# How widespread is HD in North America? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 8, 2006, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-hd-in-north-america/375743 "2006-10-08T21:01:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2006, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-hd-in-north-america/375743/1 "2006-10-08T21:01:04Z")
Here in the U.K., the only broadcaster is Sky, with several HD channels. HD displays and other HD equipment are expensive - particularly 1080p displays. What’s it like in Canada and the USA? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-hd-in-north-america/375743/2 "2006-10-08T22:42:15Z")
As far as I can tell, it hasn’t really caught on yet. I don’t know anyone who has it, and it’s pretty limited as far as what stations broadcast in it. Our cable company’s complete HD line up: HBO HD, Cinemax HD, Starz! HD, Showtime HD, The Movie Channel HD, ESPN, NESN, TNT, Universal HD, INHD, HDNet, HDNet Movies, Discovery HD, NBC, PBS, ABC, CBS, WeathTV, NFL Network & FOX And of course the ones in red are ones you have to pay even more to access. Thus far, at least around here, it doesn’t seem worth having yet. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-hd-in-north-america/375743/3 "2006-10-09T02:14:41Z")
I’m one of the few who get thier HD only from other the air (not cable or satelite) ABC and PBS definitely broadcast HD The local FOX is doing digital, but I’m not sure if they are doing HD. CBS and NBVC are farther away from me and I can’t get the HD signal but I’m prettuy sure they are doing HD (I’ve heard the NBC HD is at a reduced wattage compared to thier analog channel) Frankly I only use HD for Lost and special NOVA episodes. (I do watch CW on the ABC subchannel) Brian ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-hd-in-north-america/375743/4 "2006-10-09T02:40:19Z")
We have and use HD. Most of my friends have HD now. The channel selection is still limited but the price of the TVs is dropping nicely. We have a 37" 1080p LCD. The HD over cable is only 1080i. Our DVD player and my family room computer will put out 1080p but the DVD we own rarely if ever make use of the capability. The HD channels we do have are stunning. The picture is incredible, I love the widescreen programming and Baseball and Football games are improved on HD. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-hd-in-north-america/375743/5 "2006-10-09T02:42:47Z")
My local Fox broadcasts in 720p, while NBC and CBS at least broadcast in 1080i. NBC looks the best of the three, by far (I also get my HD over-the-air only, which - as **N9IWP** mentioned - is pretty uncommon, and I can only get those three stations). I’m probably going to end up adding HD to my cable package for the sports channels, since sports stuff looks GREAT in HD, huge improvement. It’s nice to catch Studio 60 and whatever else in HD too, but not really a deal-breaker. I am fully in support of higher definition becoming all the rage, but I have a feeling it’ll take a while yet to get serious saturation. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-hd-in-north-america/375743/6 "2006-10-09T05:49:35Z")
Some numbers: > [@](#): > > From > [this cite](http://www.alkenmrs.com/hdtv/hdtvnewsblog/index.php/archives/649): > > > [@](#): > > > > Households with HDTV service, which are defined as homes with an HDTV set that receive and watch HD programming, are projected to grow from 15 million in mid-2006 to 20.3 million at the end of 2006. > > … > > The number of worldwide HDTV households is expected to spike over the next few years as new markets for HD services, particularly in Europe, open up. By the end of 2009, In-Stat is projecting that the number of HDTV households will exceed 55 million. > > So yeah, HD penetration is still in a small number of homes. But it’s growing rapidly. I read elsewhere that 55 million HDTV ready sets are expected to be sold next year. Now, not all of them will have HD reception and instead will be used mostly for DVD watching. But once those sets are out in the marketplace, demand for HDTV will begin to rise even more. Because once you’ve got one of those sets, it gets kind of annoying to go back to the much lower quality standard definition signals after you’ve been watching a DVD or an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc. > > HD has reached critical mass, and will start moving into the general TV watching audience. It won’t be adopted as fast as DVD, but give it 5 or 10 years and it will be everywhere. Standard definition TV will eventually go the way of the 8 track. ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-hd-in-north-america/375743/7 "2006-10-09T06:10:05Z")
😕 What the hell is HD??? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![motomoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@motomoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motomoon)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-hd-in-north-america/375743/8 "2006-10-09T06:15:36Z")
**H** igh **D** efinition such as HDTV or HD-DVD/Blu-ray (next generation DVDs) ---
**Author:** ![motomoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@motomoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motomoon)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-hd-in-north-america/375743/9 "2006-10-09T06:20:59Z")
oops meant to say … the resolution of High Defintion is substantially better than of regular TV (sometimes you see it as SDTV), [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_television) and [here](http://www.projectorcentral.com/video_signals.htm) are some good primers for all the differences between the various types. ---
**Author:** ![Moe\_Szyslak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Moe\_Szyslak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe_Szyslak)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-widespread-is-hd-in-north-america/375743/10 "2006-10-09T15:48:20Z")
I just happen to be doing research on that question at work (assuming the question is what percentage of the population has HDTV sets and what portion of those receive some form of HDTV broadcast). What I’ve found is that the really good information will cost you a lot of money for research company reports. Since I don’t have a budget for my research, I’ve had to piece things together and this is what I’ve found: 22% of American households have at least one HDTV capable TV. This number is expected to grow by about 10% a year over the next 3 to 4 years. 43% of the HDTV set owners actually watch HD programming either over the air or from a cable or DBS provider. 17% of the HDTV set owners think they are watching HD programming but really aren’t.