Think yourself a sharper TV picture
Quite an interesting–though, not surprising around these parts–study, to say the least. QUICK… hide this study from the cable companies before they decide to simply tell people they’ve improved the quality of the HD they’re seeing: Dear valued cable customer, you are now receiving Cabletastic Extreme HD Vision-enabled channels. Enjoy the enhanced picture quality!
…an experiment was conducted to measure the effect of framing a high
definition television (HDTV) clip. One group of participants was told
they were watching a brand new HDTV clip, while the other group was
told they were watching a digital DVD clip. Both groups were in fact
watching the same (low) quality DVD clip. After watching this clip, the
beliefs of the participants and their viewing experiences were measured
via a questionnaire. The people framed to watch the HDTV clip were
found to have a significantly more positive viewing experience. This
shows that participants were unable to discriminate properly between
digital and high definition signals but were influenced by the frame
set for them.