one, am surprised by the low percentage; expected ~75%.

[Darak @ Dec 29th 2007 12:35PM]

See now my problem is, and I'm sure its a dumb one, but how the hell am I supposed to know if I have a digital TV or not?

[paragraph @ Dec 29th 2007 12:51PM]

Step 1. Address the TV (Hi TV!)
Step 2. Ask it how old it is (hopefully it's not shy)
Step 3. If it's Less than 5, and you didn't get it at the Supermarket you should be good ;)
Step 3b. (please correct me if i'm wrong) if it's an LCD or Plasma you're good.

Still rocking that 87 System 3, no amount of badgering will make it uncool

[dml @ Jan 3rd 2008 8:57AM]

Where did any of you learn about the 2009 cutover? Best Buy sales associates?

The digital conversion affects such a limited number of US customers, on the order of 10%, that most people buying digital televisions are doing so for reasons other than the cut off or out of ignorance or on the advice of predatory sales personal at big box stores. The digital conversion only affects people who watch over-the-air broadcasts. The 2009 date does not affect cable, though the FCC is seperately working with cable companies and may, in the future, mandate digital cable. Digital television does not equal high definition television.

The fact of the matter is that all televisions that can accept a converter box, generally meaning any television that can at least accept a coax cable input, will display over-the-air digital broadcasts (ATSC signals).

Tell me, when is the last time you used an antena to watch television? I'm sure some of you, like me, own tvs with ATSC tuners and tried it out. Some of you, like me, also realized that the new digital offerings are significantly better than the analog offerings in both content and quality. At the same time, the offerings have the same limitations existing OTA television does. It's not cable and therefore doesn't affect a vast majority of US consumers in the least.

[iofthestorm @ Dec 29th 2007 6:56PM]

Interesting, I don't watch TV at all and my family only watches a little tv OTA on a 10 year old panasonic set, hopefully the switchover will force them to get a smallish HDTV although by then I'll be in college and won't care what TV they have at home. It'd just be nice to have 16x9 for my Wii but other than that I have no use for an HDTV either. PC gaming at resolutions higher than HDTV ftw!

[blarvh @ Dec 29th 2007 1:14PM]

Digital as in has a digital tuner and receives digital broadcast?
Cause I can't remember seeing TV's with that until last year. I still see TV's that only have an analog tuner in the adverts.

Everyone was supposed to get a digital conversion box when our little country switched to digital(DVB-T) only. I bet there will be a lot more coal burning this year to satisfy all those power hogging boxes (mine is hot in standby mode!).

[Joshua Walters @ Dec 29th 2007 1:41PM]

I dont have a digital set :|

In fact, my NEWEST TV is still 6 years old and was purchased on clearance at Best Buy.

[dale_nx26 @ Dec 30th 2007 12:21AM]

Um...if it's ONLY six years, then wouldn't that qualify as digital? Aren't analog TVs ONLY accept antenna and not cable? So if you're watching cable TV, then you DO have a digital set.

[jamesFF @ Dec 30th 2007 1:48AM]

dale
Cable ready does not mean it's digital. I was shopping for a tv for my grandfather 6 months ago, and they still had analong tvs there(with a tag stating it will not work after 2009).
I notice that tvs that are digital ready have the letters "SDTV" or "HDTV".

[Alex Jacobs @ Jan 2nd 2008 10:56AM]

So more Americans own a Digital TV than those that own passports


nice

[Josh @ Dec 30th 2007 8:10PM]

I actually just purchased a plasma yesterday (replacing a 19" Sony I've had since 1992...still works great). It might lure more people over if there was a decent amount of content available. I'm definitely not impressed in that arena. Plus the plasma makes the disgustingly low quality of Comcast's standard def programming abundantly evident.

[ChrisSchwartz @ Dec 29th 2007 7:51PM]

I love my Hi-Def 50" Toshiba DLP. Basic cable looks ok, but the
Hi-Def channels look amazing (Discovery networks FTW)!

Once the Blu Ray or HD-DVD format war is won, I will buy a high
definition player to further find something worthwhile to watch.

[JJ @ Dec 30th 2007 3:51PM]

Why does everyone keep say ftw? what does that mean?

[bobbyk @ Jan 1st 2008 3:42PM]

Just bought two 19" LCD/DIGITAL/HDTVs at Shoprite's holiday sale. Best $169.99/ea. i ever spent! Amazing clarity even on the non-hdtv channels. Granted, we are on Optimum cable here and get HDTV included free. Just the same, my 3 old CRTs would get a nice upgrade from the digital boxes as i use them with no cable box. If the boxes are more than $40 bucks then we're being penalized. Either way, it's just the cost of progress. We must live and adapt. Digital=clearer, HDTV=clearer yet with awesome audio. We all win in the end. Every day above ground is a good one. Important things are the health and happiness of you, yours and all creatures. God bless and protect our troops and all good people! Cheers and Happy New Year!

[Mii @ Jan 14th 2008 8:11PM]

I'm not sure about the census, but I'm suspecting they shipped a total of one tv for every 2 households, assuming that the TVs were distributed evenly. I'm suspecting that households that made the big HD switch probably replaced 2 or 3 of them (since when one person gets one, everyone else gets the greenies) among the more affluent types, and the rest are waiting for them to hit $200 so they don't have to buy one of those stupid DTV->NTSC converters for $100.