A recent report has revealed that German consumers who purchase flat-panel televisions are more concerned about the image quality and screen size of the HDTV sets that they are buying than they are with advanced features such as 3D capability or internet connectivity. These new technologies are said to be relatively insignificant for German buyers when it comes to the features they are looking for when upgrading their TVs.
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| German TV buyers value picture quality and screen size over 3D |
The priorities for German TV buyers, according to the report, are having a flat screen, the size of the television, and the picture quality that they will receive. The data comes from the Global TV Replacement Study published by California-based market research firm DisplaySearch, which suggests that many Germans do not give features such as 3D or internet connectivity a second thought when shopping for a replacement TV, preferring instead to focus on screen size and image quality.
Whilst German buyers do not seem to be interested in 3D and other high-tech technologies, they do seem to like their flat screens, with the sale of new flat-panel TV displays hitting record sales levels. Last year television sales reached a new high, culminating in a growth of 24.4%. However, this did not appear to be fuelled by desire for new technologies amongst consumers in Germany.
In the latest survey that was carried out, less than 1% of those polled cited 3D as the reason behind upgrading their televisions, whereas only 1% said that internet connectivity compelled them to upgrade. However, in other regions such as East Asia, 3D technology was a bigger driver for TV upgrades among consumers.
Paul Gray, European TV research director at DisplaySearch, said that while it was important to know how often people were upgrading their televisions or adding new TVs to homes, the firm’s study provided some insight into the reasons behind their decisions to replace or supplement their existing television sets.
Personally, I find that very heartening.
The emphasis on image quality, that is – not the lack of interest in 3D (about that, I’m indifferent).
Image quality should be the no.1 concern to anyone buying a TV. Unfortunately, the big companies are more interested in (and we seem to want) ‘gimmicks’ rather than perfecting flat screen image quality. 2mm deep, WiFi enabled 3D internet TV with horrible clouding, 1 scart, no phono out, and 65ms input lag seems to be the way forward.
You can’t fool the Germans tho, they don’t buy crap.
Unless you go plasma of course!