We're sure that none of our stunningly attractive, gadget-expert readers would ever think about walking into an electronics retailer and asking the opinion of the teenagers in blue shirts and name tags. But, we also know that there are plenty of other folks out there who do, and when they do they're told to buy Samsung HDTVs a whopping 58 percent of the time. There's certainly nothing wrong with Samsung sets, but there are certainly plenty of options out there, too. These numbers come from the always quotable J.D. Power and Associates, which also found that salespeople are becoming less likely to recommend LCD sets over plasma sets, which goes against the industry trend. We'd never hope to be able to get inside the head of one of those doing the recommending, but as always we would recommend reading a few reviews and going to the store to see what you like best -- after you ask to turn down the lights and use the right cables, of course.

[Via PC World]

Normally when we hear about children and flat panel displays not mixing, we think of "look with your eyes, not your hands" lessons spelled out in fingerprints on the TV. A recent study, however, has turned up an increased number of furniture-related accidents involving children and is pointing a finger right at flat panel displays. According to the study, almost half of the accidents reported involved a TV falling onto a child (we'd love to see what portion involved shoddy particle board furniture). That über-thin new set of yours is easy on the eyes, but don't be fooled -- with its narrow base and high center of gravity (or suspect mounting), it's a dangerous animal waiting to pounce on the little ones. All kidding aside, if you can't keep the kids from climbing the furniture and gadgets, at least make sure you set the TV up safely; or you could opt for a sturdy CRT-based RPTV or a ceiling mounted projector.
[Via DigitalLanding]

The CEA is the latest on the Internet connected HDTV bandwagon , stacking up stats in its Net-Enabled Video: Early Adopters Only? study to show 14.5 million consumers are thinking of buying a net-enabled TV in the next twelve months. Finding out more info about what they're watching appears to be the big draw, although as with most surveys, it probably depends on the questions being asked, though we can't dispute stats showing many people are already online while watching TV. Give it a quick glance and you'll see why Yahoo!, Microsoft and Adobe are in such a hurry to be the online gatekeepers of your next display.

We've said it before, and we'll say it again -- once a TV has been moved from the store shelf into your shopping cart, the ultra-bright "torch mode" has served its only good purpose. Sadly, however, a study presented at the Ergonomics Symposium on Flat Panel Displays turned up more than 80-percent of the LCDs in the mode favored by alpine skiing fans, and almost 80-percent had the ambient light sensors disabled. That's bad news for picture quality, but also bad for energy consumption -- the study found that four factors (viewing angle, viewer age, content luminance and ambient lighting) can be used to determine an ergonomically correct display luminance, and we'd go out on a limb to say that the "dynamic" mode disregards what's "correct." Savings by dialing back the display can save energy by a not-too-shabby 20-30-percent. Statisticians can throw stones at the sample of 83 homes, but based on how many times we've found supernova whites and neon greens while visiting homes, it sounds about right.

Although the debate between LCD and plasma has raged on for years, the real battle only started two years ago when manufacturers started producing LCDs big enough to go head to head with plasmas. Now that it has been raging for two years, we've seen some interesting trends develop. LCDs have been very successful at pushing plasma out of its most popular size, 42-inches, and some manufacturers have stopped producing that size all together. Also a result of the success of LCDs, the number of plasma manufactures has decreased over the past two years. Pioneer is the most notable to announce its plan to stop producing its own plasmas starting with the next model and will instead buy glass from Panasonic, but Hitachi and Phillips have also announced similar plans -- and Fujitsu got out of the display business all together. Some might use these events combined with the latest green movement to conclude that plasma is dead, but not so fast.

If Vision Express was looking for some attention, it just got it. A recent study by the optician chain found that 60 percent of Britons had avoided an eye test over the past year, with that number rising to 79 percent in Scotland. Phillip Hyde, dispensing optician and head of professional services at the firm, was quoted as saying that "even a marginally short-sighted person sitting on a sofa watching an HD broadcast may not see the full benefits in enhanced image quality." As if that wasn't comical enough, he continued by saying: "If you're investing in HDTV, you ought to have your eyes checked to make sure you get the full benefit." You heard it here first, folks -- factor in the cost of an eye exam before buying your next HDTV, or you'll regret it. Forever.

[Image courtesy of Lenslinger]

Connected TVs are being blasted out hot and heavy here at CES, so it's a good thing that early studies are showing quite a bit of consumer interest. New research carried out by Oregon Networks has discovered that 71% of respondents would prefer a media browser to be installed within their next HDTV, and if for some reason it didn't, 45% said they'd be inclined to download one while 29% "definitely would" download one. Researchers also found that online video portals such as YouTube and Hulu were seen as value-add inclusions, and having them baked into HDTVs would enable families to spend more time together enjoying the spoils of digital video. Moreover, those polled voiced their love for being able to access networked media around the home on their sets, which makes us wonder if either technophiles were intentionally asked or if the world really is swaying to appreciate media streaming.

