How is it possible that People still don't have HDTVs?

I still hear people asking when a new game comes out Will it look ok on a SDTV?  It's 2012 you can buy a 17 inch HDTV for 70 dollars at Walgreens. I'm sure it's a piece of shit but it exists. Can you even buy non-HDTVs anymore? Personality I find it criminal if your still using composite cables.
 
Now this is kinda off topic, but whats the deal with refresh rates? I was at walmart looking to see if they had anything good in the cheap game bin, and they had the big wall of TVs right next it. There was a referee on the TVs and he was saying, "Make sure you get a TV with the highest refresh rate, or this might happen. " Then it cut some footage of a football game. The guy was a running with the ball and then it film skipped 5 minutes farther into the game. The referee came back on and said "I bet that guy wished he had a better refresh rate." I almost yelled out, what kind of bullshit was that?

SDTV 4 life.

@Totori said:

what kind of bullshit was that?

That's called advertising, AKA lying.

@Totori said:

what kind of bullshit was that?

That's called advertising, AKA lying.

You created the topic, then went off topic in your own first post? I admire you sir.

Oh yeah advertisers are liars and not everyone has all the money you have Mr. Moneypants. (and some people just don't see the difference somehow my parents my sister and one of my brothers can't tell the difference between hd or standard def broadcasts, somehow)

If you have a perfectly functioning SDTV, why spend the money on a new TV? Sometimes families hand down their SDTVs to their children to keep in their rooms. That child might be a gamer and have their console hooked up to that SDTV.

People still own cassette players, too. I could mention records, but there are audio enthusiasts who refuse to make the switch plus there's people who like to mix. Cassettes are pretty archaic, but I know a few people who still listen to them. They have albums on them that are hard to find these days or they don't want to repurchase. The same reasoning can be applied to VHS collections.

And with eBay, you can still buy a SDTV if you really want one. I don't know if you can get one in the stores these days. I haven't looked in Wal-Mart's electronics for a while.

You cant really buy sdtvs anymore unless you really look for it.

I just bought my first HDTV less than a month ago so yes it is possible, if it isn't broke why should I throw it away? that's how I handle my electronic devices when it breaks then that's the time to buy a new one.

Some people don't own cell phones either, so no surprise there.

You created the topic, then went off topic in your own first post? I admire you sir.

Oh yeah advertisers are liars and not everyone has all the money you have Mr. Moneypants. (and some people just don't see the difference somehow my parents my sister and one of my brothers can't tell the difference between hd or standard def broadcasts, somehow)

Because I can't have two HDTVs sitting atop each other like I can have two SDTVs sitting atop each other, duh! Oh, and money. It's nice to live in a fantasy world where there are no money problems for anyone out there, where no one has to pay medical bills or pay off debt or is unemployed or doesn't instead have to spend the money on a new car because that last one is a piece of shit or got wrecked or you know, what have you.

I bought my current TV in 2005, it's a 720p DLP it was high end at the time and a lot of my friends were still buying CRT sets, you have to figure on a TV lasting at least 10 years, I'd guess there are a lot of people still running CRT sets out there and probably will be for another 5-10 years.

@Totori said:

@pyromagnestir said:

You created the topic, then went off topic in your own first post? I admire you sir.

Oh yeah advertisers are liars and not everyone has all the money you have Mr. Moneypants. (and some people just don't see the difference somehow my parents my sister and one of my brothers can't tell the difference between hd or standard def broadcasts, somehow)

But you can get one for 10 bucks more than one game.

A shitty one I assume. In which case why not just keep what you got? Also the people like my aforementioned relatives just wouldn't see it as worth the trouble getting a new tv, setting it up, and so on.

@FateOfNever said:

Because I can't have two HDTVs sitting atop each other like I can have two SDTVs sitting atop each other, duh! Oh, and money. It's nice to live in a fantasy world where there are no money problems for anyone out there, where no one has to pay medical bills or pay off debt or is unemployed or doesn't instead have to spend the money on a new car because that last one is a piece of shit or got wrecked or you know, what have you.

I think the point he's making is that he saw an HDTV for ten dollars more than a game. So if you play new games, you could also buy an HDTV.

That applies, of course, to his country which I imagine is the USA. No such cheap TVs where I live.

It's surprising how many people I talk to at work who still have SD-TV's. Mostly non-gamers.

What about the people that don't have any TV? Hey, what about people that don't have food? Crazy, I know!

Because not everyone lives in your middle-class bubble.

To be honest I don't watch enough TV by itself to justify using it to watch TV. If I didn't have devices that used it and didn't watch much TV, a TV from 2000 would be sufficient.

I don’t watch TV and I play games on my PC.

I am morally opposed to having to watch 20 minutes of ads and warning before watching a movie so I stream them on my PC.

What is is with poor people. Why don't they just get a job, then you would get health insurance and your dumb kid would not have to die. Just silly. Don't get me started on the lazy homeless ...

What an odd question, I don't know about your cable service, but on mine HD channels are a very tiny fraction of the lineup. Simply put, people don't need HDTVs.

I think you don't realize how destitute many people are.......

If you want to watch television the picture on an LCD telly is absolutely shit. A few years ago I wanted a new one and made sure I got a 32" widescreen crt which cost £149. My friend got a 40" LCD that cost a grand and tv looks fucking awful on it, even HD. Everyone looks like LEGO smeared in sluttish make-up. For games it's different but if that's not your primary use then fuck LCD until they get it right.

Sorry if I got anyone aroused with the slutty LEGO talk.

Some people are poor.

If you want to watch television the picture on an LCD telly is absolutely shit. A few years ago I wanted a new one and made sure I got a 32" widescreen crt which cost £149. My friend got a 40" LCD that cost a grand and tv looks fucking awful on it, even HD. Everyone looks like LEGO smeared in sluttish make-up. For games it's different but if that's not your primary use then fuck LCD until they get it right.

