NOW THAT MY TWO-AND-a-half year old daughter has outgrown her predilection towards throwing things at our living room television (think keys and golf balls, not stuffed animals), I decided my Christmas gift to the family (okay, to me) would be a new television.
I want my HDTV.
Last month though, CTAM Canada published a piece of research which said, in essence, that Canadian consumers are not getting enough information on how to get the best high definition experience and too often are leaving the stores without a digital cable or satellite receiver, which is the best way (and in a lot of cases, the only way) to get high definition programming in Canada.
According to the research, while 22% and 21% of Canadian digital cable and satellite customers (respectively) own an HD set, only 14% have the requisite set top box required to actually watch high def programming. That’s a lot of customers who think they’re seeing HD when all they are seeing is a brighter, bigger screen.
To their credit, some of the carriers and broadcasters are working on the problem and trying to educate their customers and potential customers. TSN has a 30-second ad created in-house demonstrating the difference between watching HD through the appropriate box and just having an HD set. Rogers Cable has a radio ad in heavy rotation in Toronto that also addresses the issue – and it’s darn near impossible to avoid Bell ExpressVu’s pleasantly goofy Frank and Gordon, beaver pals.
However, what couldn’t be addressed in the CTAM research was the retail experience. What are shoppers being told? How are they being sold? Are they made aware of the cable and satellite deals available to them? Are they made aware of the programming available to them? Are they just pushed into buying a TV, regardless?
Over the past few days, I went to six stores (five national chains and one local specialty store) and their respective web sites to see what I could see and – hopefully – find an HD set I liked and would fit in the same cabinet in my living room. I needed a TV no bigger than 95 cms wide by 75 cms tall, stand included. That meant the biggest I could go was a 37-inch set.
The Brick, Mississauga
Wow. I had no idea The Brick had so many televisions. I thought of it mainly as an appliance and furniture store but I saw a TV commercial touting its TVs, so I included it in my tour.
A huge home electronics section takes up the better part of half the store and within five minutes, I spied three Star Choice dishes perched atop the home theatre displays near the back of the store. No direct tie from the dishes to the TVs, but at least they’re there. The unfortunate part of the display is that the really big TVs are only showing tapes sent by the manufacturers (the landscapes and flowers and such we’ve all seen a zillion times). The smaller TVs are showing live TV – Sportsnet in this store – but in standard definition, either stretched or with bars or in boxes on-screen.
Ten minutes in and still no salesperson has approached, I stumble across a pile of well-hidden Star Choice DSR315 and DSR530 EVNHD boxes with a tattered little 8×10 sign atop them that said "Purchasing an HDTV today?"
At the 15 minute mark, I’m still looking for someone to talk to and am about to leave when someone finally spies me looping through the place for the fourth or fifth time. But, he’s a good one. I played dumb (I know, easy role…) and he quickly explained the difference between HD and SD and showed me three different sets fitting my dimensions and the differences between them such as weight and power – and has a reasonable-sounding answer when I ask "What’s all this about 720 and 1080 and all that?"
The key part, for Rogers Cable, anyway, is that I didn’t have to prompt him about what else I needed to get HD. He said very soon after showing me the first set that they offer a Rogers Digital Cable box free for a year upon purchase. "What about satellite, do you have those, too?" I asked. "Yes," he said, as we rushed past the Star Choice pile and to the next TV.
Best Buy, Oakville
I crossed the road into Oakville and to Best Buy, which stocks every whirring gizmo and digital doohickey any gadget hound would want, including a healthy selection of HDTVs. Same goes for its other chain, Future Shop, below.
A number of the televisions were showing a loop of TMN content and Best Buy ads, but for some reason, the King Kong trailer left black bars above and below the images and weren’t as crisp as I would have expected. The saleswoman blamed the source, even though it was pretty clearly a recording.
She, too, showed me a few options that fit the physical dimensions of my space but she knew little about the reasons why one TV was $1400 and another was $2000. I had to ask her whether or not I needed anything else to receive HD and she said they offer either a free Rogers or Cogeco box for a year upon purchase, depending on the region I lived (the store is on the Oakville/Mississauga, or Cogeco/Rogers border). Then this exchange, which will sting at Cogeco, I’m sure.
"Do you live in a Cogeco or Rogers area?"
"Cogeco."
"You really should go to ExpressVu then because Cogeco’s HD offering isn’t as good." (Except she was more, um, descriptive than "isn’t as good.")
Ouch, I thought.
Smack in the middle of the TV section is a home theatre display complete with Rogers, ExpressVu and Cogeco receivers. It would be the best and largest display of BDU goods I’ll see in my shopping travels.
Future Shop, Burlington
It took a loooong time to get the attention of a salesperson in the busy store and once I found someone and told him I couldn’t go too big or too expensive, he was in a rush to be rid of me, I think.
There was an LG and a Toshiba that fit the dimensions of my living room and despite the fact I felt I was getting the bum’s rush he quickly demonstrated the difference in price and quality in the LG and Toshiba – both of which were LCDs – by banging on the screens – a little test that showed the better quality of the LG set.
Speaking of rush – or more specifically, Rush HD. I want this channel. The large, expensive TVs in this store were showing a loop of Rush HD skiing and snowboarding coverage of a freestyle exhibition at Mont Tremblant and the images and sound were nothing short of incredible.
After asking, he also outlined the free-for-a-year box from Cogeco, however, a display of boxes for Cogeco and Star Choice took forever to find – tucked on a low shelf among the cut-rate SD sets.