In case you weren't already convinced that animals across the globe simply prefer high-definition content, here's yet another research study to pound it through your thick skull. Renata Pronk utilized both SD and HD content in order to judge the reaction of octopuses when seeing a fellow octopus, a crab (read: dinner) and a random bottle. Her findings? The creature's eyes were simply too fast to view the SD content as anything other than a meaningless series of images, while the HD material caused it to puff up / scurry away, open wide or carry on aimlessly, respectively. Who says creatures of the wild don't have discerning taste?

[Via Slashgear, image courtesy of Deviantart]

With DirecTV launching HD service in Latin America, we'd say it's about time its residents realized that flat-panels are the wave of the future present. According to a fresh iSuppli report, the Latin American television market is expected to make a hasty and noticeable transition between now and 2012. Reportedly, LCD TV shipments to the region are set to rise and account for over 83% of the market in under four years; meanwhile, shipments of bulky CRT sets will decline to make up around 8% of the total market. The numbers are pretty baffling when you consider that CRTs held 77.4% of the market just last year, and it's actually rather scary to think where all of those soon-to-be-unwanted sets will end up.

Sure, it's impossible to find anything electric that hasn't been graced with an iPod dock anymore, but according to NPD Group, unit sales of MP3-docking speaker systems -- a catch-all that includes iPod-dockified clock radios and tabletop radios -- actually rose while other audio gear suffered. From our HT-centric viewpoint, sales of HTIB systems came up 16-percent short while AV receivers slid 8-percent. But the loss-leader by a long way was the compact stereo segment -- the 36-percent setback on sales goes to show that when people are concerned about hanging on to their jobs, outfitting the cubicle or office with new gear moves way down the priority list.

[Image courtesy PodcastingNews]

While we doubted ABI Research's assertion set-top-box shipments would peak in just over three short years, new data from the house of CCID Consulting sure helps substantiate that very notion. The outfit has taken a cold, hard look at STB adoption in China, and what it found was that citizens were snapping 'em up this year like never before. The numbers show that sales were up 83.4% for the first three quarters of 2008 compared to the same window a year ago, and a couple of main occurrences were to thank. First off, the drive towards ditching analog signals in favor of digital has increased adoption and awareness, and also, many locals picked up boxes in order to either catch the Beijing Olympics more clearly or in high-definition. The takeaway? If China's already buying in big to set-top-boxes, maybe that 2012 prediction isn't so off base after all.

We've heard for years that the DVR was killing marketers' ability to inform and persuade, but a recent survey from IBM points out that advertisers would do alright if they'd simply keep with the times. The research revealed that more and more individuals are turning to their PCs and mobiles for content ingestion, and out of the 2,800 individuals surveyed around the globe, over 70% said they preferred "advertising-supported models as opposed to consumer-paid models." In fact, the majority of respondents admitted to preferring ads shown before of after a clip versus the "interruption" method currently used in TV broadcasts. Researchers also found that some 60% would be willing to provide personal information in exchange for valuable content, with "high quality music / videos, discounts to favorite stores and air travel / hotel points" being among the most desirable. More figures for number lovers are just down there in the read link.

The Leichtman Research Group is back again, with its sixth annual study on all things HDTV, extrapolating from a 1,302 household survey that the number of homes with an HDTV has reached 40 million. Overall, HDTV penetration has crossed a third of households, up to 34% from 20% last year, while those with an HDTV set who thought they were watching HD, but actually weren't, dropped slightly to 18%. Also less than pleasing to our eye is the finding that just a 1% increase from last year in the number of customer reporting they were told how to get high definition programming, but the percentage of homes watching HD jumped 5 points to 58%. The read link has a few more numbers for those seeking their yearly update, but we're already wondering how things will read next year.

Motorola already sent out its dutiful survey team to pick the brains of millennials (ages 16 to 27) in the US, but now those same folks have infiltrated nations across the pond. Somewhat surprisingly, the results were mighty similar, even though Europe is notorious for buying HDTVs and not the HDTV programming to go along with it. Still, some 78% of the 1,200 surveyed confirmed that they would prefer a TV program to restart the moment they switched over, leading us to believe that only 22% enjoy showing up to a movie that has already started. Also curious was the fact that 53% of respondents in the UAE said they "loved HD content," yet the region is just now starting to see high-def material from broadcasters. Anywho, the read link has lots and lots of numbers if you care to humor yourself, but the real comedy is in the Millennial Generation video after the jump.

You just have to love the mixed messages, don't you? On one hand, you've got research asserting that Blu-ray simply isn't gaining the desired amount of traction since the demise of HD DVD; on the other, you've got numbers showing that BD adoption actually is on the up and up. So, which is it? According to a hot-out-of-the-oven study by ABI Research, consumers in America are still procrastinating when it comes to buying into Blu-ray. Over half of the 1,000 respondents noted that they had "no plans to purchase one," with 23% suggesting that they might take the plunge in 2009. Principal analyst Steve Wilson, in our estimation, nails the reason right on the head: consumers can't see why Blu-ray is worth the extra coin over DVD. Let's face it -- VHS to DVD was entirely more dramatic than DVD to Blu-ray, and for folks still watching an SDTV, Blu-ray isn't even a consideration. Slow and steady, BD, slow and steady.

[Image courtesy of WikInvest]