Sorry if I got anyone aroused with the slutty LEGO talk.

Money

Even someone with a moderate income can afford a modest sized HDTV. There are good deals and in almost all cases people have more disposable income than they realize. Its all how you spend and manage your money. You may have to save for a few months to afford it but if you REALLY want something you will find a way to get it.

@Totori said:

Personality I find it criminal if your still using composite cables.

I have two HDTVs and I still use composites. My 360 doesn't have HDMI. Care to foot the bill on a newer model, since money falls out of the sky in your world?

@Demoskinos said:

Even someone with a moderate income can afford a modest sized HDTV. There are good deals and in almost all cases people have more disposable income than they realize. Its all how you spend and manage your money. You may have to save for a few months to afford it but if you REALLY want something you will find a way to get it.

Yeah, if you want a new TV that badly, sure.

I suppose the OP didn't think that part through, though.

Shit, because there are still these creatures called kids that get hand-me-down TV's.

Hell, there are still a ton of people without high speed internet connected to their consoles.

Yeah fuck Amish people...that's where this thread is heading right?

Because they have yellow component cables which let you play anything from the SNES to newer as long as it isn't HD only. There is a good reason why gamers have many tvs.

Everyone is not made out of money, as already pointed out a lot of times in this thread. Even a $70 television is a lot to ask from people who live from paycheck to paycheck, which is in fact a lot of people. IIRC in the states the average income is like 30k a year or something which isn't that much when you consider how rampant debt is.

Some people have to spend money on things like food, rent, car repair, school, shit like that. Don't be a dick.

Well I have a nice Computer monitor that I run my 360 through, but as for actual Television? I still have my SD that I got about 10 years ago, it a great size, It has beautiful picture, built in DVD. It is pretty much perfect for my Wii, PS2, original XBOX, Dreamcast, Genesis, 2600 and Colecovision I have all hooked up for it. I have a tight budget and while, yes I could afford a new TV instead of a few games every now and then, why should I get one? I am content with what I have, it does everything I need and the money will go towards more important things such as my Internet bill or gas.

If you don't have much money, and your SDTV isn't broken, then there isn't much that can justify an HDTV. If someone doesn't have an HDTV yet, it's probably because they can't afford one.

As someone who's been using a 26" LED-LCD TV for a year and a half now? Yeah, it's pretty nice. But it isn't a necessity - if I had to go back to SD gaming, then I would. It's not a crime.

@Winternet said:

What about the people that don't have any TV? Hey, what about people that don't have food? Crazy, I know!

I don't have a TV, the OP doesn't care about me because I'm a minority, he's an elitist I tell ya...

Seriously though I don't have a TV because the TV license is too expensive on top of actually paying for any sort of cable/satellite package, there is always more to the cost than just the outright purchase price and like others in the forums have mentioned there are people who genuinely(though it confounds me) believe there is no difference between SD and HD and will happily watch SD channels even though they have HD TV and a HD package with their supplier.

Just a few short years ago it was "What's a HDTV?" and "No one has that." Now, it's suddenly "Why doesn't everybody have a HDTV?" Where's the middle ground? What's happening with the world today? It's downright irritating. The fact of the matter is that quality HDTVs are still expensive.

Also FYI, I recently bought a new 5'' Black and White TV for $19.99 at my local convenient store.

I still own a SDTV it has a built in VHS player in it. I have a huge VHS collection that I refuse to update to DVD or blue ray. I just don't see the point in paying good money for something I already have. To be honest I think there is a charm to having classic films on VHS sometimes when they are updated they look "off". Call me cheap if you want, but why spend hundreds of dollars on something when I can spend those hundreds of dollars on something cool.

@Totori said:

whats the deal with refresh rates?

Because some people are smart enough to know "HD" is a meaningless buzz word. The human eye cannot notice the increse in video quality, so the image will always be identical to a a good CRT TV. Also flat screens do not last as long as CRT models. People are chumps and will buy anything.

@benefitevil said:

I still own a SDTV it has a built in VHS player in it. I have a huge VHS collection that I refuse to update to DVD or blue ray. I just don't see the point in paying good money for something I already have. To be honest I think there is a charm to having classic films on VHS sometimes when they are updated they look "off". Call me cheap if you want, but why spend hundreds of dollars on something when I can spend those hundreds of dollars on something cool.

Also, don't forget there is still a lot of quality content that's only available on VHS cassettes. I still carry around my Laser Disc player and I'm sure there are people who still use the old 8mm.

I only have an HDTV because I'm irresponsible and can sucker my parents into covering things when I get a good deal. Last year at this time I was using a TV with S-Video.

To everybody going the snarky route of "Well, Mr. 1%, why don't YOU buy us underprivileged peoples an HDTV!"

I believe the OP is referring to gamers, specifically, or those that tend to spend a lot of money on electronics. I'm going to go out on a limb and claim that there probably aren't a ton of gamers who spend a lot of time on gaming sites, and who therefore play a lot of games ($$$) each year, who can barely afford to buy 2-3 games per year. Those people don't typically invest themselves in the culture as much.

To that effect, I agree with his surprise at how many people seem to respond that they still don't have one. It just seems weird at this point, if you play a ton of HD games every year to the tune of several hundreds of dollars.

I don't watch/use a T.V. very often (PC gamer) so I don't have/need an HDTV.

I don't know how that's even possible. 
They would've had to do something crazy like, not bought one! 

I had an SDTV until last October. Things are expensive.

This is a pretty shitty economy, yo. Ain't everyone at the same spot, if you're picking up what I'm laying down.