Sears and The Source, Mapleview Mall, Burlington
You are now entering the Twilight Zone.
I don’t know who buys TVs in a mall, but some people must, otherwise why are they on display? I use the word "display" loosely, especially in Sears’ case. The space for its many TVs is comically small with virtually all in tiny, cramped aisles. It impossible to judge how these TVs would look in a living room and from the layer of dust atop the floor models, most haven’t moved in a long while.
The largest TV – an old SD projection model – was airing As the World Turns on Global, but was so snowy it was nearly unrecognizable. It was unwatchable and why this was on is inexplicable. Most of the other TVs were showing manufacturers’ tapes.
The weirdest aspect of the mall was the Sears salesman – who was about 30 years older than any of the other salespeople I dealt with on my trip. He certainly was the most knowledgeable of any of them and explained the technological advantages and limitations of the TVs I asked about. He even knew that there’s far more OTA HD in the States and even the deadline for analog shutoff there.
But then he uncorked the most peculiar thing I heard all day: When I asked him if I needed anything besides the TV to get HD, he said, "Yes, a cable box."
"Got any here?" I asked.
"No," he said. "The CRTC regulates the hell out of everything and won’t let us sell them."
"Um, pardon?"
"The cable companies want their monopoly and the government lets them so we can’t sell the boxes."
"I think I just saw some at Future Shop," I said (remember, I’m playing dumb).
"Well, they might let them have some models."
Okay. Moving on then.
The Source (formerly Radio Shack) is just outside of Sears and shopping for an HD set there is pointless. They had nine screens. On the upside, with an Acer and a Panasonic side-by-side, it was very, very easy to see the huge quality gap between those two brands. In the other, larger, stores, the cut-rate brands like Envision, Insignia and Protron appeared to have their own aisle, away from the likes of Sony, Panasonic and Sharp, for example.
East Hamilton Radio, Hamilton
Probably the best of the bunch. Either that or I was so punchy from my shopping daze (er, days) that I was willing to buy anything by this point.
The difference in EHR was the sign right inside the front door, touting the free-for-a-year digital cable box deal from Cogeco, Mountain Cablevision and Source Cable, Hamilton’s three cable companies. They also distributed postcards to customers (pictured) This was also the only store I saw showing a live TV signal in HD on at least some of its HD sets – in this case, it was TSNHD.
A salesman was on me right away and pushed me in the direction of their most expensive 37-inch set that would fit my space, a Panasonic plasma for just over $2000. More than I was planning to spend, but I managed to justify it to myself somehow and bought it.
Then the REAL sales job began. Of course I need the $300 warranty plan and a great big $320 "power centre" because I needed to protect myself from the overwhelming scourge or power surges (something I’ve never once experienced in my home, ever, but that the sales guy told me happened "a half-dozen times" in the store this year). I also need it to clean up my power because apparently it’s "dirty" and will affect my signal. I also need better wires ($80) to my DVD player – the ones with red, green and blue ends, not red, white and yellow.
While I’m sure the Monster brand cable folks are making out quite well because packages of their cables were like snow in all the stores I visited, I’m pretty sure that unless I decide to install a cable headend in my house, the cleanliness of my power supply is just fine and my DVD wires will suffice. I settled on a $79 power bar because one day I might have a home theatre that other things need to be plugged into.
On-line
This is where the relationship really falls apart. When you shop for HDTVs on line at the sites of any of these stores, there is virtually no mention of needing a cable or satellite hookup. Perhaps they expect anyone with the wherewithal to shop on line will know this, or perhaps they really, really want to push more universal remotes and extra wiring.
Clicking through to HD set after HD set shows all the attributes of the TVs and sometimes in the small print it says "HD source required" but there is no overt mention of the need for a decoder or a link to where one might be found. And when it comes to the recommended product additions made on each site after you pick a TV, there’s still no mention of a satellite or cable requirement. Instead it’s more Monster Cables, universal remotes and on the Best Buy site, a Jensen OTA HD receiver.
Only bestbuy.ca on its main TV page had a button saying "connect it with digital cable or satellite" and a link to more info. But surfing to individual TVs showed nothing about a cable or sat requirement, even when you’re ready to buy.
Knowing the vagaries of the retail sales floor, especially at Christmastime in the electronics sector, the retail experience was a little better than I expected. If I was a BDU, I’d be somewhat satisfied with the level of technical knowledge and how the salespeople pushed their product. It’s not perfect, but most people shopping in-store will come away knowing they need a decoder of some sort.
That said, the BDUs could benefit from some better displays on the retail floor. Potential customers want to actually what HDTV will look like on their HDTVs and I think both retailers and BDUs would benefit from more live TV in the store. Consumers need to properly see the performance of the cable or satellite boxes which they have to factor into their purchase decisions and in all cases, except the live TSNHD at East Hamilton Radio, they couldn’t make that judgment.
Finally, real work is needed on the retailers’ web sites about cable or satellite. Searching for "Cogeco" or "Rogers" or "ExpressVu" on the sites yielded no results. Only searching "Star Choice" on The Brick showed the dishes they offer in-store.
So, I’m finally part of the high definition world, with Cogeco Cable, whose selection of HD is actually pretty good. Better than the saleswoman at Best Buy said it was. And after a couple of days with the new TV, count me as one of those folks who prefers an HD picture to SD content. I was watching fishing on HDNet, for example.
I can feel myself getting impatient for more HD already. I hope the Canadian broadcasters are listening, because I sure wasn’t alone in my HD set shopping last week.
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