TV Technology: The 10 Biggest Lies

tvpredictions.com ^ | May 18, 2011 | Philip Swann

[Las Vegas Dave]

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[Las Vegas Dave]

http://www.tvpredictions.com/satisfaction051711.htm

Verizon’s FiOS TV Gets Top Customer Score
By Swanni

Washington, D.C. (May 17, 2011) — Verizon led all TV providers in the annual American Customer Satisfaction Index for the second year in a row, according to an article by Multichannel News.

Verizon’s FiOS TV service scored a 72 out of a possible 100 in the customer survey, edging out DIRECTV which scored a 69.

Dish Network scored 67, falling four points from its 71 score a year ago. AT&T’s U-Verse service also slipped from 72 to this year’s 68.

Interestingly, the American Customer Satisfaction team noted that AT&T’s score may have slipped due to a rise in customer complaints about the picture quality on their HD channels.

Cox Communications was next with a 67, leading all cable providers. However, Cox’s cable rivals did not fare as well with Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Charter tying for last with a score of 59.

Cable operators have struggled in customer satisfaction ratings for years, in part because the companies did not pay sufficient attention to customer issues in the 1980s and 1990 when they had a monopoly in many markets.

The emergence of the satellite and telco providers, which arguably focused more on customer satisfaction, particularly in their early years, sharpened the contrast between cable’s performance and the performance of their new rivals. That perception remains strong with many consumers despite efforts by cable operators to improve their customer service in recent years.

ASCI says the average score for a pay TV service this year was 66, the same as last year.

[Logic n' Reason]

Ping for later in-depth reading....and thanks so much for posting!

[Oshkalaboomboom]

4. The Blu-ray Picture Is Not Better Than a Digital Download This big whopper often is uttered by members of the technology press, particularly those who believe that digital downloads are the real future of home video. Desperate to criticize the Blu-ray high-def disc, some journalists will downplay its picture quality while overestimating the picture quality of a download sent over the Net to your TV. But consumer studies -- and scientific ones -- have shown that the Blu-ray picture is dramatically better than a DVD, a digital download or anything else that's out there, including cable, satellite and the telcos.

They can prove with science that the picture is better but can the average consumer (especially as they get older) notice the difference? I read somewhere that on a good quality set most people can't look at the picture and tell you if it's 720p or 1080. I have no doubts that a movie shown on a Blu-Ray is better quality but not enough to justify the cost of a player and discs vs a $50 Patriot box and a thumb drive which can be erased and reused ad infinitum.

[kevkrom]

They can prove with science that the picture is better but can the average consumer (especially as they get older) notice the difference?

I can easily see the difference between Netflix "HD" streaming and Blu-ray, with both signals going through the same BD player. And I'm old enough to use bifocals.

[RayChuang88]

If you have a 46" or bigger HDTV set that supports 1080p, you certainly can see the amazing picture quality of Blu-ray at 1080p quite easily. Given how cheap even 46" TV sets are nowadays, you want to the full 1080p experience anyway.

[IamConservative]

I read somewhere that on a good quality set most people can't look at the picture and tell you if it's 720p or 1080

I was thinking the same thing. In particular on smaller sets like a 42". I have 56" in the man cave. In low light, I can tell the difference between Blu-Ray 1080 disc and Netflix "1080" coming from the same player. Upstairs in more light, the difference isn't noticeable (to me.)

[CHEE]

Does anyone have an opinion of the ROKU STREAMING PLAYER?

[Sans-Culotte]

They can prove with science that the picture is better but can the average consumer (especially as they get older) notice the difference?

I think a lot of people who watch TV or movies on their TVs just don't give a $hit about quality. Even if they notice the difference, they don't care. They don't take the time to savor the visuals.

[Oshkalaboomboom]

Does anyone have an opinion of the ROKU STREAMING PLAYER?

We have one and mostly use it to stream Pandora, which is a music service, using Hulu Plus. We had Netflix free for a month and cancelled it after a week. Physically the box does everything they advertise it to do. The main thing I can say about it is that instead of wasting $60/month for cable tv we don't watch we now only waste $8/month for the same thing. If you watch a lot of tv or Netflix movies anyway then it is definitely worth the money, at least until the Internet companies choke your bandwidth down so much they render it worthless.

[moonhawk]

Not only is the picture better, the audio is vastly superior on a bluray, especially with the new high resolution codecs or lossless compression.

I have way too much invested in good equipment to put up with compressed video and audio garbage.

YMMV, of course.

[scan59]

The emergence of the satellite and telco providers, which arguably focused more on customer satisfaction, particularly in their early years, sharpened the contrast between cable’s performance and the performance of their new rivals. That perception remains strong with many consumers despite efforts by cable operators to improve their customer service in recent years.

Yep, Comcast lost me as a customer to DirecTv many years ago over crappy resolution and poor customer service. No way I'd go back no matter how they try to portray themselves today.

[Sans-Culotte]

I can easily see the difference between Netflix "HD" streaming and Blu-ray, with both signals going through the same BD player. And I'm old enough to use bifocals.

Same here, and I have had 6 eye surgeries! The compression artifacts on HD broadcasts are awful and getting worse. I have DISH. for several years, I have used an external hard drive to archive some of my DISH recordings. When you move a recording from the receiver to the hard drive, you get to see how big the file is. when I started doing this a few years ago, a 2-1/2 to 3 hr. movie would take up around 8-9 gigs of space. Now the same movies may take up 3-4 gigs of space. A Blu-ray has a minimum of 25 gigs on a single layer disc and 50 gigs on a dual layer. There's a whole lot of compression going on if the broadcast version of the same film is 8 gigs at most. And the HD broadcasts only put out DD 5.1 sound at best.

[allmendream]

Of course Tech journals give glowing reviews. Who do you think ADVERTISES in their magazines?

This is one reason why COLD STEEL, a Ventura CA knife and sword company - will NOT advertise in knife magazines. It is a sick incestuous relationship. COLD STEEL makes the best knives in the world - and they don't need to buy advertising in a mag in order for it to be said.

[CHEE]

Thanks very much. Movies and reading are about all I can do so I think I will give it a try. Save a bunch of money.

[gonzo]

Thanks, Dave. .............................. FRegards

[TexasRepublic]

8) The salesman will paint a horrible picture to try to get you to buy the warranty, which could run into the hundreds of dollars. But in almost all cases, don't go for it. The vast majority of products don't fall apart in your hands; and even if it does, the one-year warranty, which most manufacturers offer for free, is good enough, particularly for items costing less than $1,000.

I don't buy warranties on small items, but the smartest thing I ever did was buy the TV warranty. I bought a 46" Samsung LCD at Fry's three years ago for $2,200 and then bought a 5-year warranty that cost somewhere around $350, if I recall right. After 1 1/2 years, the power supply died. The replacement would have cost me $400. The warranty paid for itself right there. A few weeks ago, the LCD panel started to fail. Fry's opted to replace the TV with something at least comparable to the old one, rather than repair. So now I have a new Samsung LED with 2 years warranty rolled over from the original set. Sweet!

[DollyCali]

thanks dave.. appreciate the ping. Good article & as usual the FReepers share good info. I was gifted for Valentine’s day a Vizio 43(I think that is the size) and a Vizio Blue ray. Really like them but did have to give up the DirectTV due to the cost & my very limited income at this point. So I have an antenna & get pretty good reception except do NOT get channel 8 (fox).

I do mostly movies on my TV & have started a modest BluRay collection. I can get one movie a month w/Blu Ray & still be 60 dollars ahead from the DirectTV fee

[GizmosAndGadgets]

I do mostly movies on my TV & have started a modest BluRay collection. I can get one movie a month w/Blu Ray & still be 60 dollars ahead from the DirectTV fee

If you have one in your area, I highly recommend Redbox. They rent Blu-Ray for $1.50 a day and SD for $1.00. So, for about $45 a month, you could watch a BR movie every night :-) Create an account and you can reserve movies before you leave the house, so you'll be sure that the film you want is waiting for you when you get there.